The ultimate PDA: Dell, listen to this

[eugenia]

The Dell page does not say anything about a new back cover. Where do you find this? Does it come with the battery?

[systemghost]

Double-Trinity my comment was addressed to no-one imparticular...I was just trying to make the point that some of the dream specs being given are more inline with a handtop than a pda...take a look at the specs for the up and coming Flipstart as suggested by tmn72...

Microsoft Windows XP Home/Professional operating system
Dimensions: 5.8" x 4" x 1" (148mm x 101mm x 26mm)
Weighs 1lb (450g)
1 GHz processor
256MB system RAM
30GB internal hard drive
3D graphics w/ 8MB video RAM
Full-function, QWERTY thumb keyboard w/ hotkeys for commonly used commands
5.6" HDTV-quality display (1024 x 600)
Lithium-ion Polymer battery (2-6 hours battery life*)
Integrated 802.11b (11 Mbps) /g (54 Mbps) Wi-Fi
USB 2.0 port
Internal microphone/speaker with headphones and ear bud jacks
Integrated 1.3MP digital camera

Flipstart handtop specs

...now compare to the wish lists...

okay the flipstart doesn't have a touch screen but other handtops do as well as different form factors...thought the price tags still burns a hole in the pockets ;-)

...Double-Trinity unfortunately you need that space around the screen...if you've got an old pda hanging around take it apart and you'll see little of that space is wasted...you'll also run into the problem of reduced battery time with increased screen size...as well as the question of how comfortably it fits in your hand...

Looking at these specs you can see the lines between the 2 blurring...kind of like the line between a smartphone and pda...gotta wonder which will kill the pda off...my money is on the handtop...people want greater speed, bigger screens, more storage, to be able to run their existing applications on their mobile technology...

BTW don't get me wrong I love my Ax and I'd love to have a 4"plus screen, increased CPU speed, USB port, increased memory/internal storage, more functional D pad/buttons, better compatibility with desktop programs and improvements in battery life...all in the form factor of a pda...but most of all I'd like to see better batter life preferably without the additional thickness...

I too have a dream pda...all the usual standard increase in memory etc but I'd like to see the LCD screen replaced with an OLED screen...this would eliminate the need for a back light and as OLED can be made into thin plastic you not only reduce power consumption but also weight...infact I'd like to go one step further and think of FOLED (flexible organic light emitting device) screens (think the wrist screens in the film 'red planet')...so why not a pda with a 4" FOLED screed, want an extra inch to read that spreadsheet...just pull out the sides to unroll the screen...
I'd also like to see a change in battery technology...instead of the traditional lithium ion battery how about a methanol fuel cell...like the one under development by Toshiba...running low on power well no need to recharge your battery for 5hours just add a few drops methanol/water mix into your fuel cell...

FOLED info

Toshiba fuel cell info

...okay so the FOLED and fuel cell technology is still some way off but what possibilities they could bring...then of course there's quantum computing ;-)

[Theophilus]

The Dell page does not say anything about a new back cover. Where do you find this? Does it come with the battery?

Yes it does.

I ordered one when I got my x50v, didn't see the new cover thing myself either, Ithought it was the same size. I sent it back as soon as I received it, I sure don't want that ugly brick that makes my PDA look like it's pregnant, and of course it doesn't fit my RhinoSkin.

Basically, the extended battery is more than twice the height as the regular one. Pics here and here (from a thread in PocketPCThoughts forums)

[yancypants]

www.oqo.com

The OQO has a nice form factor but it's specs really suck, especially for XP. What I'm most interested in is Modular PCs. Those things have a 1Ghz Transmeta Efficeon (with LongRun advanced power management) CPU, 512MB of RAM (CRUCIAL for XP), 20-30GB hard drive (so maybe that could be better), and a 16MB 3D graphics card. And it's only 127mm x 76mm x 19mm (Almost the same size as our X50s!). The only thing left is for someone (other than Antelope. They're shell sucks) to design a decent shell for it (like that of the OQO)!

[Louse76]

>Integrated 4 Gb microdrive

Also, maybe I am wrong, but microdrives are close to hard drives in architecture, and if that's true, don't expect more than 40 minutes of battery life if you use them all the time.

Sorry, but you are COMPLETELY wrong.

[Louse76]

my dream pda:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::


win xp
100 gig hard drive
wifi and blue tooth
lan port
irda port that works (with my old lappy)
surrond speakers (that cost 5 bucks look in my pda for the joke)
radio tuner
tv tuner
good battery
wireless kb
sd & mmc & microdrive/cf & pc card slot
dvd player
cd player
dock
teliphone port

The only difference between this and the original post is that you KNOW that you are making demands that will not be fulfilled. That, and the OP could possibly spell telephone.

[Hobbbbit]

The OQO has a nice form factor but it's specs really suck, especially for XP. What I'm most interested in is Modular PCs. Those things have a 1Ghz Transmeta Efficeon (with LongRun advanced power management) CPU, 512MB of RAM (CRUCIAL for XP), 20-30GB hard drive (so maybe that could be better), and a 16MB 3D graphics card. And it's only 127mm x 76mm x 19mm (Almost the same size as our X50s!). The only thing left is for someone (other than Antelope. They're shell sucks) to design a decent shell for it (like that of the OQO)!

Modular PC would be great, if not for the price. I would buy one to make myself carputer out of it, but I'm not about to shell out $2K just for a toy. And you can actually put something like that together yourself for much less money. It might be a little bit bigger in size, but the price would be much smaller.

[mia730]

Forget The Pda, Can I Meet Eugenia? :)

[Louse76]

Ranma13,
>1.3 megapixel camera? Do you want to pay an extra $100 for that?

I can assure you, a low quality 1.3 MP costs about $20 on the OEM taiwanese circles.

>2200mA battery? Do you like adding extra inches onto your PDA thickness?

No. Dell already sells this battery. It's the same size as the 1100 one.

>Charge via a USB port? At that rate it'll take days to fully recharge one battery.

No, it would take about 8-10 hours. Which is not big deal if you have a laptop with you on vacations, but don't want to take the power cord too.

You think that there will not be a charge for engineering and a profit margin for adding a camera?

And the 2200mAh battery exists, and IT IS MUCH LARGER, OPEN YOUR EYES.

Also, it already can charge via a USB port only, where have you been? Plug it in and turn it off.

[gerryforbes]

Also should have an inflatable Volkswagon Bug so you can carry it around.