[365]

I just got a Sharp Zaurus 5500 PDA and to be honest I am amazed at this little thing. I've had Palm Pilots of all guises but none could beat the Newton 2100 for me, this thing walks all over the Newton and it's the first thing that I have ever been able to say that about. What handwriting recognition there is, isn't too hot in fact it's terrible but the rest of the machine is stunning. It has a Linux operating system (hidden by a GUI), a Java Virtual Machine, Terminal app, Opera web browser, MP3 and MPEG 4 player, Compact Flash slot, Secure Digital slot, built in keyboard, sound in/out, IR, the list goes on.

My point is that these machines are now becoming more than PDA's and I know that Steve Jobs hates PDA's but as a so called 'visionary' surely he can see that the power and functionality of these hand held computers is getting to a stage where they can negate the need to carry a laptop around for many tasks.

Surely Apple must have something in development? If not I think they could be missing a great opportunity, because these things are fast becoming part of the 'Digital Hub' philosophy that Mr Job's is so keen on preaching.

I even have a Java IDE and compiler on mine and it works a treat for writing small Java app's!! There is a downside, the Zaurus looks terrible, it's got a typical overstated chrome PC look, like the iPaq. I shudder everytime I look at it

[Peter]

uhm no I think in an interview Jobs said he had no plans in a pda. But the idea of a Tablet PC is very probable

[Zim]

If someone would pair one of these types of beasts up with a (physically)small HD (like the HD-based mp3-players), and it had an "open" development environment... wow what a treat that would be. (or does one alrady exist)?

Mike

[365]

Originally posted by Zim:
If someone would pair one of these types of beasts up with a (physically)small HD (like the HD-based mp3-players), and it had an "open" development environment... wow what a treat that would be. (or does one alrady exist)?

Mike

Mike

Like I say I run a Java IDE and compiler on my Zaurus and there's a few other IDE's and compilers for C++ etc.. I just want something that is smaller than a Powerbook but larger than a PDA, preferably has a Java Virtual Machine and a great user interface like Aqua is, something for when I'm sat in front of the television or slobbing out but don't want a big laptop on my knee. If you think about it, a device like this doesn't need a hard drive, you can use it as a network computer using built in Airport and Bluetooth technology to use all the major facilities on your main machine. This could use a hard drive on your main computer as it's storage and a Secure Digital card for smaller local document storage.. Oh I start drooling when I think what Apple could come up with

[maxintosh]

Originally posted by 365:
Mike

Like I say I run a Java IDE and compiler on my Zaurus and there's a few other IDE's and compilers for C++ etc.. I just want something that is smaller than a Powerbook but larger than a PDA, preferably has a Java Virtual Machine and a great user interface like Aqua is, something for when I'm sat in front of the television or slobbing out but don't want a big laptop on my knee. If you think about it, a device like this doesn't need a hard drive, you can use it as a network computer using built in Airport and Bluetooth technology to use all the major facilities on your main machine. This could use a hard drive on your main computer as it's storage and a Secure Digital card for smaller local document storage.. Oh I start drooling when I think what Apple could come up with

Sounds like Newton 2003

[Zim]

Yes, that might be all you are looking for, but I'm looking for an mp3 player that is not as narrow-minded in function as the iPod, but the PDAs I've seen do not have enough storage to function as enough of an mp3 player (IMO it takes a hard drive, not the solid-state memory).

So if such a PDA existed I would think it would be a hackers dream come true and bridge the gap between mp3 player vs. PDA.

Cheers,
Mike

[Anomalous]

I'm confused, is the poll "Is Apple developing a PDA?" or "Would you buy it if they did?"

[365]

Originally posted by Anomalous:
I'm confused, is the poll "Is Apple developing a PDA?" or "Would you buy it if they did?"

The discussion is are they developing one and the poll is, would you buy one if they did

[tikki]

if they built it, i'd buy it day it came out.

They aren't though, and its a shame. PDAs suck in their current state.

[365]

Originally posted by tikki:
They aren't though, and its a shame. PDAs suck in their current state.

I agree and since posting this I have come to the conclusion that I don't really want a PDA and if I do just a cheap Palm woulkd do. To be honest I think what I want is an around the house or work place, network tablet Macintosh. Something that is a bare bones 10" colour LCD with Airport Extreme that links the tablet into my main computer for it's storage etc.. Perhaps a Secure Digital slot for storage of smaller local files.

