Innovation and PDAs
on 11.27.05, 06:53am in embedded • share on facebook • comments (10)
Overall, I’ve been pretty happy with the Audiovox 5600 since switching to it last year. However, while I was on the road last week, I decided that it just sucks for writing email – T9 keyboard entry is nothing short of a pain in the ass when having to respond to a message with more than a few words. Add in the typical email onslaught that you get each week by working at Microsoft, and you’re left with some pretty sore thumbs.
So in my typical gadget-centric mind, I decided to start looking around at what was around these days for phones/pda hybrids. To be honest, I had stopped keeping up with what’s new with PDA’s once switching to the Audiovox, as the technology has hit a plateau – there’s been nothing revolutionary around them in the last few years, and I had mentally ‘checked-out’ from them. (heck, I even said that the Audiovox wasn’t exciting – I stick to that even after owning one).
The other night, I had a chance to play with the new HTC Wizard (Omar loves his, and Shawn really digs his HTC Apache). While I still think it’s definately more bulky compared to the Audiovox, I was impressed with what they’re packing into a Pocket PC phone these days – the keyboard was really usable, and I love the thought of having Wifi access. In some ways, it’s a micro-version of the HPC/2000 that never took off.
But to be honest, it still feels like the same Pocket PC phone I abandoned a few years back. There’s no new user interface paradigms (in fact, it looks exactly the same as it did in 2002), and the feature set is hardly beyond what my original Pocket PC phone offered. Tack on no new ‘must have’ applications and a $570 price-tag, makes it a no-go for me.
Bummer. For now I have to stick with the 5600, sore thumbs, and my 21st century PDA.
Has real innovation just stalled in the PDA/Phone world?
Benjimawoo (November 27, 2005 @ 8:03 am)
I’m not sure it’s stalled, just hit something of a junction.
There is a group of people (like me) who would rather have a smallish phone and a dedicated PDA, rather than a more bulky combination phone/pda. The biggest problem seems to be that display quality has improved beyond what we (most people) can input with.
It’s not unreasonable to read quite a long chunk of text on a phone sized screen, however, it would be almost impossible to use a stlyus on the same sized screen. And although it would be fairly trivial to cram a keyboard into a size that would fit into a candy-bar phone form factor, actually typing on it would be akin to flipping dip switches wth gloves on
I don’t think innovation has stalled as such, I just think that we’ve got to a point that rather than refining and combining devices, something rather drastic os going to have to happen in terms of input to make a combination viable.
Once the input’s been sorted out, it’ll widen the scope for what applications are actually practical to use on the device, and one thing wil lead to another.
That’s just what I think, though.
Daniel Marsh (November 27, 2005 @ 8:15 pm)
The HPC form factor was a technology way ahead of its time and were priced way out of the market. They were commercial flop, but in many ways very revolutionary. I use my HP Jornada 720 daily for email, web browsing, reading pdf’s and lit ebooks, ssh, moblogging, offline wikipedia use, mp3 playback, GPS, etc. It is by far the most all-around functional PDA device I have ever used. The combination of a touch typeable keyboard as well as a full width/half height VGA screen makes it by far the best portable platform available for serious document editing/creation on the go. The technology is a bit dated by today’s PDA standards in terms of CPU speed and ram, but a rapid user base at hpcfactor.com has kept the platform suprisingly viable. I can fit bluetooth, wifi, gps and gigs of storage (via microdrives) all in my jacket pocket. Oh, and I get 10+ hours of active use on a single battery charge. I can do 90% of what I would do with a full-size laptop, in a pocketable form factor. Along with 3 times the battery life of a notebook and instant power on/off, the HPC form factor is still very relevant today.
Jornada 720’s/728’s are available on eBay for $200 with the NEC Mobile Pro 900c (runs the newer Win CE .NET 4.2) going for about $400. I personally think the Psion Netbook Pro is the ultimate HPC available, but it is hugely expensive at $1200 new. If you want to really push the envelope, you could get yourself a OQO, which runs full blown Windows XP. The OQO doesn’t has an aweful keyboard for any serious data entry, limited battery life, etc., but they cram an astounding bunch of hardware in a very tiny, pocketable package.
If you ever want to checkout my Jornada, I live in Bellevue.
Steve (November 28, 2005 @ 9:09 pm)
Appreciate the offer Daniel – I actually spent MANY hours on the HPC, HPC Pro and 2000 models working at BSQUARE. Agreed, they were way ahead of their time, but they’re too bulky to carry around on my hip
Daniel Marsh (November 28, 2005 @ 9:27 pm)
The Bsquare Power Handheld is a great unit. I just wish it came with a US GSM module and had better battery life.
Christopher Gavin (November 29, 2005 @ 12:44 am)
Have you seen the newish HTC Universal?
Apart from the shockingly bad Windows Mobile 5 it has everything you claim to need and then some.
I use mine religiously …
Daniel Marsh (November 29, 2005 @ 3:15 am)
I have seen pictures of the HTC Universal and read a few threads. The keyboard is way too small for serious use. I can touch type the keyboard on my Jornada 720 at a rate that is actually greater than my ergonomic desktop keyboard (due to less hand movement to reach keys). The keyboard on the HTC Universal is too chicklet like and the square, unbeveled keys are aweful. About the only worse keyboard I have seen is the one on the newly released Libretto. I would love to see a smaller, faster HPC like clamshell device, but every effort I have seen incorporates a keyboard that is unuseable. I am not looking for the next blackberry killer. I want a device that is useful for serious work! About the only way I can see of shrinking the size of an HPC down much past that of a Jornada and still have it be useful is to start thinking about alternative text input methods, such as a chording keyboard.
I am really not too keen on convergence devices, as they tend to perform all their “everything and the kitchen sink” functions poorer than individual devices designed for the task. I am interested in devices with GSM/CDMA built in for data connectivity, not phone functionality.
Ptaavs (November 29, 2005 @ 7:56 am)
There are some great new things on the horizon, furrygoat, namely the Windows Mobile Treo 700w, (running PPC PE WM5), and the Motorola Q, (running SP WM5), both of which have excellent keyboards.
bennie (November 30, 2005 @ 2:32 pm)
I think its the batteries fault. When the betteries get better the processors will get heaps faster. and the Killer Applications will reign supreme!
Nick Donelson (January 12, 2006 @ 2:38 pm)
Love the 720 however, I can’t get it to open hotmail . I get to the inbox with messages listed but it won’t open the messages. Any suggestions for SW thta will work??
Allan (May 29, 2006 @ 3:07 pm)
Can anyone tell me what GPS software will work on the HP 720. It’s starting to feel like the search for the holy grail!