Form Factor - Handheld Pc, Or Zaurus-style? Options

[chiark]

Wow, this has really captured my imagination !

For me, the zaurus is too small for comfortable use, both in terms of screen and in terms of the keyboard.

Perhaps I'm too old, but for me the sweet spot of form factor usability vs portability is in the shape of the Psion Series 5, and the Sigmarion 3.

The psion's keyboard is great, the screen is adequate if a weird shape...

The sig3 runs an 800x480 screen with a very, very capable keyboard. If it ran Linux, well, it'd be *awesome*.

I'd love the screen real estate and keyboard size of the old devices with modern hardware. Am I alone in thinking that that is about the right form factor for such a device? We're not going for PDA replacement after all, but general purpose pervasive computing platform

[Snappy]

AFAIK, a c1000 is the same size as the other c3x00.

Makes me wonder. Besides the 'faster' pxa270cpu, is there any diff between the c760, c860 and the c1000

[speculatrix]

AFAIK, a c1000 is the same size as the other c3x00.

Makes me wonder. Besides the 'faster' pxa270cpu, is there any diff between the c760, c860 and the c1000

the C1000 & 3x00 have the same PCB, the latter have the internal CF connector and chips.

This PCB has, apparently, space for bluetooth module.

700/750/760 had the PXA250 & 255... the PXA25~ were discontinued forcing sharp to upgrade. The new PXA270 is faster both on instruction execution and possible clock speed. Note the 3200 can't be overclocked as much. USB host came via the new CPU.

CPU is different. RAM and ROM are I think simply newer variants which are ROHS ("lead free).

Keyboards are different too. I think the only common thing is battery and display.

The lesson, to try and get back on target, is to try and be sure that whatever CPU and rom/ram are used for the PP have multiple sources and are going to be available for at least 4 years, and/or have upgrade path without losing (much) backward compatibility.

Nokia N770 are a tad bitter about being left behind for a while. At least Zaurus 760/860 users can run 97% of the s/w for the 1000/3x00 (only the accelerated video drivers were a problem).

[Snappy]

AFAIK, a c1000 is the same size as the other c3x00.

Makes me wonder. Besides the 'faster' pxa270cpu, is there any diff between the c760, c860 and the c1000

the C1000 & 3x00 have the same PCB, the latter have the internal CF connector and chips.

This PCB has, apparently, space for bluetooth module.

700/750/760 had the PXA250 & 255... the PXA25~ were discontinued forcing sharp to upgrade. The new PXA270 is faster both on instruction execution and possible clock speed. Note the 3200 can't be overclocked as much. USB host came via the new CPU.

CPU is different. RAM and ROM are I think simply newer variants which are ROHS ("lead free).

Keyboards are different too. I think the only common thing is battery and display.

The lesson, to try and get back on target, is to try and be sure that whatever CPU and rom/ram are used for the PP have multiple sources and are going to be available for at least 4 years, and/or have upgrade path without losing (much) backward compatibility.

Nokia N770 are a tad bitter about being left behind for a while. At least Zaurus 760/860 users can run 97% of the s/w for the 1000/3x00 (only the accelerated video drivers were a problem).

Hmmm ... I should have asked this question before I got my c1000 last year, as it seem like a 760 or 860 would have fitted my needs nicely already. In any case, a new c1000 seem to be just a bit more exp than a used c860, so I think the c1000 is still a good deal, while a 760 is quite a bit cheaper ... but only as used.

You mean 770 users cannot use the same apps that come with n800?? That's sad! But last I check, Nokia is still actively supporting and developing apps and the OS for 770, in parallel with the n800. Well, any form of support is still better than SHARP I guess!

[uMP2k]

Sorry if this one has already been posted on, but for me this UMPC would be just about the perfect form factor.