alt.CES the Palm Pre & the history of Palm devices...
Palm introduced a new phone today called the Palm pre, it catches them up to what's out there and looks like a solid phone - there is also a new WebOS for it, I'm going to take a close look at it - but what I think is more interesting is the colorful menagerie of Palm devices starting from 1996. Enjoy the trip down memory lane... What was your favorite? Mine is still the Palm V, a magical device at the time - I still use it for hacked up projects. I also liked the III series that took AA batteries.
Posted by: Mike Dixon on January 8, 2009 at 8:37 PM
Zire 71
I still love my Palm Zire 71, its secret spy camera still makes me laugh. Also my Palm-powered Clié, I could never throw these things beauties away, as long as they still run Bejeweled, it doesn't really matter, does it?
Posted by: The Oracle on January 9, 2009 at 5:47 AM
I thought palm was dead. I still love my Tungsten E2 which hasn't been updated in about 5 years. I'm still holding palm stock which is worth less than a penny on the dollar, which is another good reason I thought it was dead.
But why "yet another crappy smartphone?" I really like handheld computing platforms, but building it around a phone is just so stupid for so many reasons.
I want to use my organizer when I'm on the phone. if i want to replace one device, why should I have to replace everything at once (and relearn how to use everything)? I want my cell phone with me all the time, including environments it might be destroyed. I have no problem risking a cheap phone, I have a huge problem risking an expensive palm computer. And at least in North America, the data fees are so high and uses so restrictive, it's practically useless for anything more than getting people to say wow.
Posted by: the other guy on January 10, 2009 at 8:30 AM
I think Sony Clie was the best of the PalmOS bunch... if they were still around they'd be way better than any stupid iPhone. My Clie was really basic and monochrome and when it wore out I replaced it with a Tungsten E (which I also liked apart from the poor battery life, but it got lost) but the fancier clies were awesome.
While PalmOS is moribund and Windows Mobile can potentially do a lot more, the user interface on my Windows Mobile 5 pda is so horrible I'm actually writing notes down on paper again, can you believe it.
I agree about the stupidity of the smartphone thing. Two more reasons: the form factor I want in a phone and an ebook reader are opposite, and if I have one device to do everything, it would need a bigger better battery. Building it around an mp3 player a la iTouch is more appealing, but hype aside, unless you jailbreak one of those it doesn't do too much and the apps all seem to cost 4 times more than what they do is worth.
Void your warranty, violate a user agreement, fry a circuit, blow a fuse, poke an eye out. Make: The risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things... Welcome to Make: Online!
More contributors: Mark Frauenfelder (Editor-in-Chief, MAKE magazine), Kipp Bradford (Technical Consultant/Writer), Chris Connors (Education), Diana Eng (Guest Author), Peter Horvath (Intern), Brian Jepson (O'Reilly Media), Robert Bruce Thompson (Science Room)
Behind the Scenes at MAKE and CRAFT
In January, many of the remote MAKE/CRAFT team members (myself included) convened at the Maker Media headquarters at O'Reilly Media in Sebastopol, California. Take a look behind the scenes of your favorite DIY publications as Goli Mohammadi gives us...
More...
Sign up for the Make: Newsletter
Our Make: Newsletter covers news from maker Media, has original columns, Shed deals, and more! You can also read the archives of past issues.
RSS
I still love my Palm Zire 71, its secret spy camera still makes me laugh. Also my Palm-powered Clié, I could never throw these things beauties away, as long as they still run Bejeweled, it doesn't really matter, does it?
Reply to this comment
I thought palm was dead. I still love my Tungsten E2 which hasn't been updated in about 5 years. I'm still holding palm stock which is worth less than a penny on the dollar, which is another good reason I thought it was dead.
But why "yet another crappy smartphone?" I really like handheld computing platforms, but building it around a phone is just so stupid for so many reasons.
I want to use my organizer when I'm on the phone. if i want to replace one device, why should I have to replace everything at once (and relearn how to use everything)? I want my cell phone with me all the time, including environments it might be destroyed. I have no problem risking a cheap phone, I have a huge problem risking an expensive palm computer. And at least in North America, the data fees are so high and uses so restrictive, it's practically useless for anything more than getting people to say wow.
Reply to this comment
I think Sony Clie was the best of the PalmOS bunch... if they were still around they'd be way better than any stupid iPhone. My Clie was really basic and monochrome and when it wore out I replaced it with a Tungsten E (which I also liked apart from the poor battery life, but it got lost) but the fancier clies were awesome.
While PalmOS is moribund and Windows Mobile can potentially do a lot more, the user interface on my Windows Mobile 5 pda is so horrible I'm actually writing notes down on paper again, can you believe it.
I agree about the stupidity of the smartphone thing. Two more reasons: the form factor I want in a phone and an ebook reader are opposite, and if I have one device to do everything, it would need a bigger better battery. Building it around an mp3 player a la iTouch is more appealing, but hype aside, unless you jailbreak one of those it doesn't do too much and the apps all seem to cost 4 times more than what they do is worth.
Reply to this comment