PDA News - Treo contoversy, Ultra-wide band Bluetooth, Universal WiFi?

[Adama D. Brown]

Claim: Low memory cripples Treo 700w

MobilityToday is running with an article claiming that the relatively low RAM in the Treo 700w results in significantly decreased EVDO performance. The claim is based on a comparison between the 700w and the XV6700 Pocket PC phones. This should be considered questionable, however, as many other users have reported speeds greatly in excess of the limit talked about in the article.

http://mobilitytoday.com/news/006317/palm_treo_evdo_poor

 

Bluetooth SIG adopts Ultra-wide band standard

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group has officially decided to adopt an Ultra-Wide Band, or UWB, standard created by the WiMedia Alliance for use in the next generation of Bluetooth radios. The standard uses OFDM wireless technology to greatly increase bandwidth, meaning more speed for applications like wireless video.

Don't look for these devices too soon, though. The new UWB Bluetooth chips aren't expected to reach even a prototype stage before 2007. The new radios will be compatible with existing 2.4 GHz Bluetooth devices as well as new 6 GHz UWB Bluetooth radios.

 

WiFi almost everywhere in five years, says company; Google publishes new patents

Most major cities and suburbs will have comprehensive municipal WiFi coverage within five years, according to CEO Chuck Haas of MetroFi, a company which designs WiFi "mesh" networks. Haas went on to say that the biggest roadblock to deployment wasn't the technology, but rather convincing people to build the systems in the first place.

And speaking of pervasive WiFi, Google has just published a new set of patents covering how to deliver location-based advertising to wireless devices via an access point. While the internet giant has previously denied rumors of a national WiFi inititive, they still seem to be solidifying the technology for it.

http://gigaom.com/2006/03/27/5-years-for-nation-wide-wifi/

 

Miniature Pocket PC phone from Asia

And now for another entry into the cool gadgets from Asia file. Although it's sold under several brands, the device known as the Dallab DX8 says snazzy in any language. Not only is it smaller than the Treos, but at 4.4" long by 1.9" wide and 0.8" thick, it's nearly the size of a Windows Mobile Smartphone. Despite this, it features the full Windows Mobile 5.0 for Pocket PCs, a 2.2" QVGA display with touchscreen, numeric keypad, Bluetooth 1.2, WiFi, and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE. While it's not expected on any US carriers, unlocked units should be available for around $600. Nice.

http://www.dallab.com/dx8techspec.html

[Wail]

That Dallab looks really good, have you noticed the number of screen colours? 262K !!

A point to keep in mind, all the best PDAs of today are made in the Far East, from iPaqs, i-mates, ... we have HTC to thank.

[Andrew]

I have to say, I've travelled quite a bit recently with the 700w and speed does vary from location to location, I'd think it's more to do with unlucking geographic location as opposed to a direct correlation here between memory and evdo.

[Adama D. Brown]

According to Verizon, they're only hooking up T1s to the EVDO towers to start with, so depending on the number of users, some areas may be more saturated than others.

[New Cell]

According to Verizon, they're only hooking up T1s to the EVDO towers to start with, so depending on the number of users, some areas may be more saturated than others.

Sure looks like T.V. is up and coming with T1s/EVDO.....