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Handhelds Announcements Hardware

Credit Card Sized Concept PDA from Citizen 199

Posted by CowboyNeal from the incredible-shrinking-handhelds dept.
chris writes "Citizen has unveiled a miniature PDA concept considerably smaller than existing PDAs. The 60 x 90 x 9.3mm 16-colour grayscale PDA is just a bit bigger then a credit card." A bit too large to stow in one's wallet, but it's still a slick form factor, easily hid in a pocket. It runs ITRON4 for an OS, and the battery life is rated at 30 hours.
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Credit Card Sized Concept PDA from Citizen More

Credit Card Sized Concept PDA from Citizen

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  • PC card PDA (Score:2, Interesting)

    by David_Bloom ( 578245 )
    Didn't X[something] release a PC-card sized PDA a long time ago? About the same size. It was cool because it could sync with the PC card slot in a laptop
    • Xirlink - the REX - I have one (though it seems broken - apparently it wasn't up to the rigours of living in my pocket)

    • Re:PC card PDA (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Locutus ( 9039 )
      That's what went through my mind too. Rexx was the name IIRC and I think Franklin purchased the productline. This "concept" has a much larger screen resolution though.

      seems everybodies got a PDA these days.

      LoB
    • The REX 6000 [rex6000.org] was a similarly sized PDA that came out shortly after the Palm Pilot. I recall it had the serious limitation that you couldn't input data on it, but it was very tiny.

      This one seems a little more powerful, and can probably do data input.

      • Re:You're thinking of the REX 6000 (Score:4, Funny)

        by Uma Thurman ( 623807 ) on Saturday November 01, 2003 @11:05PM (#7369487) Homepage Journal
        Can't input data on the PDA? I've got a PDA like that. I carry it inside my skull. It's also made of meat.

      • Re:You're thinking of the REX 6000 (Score:4, Interesting)

        by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Saturday November 01, 2003 @11:43PM (#7369602) Homepage Journal
        " I recall it had the serious limitation that you couldn't input data on it, but it was very tiny."

        Yes, that's true. It was more of a display device than a PDA. I have a watch made by Fossil like that. It's a big, very big watch. (Surprisingly comfy tho..) Also, it only syncs with my PocketPC and not my laptop. Still, it was handy to have around. I'm a little surprised there isn't a market for teeny little read only devices like that. My watch was great for storing stuff like business trip information.
        • The REX model my roomate had a touch screen and input capabilities. It was added at least added for the newest model, may have been there longer. I did a quick look at the FAQ at rex6000.org, and there are some questions about how typing on the onscreen kb gets slow after 38 characters. So I know I'm not imaginging it, although I used it a bunch playing around with it and such.

          A while back, I hacked together a read only PDA software suite. See, I use my PDA as a computer, not just as a very overpriced da
      • There was also talk of making a version that could sync to the Springboard slot on a Handspring Visor. But before it came off the drawing board, the market turned to CF Cards slots, etc. Would've been cool to have though -- a "shuttlecraft" for my Visor....

      • Re:You're thinking of the REX 6000 (Score:5, Informative)

        by WoTG ( 610710 ) on Sunday November 02, 2003 @01:09AM (#7369863) Homepage Journal
        I used a REX for a couple years. It was quite good for it's intended tasks. The lack of input was a pain, but actually not as bad as it sounds at first. It was first and foremost a phonebook, like Palms were at first. For new or updated contacts you'd have to jot down the data with a good old pen and paper, then update the contact in Outlook, or other compatible software. The next sync and you'd be good to go. Don't forget, Palm + Grafiti isn't the fastest data input method either. I tend to jot things to paper first - especially if it's info from over the phone.

        Some of the last models of REX's had limited input capability. They used the 4 (5?) buttons, in a similar manner to the way game consoles use their controllers for entering text and numbers. I assume it was suitable for updating phone or email addresses in a pinch.

