Apple PDA... Again

[paulbarton]

Originally posted by cubist
Anyone who thinks a smartphone can replace a PDA has never really used a PDA. In my current PDA I have 87 memo files, 30 or so short notes, 250 things to do, and about 400 contacts, complete with multiple addresses, multiple phone numbers, and multiple emails. You can't work with that amount of information on a smartphone.

The P900 can easily accomplish the above - And take and send pictures and videos to phones and PCs. Next gen will be 3G and video conf as well. Will you really still want a pda only?

You really shouldn't say "can't" when you mean "I don't think you can..."

Incidently, does the US have a 3G service yet? The UKs had it for a year although it was launched prematurely and doesn't work too well.

 

[question fear]

the us does not have a true 3g service, especially not on gsm.
sprint was attempting something for a while on thier vision plans but i dont think it ever came to fruition.

i think in mentioning 3g plans though you are hitting on why a smartphone like the p900 isnt really a hit here...theres no fast data rate plans for phones, and we've just started using bluetooth in pdas and phones around ~2 years ago...they existed before that here obviously but not in any sort of a critical mass. we're fairly behind in the technology compared to europe, and unfortunately a great deal of that comes from our cell providers not from our use of the technology as consumers.
sigh.

but thats why the p900 may work amazing for you, but most people here seem more resistant. imho, consumers in america see the shortcomings of smartphones plus the expense, and without a compelling option just avoid them.

 

[cubist]

Originally posted by paulbarton
... You really shouldn't say "can't" when you mean "I don't think you can..."

True. I seriously doubt you can deal effectively with that amount of information with a P900.

I replaced my piece of junk T68i with an Audiovox Thera. The organizer features of the T68i are completely worthless. The Thera is a PDA with a CDMA phone in it. It's a good PDA, but a lousy phone... but the PDA features are more important to me.

Say, anyone look at those pictures of the disassembled iPod Mini? That's the kind of case an Apple PDA ought to have.

 

[wHo_tHe]

Originally posted by cubist
True. I seriously doubt you can deal effectively with that amount of information with a P900.

Sony Ericsson's P900 (or P800, for that matter) could easily handle a few hundred contacts and to-do's. The OS and processor are powerful; it's really a small computer. If any device is truly at the nexus of the PDA and cell phone, it's the P900.

But as a long-time PDA fan and user, I feel even the P900 suffers from two persistent PDA problems: The screen is too small, and entering text quickly and comfortably is too difficult.

Until folding screens arrive )), it's impractical for cell phone screens to be larger than they are. And until voice recognition improves to the point where one can speak quietly and quickly into a headset and have instant transcription, I don't see that as an option either.

I still use my Newton MP 2100 daily because no device has been able to replace it as a notepad, and believe me, I've tried them all. I'd love a new Newton-ish device running 800x500, video-enabled with full access to short- and long- range wireless networks. The Samsung Nexio S160 gets the form-factor and some other things right, but its Windows CE OS is a deal-killer. (If you think Microsoft's desktop OS's are bad, wait until you see their portable OS's. CE and PPC are truly, truly horrible.)

 

[cubist]

Doggone it! I've been trying hard to be happy with my Thera, and then you bring up the Newton again. A few months back I bought a Newton 2100, and (a) its recognition is vastly better than anything I've used before, and (b) the big screen is wonderful. (And it has screen rotation, too.)

If Apple could come out with a screen the size of a Newton's, with a metal case like the iPod Mini, and it was running Mac OS X with a low-power G3 processor (I suppose it'd have to be a color screen), they'd have a real winner. It could have bluetooth for keyboard/mouse and Firewire or Ethernet for syncing. They could call it the PowerBook Mini.

 

[sambo.]

hehehe

with any luck it'll be better than the Newton when it gets here.
i don't mind carrying a separate phone and a PDA, so those two functions can remain in separate devices, bluetooth will provide the connectivity.
hmmmm - a PDA with a 60Gb hard-drive, thats what i'd like.....

 

[brainless]

True. I seriously doubt you can deal effectively with that amount of information with a P900.

