Sp1got posted a very interesting thought on PDA-247 yesterday concerning Palm producing better Palm OS PDAs than Sony in the golden age of PDAs. I personally think that Sony did the better job, but it would be interesting to hear what you think.
It seems that my little comment about prejudices has touched a nerve.
Before I address this, let me say that I recently purchased a reburbished m515. This is a reaction to my disappointment with all the devices I have owned over the last 5 or 6 years. To put it briefly, I was sick of all the senseless bells and whistles introduced to PDAs by Sony and others. I realised that I have no need for a device which takes second rate photos; I have no need for a device to play music through tiny little earbuds; I have no need for a device which has WiFi or GPS or 3G etc, etc, etc. By contrast, the m515 does everything I want and it does it all rather well.
When I look back to some of the so-called ‘breakthrough’ CLIE devices, all I see is a company (Sony) adding all sorts of questionable ‘features’ in an attempt to differentiate itself from the market leader (Palm). Does a swivel screen help me juggle my appointments? No, of course not. Same goes with 320 x 320 pixel displays and all the other ‘features’ that Sony included in their devices.
Palm reacted to Sony’s folly by copying it. Do you remember the dreadful Tungsten T line? It was not until the Tungsten E that they were able to get back on track (ie, devices which are focused on helping people manage their busy lives). But by then, the market was shifting, and Palm, weakened as they were by various distractions, did not have the resources to adapt adequately. But I’m disgressing.
The bottom line is simply this: CLIE devices were over-hyped compromises. Where they PDAs trying to be cameras? Or were they walkmans trying to be PDAs? They were neither fish nor foul, if you ask me. Looked at as simply a PDA, the typical CLIE included ‘features’ which offered little real utility for the user. These ‘features’ were added merely to give the marketing people something to prattle on about.
I’m sure that the tech buffs will be aghast at that last statement, but let’s keep this in perspective: Palm created a market which generated decent profit margins. Sony tried to muscle in. Sony threw some money at it for a few years, but they gave up when they decided that had little to show for all their efforts.
Of course, the CLIE advocates can’t accept that they backed the wrong horse – they continue to go on and on about all the terrific ‘features’ of the CLIE devices – but those people don’t seem able to realise that Sony simply failed in what they set out to achieve.
It’s yet another example of prejudice clouding one’s view of reality.
Only one word “TH55″. Those who know know this was a world-class device for 2005 at only £230.
I’m sure Sp1 is joking
If SONY hadn’t enter the scene, Palm OS had never reached the hype it reached. I don’t know one single person that used a SONY device that doesn’t agree it was better than a Palm made device… mmm… except Sp1 maybe.
SONY was a breakthrough and they pushed the OS to the limits and beyond – yes, where Palm was failling, they created a turnaround. They improved an OK/Good system to a high-level performance one.
I had 3 Palm devices before leaping to the SONY NX70v and then TH55. I have to agree the NX70v (swivel) was a fantastic improvement – screen, physical keyboard (that’s the reason for the swivel part – you could use tablet mode or not and have the keyboard), great sound gadgets (remote control, great sound, etc), ability for MStick AND CF cards for cheap large mass storage… and than the TH-55… you can have many opinions, but in the TH-55 case they all will converge in one! – a superb device! I still use one everyday and will continue as long as it lasts and I’m updated about almost all devices that are entering the market. I need organization and the Clie Organizer is the best until now… from over the entire present operating systems. I’m sure Sp1 hasn’t tried one yet.
Bottom line… would WinMob devices have a hype if there wasn’t HTC or Samsung pushing the boundaries of the OS?… no! It would be “dead” by now.
So you can have a OS, but you need someone to explore the OS and take it a step higher – hardware and software -wise.
btw jah, the TH-55 is still running like in the first day! I’m extremely happy with it, still in mint condition. I think I will have to look around for a new battery this year… do you know a place to get one? I usually use batteryupgrade.com (I think that’s the name) and they have been great in previous shopping…
Perhaps all this true ….. take note however that regardless of how clouded SONY made the PDA world, that in the end, the consumer was indeed interested in everything they offered. Todays smartphones are as much if not more about entertainment as they are about talking on a phone. This is all about the evolution of how we communicate and how we manipulate information.
So yes, in fact SONY is guilty of introducing music, games, and movies to phones, BUT the consumer ultimately choose or choses these things today as being must haves in their phones.
I remember having to choose between a Palm branded device and a Sony one. This happened quite a few times and Sony always won out. It was Sony that brought a Palm device to its hype and it was Sony who pulled the plug. Who can forget the announcement by Sony that it would no longer continue the CLIE line. I remember buying my last Palm pda from Sony before they ran out. The disappointment was awful! Sony was the king no doubt. When the king left, Palm died.
I’m also of the opinion that if SONY kept onboard, Palm would have been much more interesting and maybe PalmWebOS had been created sooner. I believe SONY had the hindsight to see that PalmOS was doomed.
My general view is that Sony made much better quality devices, but in the end Palm offered more at the budget end. By the fall of 2003 when I bought a Tungsten E, you couldn’t get a Sony for the same price with the same features. And by going down the Palm route I could use standard SD cards (instead of Sony Memory sticks) – an important factor on a device without Bluetooth, GPRS or Wifi.
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