atmaspheric | endeavors

PDABuzz reveals in their hands-on review that they have in fact had the new Palm for about a week already. The more I read, the more I want…

Now that the new Palms are here, it finally occurred to me that choices are going to have to be made… As I often discuss with friends, we use the Palm OS so that automatically leans us in that direction vs a switch to PocketPC/SmartPhone, Symbian or even Blackberry. The new Palms look really nice and seem to be what I am looking for, though the more I think about it the more I wonder what do I really want?

Right now I think I want:

• PIM functions like I have today that sync with my Mac.

• Color Screen

• Keyboard, add-on is OK

• Wireless connectivity

• Expansion

Wireless connectivity is where the problems lie… Do I want my email on and in-hand all the time? I need to figure that out because until I have a bluetooth phone I won’t be getting email while on the go without my laptop or like I do now – directly to my phone. As it stands today, Nextel, my carrier, does not make a bluetooth device. Though it is certainly possible that one is coming, nothing has been announced. In fact, the only future device that seems to coming from Nextel is an integrated Blackberry.

Nextel/Blackberry will give me PIM functions, and though different from Palm, they will work fine I am sure, though I don’t think there is a Mac solution for syncing…argh. There is no color screen option, and no expansion. The Blackberry does offer, always on email and a great keyboard.

Decisions…

Update Monday, October 28, 2002 at 9:50:04 AM

According to Wired News and Palm, the Tungsten T is designed only for periodic wireless access…

First, why the Tungsten designation? Two models will come with this new name but be differentiated by their concluding letter? Whatever.

The Palm Tungsten W looks like a winner though. Imagine a color Blackberry, that can handle up to 8 email accounts (pop or imap), make voice calls, browse the web, share voice and data connections over GPRS and topped off with a beautiful color screen and you are looking at the Palm Tungsten W. Except of course that the Palm, unlike the Blackberry will work with thousands of applications, sync with my Mac and not require backoffice integration to get my mail (assuming we don’t get forced to switch to Notes). The only thing strangely missing from this baby is integrated bluetooth and I can’t figure out why Palm did that…

Update – I just realized that this unit does not run Palm OS 5, and has the same processor as today’s units, the Dragonball VZ at 33MHz. Why Palm, why?

I received an email from Palm today announcing the Tungsten T today. Seems like a killer. It has a sliding button bar that moves down to reveal the grafiti area, keeping the unit as compact as possible. Palm OS 5 and the new Arm processor, plus integrated bluetooth and voice recording make this a very attractive PDA.

Unlike the David Coursey review I posted the other day, this more balanced and complete overview from InfoSync covers it all, rather than simply stating how great it is to have windows in your phone…

Now, with all of these applications you’d think that you need a task manager of some sort – right? Wrong. According to Microsoft, Smartphone 2002 uses the same smart minimize technology as found in Pocket PC 2002 and Pocket PC Phone Edition, and closes applications in the back of the stack if another application is started that requires more memory than what is currently available. Unfortunately, it didn’t take me long to figure out that just like on the Pocket PC platform, things start slowing down when you run a number of applications – and what’s worse, you don’t even have the option to access memory settings and shut down single or all applications depending on your needs (which to Microsoft’s credit isn’t a feature that should be present on a phone even though it needs to be in this case). The performance drop is however only noticeable and not a major issue, but I tell you this; I’ve seen the hour glass a couple of times and it’s like my worst nightmare come true – there should be no such thing on a mobile phone. Period.

InfoSync provides a solid commentary of the current smartphone landscape even pushing to state that while Palm OS is in devices called smartphones, it was not designed to be a smartphone…

While Microsoft shrinks its Windows platform to fit in a mobile phone fom factor device, the Symbian camp is made up from a number of phone manufacurers that beef up their devices from from using proprietary operating systems to an EPOC based one with vastly increased potential. So far, my experience with the two approaches leads me to say that Symbian OS devices respond faster and are more stable, whilst Pocket PC and Smartphone 2002 devices shine in terms of raw power. And yes, I know I’m generalizing.

The Orange Smartphone exceeds the capabilities of the current generation of top-of-the-line handsets, including Siemens S55, Sony Ericsson T68i, and the Symbian-powered Nokia 7650. Perhaps these companies have been sandbagging a bit, waiting for Microsoft’s entry into the market, but comparing a Smartphone to the rest of what’s out there is depressing if you’re determined to not buy Microsoft.

What’s the connection between Wi-Fi wireless networks, Weblogs and Web services? They are among the few technologies thriving amid the industrywide downturn. What’s more, they are examples of the trend toward decentralization.