        The size of the Rex was outstanding. I didn't think twice about carrying it around all day. I can't say the same about my Palm Pilot. If I could combine the size of the Rex, with the features of a Palm, I'd be interested.
        • It was first and foremost a phonebook


          Why carry an REX around when mobile-phone would serve the same function (and alot more)?
          • Well, it was a few years ago when phones stored at max 100 phone numbers. More importantly, it sync'd with your address book on the PC - yeah, some higher end phones at the time probably did too. Otherwise, one is left entering data by phone buttons - which I absolutely hate.

            • Well, it was a few years ago when phones stored at max 100 phone numbers.

              With GSM-phones you could store numbers on the phone and on the SIM-card, and that should give plenty of space of numbers.

              Otherwise, one is left entering data by phone buttons - which I absolutely hate.

              So, instead of punching in the phone-number & name in the phone (which took about 2 minutes, tops) you whip out your laptop, switch it on, start your email-client (or whatever you used to store phonenumbers), type in the phone

              • Again, at the time (and even now on many phones), SIM-card's don't hold that many numbers. I don't know the exact number but I think it's more than 100 less than 500. Never mind addresses, notes, and the other data you could store on a REX

                No one would turn on a laptop just to enter a single contact. Jot the contact info down on a piece of paper and deal with it later - the same way people SHOULD do it now with phones and palms. It's annoying (if not rude!) to make the other person spend two minutes wai
      • The REX family were designed and manufactured by Citizen. Known in Japan as the DataSlim, there were 7 models released between 1997 and 2001. Later versions could input data. It was great being able to synch in the PC card slot.

        The first OEM customer was Sterling Plastics (i.e. Rolodex). See here [nifty.ne.jp] for the Japanese ones.

        So Citizen certainly knows how to make this type of product.

      • Funnily enough, the Xircom REX 6000 was actually the same product as the Citizen DataSlim 2. Citizen seems to have experience in the micro PDA market.
      • I beleave you are reffering to REX5000. I have a REX6000 PDA, and it allows for data imput. It actually has a toutch-screen and an old ZILOG Z80 processor. You could develop applications for it using a toolkit. Unfortunatly Intel bought Xircom and discontinued the product.
      • there were a couple of versions of the REX pda's, but the REX6000 definitly had input posibility.
        it had the same 5 buttons as every other, but also a touchscreen with a on-screen keyboard.


        I have one, but I don't use it very often because I also own a palm PDA and there is no easy way of syncronizing the two. But I do think the REX6000 was a very usefull device. in some cases regular handheld devices are just to large.

    • I had a Rex too. While the small size of that product and this one from Citizen makes it ultra-portable, it also greatly increases the chance of loss or breakage. No matter how careful I was with my Rex, it met its inevitable end in the washing machine.
    • I remember that exact thing. Does anyone have any more info on this?

  • Only getting smaller... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Qweezle ( 681365 ) on Saturday November 01, 2003 @10:47PM (#7369393) Journal
    PDA's are only going to get smaller, and more powerful, as time marches on, much like microcomputers did in the 1980s and early 90's, and now we're at a point where they are all equally diminuitive. The same thing will essentially happen with PDAs...soon, we will all have PDAs which we can watch movies on, play music on, surf the web via our phone or WiFi on, or perhaps even it may be a phone as well, and etc. These will fit into a slot in our wallet for credit cards...and they may even dually serve as credit cards. Especially with the coming of OLED displays and nanotechnology, this all looks very certain to happen some time. Exciting!

  • $200! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by PaintyThePirate ( 682047 ) on Saturday November 01, 2003 @10:47PM (#7369394) Homepage
    For $200, I really can't see this becoming a hot product. The average consumer would rather buy a $200 Palm or Pocket PC. They are just as pocketable as Citizen's concept (unless you have really small pants) plus they have color screens and multimedia capabilities.
    • ...and a battery life of 3 hours.

      The screen on this is too small to be useful for me, but it might be okay for people who just want a convenient, reliable organizer.

