Competitors for Lifedrive Replacement

So, I am currently looking for alternatives to my tried and tested Lifedrive. Having put up with resets and the finicky software upgrades and lack of stability, I have decided to buy an additional device.

I have had no interest in purchasing the Foleo, although it did appear interesting at first. The $500 price tag, along with the monicker, "Mobile Manager" reminded me of the "experiment" that was the Lifedrive and how I would be holding onto a version 1 product.

While I am looking at purchasing a Palm TX to hold for another two years, I have had the opportunity to look at some other devices. A few of them appear very interesting, but not altogether pragmatic:


Pocket Surfer by Clove Technology

This looks like an interesting device. It is available in the UK only unfortunately, costing ~$360.00 with an annual payment of ~$70 per year for GPRS internet access. GPRS is not the fastest thing in the world, but $70 per annum this looks like a very nice device. There are no monthly payments and no pesky startup fees.

However, the device just surfs the web. And you have to be within GPRS range, something that iPhone owners are beginning to find, is not such a simple task. Nevertheless, the 152x75x15mm dimensions should make for a pleasant surfing experience, sans the delays.

For more information, particularly for those of you across the pond, you can go to Clove Technology's website here.


Palm Treo 500v

Palm's latest offering is only available in Europe right now, but will be here soon. It is one of the few devices from Palm that does not offer a touchscreen. It will use 3G, coming with a 2 megapixel camera, 256mb ram (150mb available) along with a MicroSD slot and Bluetooth 2.0.

Missing, is of course Wifi. Also missing is the processor speed, which was not readily available. It appears to come in two relatively "cool" colors -black or white. The size appears to be a little smaller than the iPhone, but it is not as thin.

Unfortunately, we are still stuck in time with Palm OS 5.0, when it eventually comes to the US in the Palm version. Otherwise, the European version appears to be sporting Windows Mobile. Additionally, for me anyway, I don't think that this will be the device that will let me break my current calling plan. The iPhone, came very close.....

Of course the main advantage of a device such as this is the ability to stay within the Palm network of software and hardware compatibility. Additionally, when the 500P with the Palm OS finally comes out, it will be tempting to buy a unified device. Nevertheless, I understand that this will only work on EVDO - Sprint's network. Mmmgh, perhaps a longer wait for an AT&T version?

Sammy Mcloughlin over at PalmAddicts, has posted PATV 116. It is a quick videocast on Youtube showing an out of the box demo of the product. You can see it below.

You Tube PATV 116




The Asus EEE

This is something that you have got to see to believe. I think that it is possible the Foleo may have been pulled after seeing this device. It appears to be about the same size as the Foleo, but it has a lot more going for it. First of all, it has removable memory. It will be released next month in the U.S. with either a 8GB or 16GB flash hard drive. Depending upon where you read, it will either come with Linux or some form of Windows XP. I have even seen some people posting that it may run OS X.

It will use an Intel Mobile CPU (probably the Pentium M found in IBM Thinkpads). It will have a webcam 300k pixel. Again, there is some controversy as to whether it will actually carry for 3 hours or longer, but it will use a 4 cell battery and weigh 2 LBS !!! Size: 8.9 x 6.5 x 0.82 ins. It will also (as if it couldn't get any better than this) have 3 USB Ports, 1 VGA out, an SD Card reader, Modem, Ethernet, headphone out, microphone in all with a 7 inch display.

I had the opportunity to check out a few bloggers who are also salivating about this product. Apparently ACER has also put in a Palm-import tool in their main desktop software on the device (Courtesy Mike Cane's blog). What this means is anyone's guess. But why are people salivating? Because the cost of all of this goodness is somewhere between $199 to $250 !!!! That, my friends, is about the price of a brand new Tungsten TX. You bet I am looking into this one and keeping up with all of the news about it. It appears to be an amazing little machine. There is apparently a lot of buzz about this device coming from a few good sources as well. Check below.

Asus Eee first thoughts

Additional Hands on

A real Geek perspective (opened)



LDD.