Sharp Has Released Zaurus-tng !?!?, New UMPC from sharp Options

[ArchiMark]

FWIW, I've already received response from Conics.net on the new Sharp...sounds like they'll have it available....

But Conics wanted us to be aware that this new Sharp uses special SIM card, so phone functions will not work outside of Japan, but other functions, WiFi, etc will....

Price should be much better than was quoted in earlier post.

[speculatrix]

cramming bling OSs into small spaces is unimpressive compared with instant-on

that's more the fault of bad OS + hardware integration. a lot of people have put in huge efforts with the Z to achieve this, bolstered by the original Sharp ROM actually achieving it.
I think this is why PalmOS was successful, especially with its "execute in place" OS architecture that's yet to come to linux.

[tml]

God knows how long it would take a device like that to boot Windows - and with 1Gb RAM, even unhibernating will be too irritatingly slow to use it as a PDA

Windows also does suspend to ram/sleep, which isn't so slow.

[koan]

Some of you guys must be blind; there's no sense in crying over SIM lock - it's PHS. Do you have a PHS network in your country ? I think not. Have you ever used one ? I have a 128 kbps "best effort" PHS card and anything more than a few emails or very lightweight websites and you'll be waiting an awful long time. With decent wifi though it might make a reasonable skype phone.

So, what are the chances of this getting a GSM version and released outside of Japan ? That would put it on collision course with the iphone, do you think Sharp are going to take on iphone ? Let's face it, no Zaurus since the SL-C700 was released outside of Japan. It's not going to happen.

It doesn't even look that good! It's a brick. I will try to check one out as soon as it's released but my expectations are very low.

[speculatrix]

Let's face it, no Zaurus since the SL-C700 was released outside of Japan

the 6000 was sold in the USA before the joint project with IBM stopped and sales were canned; noone knows what happened.

[zmiq2]

I agree that instant-on it's a must feature often overlooked by the manufacturarers.

It's not suspend, must be instant-on, with phone/sms functionality and pim alarms and some daemon processes working int the bground.

[moi]

Some of you guys must be blind; there's no sense in crying over SIM lock - it's PHS. Do you have a PHS network in your country ? I think not. Have you ever used one ?

The problem is not the simlock by itself. The problem comes if the simlock is like the one at sharp's EM-ONE, which doesn't lets you use the wi-fi capabilities unless the unit is loaded with an active emobile contract sim card. i dont need the sim, but the wifi. i can't have an active emobile sim outside japan (or can I?).

[matthis]

haaaaaa
I wish I had switched to willcom and not docomo!!

[koan]

i dont need the sim, but the wifi. i can't have an active emobile sim outside japan (or can I?).

According to the reports I read, Willcom will offer this device at Y40,000 which is about the same price as a SL-C3200 but you won't be able to purchase it without the Y2000/mo contract. I think this means it is unlikely you will be able to obtain one outside of Japan unless the price is substantially inflated.

I would be very surprised if it has to phone home every time you want WiFi. WiFi is many times faster than PHS which is why they offer both options: why allow your users to connect to the net by someone else's WiFi service when you could be charging them for a data call ? - because PHS is too slow, users wouldn't accept it.

[moi]

I would be very surprised if it has to phone home every time you want WiFi. WiFi is many times faster than PHS which is why they offer both options: why allow your users to connect to the net by someone else's WiFi service when you could be charging them for a data call ? - because PHS is too slow, users wouldn't accept it.

The simlock of emobile's em-one has nothing to do with what you've written. You need an active sim to switch on the 802.11g aerial. No PHS calls, no nothing, a pure and simple limitation so it can only be used by active emobile customers. As easy as that.

[jpmatrix]

well well,
just after i sold my C3000

anyway, about vista, don't worry you should be able to install any linux you want on the D4, perhaps with some tweakings... it should be xp tablet edition compatible too, not?

if you find a totallty instant-on device, the htc shift (windows mobile/vista) might be what you're looking for.

anyway, i find that the fujitsu u810/u1010 is a better zaurus-like device

[ZDevil]

US$1540 ... no way! Even if it goes down to something like US$1000 (which is more likely)

I'd rather get a HTC Universal at a small fraction of the price. Although it's released three years back, it features the closest form factor and hardware designs to the Z's. Plus it has full connectivity (GSM/GPRS, Bluetooth 1.2, WiFi 802.11b, USB, IR, WCDMA/UMTS/3G) and a PXA270 520MHz processor. Plus plus it now can run Linux (Angstrom, Poky, and even Debian EABI)! And no SIM lock.

[moi]

I'd rather get a HTC Universal at a small fraction of the price. Although it's released three years back, it features the closest form factor and hardware designs to the Z's. Plus it has full connectivity (GSM/GPRS, Bluetooth 1.2, WiFi 802.11b, USB, IR, WCDMA/UMTS/3G) and a PXA270 520MHz processor. Plus plus it now can run Linux (Angstrom, Poky, and even Debian EABI)! And no SIM lock.

that would be my choice, but AFAIK it misses usb-host (correct if I'm wrong)

[ZDevil]

I'd rather get a HTC Universal at a small fraction of the price. Although it's released three years back, it features the closest form factor and hardware designs to the Z's. Plus it has full connectivity (GSM/GPRS, Bluetooth 1.2, WiFi 802.11b, USB, IR, WCDMA/UMTS/3G) and a PXA270 520MHz processor. Plus plus it now can run Linux (Angstrom, Poky, and even Debian EABI)! And no SIM lock.

that would be my choice, but AFAIK it misses usb-host (correct if I'm wrong)

AFAIK the processor has USB host (or on-the-go?) support. Maybe some hacks are required.
Even if USB host is not there, there is not much need for that as there are all sorts of wireless connection functionalities.
In fact I don't really use the usb host on my Z that much. Basically I use it only for reading USB sticks...

[koan]

The simlock of emobile's em-one has nothing to do with what you've written.

I think you missed the point.

Their business model is to make money from their network service (as should be clear
from their Y2000/month contract, I guess em-one is similar).

If you have a valid SIM in the slot then it's fine, it doesn't need to phone
home, you just have to get the SIM - they won't let you have one unless you can sign
the contract, they won't let you sign the contract unless you are resident in Japan.

I've spent a long time looking at the em-one and Willcom stuff in local stores and
although it would be nice to have the option, I still prefer my Z. Today I looked
at an N810, hands on, for the first time. If I had to ditch the Z I would get the
810.

I've also looked at the Kohjinsha (tacky) and Eee (better but still ugly). I still
much prefer the power:size ratio of a Z. The other 2 are too big if you mainly want
PIM and a little bit of coding.