  • So by the time these form factor devices get 32 bit colour, a 640x480 res screen, Linux, GPS add on cards, cameras etc and people are talking about them as good laptop replacements should we be looking out for a new prototype the size of a stamp? How many iterations before I can finally buy one of those nano-scale PDAs I have always dreamed of?
    • Thats almost the problem I have, I dont want to carry a PDA, Phone, MP3 Player and Camera, and have a nice thumbboard for typing. Nothing exists yet, but the Nokia 7700 [nokia.com] is out, and we will see it in the USA in 3 months. Almost everything but the darn thumb-board.

      Just dont care for for SSH'ing without a thumb-board. Personal choice, but this offers everything but. Same size as the NGage, but has a true 640x480 screen. Thou I think you hold it taco style to talk.

      The problem with that credit card size PDA
      • Except the Nokia 7700 doesn't have a 640x480 screen but a 640x320 one. Not a huge deal- I was able to do 80x25 (and wider if I wanted) SSH/telneting on a 640x240 Jornada 720.

        It shouldn't be long until there is something with all of that. There are many devices with all but one of those things. There are plenty of PDAs with a MP3 player, camera, thumboard, and bluetooth. That setup, along with a bluetooth phone and you've got the WAN net access. Yeah, you'd have to carry around a phone too, but for t
  • Look at that screen, it's hideous. It's tough to believe people used to accept that on a PDA...

    *goes back to playing with color VGA Zaurus PDA*
    Yumm..
    • And I'm on my Sigmarion III PDA, with even a better screen than that on my Zaurus SL-C760- 800x480. :)

      I'd rather have a 320x240 greyscale screen than the abomonation of shit lord that was on my Zaurus SL-5500...

  • Sure it's small... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MicktheMech ( 697533 ) on Saturday November 01, 2003 @10:49PM (#7369404) Homepage
    ...but how are you supposed to hold it without getting your fingers on the screen or touchpad? I know minituarization is the name of a game, but when you're talking human computer interaction is it really the best way to go?

  • Oxymoron alert! (Score:5, Funny)

    by cliffy2000 ( 185461 ) on Saturday November 01, 2003 @10:50PM (#7369409) Journal
    "16-colour grayscale"
    I know what they mean, but it's a little misleading.
    • If you pick it, does it not show as different from any other gray? Would gray by any other name be as 133t?

      Oh heck, it sounded funnier when I thought of it. Now it just sounds -1 overrated.
    • You certainly shouldn't say that "16-bit" color equates to 65536 colors anymore. Lots of those are greys. Taking out all greys, black and white, that would leaving 65278 colors or 15.99431 bit color. Yeah.

  • Whoops (Score:5, Informative)

    by r_glen ( 679664 ) on Saturday November 01, 2003 @10:50PM (#7369410)
    The company link is wrong. Correct address is here [citizenwatch.com]

  • Is it just me? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Quasar1999 ( 520073 ) on Saturday November 01, 2003 @10:51PM (#7369414) Journal
    Or are these getting too small to be useful? Really, if I need to read info off it, and more importantly enter info into it, it's just too dang small.

    • Re:Is it just me? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by POds ( 241854 )
      depends on what you want to use it for. It'd be usful as a notepad like applications to take down notes or whatever in meetings etc...

      What would be good is to able to use it as a PCI as someoen said there is something like that! And an application on the PC or whatever would take the notes off the device and using OCR (or whatever that technology for identifying characters was) or something similar, convert the notice to normal text tob e used in a word processor or something :)!

      Theres possibilities for t
      • Oh, I agree with you 100%, this could be a useful device... but not a standalone device... I can't use it easily to enter notes or read them for that matter, it's great to transport data, and in a pinch, be able to read it (although it's not easy by the looks of it, too high a resolution in too small an area will result in fonts that are painfully small, or not enough screen space at a decent dpi)

        I don't see how this is any better than a USB key chain thingy with an LCD... I can't use it for anything but a
        • Maybe one day these will be actual credit cards... And instead of having several cards such as key cards, master cards, visa, Ami Express, debit cards, etc... all you have to do is upload some software to the card and presto! :)

          You could also put your driver licence in there for identification your photo etc.

