Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

Discuss the official announcement of the VisorPhone here. Will you be getting one?

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James Hromadka
Old Friend

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: dynamic!
Posts: 189

so how 'bout them yankees?

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"The Greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance -- it is the illusion of knowledge." -- Daniel Borstin

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: New York, NY, USA
Posts: 60

This is really it!!! It's a bit pricey, but I was considering a second cell phone anyway as my wife has adopted mine. I only wish it had some flash memory on board.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

Abso*@!%&inglutely. I hate carrying two devices around, which usually means I'm leaving the Visor behind in favor of the cell phone. Now I'll be able to take the Visor everywhere. The price is steep, but this is probably the only expensive module I plan to buy. Now that I know it has a modem, my main reservation -- Will it handle data? -- is gone.

And I love the SMS feature. I had this on my Nokia GSM phone, but entering text on a numeric keypad is torture; I don't know how people do it. Does anyone know if there's an upper limit on "short" messaging? That is, can you compose messages of any length for SMS with a keyboard?

[Edited by Gameboy70 on 09-25-2000 at 12:05 PM]

Registered: Dec 1999
Location:
Posts: 5

This would be really cool to have, but the price can't be justified. The features don't seem that stunning to me over a regular phone with an address book, text messages, and caller ID for $30. At least not worth 10x as much. Can anyone talk me into it?

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: at work...
Posts: 736

I like the SMS feature too, but I think the integrated modem and vibrating alert features are even better! Man, I can't wait for this module to be available!...hey, I wonder if someone can write a hack to redirect the handheld's alarms to use the LED and/or vibrating alarm? That would be cool!

[Edited by Rob on 09-25-2000 at 12:15 PM]

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: at work...
Posts: 736

By the way, this helps to answer the question about how wide-spread the Glenayre Pager shielding issue is:

>Q: Will VisorPhone function with all Visor products?
>
>A: Yes, the VisorPhone will work with all Visor products.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

quote:

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Originally posted by harrelmusic
Can anyone talk me into it?

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Registered: Jun 2000
Location: Corpus Christi, Texas, USA
Posts: 181

CDMA Qualcomm license?

How does this -- Handspring licenses CDMA from Qualcomm --
http://www.visorcentral.com/news.php3?id=522
fit with the VisorPhone?

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

quote:

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Originally posted by Gameboy70
Abso*@!%&inglutely. I hate carrying two devices around, which usually means I'm leaving the Visor behind in favor of the cell phone. Now I'll be able to take the Visor everywhere.

[Edited by Gameboy70 on 09-25-2000 at 12:05 PM]

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I'm just the reverse. I only carry my Visor, now I'll have a phone too!

I would have ordered today if they were for sale.

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Jeff

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Posts: 47

Re: CDMA Qualcomm license?

quote:

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Originally posted by Charo
How does this -- Handspring licenses CDMA from Qualcomm --
http://www.visorcentral.com/news.php3?id=522
fit with the VisorPhone?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
Posts: 47

quote:

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Originally posted by Gameboy70
To each his own, but for me, the persuasive features are:

• SMS, which actually becomes useful with a stylus. Incidentally, I believe that in the Phillipines, SMS is the primary use of cell phones, since it's a more economical way of communicating than voice
  

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 21

Whats not to like?

I'm relieved that the VisorPhone doesn't extent any farther vertically than it does. Its too bad that the depth is added in back but that looks like all battery anyway.

While the size is big, its much more reasonable than the Qualcomm PDQ -- which was released with an obsolete screen!

Pros:
-Basic phone features (Caller ID, dial direct for address book) look good. The 3 way call option is slick too.

-The SMS messaging app is very nice, similar to one we have on our business network.

-And access to my ISP!

This is better than any minstral modem.

Cons:
- Not available today
- Coverage could be an issue: I'm in Southwestern Bell territory (related to Pacific Bell but not the same I think).

