PDA-1

Sometimes, we just need a larger, widescreen experience from our DVDs while mobile, y’know what we mean? We don’t wanna be firing up our notebooks and be eating into precious battery power for our more, um … productive tasks, and the lil screen on our PDAs just won’t cut it. So what do we do?

We get the rugged Advueu PD710 7″ widescreen portable DVD player. $99 a pop after $30 MIR at eCost.com, will not break piggy banks upon acquisition. We are happy.

Nokia breaks out the first of its promised new line of mobile Internet devices, the 770 Internet Tablet.

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Barely days after their launch of the LifeDrive, and palmOne is already fielding talk of other models to beef up its Mobile Manager sub-brand.

… PalmOne hopes to create a whole family of devices based on the LifeDrive. “This is just the first in a new genre of products” …
- Stephane Maes, director of product management, palmOne quoted from CNET report

What could they be … 10GB hard drives, better app-switching management - maybe even a whole new user interface layer on top of Palmsource’s ageing Garnet operating system? There’s even talk in the Web that palmOne might export the LifeDrive’s new tech to its sibling Treo range of smartphones.

We can hardly wait - again

Robert over at the Windows Mobile Team Blog declares in his entry that more Windows Mobile devices with square screens ala HP’s hw6500/6700 series of PDA phones are in the horizon, and urges developers to code and test out new software on the square-screen emulator provided by Microsoft.

We are now left to speculate on who will offer these square-screened devices (besides HP), and whether they will be in a PDA phone/smartphone/standalone PDA/other hybrid form factors

Everyone who’s anyone waiting to get their paws on palmOne’s latest multimedia model the LifeDrive ought to be at their favorite PDA outlets by now. We checked out the PalmStore and found that it will take 7 to 14 business days for ours to arrive via the free shipping option. The unit itself costs $499 excluding taxes in NC, KY and PA states.

Besides the obvious, we should note that the LifeDrive does not come with any flip cover - instead, a synthetic leather slip cover’s included. You might want to check out the LifeDrive™ Mobile Manager Leather Case, $39.99 or the LifeDrive™ Mobile Manager Hard Case (an interesting implementation with rubberized edges), $49.99 to go with that spanking new (and expensive) toy.

Awright listen up: Barely 6 hours left to its official launch, but PalmZone.net has the full marketing brochure for the palmOne LifeDrive already, which literally spells out almost everything a buyer needs to know before a purchase - full specs included.

Read up the article over at PalmZone.net.

Okay now that the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system - formerly codenamed Magneto - is officially launched by none other than Chairman Gates himself, what can we expect from the device manufacturers?

Two of them are certain: Samsung announced that its hard-drive smartphone the SGH-i300 will be Windows Mobile 5.0 powered, and HTC does the same with its world’s first 3G PDA phone Universal design, to be carried by the likes of (firstly) T-Mobile Germany with the name MDA IV.

Just as eagerly expected, both Dell and HP announced that they will be offering Windows Mobile 5.0 as an upgrade option to its customers:

HP will offer Windows Mobile 5.0 upgrades for the HP iPAQ hx2100, hx2400, hx2700 and hx4700 series of handhelds. These software upgrades are expected to be available this summer and can be purchased directly from HP.
- excerpt from HP press release, read the full document here

Dell will offer a Windows Mobile version 5.0 software upgrade for the Dell AximTM X50 handheld family later this year.
- excerpt from Dell press release, read full document here

Plus, a whole barrage of announcements from various software houses and peripheral manufacturers, pledging their support for the new mobile OS at the ongoing Microsoft Embedded Developers Conference (MEDC 2005) in Las Vegas. Get links to individual press releases at Microsoft’s Windows Mobile webpage.

This CNET article writes up about the impending launch of the Tungsten X LifeDrive handheld from palmOne, and goes through the usual stuff in these kind reports; sticking references to other content that we already digested elsewhere … no biggie.

Catch the LifeDrive update below

What caught our attention and perhaps some over-active imagination is when the report mentions palmOne could be “heading a new trend in the handheld industry with LifeDrive” …

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Hey everybody, it’s been a slow week or so on PDA news, most if not all concentrating on software releases (which we don’t really cover), some pointless ramblings about a Zire 73 (which we all know are just website traffic stunts for now), and the yet-to-see-light Tungsten X from palmOne - or is the LifeDrive again?

But the most promising news so far must be the expected formal announcement and launch of Microsoft’s spankin’ new Windows Mobile 2005 codenamed “Magneto”, due out next week May 10 at the Microsoft Mobile & Embedded Developers Conference 2005 (or DevCon for the the geeks.)

Brighthand comments further on the highly awaited launch of the latest, “significantly different” version of Microsoft’s mobile OS designed to unify all forms of handheld computing/communications devices, from traditional PDAs to smartphones - and perhaps some other new iterations as well.

We have always considered the iPAQ hx2750 as best of the current crop of HP PDA’s (yes - even against its glamorous hx4700 brother) and are heartened to read time and again, good reviews of the superb PDA and the results that come out of them.

Granted, the hx2750 does not sport a fancied VGA (480×640) resolution display, but that does not deter us declaring it as the best piece of PDA thus far engineered in terms of software, hardware, and overall performance.

Read the excellent review and its results from the always-meticulous reviewer, Pavel Koza of PDAGold.

The HP iPAQ hx2750 is currently available for as low as $445.00; one may alternatively look for its identical twin (but differentiated only by model number to indicate the distribution channel it went thru for sale) the iPAQ hx2755 for as low as $455.00.

Thanks to Pocket PC Thoughts for the tip.