          A new type of platic!
    • I know my old Palm V and now m515 are bigger than I'd like. And this new thing has has 3 times as many pixels as they do, and gets far better battery life than my m515 (I've decided the bigger battery and shorter battery life for a color screen on a PDA aren't worth it.)

      I would like to try one!

  • PDAs are heading in two directions. Some people want larger displays (face it, the limiting factor on a PDA is how much you can cram on the surface respectably - keyboard, large screen, every connector up the wazoo, etc). And smaller, who want an even more portable device... so the good question is, what are we gonna end up with - implantable PDAs and PDAs that are mini-laptops?
    • what are we gonna end up with - implantable PDAs and PDAs that are mini-laptops?

      On the Laptop end, the Clie' UX-50 [palminfocenter.com] is making a stab at laptop-esqueness, and on the other, Fossil [google.com] keeps trying PalmOS PDA/watches on the market, but can't seem to find the 'sweet spot' balance of functionality/price/usability to make them viable.

  • Smaller PDA -- that's what I need (Score:4, Funny)

    by Pan T. Hose ( 707794 ) on Saturday November 01, 2003 @10:52PM (#7369423) Homepage Journal
    I've been waiting for a mini PDA for quite a long time now. My old, huge PDA is certainly too easy to operate. I can even read the screen without a magnifying glass! It's not "cool" at all.

  • Ever hear of the REX? (Score:5, Informative)

    by cybermace5 ( 446439 ) <g.ryan@macetech.com> on Saturday November 01, 2003 @10:52PM (#7369424) Homepage Journal
    This concept is not new or original. The original Rex was even grayscale! I thought it was really nifty because it doubled as a PCMCIA card; just pop it in your laptop and sync up. A PDA actually light enough to fit in a shirt pocket. Though mostly only good for addresses, clock, calculator, to-do list...what you need really, but no games to waste time with.
    • Exactly, must this PDA run linux too? I use notepads and pencils right now because I cannot even afford a $250 [malefactor.org] laptop right now and I can use an old HP 48 calculator for any visualizations. Unless you are doing audio/video manipulation why do you need anything more powerful than a 200-400mhx laptop?
    • No, nor should the lack of originality be too much of a shock, given that Citizen was part of the group that designed and manufactured the REX. (Motorola, Franklin, and Citizen) As it stands, this looks to be roughly the size of a REX with touch-screen data entry added.

      This could've been a Palm Pilot killer back in the day, but I fail to see a market for this in the States. I don't see anyone making headway against the Palm/PocketPC duopoly here...

      • Re:Ever hear of the REX? (Score:4, Informative)

        by RevAaron ( 125240 ) <revaaron@@@hotmail...com> on Sunday November 02, 2003 @12:10AM (#7369670) Homepage
        As it stands, this looks to be roughly the size of a REX with touch-screen data entry added.

        The later REX models did have touch-screen data entry. My roomate had a REX up until recently when his dumb ass set on it at some angle that broke it. Anywho, he could enter text- a new appointment, note, todo, whatever- using an on-screen keyboard, and tap various widgets using the touchscreen.

        It was a really nice little device, not capable whatsoever compared to most of the PDAs you could buy for the same price (he spent ~$200 around 1.5-2 years ago), but really small and enough for what he wanted.

        IIRC, the REX had very little RAM and a very slow (1-3 MHz Z80) CPU, but it got great batter life on its two lil watch batteries for normal use. He tried using it as an ebook reader but found that having it on constanltly killed batteries.
        • The neatest thing I ever saw on the web, period, was when about the second or so model of Rex came out. There was an application (don't remember if it was Java or Flash) that was an exact onscreen emulation of the Rex. You could do anything with it that you could do with a real Rex, except put it in your pocket and take it with you. Definitely head and shoulders above some of the "simulations" you see nowadays for some products, where all you can do is open a door or turn it over or something.

