Trade in Keyboard for a Bigger Screen?

[jhason]

I totally love my TG-50 but if Sony came out with a model that substituted a 320x480 screen instead of the keyboard I would buy it tomorrow. I hope that Sony is considering doing this along with integrating 802.11b/g, including the version of Palm OS 5.x that allows internal memory to be greater than 16MB and also including a Complact Flash slot. This would be the perfect PDA! This configuration would totally kill the HP 5455 PPC! I'm not into the integrated camera/video cam because I already have a 5 mega pixel camera and the fact that these add-ons makes the CLIE less pocketable. But who out there would opt for a larger screen like the NXs instead of the keyboard?

Just Wondering,
Jhason

[archangel]

Believe me 320X480 is something many people want. Why Palm and Sony have gone for 320X320 and thumb keyboards on their newest devices is a mystery to me.

I think it would be cheaper to do virtual graffiti and leave off the keyboard, but who knows.

[rdasilva]

As fond as I am of all those little amber lights, I'd trade them in for a larger screen. A larger screen would allow a virtual graffiti area to remain up whenever text input is needed. Right now I end up hitting that text input button quite a bit. I'd love for there to be a way to have the virtual graffiti come up automatically.

[action man]

I have a T-665 and love it. I am waiting for the release of a larger screen in the same footprint as the T-665 and would buy it in a heart-beat. I certainly hope Sony designers listen up and deliver such an obvious package or risk loosing loyal customers to other devices...

[tiwee]

I guess it will still be a long wait. At least another 4 mths or so.

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by archangel
Believe me 320X480 is something many people want. Why Palm and Sony have gone for 320X320 and thumb keyboards on their newest devices is a mystery to me.


Because some people don't like or are intimidated by Graffiti. Although I have several PPCs and a Palm and use my Palm heavily, I'm not a graffiti fan. If not for suddenly receiving these units (development tasks), I wouldn't have tried either. I'm an HP 95/100/200LX user going WAY back to around 1991; I can type very quickly on a thumbboard, but can't remember how to do @, &, or : in graffiti.

By supporting both types of users, Palm and Sony broaden their sales base.

Purism and arrogance are no substitute for sales in the business world.

[TechnoCat]

Corrected login. Why did the dratted forum forget my login data?

Originally posted by archangel
Believe me 320X480 is something many people want. Why Palm and Sony have gone for 320X320 and thumb keyboards on their newest devices is a mystery to me.


Because some people don't like or are intimidated by Graffiti. Although I have several PPCs and a Palm and use my Palm heavily, I'm not a graffiti fan. If not for suddenly receiving these units (development tasks), I wouldn't have tried either. I'm an HP 95/100/200LX user going WAY back to around 1991; I can type very quickly on a thumbboard, but can't remember how to do @, &, or : in graffiti.

By supporting both types of users, Palm and Sony broaden their sales base.

Purism and arrogance are no substitute for sales in the business world.

[TechnoCat]

Corrected login. Why did the dratted forum forget my login data and not accept the userid/password in the message form? Somebody should really debug this stupid forum software!

Originally posted by archangel
Believe me 320X480 is something many people want. Why Palm and Sony have gone for 320X320 and thumb keyboards on their newest devices is a mystery to me.


Because some people don't like or are intimidated by Graffiti. Although I have several PPCs and a Palm and use my Palm heavily, I'm not a graffiti fan. If not for suddenly receiving these units (development tasks), I wouldn't have tried either. I'm an HP 95/100/200LX user going WAY back to around 1991; I can type very quickly on a thumbboard, but can't remember how to do @, &, or : in graffiti.

By supporting both types of users, Palm and Sony broaden their sales base.

Purism and arrogance are no substitute for sales in the business world.

[mvfrancisco]

I'm also probably in the minority, but I prefer using the keyboard for long messages. Even though I've been using PalmOS for years and I'm pretty confident with my graffiti, whenever I write something, I always have to keep on pausing to make sure that my strokes and arcs are within the software's tolerance and everything is being transcribed correctly.

I prefer the keyboard, because with hard keys you can go as fast as you like without having to worry about "interpretation".

[minhaferzz]

I also agree with the idea of most Palm makers trying to appeal more to new users... people who'd rather use thumb keyboards than graffiti. Truthfully... if this wave of thumb keyboards had been a few years earlier, I probably would have preferred the thumb keyboard myself.

[JoeT]

I'm surprised other keyboard enthusiasts haven't chimed in, so let me be the first: Trade in my keyboard for more screen? Not a chance! I bought an NR70 as soon as it came out precisely because it had a keyboard. But I never totally got into the open, larger formfactor in clamshell mode to type. I always wished they had a keyboard Clie in the basic tablet formfactor, even if it meant not having the wider screen. When the TG50 came out my wish came true, and I immediately switched!

For the record, I loved Graffiti while it lasted (for me)! I've been graffiti-ing for 5 years, and if I may boast, I'm the fastest grafiti-ist I know (about 20 words a minute consistently). But being a fast typist, I knew I would be faster with a thumbboard. I can type on the TG at a solid 30 words a minute with far less effort, and so much more comfortably, that there's no way I'm ever going back to graffiti! Now I know some people feel just as strongly about graffiti, and there's nothing wrong with that! To each his own! But I just wanted to clarify that there are some of us who are certainly not afraid of graffiti, but just LOVE the keyboard! :D :D :D

[riversen]

Hey the new Zire 71 is out in California at Staples. I just talked to a guy who was looking at one in the store this weekend. I hope Sony answers soon, or they will loose the market.

[ngwailung]

It's the trend for Palm and Sony to integrate the keyboard into the handheld: NX70V, NZ90, TG50, Tungsten W, and Tungsten C. It is because Blackberry, which has an integrated keyboard and wireless functionality, sells surprisingly well. Seeing that the move to wireless communications will be inevitable in the forthcoming few years, Palm and Sony will not miss the opportunity to broaden their user base, especially the original Blackberry customers.

For Sony, there is already a large screen handheld with keyboard, so it is reasonable to have a TG50 featuring the keyboard with lighter weight (due to smaller screen size), longer battery life (due to lower battery consumption), yet with wireless communication capability (i.e. Bluetooth). Sony MAY issue a model with large screen and without keyboard, but from the view of market strategy the priority should go to one with a keyboard to facilitate wireless communication.

Large screen is not Sony's first priority, since it has already several models featuring a 320x480 screen. Sony's priority is to strengthen its wireless communication capability, that's why you can see either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth present in all the recent models. Keybard is only a peripheral feature to make sending e-mail or SMS easier.

[ranger75]

I love the TG50 keyboard, that was important point to purchase the unit. If sony can integate 802.11b and enlarge the flash ROM to 32MB, that would be perfect!

[ngwailung]

I'm almost sure that Sony will continue to have WiFi incorporated into its handheld, yet the major problem is the battery consumption.

On the other hand, I think that Sony better use OS5.2.1 and expand the RAM beyond the 16MB limit. As I mentioned in another thread, it may be that not all TG50 models have flash ROM.

[riversen]

Good point, ngwailung. I hope that the TG models do expand both their RAM and ROM (or at least make the ROM accessable as well and free up the needed 4 other Meg's of RAM). I find the 11 Meg's of usable RAM and the very small keyboard 2 points that stopped me from ever buying one. I could like the keyboard, I suppose, (this comes from a person who has been a pretty consistent "anti" keyboard guy) if it had bigger buttons or ones like the Blackberry pagers which are much easier to input with (just my opinion and experience), I finally use it. Fat fingered people like me are not able to use it as easily.