I replaced my piece of junk T68i with an Audiovox Thera. The organizer features of the T68i are completely worthless. The Thera is a PDA with a CDMA phone in it. It's a good PDA, but a lousy phone... but the PDA features are more important to me.

Say, anyone look at those pictures of the disassembled iPod Mini? That's the kind of case an Apple PDA ought to have.

I agree the SE P900 is a good example how the PDA-phone integration can be done. I can't see any of your concerns about the performance of SmartPhone valid. I only worked with P800, but it can handle all you wanted. On the other hand, I don't see why you want PDA that has no access to internet - synchronisation, e-mail access and even browsing is all doable on SmartPhone and I really don't see any reason why should I carry two devices when I can have only one. Well P900 is slightly big for a phone, but it can be easily navigated with one hand and that is main reason why I think PDA adapted to be also phones such as Palm or Win CE devices are no match there : I have experience here too, I used the XDA and it is such a terrible phone.
My conclusion : the P900 is a nice example the good smartphone can be done and new devices from the same mold are starting to take the market by storm (Motorola, Samsung). I don't know if Apple has resources or expertise to enter such a market - I only know it would be a natural extension of their iPod lineup or they going to suffer the loss of popularity once my next SmartPhone will get a decent mass storage device that will allow to use it in the role iPod has now. If Apple won't innovate iPod, the window of opportunity will close again and I am sure Apple are well aware of that and they think hard nowdays and wight their options.

 

[the future]

Damn... AppleInsider reports that Steve Jobs said at the D conference that Apple did make an PDA – but decided not to release it. And that he's still proud of it! Yeah, he gets to use it as well...
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=484

 

[robbents99]

Must have kept it locked up tight, no pictures have been leaked, wonder how close it was to being announced....damn...apple pda...a blurry picture would be NICE!

 

[question fear]

Damn... AppleInsider reports that Steve Jobs said at the D conference that Apple did make an PDA – but decided not to release it. And that he's still proud of it! Yeah, he gets to use it as well...
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=484

unless i missed something it didnt say anthign about steve using it.
and now, lets all say it together:
"The PDA market is a shrinking one. Convergence is killing the standalone PDA. Apple will NOT make a standalone PDA nor will it bring back the Newton."

repeat as necessary.

and if you don't believe me, go surf at brighthand.com or dailygadget.com, most people there will give you the same input.

 

[the future]

unless i missed something it didnt say anthign about steve using it.

Of course he didn't say that, I just assumed that this would be one of the little benefits of being the Apple CEO...

and now, lets all say it together:
"The PDA market is a shrinking one. Convergence is killing the standalone PDA. Apple will NOT make a standalone PDA nor will it bring back the Newton."

Well, duh. That's probably why the PDA wasn't released. Now back to the iPhone rumors...

 

[eji]

Has this page already been posted in these forums? I came across it while doing a Google search for Apple PDA.

Hoax? Or is it the scrapped ad?

------

Nevermind. It was an April Fool's joke. Someone just pointed out the date to me.

 

[question fear]

Of course he didn't say that, I just assumed that this would be one of the little benefits of being the Apple CEO...



Well, duh. That's probably why the PDA wasn't released. Now back to the iPhone rumors...

hahahaha
sorry for being so harsh, i was just in a bad mood.
i actually imagine steve using some sort of mega day-timer. with recycled paper.

 

[HasanDaddy]

EJI -

notice that BargainPDA posted that on April 1st

 

[Flynnstone]

I have to agree that the PDA is dead.
Now with the Airport Express being released, which is very cool, there is a little gap. You can pipe iTunes to your stereo. This is very useful, I plan on buying at least 1. But the problem is the computer is in another room from the stereo(s).
How do you control iTunes from another room?
How do you control iTunes from another room?
Jobs was asked this, and he had the twinkle in his eye. He has a solution for this.
I see one solution is Salling Clicker with a Bluetooth phone. This is cool and will generally work, but ... the range will be a problem. Wifi - Airport has enough range, or better range than Bluetooth.
So ths solution needs to be:
- portable
- Airport compatible
- be able to control iTunes
- have other cool features ...