          IIRC, Eagle d
          • I've seen cooler things than that; how about a more practical device simulator? Virtual TI [ticalc.org] emulates all TI graphing calculator models. When you open it up you get a window shaped just like the actual calculator, with clickable buttons. Using Virtual TI is exactly the same as using the real calculator, only faster because you can type with the keyboard and use your Athlon to do the calculations. The TI-89 has symbolic algebra and calculus capabilities so it's actually much better than any Windows calcula
            • I don't know what kind of "windows calculator applicatons" you've been using, but what I use- on Linux, Windows, OS X, as well as on my PDAs (Linux and WinCE) I run a "calculator app" that beats the pants off of a TI-89, or even a 92.

              What is that app? GNU Octave! And on the Windows machine, Matlab and Mathematica. Totally creams a TI calc.

              That said, a TI calc is still pretty useful. Before I got the hang of using GNU Octave on my Zaurus, I installed a TI-85 emulator which is decent, though sometimes
              • Octave is fine and all, but it doesn't really do the same things as a TI-89 (which is identical to the 92 except for the case and screen size, by the way). Octave, being a clone of Matlab, is good for numerical calculations, but the 89/92 can do symbolic algebra and calculus. This makes it a lot more useful for students in math courses. Now if there was an open-source clone of Maple or Mathematica, that would beat the 89/92. But Octave isn't a replacement for Maple or Mathematica.
                • Yeah, Octave doesn't cut it by itself. I've been trying to get it to do so, by finding a symbolic toolkit like you do in Matlab.

                  In any case, there are other tools that work as an analog to Mathematica where octave is one to matlab- I use GNU Maxima now, though I used to use JACAL in Pocket Scheme. Both have no problems doing derivations.
                  • Interesting. I'd never heard of Maxima or JACAL before, it seems like they could be useful. I looked for free symbolic math software before and didn't find much, I guess I missed those.
                    • Yeah, those are two good packages. There are more as well. Maxima is a free version and derivative of the DOE's Macsyma. I used to use JACAL on WinCE under PocketScheme, but it works in any standard scheme... Have fun with them!

                      Also, since I have a pretty capable PDA with network capability, sometimes I've SSH'd to mhe school Solaris box and just run Mathematica there. Displaying via VNC or remote X11 to a WinCE or Linux PDA is a bit slow and putzy, but the command line version works great.

  • truth stranger than reality (Score:3, Interesting)

    by poptones ( 653660 ) on Saturday November 01, 2003 @10:56PM (#7369445) Journal
    Reminds me of this [theapplecollection.com].

    I think it's cool enough to be the first PDA I'd actually plunk down cash on. but it's still lacking in two areas: it's not quite small enough (the front should just be ALL screen, or at most just a narrow frame around it) and it's not in color. I suspect it also would not have the horsepower to play 320x240 xvid movies, which it really needs along with a teeny camera.

    That system, with one of those 1GB microdrives for storage, would make a killer pocket computer. Use it to record notes, video, and watch and listen. Type? Who needs to type? Just record everything and let the sync software on the home PC do the rest.

  • Too little, too late. (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Dr. Mu ( 603661 )
    The screen is almost unreadable. And the price? $200!! Come on! This isn't 1999! Nowadays, you can get a better-equipped Palm Zire for less than half that. And the size difference? Irrelevant, IMO.
    • Why do you think the screen is unreadable, have you seen one? Or just because they didn't use fake "simulated" screenshots on their advertisement like most companies do? (and now I know why).
  • remember the REX [rex6000.org] pmcmia sized pda from back in '98 or so ?, had only 256kb memory but had basic pda functions/contact mem/phonebook/calc etc, (made by rex or franklin and was sold in those gadget mags) one side was a b&w screen with a simple nav if i recall it was only 100$ then, the cool bit was you could just put in a standard laptop without any adaptors and sync it

    certainly not a new concept, just no one has ever pulled it off properly (probably because battery technology hasnt evolved anywhere sig

  • Wow (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Do you think they could do one that's debit-card sized?

