Re: [NTLK] Shamefully OT - pda form factors & a new idea

From: Jon Glass (jonglass_at_usa.net)
Date: Thu Feb 20 2003 - 03:04:21 PST


on 2/20/03 4:28 AM, Andrew Shooner at shooner.3_at_osu.edu wrote:

> I studied Industrial Design some in college, and have always thought
> the pda would inevitably become
> not condensed and consolidated, but refined, and split into multiple
> units, based on function.

Actually, I kind of agree, but with a twist. The OQO device
<http://oqo.com/> is the closest to what I envision. I would like to see a
little unit, probably between the Palm and the Newton in size, that plugs
into various extras, like the Duo, with its various docks. I think it would
be cool to be able to plug this little device (with or without a hard drive)
into the body of a laptop computer, and have a laptop as well as your PDA.
You could alternately plug it into a desktop device that is connected to a
monitor, keyboard and mouse. There are, I suppose, other options, such as
GPS, mobile phone, camera, video camera, etc, that could be built around it,
or it around them, but this is my idea.

The actual specifics of this, I have not thoroughly thought out. For
instance, as a handheld, you want instant-on, and a well-defined user
interface for pen input. Yet, on the desktop, these are not so important.
You also want a major hard drive, but it may not be necessary as a PDA. So,
I suppose that the ability to run in solid state would be essential, but the
means of accomplishing that are beyond my scope. :-) I suppose I would be
willing to sacrifice some or even much of the pen-capabilities if it really
worked, but I don't know how much. In any case, the ability to plug into the
various other devices, and integrate with them is what I deem important.

-- 
Jon Glass
Krakow, Poland
<jonglass_at_usa.net>
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of
chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! - I know not what course others
may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
- Patrick Henry 
-- 
This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
List FAQ/Etiquette/Terms: http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html
Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/


This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Feb 20 2003 - 05:00:00 PST