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Engadget Reports:
Could be fake, but this does seem a lot more reasonable. If I were Cingular, I'd offer this kind of price cut on the hardware rather than the 18 months of 'free' service they were thinking of throwing around.New advertising allegedly leaked out of a consumer survey suggests that the 2-year contract price could come in a full two hundie lower, though: $299 for 4GB, $399 for 8GB.02-16-2007 02:11 PM -
- touchy. No, I don't think anything will be proven about this device until it actually hits the market. The point is Palm needs to wake the hell up and take notice that it is falling behind the market. Whether it's the iPhone or some other device -- dare I say even WM -- they are going to be surpassed. They need to take decisive action pretty quickly or face a losing proposition.
As for the iPhone specifically, I've heard way too many claims to really count on it doing anything in particular. I've even had people tell me it has iChat when in reality it's just the SMS application that looks like iChat.
(at least what Steve demo'ed) I've also heard it said that users will not be able to unleash the true power of the Darwin within by installing their own applications. From my perspective, it's just plain stupid and will hurt the iPhone. So there are plenty of reasons I would have some pause about the iPhone. But there's also a lot of promise... time will tell whether the iPhone or some other Linux-enabled device will bring pain to Palm. But the basic fact is that Palm cannot live on Garnet and pimping itself to Microsoft.02-17-2007 02:11 AM - LOL No, people imagine they will get it all with any device and get ballistic and irate when magically companies can't deliver. Every product is a function of compromise. That's simple reality.
Something I really laugh about is that some devices, like the Moto Q, are being shipped new to customers with two batteries. Now how's THAT for a signal of problems to come! And yet people continue to lambast Palm about the 680 and 750 for reduced power. *sigh*
No kidding. But the message a device like this really sends is that the smartphone / PDA market hasn't gained traction yet. If the big news in sales stories is yet another feature phone then the right things aren't happening in the smarphone / PDA space.02-19-2007 04:01 AM - Two batteries is a signal of problems? Maybe a sign of bad battery life but also a sign of making the customer happy. If Palm sold the thinner Treos with 2 batteries, we'd all be ecstatic!
Right now there's a battle between multi-media phones and smartphones, as I see it. All cool new devices seem to be smartphones or music/video phones.
One problem is the multi-media phones have smartphone features for the average user, and remain in a smaller and/or cooler form factor. Email for Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail. Sure no Exchange push, but many don't need that. IM. Contacts. Calender. Alarms. Just enough to keep the younger average consumer from buying and trying a full-fledged smartphone.
02-20-2007 04:09 AM - Of course it is. And Palm users would probably say the same thing I've heard irate MotoQ owners saying: "Damn thing has such crappy battery life they ship it with two batteries!" Two batteries isn't a feature, it's a workaround. Products shouldn't ship with workarounds.
Well, I guess what it boils down to is what they think their target (80/20 rule) market is. If manufacturers don't believe that the mass market is behind smarter smartphones or PDA's then they'll die, or become (more) hopelessly niche.Right now there's a battle between multi-media phones and smartphones... [but] the multi-media phones have smartphone features for the average user, and remain in a smaller and/or cooler form factor. [...] Just enough to keep the younger average consumer from buying and trying a full-fledged smartphone.
I guess one possible question to pose is "is a PDA phone really the ideal convergence device, or are we just trying to cram a laptop into our palm?" I can definitely identify with those who would prefer to remain mobile and yet still remain more or less fully functional. For me, this includes more common stuff like IMAP/Exchange email, remote PIM sync, Instant Messaging, SMS, and Web. But I go further for things like SSH, VNC, Remote Desktop, VPN. So I don't really count myself amongst the 80%. I wonder if I'll ever really have a device that hits my sweet spot. The Treo comes very close...
For me, I those "cute" devices and think "but what can I do with it besides talk on the phone or listen to music, unless I want to try and T9 my SMS or other messages?" In a word: ick. For me -- and I suspect others who would be drawn to the Treo -- really do factor more heavily on the function side of the form/function equation. If function requires more power and you make the form bigger, they call you a brick. If you scale back on function to fit the "ideal" form, then you're a not-so-smart phone (Razr comes to mind). In the end, there will always be some mix of devices... but I can't imagine a device that could ever achieve all things for all people all the time.02-20-2007 04:38 AM
