🚀 go-pugleaf

Mike schrieb:
> Hello.  New to this ng and have a question for a development project.  I
> have [heard] a rumor that the Handspring MAY be discontinued in the near
> future.  Can anyone confirm or deny this rumor or shed a little light on
> this topic?  The ability to have the module is very important to this
> project.

I assume youre getting your names mixed. Handspring is the company, 
Visor was the name of its range of handhelds that had as its main 
selling point teh Springboard expansion slot. The Visor range is more or 
less dead now, with only the Pro available new. The current core models 
are the Treo communicators which do not have a springboard slot.

Personally I think Handspring have cut their own throat with this - The 
Treo is a leap ahead of other communicators but the feature set is still 
a whole heap below a Visor and a decent Mobile.

If you guys are working on a springboard project - i would stop,. to be 
honest, unless you have a captive audience or a specific use in which 
case I would make sure I buy up enough Visors to equip my team before 
tehy vanish.

andy M

On Fri, 17 Jan 2003, Andrew Morgan wrote:

> Personally I think Handspring have cut their own throat with this - The
> Treo is a leap ahead of other communicators but the feature set is still
> a whole heap below a Visor and a decent Mobile.
>
> If you guys are working on a springboard project - i would stop,. to be
> honest, unless you have a captive audience or a specific use in which
> case I would make sure I buy up enough Visors to equip my team before
> tehy vanish.

A couple months ago I had to call Handspring tech support and asked if
they were discontinuing the Visors.  The guy told me just the obsolete
models like the Deluxe, the Platinum, and one more which I forget.  He
said they had too many commitments with Springboard Module manufacturers
to stop making the entire Visor line.  But after reading up on this, it
looks like Handspring is going to totally screw the Springboard Module
makers.

Man, it's frustrating to watch a company with a great idea, like
Handspring, sabotage themselves.  I'm using a Visor Pro now with a
Springboard Visorphone Module to make phone calls and to access the
Internet/e-mail.  I've tried the Treos at Staples and I much more prefer
the Visor/Visorphone Module setup.  My only gripe is that the Visorphone
has a slow modem (14.4 K).  Why in the world couldn't Handspring or the
Visorphone maker just improve the Visorphone to 56 K and make other
enhancements???  I think the Treos aren't as functional as the
Visor/Visorphone setup and the Treos are way more expensive than this
setup.

If Handspring DOES screw the Springboard Module makers by discontinuing
PDA's with Springboard Module slots, I hope someone else comes along and
makes a PDA that can take the Springboard Modules.  I'd gladly switch my
loyalties to that company.  I can't picture myself ever switching to a
Treo, at least not the way they are presently designed.

Bob

Robert Kim schrieb:

> If Handspring DOES screw the Springboard Module makers by discontinuing
> PDA's with Springboard Module slots, I hope someone else comes along and
> makes a PDA that can take the Springboard Modules.  I'd gladly switch my
> loyalties to that company.  I can't picture myself ever switching to a
> Treo, at least not the way they are presently designed.

With you on that. I was a huge Handspring fan but when my current VDLX 
dies Im going to go Sony. I doubt anyone else will take up the 
springboard because the companies large enough to develop something like 
that all have proprietary own-brands or use CF.

Id like to have a  Treo but it would need to be:

Garanteed Graffiti
HI res Colour
GPRS/HSCSD
Memory (at least) expandable
Dual or Triband GPS

A unit like that would be bound to be more expensive than a new colour 
Clie and my existing Nokia 6210.

Looking at the bricks that other people call "Communicators", the Treo 
is good, but its not good *enough*

Handspring, youre blowing it.

andy M

"Mike" <replyto@newsgroupsonly.com> wrote in message news:<B8MV9.3244$F_3.1241@news.bellsouth.net>...
> Hello.  New to this ng and have a question for a development project.  I
> have [heard] a rumor that the Handspring MAY be discontinued in the near
> future.  Can anyone confirm or deny this rumor or shed a little light on
> this topic?  The ability to have the module is very important to this
> project.
> 
> This link is related to my question:
> 
> http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=2833
> 

LOL, you are a little late. Visor's haven't been made since a year
ago. If you buy a Visor from their website now, it will be a
refurbished.

The problem with springboards are that they are too large. Newer
technologies can and will incorporate the same technology, but in a
smaller form.....perhaps the size of SD cards.

It was a time of great turmoil. The strong preyed on the weak, dogs
and cats lived together. One voice cried out in the wilderness: Robert
Kim <roberth@purdue.edu> wrote in
<Pine.SOL.4.51.0301170332500.20670@herald.cc.purdue.edu>: 

> Man, it's frustrating to watch a company with a great idea, like
> Handspring, sabotage themselves.  I'm using a Visor Pro now with a
> Springboard Visorphone Module to make phone calls and to access the
> Internet/e-mail.  I've tried the Treos at Staples and I much more prefer
> the Visor/Visorphone Module setup.  My only gripe is that the Visorphone
> has a slow modem (14.4 K).  Why in the world couldn't Handspring or the
> Visorphone maker just improve the Visorphone to 56 K and make other
> enhancements???  I think the Treos aren't as functional as the
> Visor/Visorphone setup and the Treos are way more expensive than this
> setup.

Speaking as someone who has owned both a Visor/Visorphone combo and a
Treo, I have to say that the Treo is much better. The phone interface
-- especially since the Treo's GPRS update -- is slicker, the jog dial
and keyboard make one-handed operation easier, the integration of the
addressbook into the phone application is wonderful. Most importantly,
the Treo is much smaller and light than a Visor/Visorphone combo. 

The thing with the Visor/Visorphone combo is that once you are using
the VisorPhone module, you pretty much want to keep it in all the time
if you are going to use it as your regular cellphone. Swapping modules
in and out is fine, even fun, if you don't have VisorPhone. But once
you do, it turns into a hassle.

The big problem with the Treo is the lack of any external expansion. I
want an SD slot and a SpringBoard adaptor. I want to be able to back
up all my data onto a separate module and carry lots of large files
that wouldn't normally fit into my PDA's memory. The Treo with its web
access and PQAs (the files for these need to be installed separately
but once they are, they work great) can resolve some of these issues.
You can look things up on Google or with the Merriam-Webster and
Britannica PQAs instead of carrying an entire dictionary or
encyclopedia on a Springboard module. But there is no substitute for
having huge maps and numerous e-books in one place.
> 
> If Handspring DOES screw the Springboard Module makers by discontinuing
> PDA's with Springboard Module slots, I hope someone else comes along and
> makes a PDA that can take the Springboard Modules.  I'd gladly switch my
> loyalties to that company.  I can't picture myself ever switching to a
> Treo, at least not the way they are presently designed.
> 
I have made the switch and am satisfied with my Treo but I'm still
disappointed that Handspring dropped the Springboard altogether. I
hope that someone does someday make a PDA with both Springboard and SD
slots. Throw in Bluetooth and I think that it would sell very well.


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Roberto Castillo
castillo@enteract.com
http://www.enteract.com/~castillo