A Curvaceous Personal Assistant
As new and improved Personal Digital Assistant - PDA - models hit the market, the future for ebooks looks even more promising. The design issue is fundamental - we all want a multi-purpose PDA that fits in a pocket, but with a large, easy to read screen...and color...and sound recording and playback...and things I haven't even thought about, all coming soon at cheaper and cheaper prices - with ice cream!
A short history....
In the past Palm has driven the PDA market with solid, reliable hardware products and an operating system which has been adapted by several other manufacturers, closely trailed by Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system on competing PDAs. Now the battle continues to heat up with Sharp offering their Zaurus system based on the Linux operating system. In response to Palm's continuing dominance of the market, Microsoft, in conjunction with Samsung Semiconductor, has countered by offering "blueprints" for a ultra low-cost PDA running the Pocket PC operating system on a Samsung processor. In the market quest for a profit, we may get some good (read value for the money) systems out of all this! Maybe even the ice cream.
From Palm - the Tungsten series, beautiful color display PDA's with all the old functions, a few new, and for reading, a sharp color screen.
Palm is matching the new hardware with a new operating system, Palm OS5, which includes Bluetooth technology on this little trick, a step up form the venerable infrared links. The original inventors of Palm devices started their own company, Handspring, and sold competing Visor models for several years, but have recently returned to the Palm fold. The Handspring products and innovations are being integrated back into the Palm line as the Zire lower price devices and their Treo line of PDA/integrated wireless phones (the SmartPhones) and a lower price version that is still pretty nifty.
The next eye-opener is Dell's Axim line using the Pocket PC operating system. The two models launching Dell's line differ in processor speed - fast and faster - at $199 and $299. For a few more bucks you can get an upgraded model with integrated 802.11b wireless capability at about $350. - but Dell often makes some super discount offers.
The HP iPAQ (once upon a time made by Compaq, now swallowed up by HP) runs Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system. Generally more expensive and requiring more processing power than devices using the Palm OS, feed this bear enough power and reports are you get thoroughbred performance, to the point of really replacing the laptop for travel. The top-end model even has an SD card slot, a PC card slot, built-in Bluetooth, wireless LAN and - get this - fingerprint recognition security! Of course, we are up to the big bucks category, $600-plus.
So - where are we? Each brand has economy models and chrome-plated, luxury versions, with price tags to match. Another situation where shopping and price/value comparison are essential.
Tablets? Other form factors? Didn't think color TV would ever be a success? Well, don't get hung up on the current form factors, either. Lot of smart designers out there dreaming up neat stuff. All they need is your buck!
I have the habit of buying last year's technology - for about half the original asking price. Like buying a new car, patience can save money if you can resist being the techno-freak that must have the latest gadget.