Palm can't get it right

[dougf]

It's funny how Palm tries and tries, and they can't get it right. They finally come out with the keyboard model, even the camera model, and they get rid of Stereo on one and the voice recorder on both. No wonder I lost so much on their stock. Of well, Here's to Sony, they have definitely earned their money from me. They do Palm devices better then Palm does....so so sad.

[graph101]

TC doesnt have voice rec?

[pigburger]

It's tough to argue against the value of the Zire 71, it offers allot for the price point. Is it the best, heck know, but if Sony offered it, we would be jumping all over it. It offers 75% of the functionality of the NX70 at 60% of the price. If that meets your needs you are in luck, if not, look towards the Sony offerings. I won't knock Palm for this round, both are nice in their own way and are certainly more of a stretch than the TT.

If you want to take shots, take it at PPC. Faster processors and more RAM can not make up for the flaws of the OS. OS 5 isn't perfect but PPC is like walking in ice skates by comparison...

[graph101]

sj33 cant compete with zire71 but i think a price drop for tg50 is on its way now. circuitcity is also offering $25giftcard rebate on pdas.

[aaronrkelly]

I dont see how anyone can say Palm didnt get it right with this model....under $300 OS5 machine. Standard APIs and support for developers gives you a nice round of options for MP3 player. That is one SERIOUS problem with Sony. The camera aint the best but its a PDA not a camera (heard that argument many times when talking about the NX or NZ). Sony needs to start supporting programmers and in doing so support their users.....till then I dont see the flaw in the Zire 71, if I was buying a device today I would give it a serious look - I have NO Sony brand loyalty.

[rincon]

i too don't see why sony fans are bashing palm over this latest round of release. not perfect but definitely value for money in comparison to the existing clies. sony is not such a exemplary company itself....just see the cf issues and the various "top-secret" apis. palm can get ogg vorbis and flexibly encoded mp3 while after all this time we are still stuck with 44hz only mp3.

i have a nr70 and still see no reason to upgrade as yet. but if sony screws up the next few release (eg. no os5, 32/64mb, hires+, small-form clie), i might well go back to palm! :)

[charliedoble]

Although I am not planning to go away from Sony any time soon, I'm glad Palm has come up with new models with better features. It will help consumers by offering a wider variety of choices, plus the competition will force Sony to make sure they release kick *** products...

[jmg_NX21]

The zire71 is neat... BUT the camera IS no where NEAR the NX (Tried it and compared it after beaming it to my NX)... the T|C... eh, no interest... NO WAY will I revert to anything less than Hi Res+

The problem? Those who don't KNOW much about PDA's, THESE will be enough for them...

[vansouza]

Regardless of how we Clie users see Palm units, the important thing is the competition always lowers the price of a line of products... I love the Palm OS and the Sony hardware. Other opinions differ and that is a GOOD thing not a bad thing. Celebrate the variety. Did not mean to preach... my two cents...

[aaronchow]

In addition to that, I really hope that Sony will put more efforts to make our CLIE product lines more usable. This time, Palm has done a really nice touch from the software point of view. From easy wireless setup to quick-and-easy way to shot photos, Palm has done a fascinating job.

From the hardward point-of-view, Sony should standardize their connectors, and I'm tired of buying new accessaries for each different models.

PS ~ Sony still has a lot to learn from Palm.

[aaronrkelly]

Originally posted by jmg_NX21
The zire71 is neat... BUT the camera IS no where NEAR the NX (Tried it and compared it after beaming it to my NX)... the T|C... eh, no interest... NO WAY will I revert to anything less than Hi Res+

The problem? Those who don't KNOW much about PDA's, THESE will be enough for them...

I might take offense to the above comment.....I consider myself to know a decent amount about PDAs. I do know that under many circumstances the NX or NZ would not work for me, first of all the bulk will keep me away from these higher end Sony devices.

Anyone in my profession would bulk at bulk, put 20+ pounds of gear on a duty belt and the only place left is your pocket - NZ or NX isnt going to fit their comfortably. The Zire 71s camera, however low tech it is, would be handy to have for pics (accidents, quick snaps of evidence etc) so far this device meets my needs where the NZ or NX doesnt.....it would be enough for me.

[Rick 098]

Originally posted by aaronrkelly


I do know that under many circumstances the NX or NZ would not work for me, first of all the bulk will keep me away from these higher end Sony devices.

Anyone in my profession would bulk at bulk, put 20+ pounds of gear on a duty belt and the only place left is your pocket - NZ or NX isnt going to fit their comfortably. The Zire 71s camera, however low tech it is, would be handy to have for pics (accidents, quick snaps of evidence etc) so far this device meets my needs where the NZ or NX doesnt.....it would be enough for me.
NX fits very nicely in my pocket. NZ-bulk NX- fine the way it is.

[archangel]

I think they did it right with the Zire 71. The Tungsten C is apparently only meant for corporate use, so I guess that was done right for the business market.

The Zire 71 would not draw me away from the NX60. I don't need a camera and I would have to give up Hires+, strong IR remote control, Flash Player, polyphonic alarms, and the keyboard.

I also greatly prefer the Sony MP3 player and its three levels of bass to the Palm offerings. The sound quailty is improved on the Zire 71, but you still don't have the bass options of the Clie. Orb and VBR support is nice, but I have goldwave so I can make my MP3s 44.1kHz. I can also play Bejewlled and Shanghai while listening to MP3s. The omap processor on the Palms bogs down and will freeze if you try this.

