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Handhelds Hardware

Sharp To Ship New HD-equipped Zaurus In Japan 181

ctid writes "On 10th November, Sharp will release its new Zaurus PDA. The SL-C3000 includes a 4GB hard drive, a 416MHz Intel XScale PXA270 CPU and 64MB of RAM. All of that in a package weighing 298g! There is no news as to whether Sharp will release this ludicrously desirable toy in the West, but I'm not hopeful personally. Maybe we can rely on suppliers like dynamism.com (in the USA) or shirtpocket.co.uk (in the UK) to help us out?"
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Sharp To Ship New HD-equipped Zaurus In Japan

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  • by garcia ( 6573 ) * on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:02AM (#10534782)
    Unlike Sony's PDAs, there's no wireless on the Sharp model, only infra-red. There's an SD and a CompactFlash card slot for expansion, so there's scope to add Bluetooth or Wi-Fi later on. There's also the usual USB port for connecting the device to a PC, and an earphones socket.

    I don't understand their decision not to include wireless into the device. Yeah you could add it with a CF card but that's an added expense and something else to carry w/you. Plenty of businesses now offer wireless service (Old Chicago, Kinkos, coffee houses, and a bunch of bars come to mind) and I would certainly think that most people would consider wifi a necessary feature.

    The base of the unit above the keyboard looks a bit thick. I wonder if it is meant to be held in your hands and you type w/your thumbs or if it is to sit on a surface and you type normally. Personally I prefer holding a device in my hands and typing but that's just me.

    I am now, more than ever, interested in some sort of "palm top" device for use in my home. I love being able to walk around and do what I need to do online from wherever. Even a laptop seems too bulky for me these days. At a little over 10.5 ounces this would be the perfect device for that purpose.
    • This is a Japan-only product, so catering to the plenty of businesses that offer wi-fi in America probably doesn't fit well into their business strategy. However, it does fit well into the Japanese way of life, where you are probably going to want to use this to take care of business while killing time riding on the train. Also, while wi-fi is nice, most laptops still come equipped with an IR port, making it an ideal method for syncing data quickly without having to whip out the SD card.

      As for the ergono
      • Eh? Wi-Fi is plenty outbuilt. Many train stations even have wireless networks, so you can just check your email when the train stops. You can also find insecure networks if you need that. I did this with my iBook riding the Shinkansen from Tokyo to some small town you've never heard of. No Apple laptops now come with IR either, though all PBs have BT built-in and iBooks can have it factory-installed cheaply. I agree with the OT; this PDA has some issues.
    • by randyflood ( 183756 ) on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:28AM (#10535044) Homepage Journal

      Not *everyone* wants wifi.

      Most people do. But there are some people who work in enviornments where they are prohibited from bringing wifi devices. So, there is a tradeoff there. Also, some people want a lower cost, and would like Wifi, but also want a lower cost device as well, and would be willing to buy the device now, and add wifi later.

      From a manufacturer's perspective, it is better to have that customer buy your product, and then purchase Wifi later, then it is to lose that customer to some other manufacturer based on them having a lower cost device. If people really want Wifi, then, simply create a bundle that lets people purchase your PDA along with the CF card that gives them WIFI, and then the problem is solved. That way, you can market your product to both sets of people and straddle the two segments of customers.

      It's a little kludgy. But, I don't think it's such a horrible strategy.

      Randy
      • From a manufacturer's perspective, it is better to have that customer buy your product, and then purchase Wifi later, then it is to lose that customer to some other manufacturer based on them having a lower cost device. If people really want Wifi, then, simply create a bundle that lets people purchase your PDA along with the CF card that gives them WIFI, and then the problem is solved. That way, you can market your product to both sets of people and straddle the two segments of customers.

        Well, you're prob
      • That argument makes sense when you're talking about a cheaper device. Like someone else said, adding wifi could add maybe $25-50 to the price of the device- a signifigant addition percentage-wise when you're PDA only costs $200... But this new Zaurus costs 80,000 Yen, which comes out to $734 USD. Which means it'll probably cost around $900 from Dynamism. These days, if you're buying a PDA that costs that much, you get wifi. And bluetooth.
      • Who cares if some people don't want wifi?

