Todd
Thu May 01 19:40:49 PDT 2008
"(PeteCresswell)" <x@y.Invalid> wrote in message
news:lgmk141oi27mid0hrhhko03f7lt4joi9uk@4ax.com...
> Per Todd Allcock:
>>The only "missing" feature I can see is it lacks a QWERTY
>>keyboard. If that's important to you, Velocity's 111
>
> Actually, in a small way, no keyboard at all is preferable to me.
Same here- I've been using PPCs since before they were PPCs (a Casio E-100
"Palm-Sized PC") and I get around just fine on the soft keyboard. When I
bought my T-Mobile MDA (a rebadged HTC Wizard) it was because it was a
heavily subsidized carrier-branded device. I really wanted (at the time)
the I-Mate "Jamin" which was the Wizard but without the slide out keyboard
(and a 1/4" thinner!) However, a $250 subsidized phone with keyboard
trumped a $700 unlocked unsubsidized one without!
As to the Wizard's keyboard, I rarely use it. When I do, I find my self
ironically needing to pull up the soft keyboard anyway to enter a symbol
that isn't availalbe on the limited number of hard keys!
> That was one "Feature" of the MWg Atom Life that caught my eye
> right away.
I looked at the Atom Life myself- it hits a pretty sweet spot between
features and price.
> It's not a religious issue or anything - and I was kind of
> resigned to having a device that had a keyboard.... but not
> having/paying for something that I'd never use appeals to me
> more.
Agreed. I guess what frustrates me is that the "state of the art" has
seemingly gone nowhere in three or four years. VERY few PDA phones match
the specs of decent standalone PPCs of 2003. Just when the standalone was
being killed off by the convergence devices, VGA was beoming common, yet you
can probably count the number of VGA phones released in the last 3-4 years
on one hand! Sure, they've added 3G and GPS to a bunch of models, but so
has every $100 subsidized "dumbphone" these days!
In 2008 I should be awestruck by the capability of new models instead of
saying "wow, it's ALMOST as nice as an old Dell Axim!" ;-)
> The Velocity device certainly sounds worth waiting for - what
> with the VGA rez and integrated GPS...
The VGA and video out are doing for me. The VGA screen will make remote
desktop look useable, and TV/VGA Out will allow it to do presentations
without a laptop, and make it a perfect Zune/iPod replacement. If the thing
has USB host mode (the specs don't say), I'd probably trade my first-born
for it. The ability to connect an external hard drive, flash card reader,
and full-sized PC keyboard on one end and a monitor to the other will make
it a 4" laptop ;-)
The upcoming Sony Xperia X1
(
http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/x1) looks
nice too, but I expect it to be pricier. It will have an 800x480 landscape
screen, USB host, slideout keyboard, but seems to lack video out.
