Tuxtops

When Palm ruled the handheld computing market, few thought it would ever have to partner with Microsoft. Palm CEO Ed Colligan spent several days in Cannes in February 2004 talking up the Treo handheld computing device over its Windows-based competitors. But that same week, away from the massive 3GSM trade show, he was secretly meeting with the enemy.

Double the RAM, USB 2.0 and a 30 GB hard drive; the brand new OQO 01+ improves on its predecessor in several ways whilst maintaining its über-portable form factor.

Among Hewlett-Packard's first handhelds to run Windows Mobile 5.0 are the hx2790, a powerful workhorse; and the lightweight rx1950, which pays hommage to designs of the past.

Palm CEO Ed Colligan and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates have officially unveiled a Treo running Windows Mobile 5.0.

Doug Turner, the main developer of Minimo (mobile Mozilla), bumped into a problem with the most powerful PDA today, the Dell x50v, resulting Minimo to not run in these devices. He is running out of ideas of how to fix the problem, and he is asking for any help from other developers including Microsoft or Dell engineers.

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.

MobileReview.com shows up the new Palm PDAs to be released in 20 days from now. The Tungsten X lacks a microphone (default on all PPCs), and the Z22 lacks an IrDA port, a speaker, an SD slot and consequently a headphone jack. The TX seems fairly priced & featured but the Z22 could do so much more for only a few more dollars (for about $10 more).

A run of 100 Linux-powered humanoid robots goes on sale in Japan Friday, priced at 1.5M Yen (about $14,000), not including 10,000 Yen (~$90) monthly service fees. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries conceived of Wakamuru as a pleasant companion offering a range of electronic-age valet services, it says.

It's not a secret anymore than the rumors about the Windows Mobile 5 powered Treo is real. Unfortunately, its screen is indeed only 240x240, and not 240x320, which will make a LOT of Windows Mobile application to either not run at all, or run with long scrollbars. A pitty really.

Fujitsu-Siemens prepares 4 new PPCs with Windows Mobile 5, one of them has GPS and another is a quad-band phone.