[ebisix]

Originally posted by 365:
I just got a Sharp Zaurus 5500 PDA and to be honest I am amazed at this little thing. I've had Palm Pilots of all guises but none could beat the Newton 2100 for me, this thing walks all over the Newton and it's the first thing that I have ever been able to say that about. What handwriting recognition there is, isn't too hot in fact it's terrible but the rest of the machine is stunning. It has a Linux operating system (hidden by a GUI), a Java Virtual Machine, Terminal app, Opera web browser, MP3 and MPEG 4 player, Compact Flash slot, Secure Digital slot, built in keyboard, sound in/out, IR, the list goes on.

My point is that these machines are now becoming more than PDA's and I know that Steve Jobs hates PDA's but as a so called 'visionary' surely he can see that the power and functionality of these hand held computers is getting to a stage where they can negate the need to carry a laptop around for many tasks.

Surely Apple must have something in development? If not I think they could be missing a great opportunity, because these things are fast becoming part of the 'Digital Hub' philosophy that Mr Job's is so keen on preaching.

I even have a Java IDE and compiler on mine and it works a treat for writing small Java app's!! There is a downside, the Zaurus looks terrible, it's got a typical overstated chrome PC look, like the iPaq. I shudder everytime I look at it

Personally, I doubt that Apple is making a PDA device. However, I think it would be great if they did.

[Natron]

I've always thought that if Apple does any PDA-like device, it won't be your traditional PDA device. I would like to see a new device, a bit larger than the iPod, larger color screen, 20 or 40 gig harddrive.

I think Apple has the potential to do a lot of things with a device like this.

1)This device would be able to play video and display pictures, using iPhoto and iMovie. It could show iPhoto slideshows, and, of course, play audio from iTunes, with the visualizer. You wouldn't have to have an iPod AND this.

2)A USB port would be nice for transferring digital photos to it on the fly. If I am out taking pictures, I may not have a ton of media cards, but with this I could easily offload my pics onto this device, then offload them to my computer when I got home. If I was out and about, I may not want to be carrying around a laptop.

3) With Keynote, and (probably) new Office like apps on the horizon, I think a device like this could be good for displaying those apps. One of the highly promoted things for PDA's, is being able to view your Word, Excel, and Powerpoint documents on it. However, the same thing for Macs doesn't work as well.

4) The ability to connect to a projector or TV to show photos, videos, or presentations. I do a lot of videos for my church, and it would be so cool to have a device like this to play them back for services. We go through several DV tapes (just with shoots) and since we save a lot of them, we end up with a lot of tapes. This would be nice to cut down on, as you could play the videos off of this, and when you had so many, you could then burn them to DVD. Why waste a $5..err...$3 DVD-R for a 3-5 minute video?

5) Bluetooth and Airport enabled, for sharing photos, and possibly surfing the web if you are in a wireless hotspot.

I read on another forum where someone recommended being able to download the news onto such a device, and then watch it on the subway, or whatever. This would be pretty cool, but not very feasible if you drive to work.

Also, I think they should keep the iPod as is. For a video iPod to happen in it's current form, the screen is just to small, and watching anything on there wouldn't be much fun. I think the main selling point of the iPod is the size, and adding a significantly sized color screen would almost definitely make it larger. You could probably make it larger currently, but then you might lose the scroll wheel, which is marvelous in my opinion. A bigger screen would also drain the battery faster.

Not sure Apple would ever do something like this, but I know I would definitely buy something like this. With the current stuff happening with the RIAA and the MPAA, I'm not sure we would see anything before this whole thing is ironed out.

-Natron

Of course, I'm also still hoping for Apple to release a set-top device for my home entertainment system. View photos and movies on my TV, and play music on my stereo, all from my computer. Getting kind of tired of burning CD's and DVD's just to watch and listen to stuff, and it isn't feasible to run cables across the house.

[simon.toon]

I just want an iPod where I can create new contacts and calendar entries, and maybe even input simple text documents if I want to make a note of something (handwriting recognition). I don't think they want to build huge applications (e.g. Office & video player) because this is a full competitor to Palm or MacOS and too much development work.

Keep it simple. We started with a simple but brilliant music player, and software enhancements have brought us the ability to view our contacts and calendar, for which the obvious continuation would be a hardware revision to allow input. Bluetooth might be nice, too, as I love to sync my T68i without having to take it out of my pocket.

If they try to do too much they'll get out of their depth.