  • I Can Wait (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cmacb ( 547347 ) on Saturday November 01, 2003 @11:25PM (#7369549) Homepage Journal
    I STILL think all these things are overpriced. Heck in the 80's I got hold of a calculator that was credit card sized..literally in every dimension. flexible like a credit card too so it fit into my wallet and got sat on just like other credit cards with no ill-effects. I think I paid about $5 for it on a boardwalk in CA, but I never saw the things widely marketed in the US. Instead I saw much thicker devices that would crack if flexed at all and they cost several times as much. Palm devices are the same way. The technology exists to build the thing for $15 and have all the standard Pilot functionality. As long as people will pay $200 for every new tiny incremental improvement you can't blame the hardware companies for taking your money.

    If my Palm III ever dies and goes to heaven (doesn't show any signs of it) my plan to is go to Walmart and see what Casio has been up to. I have a sneaking suspicion that they already have all the functionality I need for a carry-everywhere device. I'm a bit more picky about laptops however.

  • Been in the development for years.. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by miradu2000 ( 196048 ) * on Saturday November 01, 2003 @11:59PM (#7369642) Homepage
    This seems simliar to ideas that were proposed by Citizen 3 years ago. See This article from Cnet 3 years ago. [com.com] It details citizen's development of a credit card sized device that could plug into the Handspring Visor. (I remembered this article from my work at visorcentral 3 years ago)

    "Handspring and watch maker Citizen are tinkering with a prototype add-on for the Visor handheld that would allow people to copy information from their device onto a second, credit card-sized organizer."

    Citizen also helped co-develop the Rex.

  • This is the fevered dream of a romantic, but I'd pay money to see a Lisp-based PDA. An actualy Lisp Processer isn't necessarily what I mean; a powerful commercial [franz.com] or a free and powerful [cons.org] Lisp interpreted for x86 (or any von Neumann) processor would be okay. What I want is for it do have a Genera-like OS that can be re-written in real-time. Man, that would rule.

    Ain't gunna happen, though. Unless someone wants to pay me to write it for the PDA of their choice.

    Also, it should have a Canesta projection keyb

    • I'd pay money to see a Lisp-based PDA ... Ain't gunna happen, though, unless someone wants to pay me to write it

      So why don't you pay that money to yourself? Problem solved!

    • Man, you have it easy. Grab a Palm, go to this link [lispme.de] and enjoy. Now what I would like to see is J2SE (or a large subset that includes AWT) on high end Palm devices. Yes, there is Zaurus, but Palm or CE are so much more popular.
    • Actually what would probably work best is a PowerPC PDA using OpenMCL [clozure.com], a Common Lisp that's optimized for space (4M, depending on the version). Add to this a small X server and a small CLX-based toolkit and you've got the makings of a fine PDA.

      (Obligatory Lisp community stuff follows:)
      Have you taken the Road to Lisp Survey [cliki.net]?
      Do you know about CLiki [cliki.net]?
      Have you ever been to #lisp on freenode?

  • Hopefully well designed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by killerkalamari ( 528180 ) on Sunday November 02, 2003 @12:14AM (#7369681) Homepage
    I bought one of those Oregon Scientific mini-PDA's (credit card size, but 1/8" thick).. it was only a few bucks brand new on E-Bay, so I decided to give it a shot. It was really fun to play with, but the lack of a keyboard or handwriting recognition made me quickly realize it wasn't much more than a toy. I just couldn't keep up trying to punch things in on the onscreen keyboard so I often ended up with various notes in my pocket thinking "I will enter that later" (phone numbers, appointments, etc). Later, of course, never seemed to come around. I finally quit carrying it when certain cells of the touch screen stopped working (on/off comes to mind).

