Messages

1

General Discussion / Pandora

« on: December 23, 2007, 11:12:11 pm »

It does not matter how well it is supported when it looks like some kind of a sick mix between a gaming device and mini laptop wannabe for visually impaired (otherwise why such ridiculous keyboard with huge letters).
Successfull pocket devices must be functional but also attractive (because geeks and early adopters have more taste than average Joe Sixpack) and the best way to achieve this is to go with some type of minimalistic design. Sharp really nailed the form factor with their clam devices and it is a crime they screwed up on the software side and eventually bailed out of this competition. Nobody since clam Z series has come even close to producing a good pocket laptop/pda. Even today, if Sharp would only add evdo (or something similar for always on fast internet) to the most recent Z clam device the result would be light years away from everything else that is on the market.

2

General Discussion / Pandora

« on: December 23, 2007, 07:39:36 am »

So, apart from me and ADF, nobody likes it because it's UGLY!?!

Is the Zaurus really that much better looking than this?

OQO has a real bad track record - just ask Meanie about 'em! No x86 based solution can compare to ARM for Mhz/mA so its still the best for portable devices like this.

I totally disagree and think Zaurus is absolutely beautiful - still the best looking pocked computer I have ever seen.
By the way, I do agree that OQO has a bad track record and it is why I did not buy one so far - but it is a true micro pc and does not look bad - so to me is the only thing out
there right now I would currently consider instead of Zaurus.
If they get the heat under control (and replace the noisy fan) next model could be something special (also with 64GB SSD instead of current 32GB).
One thing that gives me hope about OQO is that their new CEO is very active on the oqotalk forum and seems to be listening and really taking customer
input - we'll see what happens but there is some reason for optimism...

3

General Discussion / Pandora

« on: December 22, 2007, 06:26:33 pm »

There are some really ugly designs out there (to me I especially hate the split keyboard models).
But this one is honestly giving all of them run for their money (as far as looks are concerned for sure).
If this is our best hope for new Z then we are a very sad bunch of losers (this even makes a Vaio UX look attractive and I never though I'd see a device that would make me say that).
Personally I think our current best hope is something like OQO3 - whenever that comes out. I know it will be >$2000 with windows and sliding keyboard instead of clam - but at least it will be x86 and support regular linux (and I honestly don't see anything more promising on the horizon regardless of price - at least nothing in pocket size).
I would love to be wrong or get a huge surprise by Apple - some type of 5" OSX tablet would be a dream (but of course it would have to have keyboard and we all know chances of that happening are probably less than even seeing Apple mouse with 2 real buttons).

4

General Discussion / C1000 Owner Looking For Something Faster

« on: October 19, 2007, 11:03:20 am »

Z in hand, cheap laptop in satchel, same remote box concept?

Hmmm.  That always seemed a bit cumbersome, but given that I'm considering making a rather large purchase in lieu of that working I'd say that that idea definitely has some merit to it.  :-)  I'll give it a shot tomorrow.  Then we'll see if I need to come back to the idea of dropping a grand on a replacement.

Thanks!

Phil

avoid the oqo. its expensive and won't last long (poor production quality in 70% of their products)
did i mention that it's not very well designed either, i mean, its almost impossible to comfortably type on it and the stylus/touchscreen is a joke

I don't have oqo but have been hanging around this forum lately: http://www.oqotalk.com/
Reading posts there over the last couple of months it seems that oqo is getting their customer issues straightened
out - new CEO Dennis Moore is an active participant in the forum and seems to be personally involved in
addressing customer issues/complaints - it really is impressive to watch.
But it is also clear from those same forums that OQO has some serious issues - a lot of problems seem to
crop up all the time (although to be fair this is a windows vista device so what can you expect since
the software itself is probably as guilty as hardware). The most common complaints seem
to be about short battery life, loud fan, and heat (way too much discussion about what settings you
need to alleviate some of these issues etc which gives you an impression it is a big deal).
On the other hand, I did get a chance to handle one of these units in a NY store and was impressed
by the general feel of the device (keyboard is not as good as Zaurus clams but is not that bad
either - especially if compared to Sony UX which is truly catastrophic keyboard - probably worse
than even my blackberry 8700 which I hate but have to use for work).
I think next model OQO is something to really look forward too - new CEO is really listening and
polls are being run on the forums to provide ideas for improvements etc. Also, quite a few forum participants
who had complained about serious issues and had to have devices replaced etc are still raving how good
the device is when it is working and they seem committed to buy a new one when it comes out.

edit: Just to give an example of new CEO involment take a look at this new thread from the oqo forums:

http://www.oqotalk.com/index.php/topic,1193.0.html

5

General Discussion / New Nokia N810 Tablet Coming Soon

« on: October 18, 2007, 11:33:15 am »

dual SD slots,

Oh, one more thing ... am I the only one who doesn't want, doesn't need, and can't have a camera in a device I expect to take everywhere?

I don't want the camera either. But I do insist on wireless broadband and am not interested in bloototh or usb
connections to cell phones (so this device still does not cut it for me).

6

General Discussion / New Nokia N810 Tablet Coming Soon

« on: October 17, 2007, 10:12:25 pm »

Very interesting - a lot to like here.
But there is one fatal flow - no built in wireless broadband (at this point in time
these types of devices without it no longer make any sense to me).
I can't figure out how nokia does not realize this - devices of this type are most
naturally used outside of home (away from wifi since most people at home will
probably still used laptops or something else with larger screens).
This is so light and easy to carry and finally with a keyboar - it's crying for internet
anywhere option but it's not there!

