Apple Developing New Palmtop Mac?

[dhns]

It's a good thing at least one of us has insider information. I know Jobsy is going to draw-and-quarter me for this but hey, whatever. Here you go baby.

Nice photoshop fake. It is the T-Mobile MDA IV with an apple symbol pasted on one key... Why does it NOT have the alt key and the Apple key? And what is the yellow/green window button for on a small screen? A "Mini MacOS X" needs to modify some of the concepts to really work on a smaller touchscreen.
I can only repeat: watch out for QuantumSTEP. That is NOT a fake. You can already test drive some applications compiled for PowerPC on your Mac and a new release will come.

-- hns

 

[boobers]

That is quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen. This just makes me want to find another iBook so mine can mate with it ::frantically searches:: I don't even care if this DOES anything (would be a nice though), I'd pay to have it sitting there looking cute next to my current one.

Maybe your little ibook can mate with my little powerbook?

Shes a redhead.

No optical, with a 20-40GB HD, 802.11G, Bluetooth, 1Ghz processor 1Ghz RAM. No it doesn't fit in your pocket. Comes with a bluetooth mousey. Squeak!

 

[dsharits]

Maybe your little ibook can mate with my little powerbook?

Shes a redhead.

No optical, with a 20-40GB HD, 802.11G, Bluetooth, 1Ghz processor 1Ghz RAM. No it doesn't fit in your pocket. Comes with a bluetooth mousey. Squeak!

It looks like it's 16x9 widescreen, too.

Daniel

 

[nitropowered]

I need an ultraportable/pda and if apple makes one, i will buy one. I mainly need one for on the go email checking and quick lookups on the web. I can't afford the Blackberry service cingular offers. It would be sweet if it had wifi, bluetooth and quad band gsm.

 

[RealDeal]

buy this in a heart-beat

low-power G3 running at 800MHz (gotta have at least 5 or 6 hours battery life)
6" to 8" Widescreen Display (touchscreen). At least 640 pixels wide.
Full qwerty keyboard
1 or 2 USB ports (possibly also FireWire)
Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled (same setup as Mac mini)
1.8" Hard drive at 20GB or 40GB
1 RAM slot, up to 1GB (laptop memory)
small external video connector (same as iBooks)
not sure about video card, but something with 32MB VRAM and ability to run full-fledged OSX and drive and
NO optical drive
Under 2lbs. weight

800 bucks..

looking good- I would use for writing notes to include in publications/books, maybe play music or an old Doom (1) game. My USB port for the memory-card to move files. Video card could by even 16MB. Cummon- we have to choose either touchscreen or keyboard- whatever works- not both.

 

[soniquev8]

I get worried if more than a month goes by without a page 2 - Apple PDA rumor.

Now I can sleep soundly again.

 

[-hh]

As a person who does a lot of business travel with a PDA, cellphone and laptop (and sometimes with my wife's iPod mini & digital camera too), I've been watching the convergence trends.

FYI, you'll note that I don't have a "black" or "blue" blackberry ... I need to be another step up the higherarchy chain before I'd be "allowed" to have one, and in some ways, I'm just as happy that I don't! In any event, its merely just one more piece of the puzzle in the convergence conglomeration.

Here's the terrain the way I see it:

PDA:
- "in your pocket" (fast/easy access) to phone numbers when you're away from your desk. However, this need is better addressed by putting them into your cellphone (easier dialing).
- "in your pocket" access to your business calendar, and similarly intimate "nag" alarms to remind you that you're supposed to be somewhere else.
- Palm OS has excellent interfacing to MS-Outlook via "Conduits": allows for one common calendar, phonebook, notes file, To-Do list that gets synchronized.
- reasonably good battery life, although its mostly because the device is used in standby mode ~95% of the time. If used constantly, goes dead fast.

Blackberry:
- wireless email on the road is its claim to fame. Battery life pretty good. PDA functionality generally not considered as good as Palm OS (I'm unsure if it has "Conduits" into MS-Outlook that are as good as they are on the Palm).
- "Blue" variant has integrated cellphone capability. Reduces its battery life, but a pretty good convergence.
- but it doesn't automatically (wirelessly) transfer your email right into your laptop while on the road.

Cellphone:
- similar "in your pocket" convenience to being able to contact other people.
- reasonably good battery life, partly again because you don't really spend too many hours on the phone (vs. standby).
- An excellent choice for convergence with PDA functions

MP3 player:
- yet another pocket device, but generally sucks too much power in comparison to the above. As such, not as suitable for convergence within the above.
- integrating MP3 into a cellphone and/or PDA is probably a darn good way to kill its battery faster than you would otherwise want those two devices to last.

Digital Camera:
- YA pocket device. Has already converged with cellphones (varying quality), so there's some potential there. Power needs reasonable if picture taking is kept limited. However, many businesses currently prohibit cellphones with cameras from being brought into their conference rooms, etc, because they're a security risk (corporate espionage, etc). As such, there will be a business need for cellphone/PDA's that specifically do not have this feature converged. Also, because of varying consumer needs, expect that there will be "camera first" and "phone first" specialization for many years to come.