        Wasn't this why they sold multiple versions of the SL-6000 in the first place?

        I would rather see them release four near-identical devices... a version with/without wifi, and a version with/without Bluetooth.

        And speaking of Bluetooth, the lack of that in a PDA really makes this so-called "new" Zaurus look pretty fucking old.

    • by Bushcat ( 615449 ) on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:39AM (#10535143)
      I don't understand their decision not to include wireless into the device.

      In Japan, many devices have both SD and CF slots. The CF slot can take memory, but its main purpose is to add connectivity. Wi-Fi limits one to sitting around in a hotspot. Japan has better solutions: all three major carriers have 3G cards with thoughputs of up to 2Mbps. DDI and bMobile offer PHS-based cellular solutions up to 384kbps at flat rates. Connected users expect far more in the way of ubiquitous connectivity than Wi-Fi allows. The majority of the population, for example, sends and receives most of its email via cellphone rather than computer.

      So PCs have Wi-Fi, PDA users tend to go with one of the cellular solutions.

      • In Japan, many devices have both SD and CF slots. The CF slot can take memory, but its main purpose is to add connectivity. Wi-Fi limits one to sitting around in a hotspot. Japan has better solutions: all three major carriers have 3G cards with thoughputs of up to 2Mbps. DDI and bMobile offer PHS-based cellular solutions up to 384kbps at flat rates. Connected users expect far more in the way of ubiquitous connectivity than Wi-Fi allows. The majority of the population, for example, sends and receives most of
      • If the device were sold in the US, I bet they'd add a wi-fi option as with the 6000. Even if they didn't it wouldn't bother me to use a CF card as I do with the 5600 right now.
    • I don't understand their decision not to include wireless into the device.

      How about (assuming you mean 802.11*): desire to have battery life longer than fifteen minutes? There's just not enough room in the tiny little thing for a big enough battery to make wifi useful.
  • Welcome to 2002! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by VE3ECM ( 818278 ) on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:04AM (#10534802)
    Okay, while I love Linux as much as the next guy, seriously:

    "...416MHz Intel XScale PXA270 processor backed by 64MB of SDRAM and 16MB of Flash ROM."

    64 ram and 16 rom??? No Wi-fi or Bluetooth built in? How many of us actually use infrared on a regular basis?

    Sorry, Sharp; you're doing all of us a disservice by not promoting Linux as a device that can compete with comparable Windows Mobile-based devices.

    • 4 G od HD space on a PDA isn't very 2002, is it? :-)

      Not being Japanese it's hard for me to comment on how well this fits into their perception of a modern device on the wireless angle. But, I think the 4G of storage needs to be considered since much of our perception of the storage space on a PDA is related to all the data stored in that RAM for current products. If the 64M RAM and 16 M ROM is just OS and swap, this is more than enough for a Linux based device. I'm sure many readers have run a network E
      • 4 G od HD space on a PDA isn't very 2002, is it? :-)

        Sure it is. I had a 5 GB PCMCIA HD in my Jornada 720 PDA back in 2002. And the whole package- Jornada 720 and 5 GB HD didn't cost the $750 USD that this Zaurus does in Japan.

    • And don't forget it will cost twice as much as the comparable Palm / Pocket PC device.

      I was shopping for a PDA recently and I seriously considered a Zaurus. But the lack of wireless, the high price and the lack of sales / support in Europe put me right off the idea.

      I bought an iPaq (which I don't like for other reasons), but it cost half the price of a Zaurus and does bluetooth and wireless. I even expect to be able to make it run Linux one day. But first and foremost it is my PDA, which includes doing

    • by Michael Spencer Jr. ( 39538 ) * <spam@NoSpam.mspencer.net> on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:53AM (#10535280) Homepage
      Sharp Japan is doing the American market a disservice by not including WiFi, and also by not selling the device in the USA AT ALL.

      Sharp Japan is doing the Japanese market a big service by not including WiFi, allowing Japanese users to buy their own cellular data cards (AirH, PHS, etc, with data rates at something like $20/month for 128 kbit) which are already subscribed to a cellular service.