7

Off Topic forum / Oqo Model 2 Comes With New Specs And Lower Price

« on: September 12, 2007, 06:45:41 am »

That OQO really didn't treat you well, did it Meanie?
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well, my 2 Zaurii are still working perfectly while the OQO which costs double the price of both Zaurii combined is broken and out of warranty. (I send it in before the warranty period was over and received a partially fixed OQO back but it is still broken and unusable unless being able to use it for 1 hour and then having to charge it for 5 hours is considered usable)
The new model does have some improvements over the old one but the fundamental problems remain.
4 hours max battery life with a high capacity battery which makes the OQO weight about 1KG is just crap.
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After reading number of random posts on oqotalk it seems this is a very strange device (and company). People who got lucky and did not get the faulty unit seem to genuinly like the device and the company but there are also several sad stories (similar to Meanie). It does seem that heat management may be a systematic issue with this device since even people who like current version have put cooling and quiet fan as one of the top priorities for improvement in the next version (in addition to better battery life) - of course they also want faster processor and more memory so i'm sure this will all be easily reconciled

8

Off Topic forum / Oqo Model 2 Comes With New Specs And Lower Price

« on: September 11, 2007, 02:35:02 pm »

There seems to be a nice little community for oqo as well.

http://www.oqotalk.com/

They have a dedicated Linux forum as well!

9

Off Topic forum / Oqo Model 2 Comes With New Specs And Lower Price

« on: September 11, 2007, 08:41:02 am »

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/refresher/oqo-m...dump-298048.php
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Yes, they are now making it much harder to resist.
I'm at the point where only one more update is needed before I go for it - 64GB SSD upgrade will push me over the edge (especially since it's becoming very clear that Apple does not want to release anything similar to this device).

10

Off Topic forum / Ipod Touch

« on: September 06, 2007, 05:14:35 pm »

Here is one take on iPhone, iPod touch, etc that I think most of us on this forum fully support.

http://mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comment...mac_in_my_hand/

11

Off Topic forum / Ipod Touch

« on: September 06, 2007, 08:34:04 am »

This is nice but for me there are still a few key things missing:

1. Broadband wireless (my typical usage scenario is laptop+wifi at home so I see no reason to use smaller devices instead of laptop at home). But I do not want to carry laptop to work every day so broadband wireless or at least bluetooth + cell phone modem are key for train trips).

2. At least 64GB flash storage (or CF/SD slot)  (I want all my music with me - no compromise)

3. EBook reader

Which means I wait another year or two for some future release of iphone touch (or even better some new clamshell umpc similar to zaurus)

12

New products and alternatives / New Zaurus Successor?

« on: September 04, 2007, 12:34:08 pm »

Konjinsha SH8 announced.

http://www.umpcportal.com/modules/news/art...php?storyid=856

13

New products and alternatives / New Zaurus Successor?

« on: June 15, 2007, 07:41:49 am »

Way too much waisted space around screen - also probably as a result of that resolution is only 1042x600.
But I still like the fact they are coming out with version 2 so soon.

14

New products and alternatives / Palm's Secret Third Business To Be Revealed!

« on: May 30, 2007, 09:03:19 pm »

I think this is a great device - there is a lot to like in this first effort: linux, wifi, sd, cf, usb, bluetooth, vga, keyboard, lightweight, 5 hours with standard battery. I'm sure next generation can easily include built in phone and possibly tablet and slightly smaller and lighter size if there is demand. And the price is only $500 - I am definitely buying it.

15

General Discussion / How Long Can Sharp Ignore The Umpc Market?

« on: May 16, 2007, 08:11:19 pm »

Sharp did have the vision at one point since they built the device for which there is still no competition out there (even years later there is nothing that can touch the Z). And they also had the vision to put Linux on it.
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The Zaurus "visionaries" have all been in the user community. Those of us who have been here since day 1 (yes, I had a pre-release SL-5000 developer model) know that Sharp's vision has had some serious astigmatism over the years  Hence their relative lack of success in Europe and the US and their marginalization as a "cool e-dictionary" in Japan.

Who remembers the original C700? Full VGA screen ... Brilliant! Clamshell design ... nice, but HP and Psion were there long before. Barely enough memory to boot the OS ... huh?  It arguably took them three tries to get a clamshell Z that most would consider usable (the C760).

Now go back to the 5X00 generation and look at their vision. Sliding keyboard thingy ... cute but not as useful as it looked (could have just ditched the huge D-pad and buttons and done it Blackberry style). Other HW specs ... pretty standard compared to PocketPCs at the time.

Some would say that using Linux was visionary, but I challenge you to go back to an old stock Sharp ROM and tell me how good their Linux vision was  They figured "throw it out there quick and the Linux community will write tons of apps for it". But anyone that knows the Linux world knows their forte is "incremental improvement". And since Sharp did a shoddy job on the software and didn't Open Source anything but the kernel, half the community went of and started trying to fix the kernel and the other half went off to recreate the DE using stuff that *was* Open Source.  Visionary would have been to open up the whole software stack and then work with the community to integrate all the improvements into the "official" ROMs.

The goal of consumer electronics is to sell so many that your device becomes a houshold word. Blackberry, iPod, Palm Pilot ... those were visionary because they predicted the needs/wants of a large segment of the population. Sharp accidentally stumbled into a surprisingly capable little device with the Zaurus SL line, but visionary it was not.
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Sure - Sharp took 3 tries to get it right but the vision was there even with the C700 (and I would argue 5X00 devices as well). And let's not blame Sharp for having to try 3 times either - NOBODY else before or after has even been able to get this far. I agree with everything you said about software side of things (as I have also been in this community for a while and have felt the pain). But I still give Sharp a lot of credit for going with Linux on the Z (even if they completely misunderstood the open source development community they at least knew Linux is what you need to start with on these types of devices). It is hard to believe that such promising start has turned into today's sad state of affairs where we spend all this time on Zaurus forum fantasizing about some other company picking it up where Sharp pulled out.