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Gainesville, FL USA
Posts: 112

First reaction: Cool!

Second reaction: Oh, but what if the wife needs to carry the phone for a day? (We don't need 2 cell phones.) I certainly can't let her carry my Visor.

Third reaction: Cool! I'll get a Prism or Platinum when they come out and give her the VDx. That way, whoever needs the phone that day has a Visor.


It's still pretty pricey, though....

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Brian Wilcox

Body by Cheetos, Brains by Mattel

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 8

Profiles

Hummanahummanahummana!!!!

Why, oh why does Handspring release it in the States before Europe? Gimmie gimmie gimmie!

My only problem is that the VisorPhone doesn't have anything similar to Nokia's Profiles and Caller Groups.

With profiles you can set your Nokia phone to silent during lectures or to loud when you are in outside. You can customize up to 5 different behaviours and name them. Caller groups is a way to specify different phone signals for different persons. You can also combine them so that when your'e in the cabin only your family can reach you for example. This is what the Visor should embrace and extend on!

Ah well.... GSM will be old when the VisorPhone reaches Sweden anyway...
/Kallisti

Registered: Mar 2000
Location: Hacienda Heights, Ca
Posts: 302

quote:

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Originally posted by Axeman
First reaction: Cool!

Second reaction: Oh, but what if the wife needs to carry the phone for a day? (We don't need 2 cell phones.) I certainly can't let her carry my Visor.

Third reaction: Cool! I'll get a Prism or Platinum when they come out and give her the VDx. That way, whoever needs the phone that day has a Visor.


It's still pretty pricey, though....

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Bret Snyder<BR>If you don't know where you're going,<BR>You'll probably end up somewhere else.

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Greenwood, IN
Posts: 125

Still too expensive, but pretty darn cool. As it stands, my wife and I have one cell phone (actually it's hers, and I got it as part of the deal when we got married :-) ) and we use it so infrequently that we're considering dropping it, so going the other direction and spending $300 for a *new* phone seems unlikely. Plus, one of the things we use a cell phone for is to take on long bicycling trips when we're out in the middle of nowhere -- so there are service coverage issues as well as "ruggedness" issues. (I'd hate to have my Visor on me if I crashed my bike.)

On the other hand, that Flash demo on the Handspring site was quite well-done. It at least made the VisorPhone look attractive. Perhaps some competition from other companies would be good for driving the price down by, say, a factor of 3?

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BertBert
Mark 12:28-31

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

quote:

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The features don't seem that stunning to me over a regular phone with an address book, text messages, and caller ID for $30. At least not worth 10x as much. Can anyone talk me into it?

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We're all naked if you turn us inside out.
-David Byrne

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

quote:

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Originally posted by homer

My only complaint is that the screen is the side that goes against your face. If I'm eating my jelly donut while talking on my Visor, it's in trouble!

[/B]

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Jeff

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

About holding the Visor up to your head, this is something I posted elsewhere:

The VisorPhone comes with an earpiece. People complain about having to hold the Visor up to your head to talk, but I find the problem greatly exaggerated. If you actually hold the Visor to your head and talk into the mic -- not just "think" about it, you'll probably find that it's not nearly as bad as you might assume otherwise.

When I tried it, I found myself naturally holding the Visor at about a 15-degree angle from the lower half of my cheek. Because of the natural slope of the jaw, only the top half makes contact with the top half of the Visor's screen. It does leave an impression, but it's not any worse than the one I leave on the LCDs of the two cell phones I've used in the past.

Another thing I notice when I tried talking into the Visor is that it doesn't even look as awkward as I would've expected. Talking into a PDA may seem like it would look strange, but the minute you see someone talking into a device, you immediately understand what's going on.

The price, of course, is prohibitive. I seriously doubt Handspring intends to sell more than 100,000 units by the end of next year. But I hate having to carry around two devices, so I'll be one of the first to bite the bullet and buy one.