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Handhelds Hardware

Sony's Palm PDA 32

Posted by CmdrTaco from the palm-pilot-plus-vaio-equals dept.
Mr_Meowman pointed us to linkage with pictures of Sony PDAs. Of course I'm not skilled enough to read the text, but it appears to be a pilot, in color, with the camera and memory stick from the VAIO picture books.
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Sony's Palm PDA More

Sony's Palm PDA

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  • Re:Right, Guys (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Uhmm, I'm interested in all 4 of those declined stories.... much more-so than 2 pictures of a Palm in a Sony shell... What's the deal with declining them? -Lars
  • This is funnier than hell.

    I just watched my karma swing from 36 to -14.

    Punk ass moderators.

  • Ok, let me make an attempt at a very rough translation - not so much for the info, but because part of it is really funny (and we know already that it is no real product yet):
    Title: ZDNet's bold prediction, does Sony's palm design look like this?

    What might be the appearance of the Sony palm, which is scheduled for release in the middle of 2000? What are its features? And the price? ZDNet is proud to say that the answer of the fearless PDA-manics - after studying the design of the VAIO and Sony's AV-technology in detail - is the ``VAIO GEAR InfoPilot'' (Sony, please don't be angry about our choice of name, ok?) The VAIO's never changing body colour and colour monitor go without mention, and we want a CCD and a memory-stick slot. The logo is of course embossed in the back.

    This time, our imagination (or wishes) had no limit. As we didn't get our hands at any internal material from Sony, we ask our readers to refrain from sending us questions (and it is not possible to reprint the drawing).

    Positioning: A palm device is an excellent portable terminal, but being an organiser, if you don't have a PC or a Mac, you can't install any software. Consequently, the forthcoming device should be a VAIO peripheral; or in other words, be part of the ``VAIO GEAR'' series.

    Design and Features: Sony is considering a VAIO-coloured body, but as the Sony MusicClip is silver, this is also a very likely design.

    At the side, let's have a dial that you can operate one-handed. It might end up looking like the CASSIOPEIA, but we should copy good ideas.

    The slot for the memory stick is at the top. This takes into account the ability to connect future GPS units. Maps can be downloaded from the Web via a build in mobile. As the coming Palm will make use NTT's DOCOMO communication infrastructure (there is a definite announcement scheduled for the beginning of 2000), this might actually become reality. Furthermore, to store downloaded MP3s and ATRAC3s, we probably won't be able to do without an MG-memory stick.

    Although we don't really see the need for a CCD, if there is a built in mobile it would make for a simple video phone and at times it might be convenient to memorise train timetables.

    [..]

    Ok, that should be enough to give you an idea of the tone of the article. At least ZDNet Japan seems to have humour (although, I am sure it got all lost in my aweful translation...)

    Chilli

  • You probably submitted an English site that made it obvious that it was an artist's rendition. What you should have done is translate the page into something the /. team don't speak, then they would have posted it based purely on the pretty pictures.
  • I thought the post was referring to the text that was on the PDA, not that the sight was in japanese. A little clearer warning would be nice.

    That aside, yes, it appears to be some version of palmOS with a sony exterior. They have done a good job at producing an identifiable hardware visual style.

  • Besides the memory card and camera, it will incorporate a jog dial. Seems like Sony likes them a lot. I have no idea why!

    They would probably use it as an adjunct to the "up/down" buttons. Makes sense for scrolling.

  • Address -- Calc -- Date Book Expense -- ???? -- HotSync (could tell by the logo) Mail -- Memo Pad -- ???? ???? - Security -- To Do List Your question marks are "Graffiti", "Palmscape" and "Prefs". Peppe
  • I thought everyone could read boxes of unicode.
  • Why else post a link which 99% can't read, which is speculation on a product which is a year off, and only contains two vague artist's renditions?
  • The image is not a rendered. It's hand-drawn. Airbrushed, probably in Photoshop. The difference between the gradient on the battery cover and the rest of the casing is a dead giveaway.

    What's more, on the pull out wand the light reflection is perfectly paralell along the long axis of the wand.

    Yes, it's a linear gradient. Select rectangular region, apply gradient, shape with eraser, and tweak with airbrush.

  • Now how many bugs are there in the slashcode? Extrans posting mode hasn't worked for months, following links to archived stories gives a 404 not found, instead of referring the user to the proper archive, glitches happen in karma (I was recently given about 5 points for absolutely no reason), etc.

    And yet CmdrTaco finds time to filter through article suggestions and bring us the true cream of the crop. Truly, this Sony VAIO PalmPilot will revolutionize our world. Just love his commentary on it, too.

    I'm not normally one to bitch, but I like reading Slashdot, and it really gets me when them people on the other end don't seem to care.
    They say they're the next Usenet; they're gonna have to try harder to see that dream.

    Where is my mind?
    mfspr r3, pc / lvxl v0, 0, r3 / li r0, 16 / stvxl v0, r3, r0
  • That image is the same image that is always used to denote a color Palm. If you go to Palm's web site you'll see photo's of the IIIc devices all with that screen on them.

    Frankly I suspect something is wrong with the color screen. Every electronics store around here has demo units on display for all the other palm versions and even a few WinCE devices. But the IIIc is always a mock-up with that screen shot glued on.

    If you're really interested a slightly better version of that shot is here. [yimg.com]

  • Thanks to macpeep, here's the complete menu screen. See the other reply though for why this is totally worthless:

    Address |Calc| Date Book
    Expense | Graffiti | HotSync
    Mail| Memo Pad | Palmscape
    Prefs| Security | To Do List

  • Address -- Calc -- Date Book
    Expense -- ???? -- HotSync (could tell by the logo)
    Mail -- Memo Pad -- ????
    ???? - Security -- To Do List

    The picture was taken at 10:29. The category is All. I can't read the buttons, but it looks like they're the same as on the Palm.