I can imagine a Palm Tungsten C as part of the solution. Jobs said they developed a PDA and didn't release it.
I can envision a device that has some PDA functions but that's not its target purpose.
Purhaps some video iPod functionality. Did I mention about wireless Firewire ...
A PDA by definition is such a limited device

 

[TednDi]

Wait a minute....

Didn't there just get signed a deal between HP and Apple?? Hp is to produce an ipod. What if Hp also got the deal to produce the apple PDA. Technically then, Apple wouldn't then produce a PDA HP would.

hmmm.

 

[question fear]

Didn't there just get signed a deal between HP and Apple?? Hp is to produce an ipod. What if Hp also got the deal to produce the apple PDA. Technically then, Apple wouldn't then produce a PDA HP would.

hmmm.

HP currently makes the best selling pocket pc in the world. why on earth would they abandon that for an apple pda?
Not to be harsh, but I don't believe for a second HP is working with apple on a PDA-HP wants to own their corner of the market, they do with the IPAQ and to continue it they needed to break into another market, hence the hPOD. The closest you might get to an apple pda from HP woudl be an apple designer helping wiht the IpAq, the most successful pocket Pc to date.
Also one of the only PDA makers besides Palm heavily favored to remain in it for the long haul.

 

[TednDi]

I agree

however, perhaps apple has a better OS for the handheld now companies like asus and gateway are producing pocket pc's with as much or better features for less. I use the pocket pc and was one of the early adopters. The interface is still windows and can be buggy as well. If apple has this technology on the shelf but doesn't want to release it in their own handheld then the R&D that went into it will be a loss. On the other hand, if they can make a buck and gain a bit of market share from windows, by being adopted by one of the handheld makers that dominates the market, then Apple is taking a page out of the playbook of Microsoft circa 1984. Perhaps also the mac OS for the handheld wasn't ready when the ipaq was being released and the buggy Microsoft OS was.

pure fantasy on my part...

However, HP has a Smartphone, PDA and now produces the ipod.

on another note

Why name it the ipaq isn't the "i" an Apple thingy

ipod
itunes
ibook
ilife
ipaq?

fun to speculate anyway!!

 

[davecuse]

I would really like to see an Apple PDA type of device bundled into a really useful handheld. Some features I would like to see wrapped in....

- Cell Phone
- WiFi VOIP
- Integration with Address Book and iCal
- Remote for AirTunes
- Remote for my whole house (X10, and AV equipment)
- iPod functionality when I'm on the go
- Camera built in
- OLED display, unfold the device so you can expand the screen for web browsing and iTunes searching
- Great battery life!

My question, why don't I have one already?

 

[kuyu]

One interesting note....

In the article he says
"Even Microsoft's new digital music store plans are considered to be "Apple neutral". (More on this when we can get away with it)"

I just read today that microsoft's music store will be a mall. That is, all the music stores will be available from media player. That could mean iTunes music store as well....

We'll see. But, I would personally have a MAJOR use for an apple PDA. As long as it had some functionality that a small paper notepad doesn't, I'd buy one (if it's <$500, and a phone thrown in there would be nice).

 

[technocoy]

maybe what apple releases isn't going to be a PDA..

maybe it will do what a PDA does, but go beyond that. Therefore a whole new product arena and not considered a "PDA". making job's comments about not releasing a "PDA" very truthful, yet a little deceiving!

oh, well, just my 2 cents

 

[Ghostdog]

Apple PDA not happening eh?

Well, this popped up on the Apple web site and quicker than you can say Newton it disappeared.

 

[aswitcher]

Apple PDA not happening eh?

Well, this popped up on the Apple web site and quicker than you can say Newton it disappeared.

 

[davecuse]

Apple PDA not happening eh?

Well, this popped up on the Apple web site and quicker than you can say Newton it disappeared.

Was that legitimately on the Apple site, or is that some Photoshop work?

Edit: Just looked a closer, nevermind.

 

[Ghostdog]

Was that legitimately on the Apple site, or is that some Photoshop work?

Edit: Just looked a closer, nevermind.