VisorCentral.com - Stowaway Palm Keyboards in retail

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- Accessories (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=3)
-- Stowaway Palm Keyboards in retail (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=3619)

Posted by drgandy on 03-15-2000 12:22 AM:

I saw the Stowaway Keyboard for the Palm II series today at Fryes Electronics in SoCal. They were going for the expected price of $99. They also had the IIIe, IIIxe, IIIc, V, and Vx in stock. With all these palm choices in retail, it makes me wonder how Visor is selling much at all. They seem to be at least a month or two behind the competition in technology, and a lot more than that in distrubution. With all the accessories out there for the III series, and zero great springboards released, I am considering switching to the IIIxe. The Stowaway was so cool...

Posted by Cerulean on 03-15-2000 12:46 AM:

From what I hear, the Visor Stowaway should be released next week. Lets hope thats true.. its VERY cool and I REALLY want one.

Joe

Posted by Vertigo on 03-15-2000 05:49 AM:

drgandy, <WHINE> <WHINE> <WHINE>.

What are you talking about? the Visor being months behind in technology? they run the exact same programs, they run on practically identical hardware!

The Visor is selling so well because of it's BETTER Technology and Price! USB is infinitely faster than Serial. one word : springboards! (if you can't stand to wait, go ahead and buy a Palm unit, I guarentee you will regret it in a few months.). Those are 2 things that you get for the same price as a palm unit. It's a no brainer. I can't believe that you would consider switching to Palm JUST because the kayboard came out for them first, it's so extremely shallow. .

Posted by chuckf on 03-15-2000 03:12 PM:

I just came from the Targus Stowaway page. The release date has slipped to Mid April.

Posted by Hawkeye on 03-15-2000 03:22 PM:

Vertigo,

gettin' a little harsh there, aren't ya? The fact is that the Visor is behind in the technology. OS 3.5 is the new OS and the Visor will only run 3.1h. Can you upgrade the Visor to 3.5? Nope. As far as distribution, Handspring originally said they were going to hit the retail market around the first of the year. It is now mid-March.

Besides, who are you to say that drgandy will regret his choice? The fact is that there are (currently) more accessories for Palm III series organizers than for a Visor. I agree that springboard technology is cool, but the great majority of the modules (so far) are vaporware.

quote:
I can't believe that you would consider switching to Palm JUST because the kayboard came out for them first, it's so extremely shallow.

Actually, I think you're the shallow one for shoving your opinion on other people. PDA's are a personal thing, so let drgandy buy what he wants and keep you insulting comments to yourself.

[This message has been edited by Hawkeye (edited 03-15-2000).]

Posted by Hoser_back_home on 03-15-2000 03:53 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Hawkeye:
The fact is that there are (currently) more accessories for Palm III series organizers than for a Visor. I agree that springboard technology is cool, but the great majority of the modules (so far) are vaporware.

let's not forget that the Pilots have also been around for 3 years. Let's compare the the Visor module availability at the end of this year or early next with the amount of accessories for the pilot right now. That might be a slightly fairer comparison.

Posted by JHromadka on 03-15-2000 06:36 PM:

Ok people let's be civil. I wouldn't say that the Visor is a month or two behind in technology. Can you currently upgrade your Palm __ to OS 3.5? Not yet. The Palm series has been out longer, so of course it is going to have more accessories.

The Stowaway is cool. One difference that many people do not know about is that the "cradle" that the Visor sits in is a different design than the Palm version. From the pictures I have seen the Visor version has a spring that pops the flap out, while the Palm version doesn't have this spring. It is not easy to describe, but the technology in the Visor version is "newer"

Also, many of these "vaporware" modules have been demonstrated at trade shows. Not vaporware, just being fine tuned.

------------------
James Hromadka
VisorCentral.com
Personal Website: http://www.Hromadka.com

Posted by drgandy on 03-15-2000 06:44 PM:

actually, i was specifically speaking of the color IIIc. handspring has made no announcements about a color unit forthcoming. that makes them behind in technology, in my opinion. you may not have that opinion. see, thats ok.

i have owned a III, IIIx, and two visor deluxes, so i can speak intelligently about the differences. the first visor i owned (placed my order sept 15, the first day you could) was awful. the battery indicator always read 100%, and when the battery got low, the screen would flicker. when i got my replacement unit 3.5 months later. i sold both my III and IIIx in order to purchase the visor, and i defintely regretted it. when i finally did receive the new unit, i was happy. besides a few random incompatibilities with poorly written software, it was great. almost as good as my old IIIx. you see, without other useful springboard modules (with 8 mb and ethernet, i have no need for memory cards and modems. i can download the games), it only becomes as good as a palm. yes, in a year there will probably be more accessories and springboards out there, but i have learned to make the change after the product is established.

btw, Cerulean, where do you get your information? are you one of those people out there on the net who tries to make up rumors just to see them spread? who did you hear this incorrect information from? the targus site says not till april. get the facts straight, jack.

sad that i need to say this, but these are my opinions. feel free to flame, but i am sorry to say it does not get under my skin. i have also learned that many people flame just to evoke a response and get attention, not because they really agree. enjoy.

Posted by JEBaldwin on 03-15-2000 07:43 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by drgandy:
actually, i was specifically speaking of the color IIIc. handspring has made no announcements about a color unit forthcoming. that makes them behind in technology, in my opinion. you may not have that opinion. see, thats ok.

By that rationale, Palm has been "behind" in technology ever since the first color Windows CE machines came out, and that's a helluva lot longer than three months.

