EDITORIAL: The $99 Color PDA?

Submitted by tuxtops on Fri, 09/23/2005 - 16:42

Just yesterday it was made known that Palm will be releasing the Z22 PalmOS PDA, the first under the $99 price barrier, with a color screen. PDAs were originally business items-only, but times are changing. How could a PocketPC manufacturer reply to this Palm move?

First let's see what the Palm Z22 is offering: a 200 Mhz processor, 32 MB of RAM (20 MB usable), a 160x160 color CSTN with 4096 colors, non-removable battery, no feature connector, no IrDA, no SD slot, no microphone, no headphone jack and it is not clear if it even has a built-in speaker (instead of just a buzzer like on the old Palm devices). It is also not clear if it has a power cable or if it only charges via USB.

I would not buy this PDA because of the lack of IrDA, SD slot, headphone jack and possibly a normal speaker. Yes, this is supposed to be the cheapest PDA it can be, but cutting out features that don't really cost more than a few dollars, it downgrades the value of the PDA a lot. Adding these 3-4 small hardware features should not be costing Palm more than $10 overall. And if the price is not the "magic" $99.99, well, that's ok. Or, Palm should learn to live with smaller margins. I just find it shameful that a company like Palm, which made us used to quality products, could release such a PDA that leaves lots to be desired.

I am really looking forward for a Windows Mobile OEM to release a $99 or even a $119 PDA product to compete with the Z22 by adding some needed features:

* 200 Mhz Samsung CPU
* 32 MB RAM (~6 MBs for storage)
* 32 MB ROM (6 MB free, the rest holds the OS)
* SD or CF slot (CF is preffered because WiFi/BT CF cards are cheaper than SD ones)
* 3.5" QVGA CSTN 65k or 4k colors (whichever is cheaper and saves more battery)
* joystick+4 game buttons (joystick on the left, and the 4 buttons in a "cross pattern" to help gaming usability)
* on/off button
* speaker
* headphone jack
* microphone
* IrDA
* 850 mAh non-removable battery
* stylus
* thin bezel around the screen (don't create monster big PDAs)
* PPC2003SE (no MS Office, WM5 can not run on this machine because of the small size ROM used)
* usb feature-connector, charging port
* CD, manual, power/usb cables

-- Expected price: $99 up to $119, depending on the manufacturer

It seems to me that companies like ViewSonic, Acer or an Asian company would be best suited to deliver such a product. Let's see if anyone's listening.