      Sharp USA will probably make different decisions. Sharp Japan has the Japanese market to think about. Please respect them for that.
      • Yeah, Sharp USA will toss out the nice clamshell factor entirely, and just slap this 4 gig drive below their atrocious 6000 design.

        Yay for Sharp USA.
      • Please respect them for that.


        Please think of the children... exactly what the hell are you talking about? Respect them for not serving their customers in the US? Decisions for the Japanese market are mutually exclusive to decisions in the US market. Sharp is either being stupid or bribed by M$ to stay out of the market. Either way, it's anti-consumer.

        • Please think of the children... exactly what the hell are you talking about? Respect them for not serving their customers in the US? Decisions for the Japanese market are mutually exclusive to decisions in the US market. Sharp is either being stupid or bribed by M$ to stay out of the market. Either way, it's anti-consumer.

          Good god man, you think companies exist solely to serve your every whim and that they have a responsibility to do so? Grow up! If Sharp thought there were a lot of profit to be made in
          • Grow up?

            Grow up yourself and stop telling people to grow up! You are trying to make the argument that companies selling consumer products should not try to please consumers? This makes no sense.

            The fact is that any PDA without Wifi and BlueTooth is a day late and dollar short in Japan or in the US.

            I think you should really grow up and stop acting like a two year old!

            • "You are trying to make the argument that companies selling consumer products should not try to please consumers?"

              Err...no. The point was that the Japanese division is releasing the product in Japan to best serve that market. If Japan has multiple standards for Wi-Fi, it would make *NO* sense to lock the product into a single standard and close out the others. The PDA does support Wi-Fi; it just doesn't include Wi-Fi.

              A further point was that most Japanese electronics companies release in Japan well bef
      • "Allowing" people to buy their own data cards is great... that way you suck a few tens of thousands more yen out of the consumer. Way to go, Sharp.

        I would much rather be using a built-in Bluetooth radio to communicate with my perfectly good phone.

  • by Sheetrock ( 152993 ) on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:12AM (#10534880) Homepage Journal
    There are a few features I'd like to see in a PDA that, even as expensive as this will be, still lacks:

    • True wireless, preferably 802.11h but slower OK.
    • CD/DVD playback -- 4GB is a lot of space but what if you want to play movies?
    • Easy iPos-style interface when the unit is closed; why should I have to fumble with a stylus just to switch tracks or turn up the volume?
    • Option to recharge so I don't have to blow a bunch of cash on AAA batteries.

    Anyway, despite my quibbles this sounds like a pretty solid device. Why are they only releasing in Japan?

  • List price in yen, of course. Speculation on the retail price plus the export/import markup can't happen without it!
    • The price in JPY is 80,000, which is $734 USD according to xe.com. Which means a $900-1000 price at places like Dynamism who will get 'em first, closer to $900 for conics and some of the others who tend to have a lower price. In other words, an assload.
  • by nels_tomlinson ( 106413 ) on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:15AM (#10534920) Homepage
    The two other posts I see are complaining about no wireless, but I'm thinking this is a computer in the palm of my hand. The only lack that I see is no docking station.

    Seriously, add an inexpensive docking station, and this would be the ultimate ultracompact laptop. You could use it as a normal PDA where ever you are, and at home or work you could plug it into the docking station and be on the network, use it for email and typing, and so on. For most people, this would make a practical second computer.

    Lets just hope the price (including that cheap docking station) matches the size!

    • I thought the same thing about my Sharp 5500. If there was some way I could plug in a full size keyboard in monitor, then I wouldn't need to carry my laptop home. Just plug the Zaurus into some old monitor and keyboard for intense work.
      • I thought the same thing about my Sharp 5500. If there was some way I could plug in a full size keyboard in monitor, then I wouldn't need to carry my laptop home. Just plug the Zaurus into some old monitor and keyboard for intense work.

