Two New Handhelds From Sony

MeatWad writes "Sony has announced the SJ33 Palm OS 4 model with a high res color screen and mp3 player for $299. At the same time the FCC has leaked info on the next Palm OS 5 Clie with bluetooth and an integrated keyboard called the TG50. Sony can sure crank out the cool gadgets."

scared of getting slashdotted?

[vivek7006]

They are redirecting the slashdot users to a special website.

"Especially formulated for slashdotters"

Cool Gadgets at a Price

[Foxxz]

I can certainly appreciate the gadgets Sony comes out with. Not only do they have a "cool" factor, but they are useful as well. I also can understand why their stuff is pricey. However, this does not change the fact that I can not afford any of their products I would like. I would like to get their picture book and dual boot windows xp and debian on it. I'm one that likes compact with long battery life. It doesnt need to be a powerhouse computer. The $1700 pricetag is way too much. I can only wait to see what these new PDAs price at.

-Foxxz

Re:Is it just me.. ?

[jonabbey]

Palm's in the middle of a technology transition.. PalmOS 5 runs on ARM, and PalmOS 6 is due to have a whole new code infrastructure for new software development.

I like my PalmOS Sony with LauncherX far better than the PocketPC systems I've seen. Light, fast, cheap, better screen than many PPC's, easier interface. What's not to like?

Sony Ericsson 3G Phone

[erixtark]

Let's not forget the Sony Ericsson [sonyericsson.com] 3G phone announced today [infosync.no].

It'll be quite interesting to see if and how Sony merges their PDAs with their cell phones. Perhaps this one hints at their future strategy.

Re:The article mentions an mp3 player

[nizcolas]

Yeah. I did misread it. Still memory sticks still aren't affordably priced for an mp3 player. Compare this to something like an iPod or a Rio and there is a large disparity in the $/mb ratio.

Memory stick - about more than the apps

[puck01]

You are right, most palm apps are small. However, apps are only a part of the picture. I'm a medical student, almost a doctor, and there are tons of medical programs, books, drug databases available for the palm. The books and databases are often as large as 4mb. You can see where I'm going with this as 16 mb fills up fast. You can extend this example to many other professions.

Also, I use my Clie to listen to mp3's since I pretty much always have it on me anyway. Again, a large memory stick is important for this functionality.

As far as size, 128 mb is starting to get small, but a Sony MS is about the same price of all the competition's flash so I don't really complain. It will be nice when they start releasing the larger sizes, however.

puck

Re:Damn it, they're resisting!

[vrmlguy]

Actually, I'd like to see the code that PalmInfoCenter uses to implement the "Welcome Slashdot vistor" message. I've thought about doing something similar for another site, and while I understand how to parse the Referer header, I'd just as soon borrow someone's tried-and-true code as develop it myself.

Heck, this functionality should be built into anything using mod-perl, PHP, ASP, etc. to redirect visitors to a static mirror of a page.

Re:scared of getting slashdotted?

[Jezral]

They should add intelligent scaling.

Instead of just targetting visitors with referer=slashdot.org, the server should detect an abnormal surge in visitor-per-minute and load up the lightweight version of the site.

Shouldn't be that hard to make...

-- Tino Didriksen / ProjectJJ.dk

Re:Insightful???????

[NanoGator]

"Sony makes sure that you play by their rules. I'll give you an example: What's the standard format for a memory card on a Digital Camera? Compact Flash. What type of memory cards do Sony Digital Cameras use? Memory stick."

Kind of reminds me of what happened too Sony's CD-Drive peripheral for the Super NES. If memory serves, they wanted to make it a Sony unit that just happened to play Nintendo cartridges. The deal fell through partly because Nintendo wasn't about to hand their brand name over to Sony. The battle of the egos resulted in no CD for the SNES and the Playstation.

I have no doubt about what you're saying. Sony's very agressive about keeping the competition out.

Handhelds v Gameboys v Graph Calcs v Cell phones

[Anik315]

Anyone notice a messy convergence in the functionality of all these devices?

Nintendo has been pretty consistent about generating a portable device with one clear and strong purpose, and at that it has been extremely successful.

Alot of these products I see coming out try to do lots of things--in a mediocre way. Without a clearly defined market, these are pretty much "cool gadgets" for people with loose cash. I don't see people using one handheld device to do 20 different things.

Are these companies experimentally sticking things together in combinations just to see if they'll sell? What I would rather see is companies spending more on generating killer apps with strong and focused purposes. (comme the Blackberry)

When people buy cars with DVD players, they're don't hop in to them when they want to watch movies. And it's great that my Palm can play mp3s, but I'll stick to my 20gig iPod.

Re:FCC?!

[Wesley Felter]

The FCC is the best rumor site on the Net. They've leaked PowerBooks, Blackberries, Palms, you name it. I'm surprised hardware companies haven't lobbied to keep those applications secret until the device is released.

MORE Interesting: SONY HANDHELD WIFI FILESERVER!!

[Anonymous Coward]

hmm... their palm announcements are hardly as cool as their other announcement (thanks glenn fleischman [weblogger.com]):

Sony's Wi-Fi equipped pocket Web server [www.sony.jp]:
GadgetWatch identifies [japaninc.net] (and offers an English explanation of) a Wi-Fi-enabled portable fileserver! Nifty. 70,000 yen.

A step backward?

[uradu]

This new one looks much cheaper and piggier than the SJ30. What's with the cheap NON-REMOVABLE plastic cover that will inevitably break off during the first week? Sorry, but the SJ30 looks much better.