JeffreyJM
07-03-2004, 11:30 AM
But I'm keeping my NX80 because it's perfect.
Forgive the following rant. I really am in danger of buying the Zodiac even though I really don't need it. Listen to me as attempt to convince myself.
Even though I'm generally an early adopter, I managed to prevent myself from blowing two months' entertainment budget by realizing how flawless my current PDA is. I will buy a Zodiac eventually. I have no doubt of that. But I'm happy to stay with my NX80 for the time being because:
1.) The keyboard is truly useful. When my wife calls asking me to pick something up at the store on my way home, I can whip out my NX80, flip it open and hit the ToDo button and start typing. I don't have to pull out the stylus. I can just punch in "Apple juice" or whatever in about two seconds, then close the delightfully protective clamshell and pop the Clie back onto my belt. Messing with the NX80s collapsible stylus adds a few seconds to that task, not only to get the darn thing out and extended properly now that it’s six months old, but also because I can't seem to master Graffiti 2. I was comfortable with the original Graffiti and fairly proficient with it. You had to be good at it back in the Palm Pilot Professional days. There was no other option. But somehow this new Graffiti confounds me at times, and I end up spending several seconds just trying to input a few characters. Decuma is pretty nice. Often, I can get whole sentences entered in about the same amount of time it would take me to write it on paper, but there are also oddities in Decuma that sometimes transform perfectly legitimate words into chaos. I don't know why, but I often reach a speed of writing in Decuma that overwhelms it, causing it to misinterpret every stroke I make. My thumb sometimes rolls across the small keyboard, adding a character I didn't intend, but the backspace key is just as quick as the stylus-based backspaces.
2.) Bellagio hasn't made a case for it yet. This isn't technically a flaw in the Zodiac, but I've carried Palms on my hip since the aforementioned Palm Pilot Professional days. My whole point in owning a PDA is to have access to it immediately at all times. I wear my cell phone (Nokia 3200) and PDA on my belt like a gunslinger and draw each with as much proficiency due to the quick-release belt clips. There are pouch-style cases with belt clips for the Zodiac already, but I'll face you at high noon on main street, and we'll see who can enter a new contact's phone number first. Good luck with that zipper, buddy.
3.) Almost unrelated, but I'll have to get a new mini camera, too. Even though the NX80 has a built-in camera, I don't rely on it for important pics. Quality is just not quite up to snuff, and the absence of a flash makes it useless in many situations. To remedy this, I carry yet another quick-release clip on my belt (that's right, my belt resembles Batman's utility belt) which contains a Sony Cybershot-U. This tiny camera, smaller than most cell phones, takes awesome pictures, and I can use my Clie to view and email the photos (Snappermail to my Earthlink dialup via my cell phone’s IR port). Since the Zodiac uses SD cards, I'll have to get a Casio Exlim or similar device to serve the same portable purpose of the old Cybershot.
4.) Since I am a gadget geek, I'll also have to get a Bluetooth dongle so I can use the Zodiac to surf the web when my computer is in use by the wife or kids. Those are cheap, so no big deal. But on the other hand, I'll have to get a new cell phone. The Nokia 3200 doesn't have Bluetooth support. And the Zodiac's built-in Bluetooth works hand-in-hand with a similarly equipped cell phone. I could surf the web and send emails from the Zodiac while the phone rests in its clip on my belt. What is cooler than that? (And the phone will have to feature an FM radio since I listen to it from about 6am to 7pm every day with the optional Nokia stereo headset running from my belt to my ears.) So I’ll have to get a new phone. And AT&T’s data rates are exorbitant at the moment, so I’ll probably have to switch providers to get a more reasonable plan and pay the $300 penalties for dropping two phones from AT&T.
And there you have it. Even though the Zodiac costs literally half what I paid for my NX80, the cost of updating my matching accessories would put the final cost well above what I can afford. I could survive without the new camera and phone, of course. Points 3 and 4 above are just the result of my tech lust and could be suppressed for a few months, probably. But the first two points are legitimate reasons why I'm sticking with my NX80 for the time being.
But who am I kidding? As soon as Bellagio releases a Zodiac case with a belt clip, I'm picking up a Zodiac. I will miss the keyboard, but in its place will be an analog joystick which does feel really good under your thumb. If you're lucky enough to live near a CompUSA that's displaying it, go touch it, and you'll spend as many hours as I have convincing yourself that you don't actually need a new PDA. But you'll buy it anyway.