        I used to do that with my Sigmarion 3. I used a VGA out card to display at 1024x768 on an external monitor, and an external USB keyboard and mouse. Just like using a desktop. The parts needed for this are: 1. a way to output VGA and 2. a USB host. The other PDA that can do
    • I've got a SL-C750 and I have to say that it's not really a laptop replacement. You don't understand just how _tiny_ text is on that screen (it's like 120dpi). Sure I've browsed Slashdot and whatnot on it (the Xscale processor is not particularly speedy either, so be prepared to wait for your pages to render), but you need good eyes and a bit of patience for dealing with webpages that assume you have a larger than 640x480 display.

      Still, it is extremely nice to have when I don't want to lug a laptop ar
    • I know someone who uses a GPRS cellphone to sit on irc all day long, regardless of physical location. And that's affordable and widely available today. I see great potential for knowledge workers to untie themselves from physical location with the crossover between cellphones and high-powered pda's (faster than my main home file server, a 233 mhz pII).

      Plus, it would be insanely cool to have a beefy workstation in a rack somewhere, and to just remotely connect into it from the beach through GPRS/UTMS and be
    • Seriously, add an inexpensive docking station, and this would be the ultimate ultracompact laptop.

      You may have a cheaper solution with an old laptop or desktop running a VNC client and connecting to a VNC server on the Zaurus. A specially-engineered new docking station may cost more than older full-featured technology.

  • markets (Score:3, Interesting)

    by StevenHenderson ( 806391 ) <stevehenderson@NOspam.gmail.com> on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:17AM (#10534948)

    It will be interesting to see how devices like this (if released in the US) will compete with the OQO, etc. I am guessing the prices of PDAs with a HD will be close to $1000, so the cost/benefit analysis of each will be interesting indeed.
  • Weight (Score:2, Informative)

    by erick99 ( 743982 )
    298 grams = 10.5 ounces.
  • Geesh, color screen, microdrive, slap in a wifi card.... maybe 45 minutes of battery? What is this good for?
  • Simple question: why don't they use a CF or SD card type of flash memory instead of a HD (at least CF cards with 4 GB are already available)?
  • dynamism.com

    Nice bit of free advertising there.

    No wonder they can charge $2500-$3500 for laptops that cost around $1500 in Japan.

    $1000 is a pretty sweet profit margin for "install a US keyboard".

    • Well there is better alternative like www.conics.net and pricejapan.com for the price, but i think most peoples pay 200$ extra, just to have a warranty.... I guess that device will be around 650$USD, its a dissapointment still, We were expecting a lots more from Sharp.
      • Of coure pricejapan provides warranty service. You pay for shipping to them and they act as a proxy between Sharp and you.
      • Through price japan you do get a warranty, the same one Sharp gives a japanese buyer of the device. You pay ship the device to them, and they send it in to sharp for repair. Once it's done the device is shipped back to you.
  • by HarveyBirdman ( 627248 ) on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:31AM (#10535074) Journal
    I thought "HD equipped" meant High Definition. :-(
    • I thought "HD equipped" meant High Definition. :-(

      As did I. I wondered what the point of watching HD video on a PDA was.

      I wish the article summaries would cut back on the Acronyms. I suppose that was the only way to fit it in the subject field though.
  • Ya know, as great as that product sounds, I'd be very wary before dropping any cash for a Sharp PDA.

    Why? Well remember that linux-based 6000 version that had several reviews [slashdot.org] on here not too long ago? Well, Sharp is ALREADY DROPPING SUPPORT FOR IT. [zaurususergroup.com]

    wtf is up with that? Lots of people around here just dropped $600 for this thing, only to get bent over by Sharp.

    For what it's worth, I'm extremely happy with the 6000. It's rugged as hell, the screen literally has to be seen to be believed, and it can
  • by gregarican ( 694358 ) on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:38AM (#10535139) Homepage
    From what I see of their Japanese product releases they are trying to further the cause for more functional handhelds. Obviously there must be a high demand for such items in that part of the world. The demand for these must not be as high in the U.S. or Europe since they have steadily (and quietly without prior announcement) drawn out of these markets.

