VisorCentral.com - Blue Impact announces TellMan

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VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Article Comments (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=17)
-- Blue Impact announces TellMan (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=9257)

Posted by marcus on 11-07-2000 04:57 PM:

Discuss TellMan here...

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Posted by ruexp67 on 11-07-2000 05:12 PM:

Wow, that thing is HUGE

I went to the website to see a picture and that thing is HUGE!!! It appears to cover the whole back of the Visor and protrude above it at least an inch and a half. I can't imagine this being that successful.

Posted by yardie on 11-07-2000 05:42 PM:

Re: Wow, that thing is HUGE

quote:
Originally posted by ruexp67
I went to the website to see a picture and that thing is HUGE!!! It appears to cover the whole back of the Visor and protrude above it at least an inch and a half. I can't imagine this being that successful.

I disagree. I size is reasonable for the features that the modules have. I will get excited about it when it actually starts shipping. DOn't get excited about announcements any more.

Posted by echinye on 11-07-2000 06:29 PM:

From the picture, how come the handspring visor logo and the word "visor" were removed? Looks fake.

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Posted by nwhitfield on 11-07-2000 07:23 PM:

Pricing...

Look in the press section of the site, and there's a link to a scanned picture of a page from a German magazine, which shows the device, with a headset for making calls.

I don't speak German, but it looks like the text is referring to the device being made me Telemarkt, who were the first site mentioned for this product a while back, and a price of DEM 2400 is quoted.

A quick calculation gives that as around �700, which seems pretty expensive, to put it mildly.

How much is a GPS these days?

Posted by ruexp67 on 11-07-2000 07:25 PM:

"From the picture, how come the handspring visor logo and the word "visor" were removed? Looks fake."

Yep, it appears to be a computer generated model of a visor and the device. There is no Visor made in the color shown. (No, the platinum looks different.)

Posted by ethos on 11-07-2000 07:57 PM:

Prism

By the looks of it, it may not attach to the new curves on the back of a Prism.

ethos

Posted by CaptainVisor on 11-07-2000 08:32 PM:

Website shows CityTime running . . .

Its funny that the website graphics show "City Time" running. I guess this is the view of earth from the satellite

The descriptions are pretty immature. For instance check out the real world example of integration of the 3 components. Maybe this is a German to English translation issue, but it seems pretty dumb-downed.

Posted by george_vc on 11-07-2000 10:11 PM:

There has been no press on this thing since telmart had there announcement in May. I fear that this is vaporware. GSM hmmm I wonder if this is releated to Deutch Telecom wanting to buy voicestream (U.S. GSM provider) Just speculation no facts.

Posted by MIKE STH on 11-08-2000 03:48 AM:

But what if????

What if this were to ever actually surface? This would surely be the "six-pack killer" and although it is huge and bulky, I'd be hard pressed NOT to lust after a single SB that would perform so many functions. I agree that it is vaporware at the moment and we should be skepticle, but I'm happy to see that people are actually starting to push the envelope of possibilities with the SB's.

On the downside, I'd hate to think of how big my appropriate Vaja case would have to be. I'd think that by the time this would roll to market, the Visor itself would have lost a few 'pounds'.

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Posted by mnartker on 11-08-2000 04:19 AM:

Re: Re: Wow, that thing is HUGE

quote:
Originally posted by yardie
I will get excited about it when it actually starts shipping. DOn't get excited about announcements any more.

It's funny that you should mention that, because I was just thinking the very same thing as I read about this new module. Lately I've been getting a little disenchanted with this whole wireless module thing. All too often, it seems like even if a module finally ships it's either prohibitively expensive, doesn't claim to work on my Visor Deluxe or both. Add to the list of strikes that this thing would make it pretty hard to find a case (or even attach a screen cover) and I'd say this one deserves a prize!

Posted by nwhitfield on 11-08-2000 12:03 PM:

Re: Re: Re: Wow, that thing is HUGE

quote:
Originally posted by mnartker
All too often, it seems like even if a module finally ships it's either prohibitively expensive, doesn't claim to work on my Visor Deluxe or both. [/B]

The issue there, after a bit of journalistic digging, is that the Visor Deluxe doesn't appear to be adequately shielded at certain frequencies; I'm not sure of the exact range, but the 900MHz GSM is one, and presumably whatever frequency the OmniSky works at.

