Will we ever consider any handheld to be "great"?

Bob Russell · 02-03-2006, 12:14 PM

This is a fun time... it's rumor season again for upcoming Palm product releases! The latest rumors are centered around a possible Treo 800p, but I'm sure more will surface.

Now the most common response to the rumors is that the specs are too good to be true. But the days of wonderful spec rumors are great because until something is released, there is always hope that we'll get the perfect Palm device! I've been through this cycle a bunch of times now, and it never fails to excite me. It never fails to get me hoping for something that's probably not possible, and it puts me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what will really become available.

But one thing I'd say is that when a good device is released, I'm delighted about it. Recently, the PalmOS world has seen what are some of the the best devices ever. But is anyone celebrating? Not many. Mostly just complaints are what we hear.

The last time a device released with "everything we want" was probably the T|X. I was delighted at the time, and I still think it's spectacular. I don't have one, but I would like to have one.

True the lifedrive wasn't as spectacular a success as we hoped, and it did have a few issues, but it was pretty neat also, and you can't just dismiss any device with a screen that nice and so much built-in storage.

But I really never felt that any of the recent devices got the big buzz of praise they deserved. Especially after a long run of what I felt were so-so devices. True, some liked the T3 pretty well, but it had some reliability issues and battery life issues that were pretty severe limitations to its success.

So I wonder. If a Treo anything like recent rumors is released this year or in three years or in five years, will there be anyone saying "wow this is great"?

The fact is, we have a way of being disappointed with almost any realistic product rollout.

Even the Treo650, which has turned out to be a pretty spectacular device, got a little positive hobby press, but never really seemed to get the overwhelming buzz you might expect. All the focus seems to be on weaknesses that really weren't as significant as we all made them out to be. Is it really all that tough to live with a smaller memory footprint or a slightly big form factor? Are the keys really too small, or maybe just right after all? Personally, while no device is completely perfect, I do think the Treo 650 falls square into the "great device" category.

So I guess I wonder if there will ever be joy among Palm fanatics, no matter what the next Treo looks like. Or will we just continue to complain away any good features? It seems that if it's not that infamous "monster" device (you know, the one referred to in the forums with the defibulator and hidef projection tv and other stuff built in), it doesn't really stand a chance of being called a great device.

Maybe it's time we realize that the Palm world is living some glory days. The future? I don't know. And there is a heck of a lot of uncertainty for the years to come. But let's not be so critical that we miss the fun and greatness of the current time.

It doesn't seem anyone else out there is expressing this perspective, so maybe I'm the only one that sees things like this.

Tell us how you feel. Do you agree that these are the glory days for Palm, or do you feel like Palm just always keeps falling short?

BasilC · 02-03-2006, 05:24 PM

The TX doesn't have "everything we want" - there's no vibrating alert. If there was, I would have bought one.

Brad · 02-22-2006, 08:33 PM

I think Palm is finally on the right track with the T|X. But at the same time they have some challenges up ahead. At some point in the near future their OS will no longer be able to do everything people will want it to do. Screen resolution is also doing to need to be boosted. I get this feeling that Palm is out of touch with their customers and their product design, features, quality and reliability have suffered.

cstray · 02-25-2006, 04:26 AM

I think my Zodiac is one of those 'great devices' that never got much press (as does most of the Zodiac community). It certainly does just about everything I want it to, and with the right software or hardware it'd be hard to imagine something it couldn't do. I think the OS is already well past what people have been trying to get out of it (successfully getting out of it I should say; it's amazing the solutions developers continue to come up with, palmPDF being a prime example). That's why PalmSource was moving towards and Access is going with a Linux core. As for screen resolution, I don't really see why more than 480x320 is needed...pictures and video look amazing on my Zodiac and I don't think I'd really be able to tell if there were more pixels on the screen. As for Palm, I hope they're on the right track since there aren't many other major licensees left...