    I agree with the other takes I've read on this article. Yes, they should've added wi-fi or Bluetooth. And yes, they couldn't dropped the 4 GB HDD in favor of a 4 GB CF HDD. I had an SL-5500 and have to say having a Linux box in the palm of my hand that I could use as an Apache/PHP/mySQL server was certainly impressive. So was the fact I could code and compile on the unit. But the hardware was built on the cheap. And that is being kind.

    The thing that saddens me the most about Sharp is that after actively participating on their developer webboard for a couple of years I can say that they don't really foster many close ties with their user population. They drop things like a rock and without much dialog.
  • Why does Japan get all the good toys (and do they wonder the same thing about the USA)?

    Seriously, I was in the market for a laptop through a few weeks ago and it amazed me the variety of ultraportables that Sharp Japan produced. They probably have ~10 machines that run on transmeta chips, one of which (MM20, MM10 might be counted as well but I am not sure it is still produced) is readily available in the US. Other vendors offer Linux notebooks in Aisa, we have a single HP model, and a handful of vendor
    • (and do they wonder the same thing about the USA)

      I think the answer to that is almost certainly no. The stuff they have in Japan will make your eyes drop out. My wife got very fed up of me dragging her around the electronics district of Tokyo - it's tech heaven.
  • by Speare ( 84249 ) on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:39AM (#10535151) Homepage Journal
    I read 4GB and I think "CF type II microdrive." So if the 4GB drive is in the unit, is it removable? Is there a second CF type I or II slot for real expansion, or is this a balancing act? I mean, ANYONE could put a 5GB microdrive in the lowly 5500 if that's all we're talking about, but we still can't combine a CF WiFi and a CF HD at the same time unless there's two slots.
  • Sounds cool. The Zaurii are great little devices. In combination with TextMaker for Zaurus [softmaker.de] (and hopefully the PlanMaker spreadsheet, too), this sounds like the perfect mobile office.
    • Though the intent here is just to plug your app, TextMaker (which is very nice), I feel like I should mention another good piece of software, new to this Zaurus model: Picsel Browser. Some folks don't like it, but I've used it on WinCE (on a japanese Sigmarion 3 handheld PC) and on Palm OS (Sony Clie NX70V) and I must say I like it, a lot. The Picsel Browser is great for viewing PDFs, HTML/webpages, MS Office docs, and many image formats, with very convenient scrolling and zooming. You can use it like a re
  • by D4C5CE ( 578304 ) on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:46AM (#10535219)
    There is no news as to whether Sharp will release this ludicrously desirable toy in the West, but I'm not hopeful personally.
    As it has already been proposed more than once [slashdot.org], the way to get a clamshell Zaurus in Europe and in the US is to let Sharp know about it [myzaurus.com]. It only takes everyone on Slashdot asking the manufacturer about this once at least, and telling all their geek friends who would like to get this device as well to do the same... this will convincingly demonstrate the market potential and make bringing the line to the rest of the world an obvious business case.

    OTOH, if you do not contact them, you may have to use WinCE and its siblings for the rest of your days. Well, the choice is yours, just don't say you never had one... ;-/
    The future is not set.

    There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.
    John Connor
    2029 AD
  • comparison data (Score:5, Informative)

    by Khopesh ( 112447 ) on Friday October 15, 2004 @09:50AM (#10535252) Homepage Journal

    looking at Palm [palmone.com], iPAQ [hp.com], and iPod [apple.com] sizes

    • SL-C3000: ? (screen: 3.7), 10.5oz, $lots
    • Zire 31: 4.4 x 2.9 x 0.6, 4.1oz, $149
    • Zire 72: 4.6 x 2.95 x 0.67, 4.8oz, $299
    • Tungston E: 4.5 x 3.1 x 0.5, 4.6oz, $199
    • Tungston T5: 4.8 x 3.1 x 0.6, 5.1oz, $399
    • Tungston C: 4.8. x 3.1 x 0.7, 6.3oz, $399
    • iPAQ rz1715: 4.48 x 2.75 x 0.5, 4.23oz, $280
    • iPod 20GB: 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.6, 5.6oz, $299
    • iPod mini 4GB: 3.6 x 2.0 x 0.5, 3.6oz, $249
    • 1GB SD (for palms): $75 [pricewatch.com]

    The picture [theregister.co.uk] makes it look like it is quite thick ... I wonder how it will compare to the above.