Forgive the following rant. I really am in danger of buying the Zodiac even though I really don't need it. Listen to me as attempt to convince myself.
Even though I'm generally an early adopter, I managed to prevent myself from blowing two months' entertainment budget by realizing how flawless my current PDA is. I will buy a Zodiac eventually. I have no doubt of that. But I'm happy to stay with my NX80 for the time being because:
1.) The keyboard is truly useful. When my wife calls asking me to pick something up at the store on my way home, I can whip out my NX80, flip it open and hit the ToDo button and start typing. I don't have to pull out the stylus. I can just punch in "Apple juice" or whatever in about two seconds, then close the delightfully protective clamshell and pop the Clie back onto my belt. Messing with the NX80s collapsible stylus adds a few seconds to that task, not only to get the darn thing out and extended properly now that it’s six months old, but also because I can't seem to master Graffiti 2. I was comfortable with the original Graffiti and fairly proficient with it. You had to be good at it back in the Palm Pilot Professional days. There was no other option. But somehow this new Graffiti confounds me at times, and I end up spending several seconds just trying to input a few characters. Decuma is pretty nice. Often, I can get whole sentences entered in about the same amount of time it would take me to write it on paper, but there are also oddities in Decuma that sometimes transform perfectly legitimate words into chaos. I don't know why, but I often reach a speed of writing in Decuma that overwhelms it, causing it to misinterpret every stroke I make. My thumb sometimes rolls across the small keyboard, adding a character I didn't intend, but the backspace key is just as quick as the stylus-based backspaces.
2.) Bellagio hasn't made a case for it yet. This isn't technically a flaw in the Zodiac, but I've carried Palms on my hip since the aforementioned Palm Pilot Professional days. My whole point in owning a PDA is to have access to it immediately at all times. I wear my cell phone (Nokia 3200) and PDA on my belt like a gunslinger and draw each with as much proficiency due to the quick-release belt clips. There are pouch-style cases with belt clips for the Zodiac already, but I'll face you at high noon on main street, and we'll see who can enter a new contact's phone number first. Good luck with that zipper, buddy.
3.) Almost unrelated, but I'll have to get a new mini camera, too. Even though the NX80 has a built-in camera, I don't rely on it for important pics. Quality is just not quite up to snuff, and the absence of a flash makes it useless in many situations. To remedy this, I carry yet another quick-release clip on my belt (that's right, my belt resembles Batman's utility belt) which contains a Sony Cybershot-U. This tiny camera, smaller than most cell phones, takes awesome pictures, and I can use my Clie to view and email the photos (Snappermail to my Earthlink dialup via my cell phone’s IR port). Since the Zodiac uses SD cards, I'll have to get a Casio Exlim or similar device to serve the same portable purpose of the old Cybershot.
4.) Since I am a gadget geek, I'll also have to get a Bluetooth dongle so I can use the Zodiac to surf the web when my computer is in use by the wife or kids. Those are cheap, so no big deal. But on the other hand, I'll have to get a new cell phone. The Nokia 3200 doesn't have Bluetooth support. And the Zodiac's built-in Bluetooth works hand-in-hand with a similarly equipped cell phone. I could surf the web and send emails from the Zodiac while the phone rests in its clip on my belt. What is cooler than that? (And the phone will have to feature an FM radio since I listen to it from about 6am to 7pm every day with the optional Nokia stereo headset running from my belt to my ears.) So I’ll have to get a new phone. And AT&T’s data rates are exorbitant at the moment, so I’ll probably have to switch providers to get a more reasonable plan and pay the $300 penalties for dropping two phones from AT&T.
And there you have it. Even though the Zodiac costs literally half what I paid for my NX80, the cost of updating my matching accessories would put the final cost well above what I can afford. I could survive without the new camera and phone, of course. Points 3 and 4 above are just the result of my tech lust and could be suppressed for a few months, probably. But the first two points are legitimate reasons why I'm sticking with my NX80 for the time being.
But who am I kidding? As soon as Bellagio releases a Zodiac case with a belt clip, I'm picking up a Zodiac. I will miss the keyboard, but in its place will be an analog joystick which does feel really good under your thumb. If you're lucky enough to live near a CompUSA that's displaying it, go touch it, and you'll spend as many hours as I have convincing yourself that you don't actually need a new PDA. But you'll buy it anyway.