Laptop:
- pretty much can do all of the above, although the cellphone integration and/or blackberry wireless isn't at all commonly found (probably for good reason).
- has had a long history of the "not good enough for desktop too", although this is generally no longer true.
- has had long history of poor battery life which limits utility...although some current products can hit ~6 hours
- weight trade-offs for battery life, above.
- not "instant on" or "in-pocket" like nearly all of the above
- users frequently like to have a 15" screen...until they're flying in Coach and the guy in front of you reclines.
- not cheap. Also, probably the most fragile of these items.


Implications: if you look at the above holistically, it should be evident that the laptop does "all" (mostly) of the desired tasks, but it simply isn't as convenient...the "in the pocket" and instant-on. Similarly, the cellphone/wireless email is the other key need, and its also the one that you want to have 24+ hour battery life for...the rest tend to be power-hungry, which will only be improved by battery technology.

As such, what I see as the road ahead is a three device system, that interconnect via bluetooth or a similar very localize LAN:

#1: wireless earpiece. For phone calls and MP3-listening

#2: "pocket" device. Houses the cellphone/blackberry/PDA functions and relays the data to the other two.

#3: "laptop" type device. Its power consumption needs to be low enough that its able to remain in standby all day long. It receives the email (and voicemail messages) from #2, plus its your MP3 transmitter sending to #1 (in this standby mode, using the laptop's RAM as a buffer for MP3 data from its hard drive will conserve power, etc).

This type of configuration is very doable today, but the IMO big technology breakthrough will be to do away with the current LCD screen...alternatives include holographic projection, which means that the guy reclining in the seat in front of you doesn't create a problem.

A more near-term technology solution would be a new LCD screen hinge design that cantilevers the screen forward, so that instead of your screen being "behind" the keyboard, its kind of more "over" it...


-hh

 

[smharmon]

I love the blackberry. My dad has one for work. its such a great way to get in touch with him. but the PDA aspect is so-so.

Anyone like the Treo by palm. it seems cool, but a bit big and won't sync with .mac mail

I have a treo 600, and is syncs with my .Mac mail just fine.

 

[jadam]

I want a tablet PC, but I want it to run OS X... Apple if you come with this I will love you forever.

I seirously would love to use a tablet PC in my classes, but Windows XP, bleh, have to right click everywhere. Apple's one button philosphy would fit in very well with a tablet OS.

 

[hob]

I want a tablet PC, but I want it to run OS X... Apple if you come with this I will love you forever.

I seirously would love to use a tablet PC in my classes, but Windows XP, bleh, have to right click everywhere. Apple's one button philosphy would fit in very well with a tablet OS.

Apple's Newton Philosophy would fit well with a tablet mac...

 

[bosrs1]

Well when you consider that the 12 in PB is smaller then the last newton.... I don't think this is a likely development.

 

[Philsy]

I reckon the future is with smartphones, that do everything a PDA will do and allow you to surf the web, check email, send texts, play music and video clips and - shock - make phone calls.

Considering the success of the iPod, Apple should produce a 3G phone/PDA/MP3 player/DAB radio that uses the iPod form factor.

OK, it'd be a bit bigger than a current iPod and would need a larger screen, but still smaller than carrying around a seperate PDA, phone and iPod. It would have stylus data entry - very small keyboards are unuseable and, besides, such a device would be used mainly to view information.

Add iSync so you sync your contacts and other data with your Mac and you'd have the perfect companion to the Mac. I'd buy one tomorrow!

 

[hchaney]

I for one would like to see something done right with handhelds...hopefully Apple will do so.

Even though handhelds have been around for a while, the software part of the industry is still in its infancy as there are a lot of software developers (maybe most) that rushed products to market. When they didn't sell in volumes anticipated, the software hasn't evolved much further. This has prevented comprehensive software development, especially in some of the codes that are more space efficient, although the new MS ".NET" language is promising, but again that's in it's infancy as well. I'm disappointed in most applications I've installed...save for a couple of isolated apps. I'm especially disappointed in the GPS mapping software.

Simply, software usually doesn't do what it's advertised to do. As an
example, I just bought a 2nd generation golf game because I really liked
the simplicity of the first generation. It is a piece of crap...unstable and
quirky. This is not my first experience with less than honest marketers.
Another example is some electrical engineering formula apps. I bought 3 or
4 specific task apps, and all of them do less than indicated and are nothing
more than look ups of tables of text information that can't be exported
into a spreadsheet or readily used. This stuff is readily available online, and
importable into excel. Or it's something that can duplicate in a spreadsheet
quickly and actually use. And the cost of the software is approaching the
cost of PC software...with a lot less quality.

For specific requirements, a handheld designed for a specific task seems
to be best, i.e.; For example, for a GPS, I would recommend a specific
handheld with GPS built in.

Memory storage and RAM being small limits really powerful software but
you know thats improving with 1 and 2 Gig cards.

