palmOne LifeDrive Mobile Manager Debuts

Ed Hardy · 05-18-2005, 01:00 AM

The highly-anticipated LifeDrive, palmOne's first model with a built-in 4 GB hard drive, has just been released.

Read more at http://www.brighthand.com/article/pa...iled?site=Palm

ackmondual · 05-18-2005, 03:58 AM

So built in apps like Memos, Calendar, etc. are stored in ROM, while the PIM data, and other data for them is actually in a partition of the microdrive outside the user available 3.85GB?
What's the NVFS RAM going to do then? Act like system memory for as if for a PC? Doesn't make sense if it's NVFS as that's good for storing PIM data that doesn't go blank when battery juice gives. If true none of the less, I'm assuming that access to PIM data won't be slow despite several debates on this?

Altho i still havent' touched BT on my T3 and probably never will, i can see many P1 followers very annoyed that we're still only at BT 1.1 and not the next version. At least We've got USB 2.0 hotsyncing

imported_SaxonMan · 05-18-2005, 07:29 AM

while im impressed by this device im not going out and rush to buy it straight away.
id rather wait for some decent review til i spend my bucks.
any idea when this is going to be online, ed?

thanks,

rainer

Siliconaddictio · 05-18-2005, 11:25 AM

Now lets see how many of these hard drives fail in one year?s time. Call it a bad experience with my microdrive. (Had 3 placed within 6 months and even now 3 years later I still have a ton of bad sectors.) I just don?t trust embedded hard drives but that's just me. Even my iPod I'm always wary of something happening to it but the head on the drive has a lot more space to play with vs. one of these microdrives. I mean something as simply as being out in the cold for a half an hour at the bus stop and going into a warm environment could cause "problems". *shrugs* We will see. If this works out sweet. More power to Palm. But I have this nagging feeling in the back of my brain telling me *tiny voice* You'll be sorrrrry

foxfire4321 · 05-18-2005, 11:56 AM

Okay this actually looks pretty decent and it has a nice price, but I do have a few gripes.

1. Only BT 1.1, a multimedia device should have BT 1.2 at least, so you can jam with your BT headphones.

2. The battery should be swappable and larger (>2000 mAh)

3. Where is the VGA screen, hVGA is no longer the standard for a high end device... oh yeah, that would mean they would have to switch OS to Cobalt...

What do I like

1. Though the battery is small by my counts, at least it is > 1500 mAh.

2. Microdrive is a cool addition, I hope their QA is at least as good as Apple or Creative on these.

3. Nice design... but that is subjective, I like the design of my HP rx3115.

4. WiFi, WiFi, WiFi

Not the WM Killer that Palm hoped for (and frankly needs), but it will force WM devices to make a few jumps at the high end (microdrive Dell by Q4 2005 ?).

WM devices and Palm devices have been trading one-ups for a while now, and this will just make the WM groups adopt what they all saw coming.

Ed Hardy · 05-18-2005, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SaxonMan
any idea when this is going to be online, ed?

The preliminary review is already up:
http://www.brighthand.com/article/pa...view?site=Palm

treynolds · 05-18-2005, 02:54 PM

For my money (my play fund is low right now, I just got a new KM A2 and flash...), there's a lot of promise here but not the compeling features that would make me jump from Sony to PalmOne:

(Listed in order of importance)

1. Battery life is relatively poor. Sorry, 2 1/2 to 4 hours doesn't cut it. That won't even get me Seattle to Atlanta.

2. No camera, not even a good quality VGA camera. This thing isn't billed as a business handheld. It's supposed to be a multimedia handheld. Why no camera for visual notes?

3. No or very little flash RAM/ROM. This is difficult to gauge right now, because every review gives different information.

4. No flip cover.

I think picking up a European TH55 is looking more and more enticing...

Tony

Heda · 05-18-2005, 04:05 PM

"Not the WM Killer that Palm hoped for (and frankly needs), but it will force WM devices to make a few jumps at the high end (microdrive Dell by Q4 2005 ?)."

PPC doesnt need to make any jumps, because all highend VGA PPC's come with a CF slot. since PPC's have ability for modular microdrives, if it breaks u can replace it easily, when higher capacities come around u can upgrade.

this is defintely a step in the right direction for Palm, no doubt. but they could have pushed it alot more, i'm betting they will release a LifeDrive 2 which will have all the needed improvements.

Cobalt
highend processor
more RAM
VGA

Tritan · 05-18-2005, 10:20 PM

check out the review at Cnet, they are reporting battery life of 6hours cont mp3's. Its to early to know about battery life.

www.cnet.com

ackmondual · 05-19-2005, 03:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jonathan1
Now lets see how many of these hard drives fail in one year?s time. Call it a bad experience with my microdrive. (Had 3 placed within 6 months and even now 3 years later I still have a ton of bad sectors.) I just don?t trust embedded hard drives but that's just me. Even my iPod I'm always wary of something happening to it but the head on the drive has a lot more space to play with vs. one of these microdrives.

The LD should be fine microdrive wise. Ipod's are subject to their fair share of bumps from workouts and commutes, and various environments due to their popularity, and it seems like the microdrive seems to do fine. They still have other issues like battery lifespan and DRM tho.

Quote:

Originally posted by treynolds
For my money (my play fund is low right now, I just got a new KM A2 and flash...), there's a lot of promise here but not the compeling features that would make me jump from Sony to PalmOne:

(Listed in order of importance)

1. Battery life is relatively poor. Sorry, 2 1/2 to 4 hours doesn't cut it. That won't even get me Seattle to Atlanta.

2. No camera, not even a good quality VGA camera. This thing isn't billed as a business handheld. It's supposed to be a multimedia handheld. Why no camera for visual notes?

3. No or very little flash RAM/ROM. This is difficult to gauge right now, because every review gives different information.

4. No flip cover.

I think picking up a European TH55 is looking more and more enticing...

Tony

0- KM? A2? Flash im guessing si flash memory?

1- where did you hear this?

2- Actually, it's a mobile manager, so lack of digicam they could get away with. "Multimedia handheld" on the other hand really oughtta have a digicam *cough*zodiac*

3- yeah, let's wait and see on this.

4- the flip cover on my T3 wsa nice, but unfortunately, u cn't use that along with a Power To Go sled at the same time easily. I've ditched the flip cover for the most part. The relatively low protection it offers won't stop dust and smudges, but shouldn't be needed if you're careful with your device.