[Vidge]

I think Palm made two great attempts on these latest units. I have always owned Palm units until I got my NR70V last year. And I gave serious consideration to the T|C - even returning to the store last night to check it out further. It is still not the right device for me, but I think Palm has come a long way in providing units that appeal to a lot of folks.

The biggest stumbling block for me is going to be present on all future POS devices - Grafitti2. If you haven't had the opportunity to play around with this yet, you're in for a surprise. I can only hope that somebody comes out with an "enhancement" that will allow us to use the original graffiti on these new units.

[benixau]

Is graffiti2 that bad? i mean - surely palm didnt destroy graffiti1 compatability. And knowing sony they will hopefully include it as an option in a menu somewhere. Want proof - they did it with the launcher.

[Vidge]

Originally posted by benixau
Is graffiti2 that bad? i mean - surely palm didnt destroy graffiti1 compatability. And knowing sony they will hopefully include it as an option in a menu somewhere. Want proof - they did it with the launcher.

Yes, G2 is that bad!:mad: G1 is not available on the new Palm units. It took me 20 minutes to get it to recognize an "i" properly (have to dot it!) and I was never able to get it to write a capital "I".

But don't take my word for it. See the review here (http://www.infosyncworld.com/news/n/3481.html)

[archangel]

I'm going to try and hold on to my NX60 for as long as possible. I really don't want to relearn graffiti.

[PDA gadgetfreak]

Originally posted by aaronrkelly


I might take offense to the above comment.....I consider myself to know a decent amount about PDAs. I do know that under many circumstances the NX or NZ would not work for me, first of all the bulk will keep me away from these higher end Sony devices.

Anyone in my profession would bulk at bulk, put 20+ pounds of gear on a duty belt and the only place left is your pocket - NZ or NX isnt going to fit their comfortably. The Zire 71s camera, however low tech it is, would be handy to have for pics (accidents, quick snaps of evidence etc) so far this device meets my needs where the NZ or NX doesnt.....it would be enough for me.

I agree! I carry a PDA, digital camera and frequently my laptop on the job. Even though I occasionly need a high resolution photo, most I shoot are low res for reference only and a low res photo will work just fine. If I was in the market for a PDA now....I'd have to consider this as an option. The small size would be a plus. I think they'll sell a ton of them. On a positive note for Sony, they'll continue to "push the envelope" with great development. Face it....until Sony started inovating the platform, things were kind of stale! Just my $.02

[Alistar]

Originally posted by aaronrkelly


I might take offense to the above comment.....I consider myself to know a decent amount about PDAs. I do know that under many circumstances the NX or NZ would not work for me, first of all the bulk will keep me away from these higher end Sony devices.

Anyone in my profession would bulk at bulk, put 20+ pounds of gear on a duty belt and the only place left is your pocket - NZ or NX isnt going to fit their comfortably. The Zire 71s camera, however low tech it is, would be handy to have for pics (accidents, quick snaps of evidence etc) so far this device meets my needs where the NZ or NX doesnt.....it would be enough for me.

The NX fits nicely in my pocket with the metal case on. It also fits perfectly in my inside jacket pocket.

[jamester]

Originally posted by jmg_NX21
The zire71 is neat... BUT the camera IS no where NEAR the NX (Tried it and compared it after beaming it to my NX

Hehe - this statement just made me smile. The Zire71 ($299) camera is nowhere near the NX ($499+)? I would hope not. The important thing to remember is that the Zire 71 is not a high-end model, and it shouldn't be compared to such. If it were a high-end device, or had a camera with such higher quality, then I'd think the pricepoints for some of these models would be wrong. :)

They're different. That's good. There's different PDA's for different people. Woo! :) Compared to Palm's (lack of) offerings of late, I'd say the Z71 and the T|C are *fantastic* steps in the right direction.

Bravo.

J

[kdn102]

My comments from this other post fit here perfectly:
http://www.cliesource.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=181451#post181451

[Eric S]

Originally posted by archangel
The Zire 71 would not draw me away from the NX60. I don't need a camera and I would have to give up Hires+, strong IR remote control, Flash Player, polyphonic alarms, and the keyboard.

I couldn't agree more on the HiRes+, but the rest does nothing for me. In fact, the polyphonic alarms are becoming less of a win under PalmOS5 because the alarms are waveforms rather than midi files now.

[Eric S]

Originally posted by Vidge
The biggest stumbling block for me is going to be present on all future POS devices - Grafitti2. If you haven't had the opportunity to play around with this yet, you're in for a surprise. I can only hope that somebody comes out with an "enhancement" that will allow us to use the original graffiti on these new units.

It's already out there. TealScript. Runs under PalmOS5 and can emulate Graffiti 1 or 2, and under PalmOS5 has the full-screen writing ability.

[Eric S]

Originally posted by benixau
Is graffiti2 that bad? i mean - surely palm didnt destroy graffiti1 compatability. And knowing sony they will hopefully include it as an option in a menu somewhere. Want proof - they did it with the launcher.

Yes, but Graffiti 1 is the target of a lawsuit, the original launcher isn't.. I really doubt that Sony is going to make a change like this and leave the door open for this lawsuit.