    Extremely Palmy.
  • If you look closely, the dimension of the screen is a little off (too small). Also, the shape is based on the old Palm and Palm Pro and Palm III. You all know that if Sony was going to copy a Palm Computing Design, it would be the new aluminum/titanium/badass whatever design that actually looks like a Sony product, not the lame squared-off version.

  • I'd love to be able to read this in english....I don't know what's on the site, but if someone could translate some specs (if there are any) it would be really nice.
  • ...that they don't plan on keeping that color style. Who'd want to carry around some lame purple palm pilot? It'll be nice to view color on the go, but can anyone find out what the cost will be on this sucka? Damn Japanese text, I can't read a thing. Sharkey
    Badassmofo.com
    www.badassmofo.com [badassmofo.com]
  • Now that would be a cool hacker's box. And once many-layer optical discs come out (so we can fit a DVD movie onto a 1" 8-layer disc) it would be a great little portable movie and game device.

    ... and then once cold fusion is discovered we might even be able to power the thing without a 10lb battery

  • I meant I see very few people carrying PDAs who are not nerds. Doesn't mean you have to carry a PDA to *be* a nerd. :)

    --

  • It's "Shashdot - news for nerds". I know very few non-nerds who carry around PDAs

    --

  • the buzz word that was near that that caught my attention was "Handspring". The IPO press release said they were doing some "innovative" things with "handheld computers". This is a lot more innovative than I expected.
    _______________________________________ ________________
  • you know the ones "Down Girl" "Sit" "heel" "lay down" "walkies"
    Devilish

    -------Irc.destructor.net-------
    --------The Geek Network--------
  • Damn she said she wont let me sell her ohh well looks like ill have to keep her
    Devilish

    -------Irc.destructor.net-------
    --------The Geek Network--------
  • Hmmm... so, what exactly are "all the basic commands"?
  • It looks pretty cool considering its only an Artist's Rendition. However I think it's going to be way too expensive. The Palm VII is $500 and Sony wants to add Camera and a MemoryStick Port? You will probably be able to get a nice PC for the price that this thing will be.

    http://www.icashex.com
  • This is merely a artists rendition of what a Sony PDA might look like. Looks like the artist basically changed the hue of a palm image in Photoshop and drew on a few Sony-esqe things like the memory stick and the VAIO logo. I wouldn't be surprised if neither the stick nor the camera were ever said by Sony to be on their PDA or not.
    modern day geek. [dhs.org]
  • If you scroll down you can see some nice buzz-words in english. The one that piqued my interest was "Spring board modules"
  • We covered this over a month ago right here [pdabuzz.com] and it is only an artist's conception.

    It was submitted to /. the same day we posted it but it was rejected ... I guess you just have to wait a few weeks and resubmit to get stuff posted these days. *sigh*

  • I've seen those same images before, but they were being shown as an artist's rendition, not the actual product.

    This came on Palmstation last month. If you want to read the article, and the comments there, check out:

    http://www.palmstation.com/vi ew_article.py?article=1784 [palmstation.com]
  • A close examination of the image on this page (http://www.zdnet.co.jp/news/9912/ 03/VAIO_Palm.jpg [zdnet.co.jp][29k.jpg]) shows that this is a computer generated 3-D model. A rendered prototype, and not an actual device.

    The light source on the back cover is at a differant angle than the silver thing on the top. I give the modeler points for changing the light source on the battery cover, but the picture is clearly the result of a Sony engineer fucking around with Ray-dream studio while drinking one to many Kirins.
    What's more, on the pull out wand the light reflection is perfectly paralell along the long axis of the wand. Clearly rendered. Also, the view showing the back of the device shows the memory stick going right through the hinge for the camera, and the volume wheel. Unless the device is as thick as a brick, this is impossible. Oh, and the light reflection on the synch port is straight-on/all-pixel=R240/G250/B140. This doesn't happen naturally.
    This is vapor(hard)ware.
    _______________

  • Translation -- sort of (Score:4)

    by hariya ( 88607 ) on Friday March 31, 2000 @04:40PM (#1158097)

    I had my Japanese colleague read and explain the site for me. Here is what I gathered.

    As some have correctly surmised, it is an artist rendition. Sony does not have a working prototype. It is expected by the end of this year. It will be released in the VAIO product line.

    Besides the memory card and camera, it will incorporate a jog dial. Seems like Sony likes them a lot. I have no idea why! That was lost in the translation.

    Add on modules in the memory stick will have GPS, PHS(kinda like PCS, data capability, etc.) and can play MP3s. Runs on a Bluetooth chip and has a Firewire/iLink/IEEE1394 port (or syncing) besides USB syncing.

    Supposedly there is a push for also making a Handspring compatible expansion slot. NTT (Nippon Telecom something) will provide the content. They have an existing agreement with Palm Computing.

    That is all I got. Maybe a native speaker or an educated guesser can take it from here.

  • SONY Palm PDA?? Yeah, right... (Score:4)

    by ilbrec ( 170056 ) on Friday March 31, 2000 @04:17PM (#1158098)
    If you can read Japanese (I do read Japanese, in case you are wondering), you will quickly find out that this is only what ZDNet Japan is imagining SONY Palm PDA. They have no idea what SONY is really planning to do with Palm PDA. It is more like they are hoping somebody from SONY will read that and make something like what they have....

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