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This site is no longer maintained.
My current weblog.
Friday, March 08, 2002Reiter on the new BlackBerry 5810:
No manufacturer has come out with a "killer" PDA/phone form factor. Some vendors are getting close, and the Handspring Treo and Danger hiptop are two innovative examples that will be commercially available in the U.S. this year. Both units will be available first for GSM GPRS systems. But the 5810 is not in the Treo or hiptop league.
Reiter considers it a major flaw that voice communication is possible only in conjunction with a headset. I think that misses the point. RIM needed to get their products on the GSM network for the international markets. Bringing a GSM device to North America allows for additional carriers and marketers, particularly AT&T Wireless. And GPRS brings mindshare.
Adding voice capabilities to a GSM device requires little engineering effort. Few (if any) of RIM's end-users are going to look at this device with the intent of using it as a phone. However, for corporate purchasing decisions it is a "checklist" feature that ensures the BlackBerry will compare favorably at a superficial level to Motorola's various two-way devices and other offerings.
The BlackBerry devices are aimed primarily at a very narrow market centered around corporate messaging. They follow the philosophy of doing one thing and doing it very well. Handspring, Motorola, and Danger operate in a completely different space.
The one flaw that I do see with the 5810 is that it is not dual- or tri- band. A different device is offered in Europe, and it does not operate on North American GSM frequencies. To not have a tri-band version is seriously short-sighted (International GSM roaming may be expensive, but the infrastructure exists and works well). I also hope that RIM will release a GSM version of the smaller 850/950 device.
A company called Power Plant makes external battery packs for a number of devices. Their iPaq battery seems very interesting. Supposedly the connector and power requirements for the Zaurus are the same as the iPaq, so I'm seriously considering a purchase. Their smaller iPaq battery seems unobtrusive enough in it's carrying case, the question is how well will the Zaurus fit in it? The battery life in the Zaurus is quite poor, especially with the WiFi card, so an extra 2000mAh of power is very appealing (potentially triple the run-time).
FYI, almost all of the PPC 2002 devices have 1400mAh batteries. The Audiovox is the only exception that I am aware of, but I've been unable to find the exact specifications anywhere. The Zaurus has a 950mAh battery.
Pocket PC 2002 Update for Audiovox
Audiovox has released the Pocket PC 2002 Update for the Maestro Pocket PC. Just like the Casio, Compaq and Hewlett Packard updates, this service pack includes improved support for Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) connections, improved connection support in instances where a specific Internet Protocol (IP) address must always be used, improved Pocket Outlook Object Model (POOM) support, improved WAP viewing, and improved SMTP support. [download] [story] [PDABuzz.com]
I must state that the update process leaves much to be desired. There is no installer to run from the desktop, instead you must manually copy the update file to your device, open File Manager, find the file and run it.
On my PDA it first complained that the option to display owner information on power-up had to be disabled. Why didn't it do this itself? Then it changed my power settings and said that I must change them back manually. (update: when the upgrade finally finished my power settings seemed to be in their previously configured state)
I hope that other vendors are providing better update routines. I'll ask my roommate about his HP in the morning...