    SD memory for palms is rapidly improving; soon, larger capacities will be cheaper, making a $250 1GB+ palm smaller and better than this toy.

    (note, I have posted on this before [slashdot.org])

    • Re:comparison data (Score:2, Informative)

      by Kahm-Hime ( 73765 )
      The SL-C3000 is 124mm by 87mm by 25mm (4.9x3.4x1)

      It also has fully twice the screen resolution as the highest-rez device you listed (the T5, I believe), and closer to 4 times the rez of everything else. It also includes what is probably one of the best built in keyboards on the market, on top of having as much storage capacity as the iPod mini.

      How does that make any of the above "better"?

      You'd have to combine 1.5 T5's, the Palm C for the keyboard, AND the iPod mini into a single unit to match it. You'd
      • The entire electronic world is black and white to Palm fanatics. You either need a Palm or you need a full sized 10 pound laptop. There is no middle ground for them. Personally, if all I wanted was something to keep track of my notes and contacts, then I would just use a pencil and paper... infinite battery life, highly shock resistant, etc. Far better than a Palm.
    • Your price comparison doesn't note the fact that the C3000 is a clamshell and has a VGA screen. Which of these other PDAs list have that?
    • True, so long as you ignore the fact that Palm's current OS blows goats, and their only working Java VM blows even more and varies farmyard animals.

      And I say this being a Tungsten T3 owner, too. It's a good machine, but I really don't like the complete lack of multitasking in the OS. As soon as someone sends you a file via Bluetooth, you will be waiting until it finishes downloading. Never mind if you were trying to listen to music, it just doesn't care.

  • by pez ( 54 ) * on Friday October 15, 2004 @11:07AM (#10536079) Journal
    I've owned the SL-5600 and now the SL-C760 and use it on a daily basis. I love it! I was looking forward to Sharp's new device with more anticipation than I care to admit ;-)

    What I wanted however, was decidedly different than what they seem to have provided. Here's a short but simple list that would turn the SL-C760 into a must-have device.
    1. larger screen
      the strength of the 760 is undoubtedly the beautiful screen. At 640x480 and with a pixel density you have to see to believe, it's almost *too* good -- and by that I mean it's almost 800 pixels wide, which would mean you could really surf the web without having to scroll horizontally. There's clearly space in the bezel and the unit is practically screaming for an additional 160 pixels of width to fill out the top portion of the flip.

    2. built-in WiFi and (I guess) bluetooth
      this is the industry standard and it's hard to not see it as a major issue that it's not included. Yes you can get CF cards (and I've tried them all!) but having a separate card is bulky (they all stick out of the unit ruining the beautiful form factor), it's one more thing to buy and carry around, and it's one more thing to suck the battery since it's not integrated into the MoBo and power management system.

    3. faster processor and more memory
      the unit is tantilizingly close to being able to run a full version of Linux (Mozilla, X, gnome/KDE, whatever) but isn't quite fast enough. Having to suffer through a "pocket browser" and a "pocket editor" is frustrating when the real things aren't that far away. Hobbyists have created special stripped-down versions of popular software (minimo is a pocket-mozilla) but I shouldn't have to hack the ROM to get the full potential out of the unit.

    See? I told you it was a short list. The C760 is nearly perfect. Nearly. But this latest model is no better.
  • I am a longtime owner of the SL-5500 Zaurus. It's nice to have a very small Linux box..

    I use mine primarily as a Wifi detector. I pull out the Zaurus, and quickly check to see if Wifi is available, and if it's open and free. If so, I pull out my PowerBook for any real www access.

    But, a hard drive would be the last thing I would have wanted on my Zaurus. The microdrives would be a power drain, on an already power limited device. And, I have plenty of storage already - via the large/cheap SD cards.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I would guess you don't live in Japan. As such, I'dventure to say that this product is not aimed at you.
      By the time this makes to the US market, if ever, it will have whatever Sharp US thinks would make them the most $$ there.

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