palmOne's new LifeDrive challenges PocketPC
updated 11:35 am EDT, Wed May 18, 2005
palmOne\'s LifeDrive
palmOne today introduced the , the handheld maker's answer to PocketPC. LifeDrive features a 4GB hard drive and built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless. It can edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents from Microsoft Office, store and play music, video, and photos, and record audio. It features a 65,000-color, 320x480 Transflective TFT display that can flip between portrait and landscape orientation. The LifeDrive is powered by a 416MHz Intel XScale processor, and costs $500. Unlike devices powered by Microsoft's PocketPC which require third-party software to work with Macs, the LifeDrive is compatible with Mac OS X out of the box.










OOOHH
05/18, 11:50am reply
This looks interesting.
history1me
Mac Elite
Joined: Sep 2003
This is where....
05/18, 12:31pm reply
Apple should be headed with the iPod photo. Forget the video and the document editing if you want, I don't think I'd use them, but to have all of the contact info, music, a big color screen for photos....
On second thought, you could market concert videos to go with all of the audio...
boron
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2004
Not so compatible
05/18, 12:59pm reply
You can't edit PowerPoint presentations and it's not clear if your contacts and calendars will sync completely. You can't import Mac Entourage contacts and settings...
umijin
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jun 2004
Beat Apple to the Punch
05/18, 01:07pm reply
It really is the next gen iPod for functionality assuming you are looking for something more than a music player.
Will be interesting to see what performance is like.
legacyb4
Mac Elite
Joined: May 2001
Nice but expensive
05/18, 01:33pm reply
These look nice but for $100 more, I can get a notebook PC. Handheld devices need to be under $300 IMHO...
cebritt
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2000
Apple Should
05/18, 01:44pm reply
Apple should license it's drm to Palm for this device. For Apple to introduce, this would complicate the iPod's interface which is a big part of it's success. This way techies could get the "do everything, this is so simple device", give added intensive to folks on the fence b/w this and a Pocket PC thereby helping palm challenge M$, and all at limited risk to Apple. I like the idea of challenging M$ on many fronts at once. PS3, iPod AAC, OS, and palm computing. But what do I know.
slider
Mac Elite
Joined: Oct 1999
Apple Should
05/18, 01:45pm reply
Apple should license it's drm to Palm for this device. For Apple to introduce, this would complicate the iPod's interface which is a big part of it's success. This way techies could get the "do everything, this is so simple device", give added intensive to folks on the fence b/w this and a Pocket PC thereby helping palm challenge M$, and all at limited risk to Apple. I like the idea of challenging M$ on many fronts at once. PS3, iPod AAC, OS, and palm computing. But what do I know.
slider
Mac Elite
Joined: Oct 1999
Looks Great
05/18, 02:00pm reply
Looks awesome, oh, and for the guy who says he can get a notebook for a $100 more, well I can get a desktop PC for $100 less, cmon.
slffl
Dedicated MacNNer
Joined: Jan 2003
Well....
05/18, 02:53pm reply
First of all for the notebook for $100 more .... so what!
Second, if Apple thinks this market segment is so small, why NOT sell drm to Palm. If Apple is so confident in this, might as well have Palm "waste" its time in the market and no skin off Steve's nose.
And finally for the naysayers to mobile video, Flash and MTV and short format animation could be the market segments that have the greatest chance to increase in the near future. Imagine having a season of the Simpson's with you at all times, to run off a TV or to have even in a 4" screen. That is worth pioneering, especially for a company like Pixar.
Performance and picture quality are the keys, not market segment, because the market will be there if Apple creates it.
MacnnGregor
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2004
Addendum...
05/18, 02:57pm reply
I should have said, "...for a company one degree of seperation from Pixar."
Also the one problem I have with this device is that it still looks like a pda, not an iPodVideo. The icons look like they were designed for Windows95.
MacnnGregor
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2004