02-03-2006, 12:14 PM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Will we ever consider any handheld to be "great"? This is a fun time... it's rumor season again for upcoming Palm product releases! The latest rumors are centered around a possible Treo 800p, but I'm sure more will surface. Now the most common response to the rumors is that the specs are too good to be true. But the days of wonderful spec rumors are great because until something is released, there is always hope that we'll get the perfect Palm device! I've been through this cycle a bunch of times now, and it never fails to excite me. It never fails to get me hoping for something that's probably not possible, and it puts me on the edge of my seat waiting to see what will really become available. But one thing I'd say is that when a good device is released, I'm delighted about it. Recently, the PalmOS world has seen what are some of the the best devices ever. But is anyone celebrating? Not many. Mostly just complaints are what we hear. The last time a device released with "everything we want" was probably the T\|X. I was delighted at the time, and I still think it's spectacular. I don't have one, but I would like to have one. True the lifedrive wasn't as spectacular a success as we hoped, and it did have a few issues, but it was pretty neat also, and you can't just dismiss any device with a screen that nice and so much built-in storage. But I really never felt that any of the recent devices got the big buzz of praise they deserved. Especially after a long run of what I felt were so-so devices. True, some liked the T3 pretty well, but it had some reliability issues and battery life issues that were pretty severe limitations to its success. So I wonder. If a Treo anything like recent rumors is released this year or in three years or in five years, will there be anyone saying "wow this is great"? The fact is, we have a way of being disappointed with almost any realistic product rollout. Even the Treo650, which has turned out to be a pretty spectacular device, got a little positive hobby press, but never really seemed to get the overwhelming buzz you might expect. All the focus seems to be on weaknesses that really weren't as significant as we all made them out to be. Is it really all that tough to live with a smaller memory footprint or a slightly big form factor? Are the keys really too small, or maybe just right after all? Personally, while no device is completely perfect, I do think the Treo 650 falls square into the "great device" category. So I guess I wonder if there will ever be joy among Palm fanatics, no matter what the next Treo looks like. Or will we just continue to complain away any good features? It seems that if it's not that infamous "monster" device (you know, the one referred to in the forums with the defibulator and hidef projection tv and other stuff built in), it doesn't really stand a chance of being called a great device. Maybe it's time we realize that the Palm world is living some glory days. The future? I don't know. And there is a heck of a lot of uncertainty for the years to come. But let's not be so critical that we miss the fun and greatness of the current time. It doesn't seem anyone else out there is expressing this perspective, so maybe I'm the only one that sees things like this. Tell us how you feel. Do you agree that these are the glory days for Palm, or do you feel like Palm just always keeps falling short?

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
"I Won't Read a Great Novel on an eReader"	BenLee	General Discussions	81	02-14-2012 06:26 AM
"Crimson Orgy" promises to be a great Horror novel	Dr. Drib	Reading Recommendations	0	01-25-2010 06:12 AM
Great Experience with Sony Support....fixed my "not responding" issue	DougFNJ	Sony Reader	0	11-12-2009 02:42 PM
Now this is what I call a "great" sale on a Sony Reader	brecklundin	Sony Reader	3	12-19-2007 06:40 AM

02-03-2006, 05:24 PM	#2
BasilC Zealot Posts: 129 Karma: 60 Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: London England Device: Palm Tungsten T3	The TX doesn't have "everything we want" - there's no vibrating alert. If there was, I would have bought one.

02-22-2006, 08:33 PM	#3
Brad Zealot Posts: 107 Karma: 201 Join Date: Sep 2004 Device: Cybook Gen3 / EB1150 /iPhone	I think Palm is finally on the right track with the T\|X. But at the same time they have some challenges up ahead. At some point in the near future their OS will no longer be able to do everything people will want it to do. Screen resolution is also doing to need to be boosted. I get this feeling that Palm is out of touch with their customers and their product design, features, quality and reliability have suffered.

02-25-2006, 04:26 AM	#4
cstray Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2006 Device: Zodiac2	I think my Zodiac is one of those 'great devices' that never got much press (as does most of the Zodiac community). It certainly does just about everything I want it to, and with the right software or hardware it'd be hard to imagine something it couldn't do. I think the OS is already well past what people have been trying to get out of it (successfully getting out of it I should say; it's amazing the solutions developers continue to come up with, palmPDF being a prime example). That's why PalmSource was moving towards and Access is going with a Linux core. As for screen resolution, I don't really see why more than 480x320 is needed...pictures and video look amazing on my Zodiac and I don't think I'd really be able to tell if there were more pixels on the screen. As for Palm, I hope they're on the right track since there aren't many other major licensees left...

Advert