[365]

The problem for the iPod is it's size. It's not much smaller than say the new Palm Tungsten, yet it's price is nearly the same and it's functionality is far less. The Palm can play MP3's but it can also use built in Bluetooth and connect using your t68i to GPRS to get your email etc.. this and lots more things. The only thing that limits it is the size of the Secure Digital memory cards, when bigger cards come along the future will look pretty bleak for the iPod and other $350+ MP3 players. Theoretically you can use the Palm and Bluetooth to access your desktop Mac and use the 60+ GB of MP3's on there.

[Superchicken]

PDAs will always be used by pastors
I think essentially PDAs are as big of a niche as Macs are... I don't know how well Apple would fair in such a market Palm would probably be thier biggest competitor.

[ebisix]

Originally posted by Natron:
I've always thought that if Apple does any PDA-like device, it won't be your traditional PDA device. I would like to see a new device, a bit larger than the iPod, larger color screen, 20 or 40 gig harddrive.

I think Apple has the potential to do a lot of things with a device like this.

1)This device would be able to play video and display pictures, using iPhoto and iMovie. It could show iPhoto slideshows, and, of course, play audio from iTunes, with the visualizer. You wouldn't have to have an iPod AND this.

2)A USB port would be nice for transferring digital photos to it on the fly. If I am out taking pictures, I may not have a ton of media cards, but with this I could easily offload my pics onto this device, then offload them to my computer when I got home. If I was out and about, I may not want to be carrying around a laptop.

3) With Keynote, and (probably) new Office like apps on the horizon, I think a device like this could be good for displaying those apps. One of the highly promoted things for PDA's, is being able to view your Word, Excel, and Powerpoint documents on it. However, the same thing for Macs doesn't work as well.

4) The ability to connect to a projector or TV to show photos, videos, or presentations. I do a lot of videos for my church, and it would be so cool to have a device like this to play them back for services. We go through several DV tapes (just with shoots) and since we save a lot of them, we end up with a lot of tapes. This would be nice to cut down on, as you could play the videos off of this, and when you had so many, you could then burn them to DVD. Why waste a $5..err...$3 DVD-R for a 3-5 minute video?

5) Bluetooth and Airport enabled, for sharing photos, and possibly surfing the web if you are in a wireless hotspot.

I read on another forum where someone recommended being able to download the news onto such a device, and then watch it on the subway, or whatever. This would be pretty cool, but not very feasible if you drive to work.

Also, I think they should keep the iPod as is. For a video iPod to happen in it's current form, the screen is just to small, and watching anything on there wouldn't be much fun. I think the main selling point of the iPod is the size, and adding a significantly sized color screen would almost definitely make it larger. You could probably make it larger currently, but then you might lose the scroll wheel, which is marvelous in my opinion. A bigger screen would also drain the battery faster.

Not sure Apple would ever do something like this, but I know I would definitely buy something like this. With the current stuff happening with the RIAA and the MPAA, I'm not sure we would see anything before this whole thing is ironed out.

-Natron

Of course, I'm also still hoping for Apple to release a set-top device for my home entertainment system. View photos and movies on my TV, and play music on my stereo, all from my computer. Getting kind of tired of burning CD's and DVD's just to watch and listen to stuff, and it isn't feasible to run cables across the house.

Wow! That's some device you've thought up.

[Natron]

I personally think Apple should shy away from the pure PDA device. Another PDA OS out there would pretty much be suicide, as it would be a niche of a niche. I feel that Apple needs to push compatibility with existing PDA's, and push the Palm OS along.

I suppose the device I described above would be close to a PDA, but I see it as more of a media device, like the iPod. Simple and easy to use device. Does one thing very well, and a few more things pretty good.

I feel the same way about Apple making a cell phone. I don't see that happening, as Apple needs to push compatibility with existing products. Almost everyone I know has a cell phone, and even the Mac fans probably wouldn't buy an Apple phone. Considering the cost and that it would have to be made available by almost all the cell phone companies, it just wouldn't hit. With multi-year cell phone contracts, people aren't going to pay $250 to drop a contract, then spend $300 on a phone with another service provider.

Same with Apple releasing a camera, or camcorder, or printer, or scanner, or whatever. Stick with computers and digital devices, the world will hopefully come around.

-Natron

[365]

Natron, I agree and the next Palm OS which is version 6 is being built by the same team that arrived when they boght Be and that was a pretty decent OS. I don't know what you think but I can't see Steve Jobs letting an Apple product use a third party operating system.

The Linux world have shown that you can come up with a unix based PDA so Apple might just be working on shrinking OSX for use with a hand held computer.

[Superchicken]

I could see apple codeveloping a PDA with Palm but I couldn't see em doing it themselves.