The internet has been very slow to really adopt website specifically for
browsing with hand helds. There are web sites, but they usually are watered
down versions. This may change because of smart phones...who knows.

The development of tablet PCs have further struck a blow to hand helds which is where I see the new Apple product fitting in. Sony stopped development and marketing hand helds because of tablet PC
development. I really see an evolution to tablet PCs and their size
shrinking taking the place of current hand helds all together.

The smart phones are taking care of limited capability. They are great for address books, contact information, calendars, text
information apps, and calculators. The input is tedious unless you sync with your PC or Mac, anything else extends beyond their real
capability at this point.

Well, other than that, I like my dell Pocket PC OK. Actually, I'm trying to
lighten my technology load. My iPod will keep addresses and calendars for
me and will sync with my laptop so, I'm thinking about getting rid of my
Dell...as good as it is. Right now I have an iPod...I'm thinking about
getting a 2nd generation Photo iPod and hopefully, can get a calculator. Then it will do everything I need a handheld to do. Store picts of sexy girls and display them at my will (the downside is the screen size...hard to see the detail needed when looking at sexy girls), store and play my music library, hold contacts and addresses, sync to my laptop calendar, play a few mindless simple games, and make me look cool as I use it. What else is there?

12" Powerbook 133 Mhz, 1.25 GB RAM ( I love this machine)
12" iBook G4
Peach iMac
10 lb windoze wondermachine (company owned Jetbook) piece of crap.
Dell Axium X30 Pocket PC Arm 624 Mhz
2nd G iPod 10G

 

[wdlove]

I think that the phone and PDA should be kept separate. Having the functionality of the Palm is very important. It's very beneficial to the medical [profession.

 

[Lacero]

Small chiclet form factor devices that act as PDAs and phones or text messagers have failed miserably. PDAs are not the future. Subcompact laptops are really were it is at.

 

[weldon]

I really like how my phone and laptop work together with bluetooth. I'd like to see further development in this area so that the devices can share information. I don't really want an all-in-one smartphone as much as I want my PDA, iPod, Phone, and laptop to share information seamlessly.

 

[JzzTrump22]

I really don't think apple will make any money off of something like that. I really don't know anyone who still looks into buying hand held devices like Palms.

 

[dhns]

Here is a leak ripped off the apple site, err my poor attempt at a mockup

Also have a look at http://www.applele.com Isamu has a lot of very nice potential designs... How do you like http://www.applele.com/picture_f_hiphone_r08a.html ?

-- hns

 

[dhns]

It's a good thing at least one of us has insider information. I know Jobsy is going to draw-and-quarter me for this but hey, whatever. Here you go baby.

Nice image - but isn't it a T-Mobile MDA IV where some bitten apple is placed on one key? Not to mention that it does not have the alt key which you need to operate MacOS X...

It is not that simple running standard OS X on a touchscreen device by adding an Apple-Key. IMHO, the argument "Apple has Inkwell and MacOS X and just needs to build a Newton like hardware" does not hold. They need to modify (and simplify) a lot to fit into 128MB working memory! Requiring the typical 512MB-1GB you need on an iBook or Powerbook to be happy in a handheld device makes the battery larger than the whole device...

And finally, there is no low-power PowerPC processor for handheld devices. IBM did have one (405LP) but it was discontinued two years ago. So, it would either need a very slow emulator or complete recompilation (i.e. two versions of all software) for a let's say StrongARM.

So, the only solution to our hopes is not waiting for Apple but doing it ourselves based on available technologies: Sharp Zaurus ARM-based PDA and GNUstep. And we have decided to use the (re)compilation approach. If you want to join or support this project, please visit http://www.dsitri.de/wiki.php?page=QuantumSTEP

-- hns

 

[Philsy]

I really don't think apple will make any money off of something like that. I really don't know anyone who still looks into buying hand held devices like Palms.

Actually, everyone's got one - it's called a mobile phone. Most have at least basic PDA capabilities - contacts, calendar, reminders. Many go much further - look at the Sony Ericcson P900 or Motorola A1000 for instance.

 

[asdf123]

Well when you consider that the 12 in PB is smaller then the last newton.... I don't think this is a likely development.

how do you figure....like the eMate?


The Newton was a PDA...sized. Not larger than the 12 powerbook. Come'on.\=

 

[graphyte]

Cool but...

This thing is cool! I'd buy one for sure if Apple released it, but I don't think so...
It's a very competitive market, and, if released rolleyes: ),would it attract people's attention? It would have to be really awesome
And apart from using Inkwell it could also use the iPod click wheel... what do you think?

g

 

[chaos86]

ok so the last one was the Newton. has anyone come up with this name for the new apple pda yet?

iSaac


i really dont think this will happen

 

[Philsy]

ok so the last one was the Newton. has anyone come up with this name for the new apple pda yet?

iSaac


i really dont think this will happen

The Hawking?

 

[dhns]

The Hawking?

Steve's new "Stephen"!