I can find fault in Handspring not making an upgrade-able device, as that goes against the very nature of modern computing. There's a reason the Palm OS is version (now) 3.5 and not version 1.0 (or that there are even versions at all). In fact, that's the whole concept with "versions" of software. There's the consumer that says, "Hey, this is pretty neat, but you know what would be really cool? If this Palm/toaster/car/cheesetwiddler could also do this..." The OS programmers incorporate wishlists with their own ideas and improve upon a product.

Were I designing Visor 2.0 (and I have no idea how the Palm OS is modified or if this would be possible), I'd use the Palm Flash ROM model with a software add-on or patch that incorporates the other features of the Visor, such as Springboard access and USB support. The reason the OS was modified may be that these commands/routines run at such a level that it was necessary to modify the code to the point that such a patch/whatever wouldn't be possible. I can't fault Handspring for that.

Personally, I have no need for color on a handheld device like the Visor. With a screen that small, color confuses the eye. If anything, I wish the powers that be would come up with a higher-contrast screen. I'd like to see sharp black-on-white. My eyesight has already deteriorated in the three months I've had a PDA due to reading so much on it. The contrast of the screen is rather dismal, and a whiter screen with a better backlight would do me more good than a color display any day of the week. (I can distinguish the suits on the faces of cards - I don't need a color screen to tell me which card is a heart and which is a spade).

I don't sync with the USB much, but when I do, I appreciate the difference in speed. I like the idea of Springboards, and when one finally comes out that I want/need (other than the 8MB memory SB; i.e. Innogear SixPak, and, well, just that for now), I'm sure I'll buy it. I was toying with the idea of buying a laptop, but it's gotten to the point that I can fit a device *in my pants pocket* that allows me to use a Web browser, an e-mail client, a telnet client, and a newsreader, (and to bring this discussion back to its original point) with a keyboard that folds up to the size of the device to boot. I don't need to spend $2500 on a laptop when the only reason I want one is to read stuff on the Web and keep in touch with people. That's worth more than the price of the laptop for me, and it only costs about $500 (Visor Deluxe + Stowaway + Sixpak). That's a miracle of modern technology.

And I don't need a color screen for that.

Posted by drgandy on 03-15-2000 09:11 PM:

actually, if you want high contrast, the IIIc has a white background with black text by default. looks pretty good.

and yes, even the palm IIIc is behind the color wince machines, because it is only 8 bit color depth, and they are 16 already. but this is apples and oranges. the palmOS is clearly superior.

Posted by Frogger1 on 03-15-2000 09:38 PM:

Judging from your comments, it may not bother you, but personally, drgandy, I think you are getting a little too nasty here. If I want to hear these kind of exchanges, I can go to a staff meeting! For the record, until today when the new anticipated release date was posted on the Targus website, Cerulean was right on with the expected availability date.
Perhaps you should get the facts straight Jack, oops I mean drgandy.

[This message has been edited by Frogger1 (edited 03-15-2000).]

Posted by drgandy on 03-15-2000 10:02 PM:

yes, Frogger, you are correct. i apologize for acusing Cerulean of posting false information. When he posted, his estimates were accurate. i should have been more observant.

the reason i got very defensive at this comment was because ive been seeing comments similar to this all over this bulletin board with people who have inside information, or hear something somewhere. most of these comments are unfounded and just start false rumors.

again, Cerulean, i apologize.

Posted by Eug on 03-18-2000 01:19 AM:

OK, I got the chance to test a Stowaway too (for the Palm). I'll say this thing is just too cool. But beyond that I'll keep my mouth shut. I don't want to steal away James' thunder...

------------------
Eugene Hsieh
Editor, VisorCentral FAQ
Come visit my homepage.

Posted by chipset on 03-19-2000 06:46 AM:

I looked at the stowaway keboard today. Pretty cool..

About the discussion about the Handspring technology being behind... it is, it is behind the Palm technology in some significant ways. I never throught upgrading the OS was a big deal... My old CE device wouldn't upgrade.. My Visor Deluxe couldn't upgrade.

Now, I recently sold my Visor. It was a nice machine. It was more brittle than I expected (blue). It concerned me a little, and besides the little cracks where the hard cover attached, it worked well.

I do like the buttons better than my new IIIxe. However, a hardware contrast is nice. Also, so is running OS3.5 with PQAs running on it. The Wireless feature is way cool (Minstrel III).

I did like the Visor. It was a nice fit in my hand. I also liked the promise of the springboard. I hope it does well..

As for accessories, the things I needed I couldn't get (serial cable, win2000 compatibility). It really is nice to be able to hotsync without using a network..

Anyway, no flaming, just stating... (By the way, I will not regret my choice. I paid $150 for my IIIxe, kind of hard to regret..)

Posted by LanMan on 03-29-2000 03:27 PM:

Major disappointment! I saw the new Palm Stowaway's were in stock at CompUSA last night. To my surprise they didn't have one on display. They were just boxed up behind the counter. The sales guy wouldn't even open one to let me have a look-see.

Still waiting to see one of these things in action.

<><

[This message has been edited by LanMan (edited 04-14-2000).]

Posted by drgandy on 03-29-2000 06:28 PM:

yeah, compusa is kinda anal like that. when i went to fryes (SoCal electronics store) i went straight to the electronics manager, and he was willing to open one one. he promptly made a sale.

maybe just ask to talk to the manager. you might be suprised.

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