The VisorPhone module, in fact, is a dual band 900/1900 unit, which is why the info says that you can use it in other countries. Presumably it detects when it's working in a VDX, and disables the 900MHz mode (ie renders itself useless outside the US) to prevent interference.

Now, we don't know yet if other modules will do this. The OmniSky doesn't - though apparently performance may not be as good without the modified Visors which presumably incorporate more shielding. Other modules might take the same path, and work with a VDX, albeit with worse performance; I guess we'll have to wait and see.

That, it would appear, is the root of the matter - poor RF shielding at certain frequencies.

Posted by Winchell on 11-08-2000 02:16 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by MIKE STH
What if this were to ever actually surface? This would surely be the "six-pack killer" and although it is huge and bulky, I'd be hard pressed NOT to lust after a single SB that would perform so many functions. I agree that it is vaporware at the moment and we should be skepticle, but I'm happy to see that people are actually starting to push the envelope of possibilities with the SB's.

Agreed. For me, all that sucker is missing is a vibrating alarm. I hated the idea of having to constantly swap in and out the springboards I wanted. Which just happened to be a cell phone/wireless internet connection, a GPS, and my totally full 8 meg flash RAM. This would nicely (abet bulkily) solve the problem.

Assuming, of course, that it ever materializes. And at a price that is not prohibitive.

I'm not getting too excited (though I want to), because those are two very big "ifs".

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Posted by Kallisti on 11-09-2000 01:28 PM:

It's interesting that if you check the german version of the Tel@markt homepage they have the exact same scan of the german newspaper that Blue Impact has. Also if you compare the press-sections they are similiar. Apparently this is the same information about the same SB re-released under a different name half a year later..

/Kallisti

Posted by Gameboy70 on 11-09-2000 04:24 PM:

Re: Pricing...

quote:
I don't speak German, but it looks like the text is referring to the device being made me Telemarkt, who were the first site mentioned for this product a while back, and a price of DEM 2400 is quoted.

A quick calculation gives that as around �700, which seems pretty expensive, to put it mildly.

On this side of the Atlantic, I think DEM 2400 converts to USD $600. Ouch. Then again, we all assumed that the color Sony Cli� was going to $550 based on a yen conversion, which may not be the case after all. I'll get the VisorPhone for $300 and live without GPS. GPS is cool, but it ain't all that, as the kids say.

Posted by nwhitfield on 11-09-2000 04:55 PM:

Re: Re: Pricing...

quote:
Originally posted by Gameboy70

On this side of the Atlantic, I think DEM 2400 converts to USD $600. Ouch. Then again, we all assumed that the color Sony Cli� was going to $550 based on a yen conversion, which may not be the case after all. I'll get the VisorPhone for $300 and live without GPS. GPS is cool, but it ain't all that, as the kids say.

Well, remember that the $300 for the VisorPhone is with a service plan, isn't it? What's the price without? Nearer $500, I think.

I can't for the life of me remember the way the German GSM market operates; certainly in Switzerland it's quite common to buy a SIM, and choose your own phone, which makes phones seem more expensive, but then you're not paying back a handset subsidy in your monthly rental.

The UK model tends more to a heavy discount on the handset with a service plan. It may be that the price quoted in the magazine was for an off-line unit, to which someone could add their existing SIM.

If that's the case, then it's only $100 more than VisorPhone, and adds GPS, which makes it look more reasonable - though still, frankly, pretty expensive compared to my Nokia 8210.

It's still, you're right, quite a bit to pay for convenience.

Posted by Herkimer on 11-09-2000 06:03 PM:

Not that i am telling my age or anything but the first car cel phone i bought was $1400.00 and that make the visor phone look cheep!

Posted by Gameboy70 on 11-09-2000 11:01 PM:

Re: Re: Re: Pricing...

quote:
Originally posted by nwhitfield
If that's the case, then it's only $100 more than VisorPhone, and adds GPS, which makes it look more reasonable - though still, frankly, pretty expensive compared to my Nokia 8210.

The Prism + VisorPhone is about the upper limit of bulk I'm willing to carry around. The Blue Impact is not only taller, but has a back plate covering the Springboard slot and the entire back of the Visor. Aesthetically and ergonomically, that puts me off. On a different note, I seem to be one of the few on VC who isn't exactly dying to have a GPS module, so it's not as much of a sacrifice for me. I'm more interested in communication than navigation.

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