    I'm still hoping for a programmable PDA calculator watch with the form factor of my Casio Data Bank DBC-61[0] (I'm not talking about those clunky new wannabe data banks with impossible to press keys). Here's a pic:

    Casio DBC-610 [pmwf.com]

    Notice the smooth keypad? This is perfect for quick entry. Raised buttons are harder to press and slow me down. The battery lasts at least 3 years. Now, add PDA features and predictive text input, and you have a winner (the screen doesn't need to change much, it can display text and numbers). Of course it will never happen, but I can dream :) Jeff

  • I hope they don't give it a name. I really like the sound of "Nameless Concept". "The nameless concept will be priced at $200 at an undetermined release date." What's that dude's phone number? When's that appointment? Let me check my Nameless Concept...
  • ...that's the sort of size you can comfortably cup in the palm of your hand and scribble notes onto without drawing attention. I'd be persuaded if it can recognise handwriting and the price comes down, that is. Who needs colour to write a few hundred words?

    I'd like to see more manufacturers paying attention to making something for basic users, though. The Psion 3 was everything I needed in a portable; a notepad application and a proper keyboard. Fortunately, Sharp stepped in with its Wizard series (and you

  • This is probably redundant, but the Citizen Watch Company URL is here [citizen.co.jp], not here [citizen.com]. Submitter must have been trigger happy.

  • More info in Japanese press release (Score:5, Informative)

    by Bushcat ( 615449 ) on Sunday November 02, 2003 @02:00AM (#7369998)
    See here [citizen.co.jp] for the Japanese press release.

    Highlights: 8MB flash memory (4MB for data), 512kB RAM, runs at 24MHz or 48MHz, touchscreen uses Decuma handwriting recognition (Decuma is a Swedish company with Sony VC money; Decuma is also used in Sony Clies & cellphones). FM/Midi sound, vibrator; PIM, mail client supports POP/SMTP.

    Can communicate with SD form-factor PHS card, Wi-Fi card, Bluetooth etc. Tri-color LED, sound and vibration alerts for incoming data.

    I figure it's a much more useful device in Japan where connectivity is ubiquitous, than the US. But it will have a tough time competing with the likes of the J-SH53 and its successors.

  • Uhm... Either that guy has really small hands or my credit card is much larger than what the submitter of the article is used to...

    (I mean c'mon, there's no need for such sensationalist type-a headlines)

  • Weighs only 70g... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by lipi ( 142489 ) on Sunday November 02, 2003 @05:07AM (#7370299)
    ...plus Wi-Fi enabled and and it has ARM processor in it: perfect on-board controller for model air-planes.

    • Great idea. However, the FCC might have some gripes about using Wi-Fi as the controlling signal. During my hobby days, I recall that RC airplane radio crystals were not interchangable with the ones for RC cars. Kinda silly, but that's how the regulations were.

      I wouldn't be suprised if there was a way to interface the RC radio recievers with the PDA to use it as a co-processor.
  • Yes, but how bendable is it? If it's the size of a credit card, I want to be able to put it in my wallet and sit on it without it cracking. Otherwise, what's the point of having it that size?
  • Heck, just integrate this into a cell phone and you're all set. That way, I don't have to carry or recharge or configure anything else.

    I want a small cellphone with a big display (unlike most cellphones of today... small phone, but only 25% of it has a display)

    Even better, make one side of the phone all display, and put a keypad on the other side.

    The current problem with the cell phone market in the states is that the hardware is provided almost exclusively by the cell phone companies. And those compan
    • Even better, make one side of the phone all display, and put a keypad on the other side.

      That's a daft idea. How would you see the keys and what you're typeing at the same time?

      Nah, I'd go with a chord keyboard [utoronto.ca]. Might take a while to learn, but they are really nifty once you get going with them.
  • Though, the REX didnt have a touch sensitive screen...

    16 Color grey scale.. cute marketing trick... I bet many fall for it...

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