(LONG) Live Impressions from the LifeDrive Demo in NYC
I'm sitting in the upstairs conference room at B&H Photo, waiting for the start of the NYCDAUG-PALM user group meeting. Tonight's meeting is special: Stephen McDonnell, a Business Development Manager at PalmOne, is here to demo PalmOne's newest handhelds. The big attraction is what's gotten me to travel into Manhattan: the brand-new Palm LifeDrive. As a long-time Palm handheld user (9 years and counting), I'm rarely floored by a new product introduction, but the LifeDrive has gotten me truly excited. Everyone's use is different; for me, I need a high-quality screen, Wi-Fi Internet access, and a large amount of memory. The Tungsten C has been excellent at these needs, but it does lack a few amenities, most notably decent sound (it's mono, and the speaker is low volume at best). The LifeDrive takes the Tungsten C features, takes away only the thumbboard (which I rarely use) and the vibrating alarm (which I do), and adds a bigger screen, stereo sound, a better speaker, and the most revolutionary feature, a 4 GB (!) Hitachi hard drive. Major stuff for us data-heavy users.
The presentation is beginning, so I'm going to switch into notetaking mode. The following are my impressions of Steve McDonnell's presentation:
• PalmOne is calling this tour the "PUGapalooza 2005," which shows the power of the user groups in helping to spread the Palm handheld message. Steve said that simultaneously with this event are others in Boston and Silicon Valley
• Interesting--McDonnell refers to the LifeDrive Mobile Manager "Products" -- wonder what's next in the line?
• A user just asked whether one can open WordPerfect documents on the LifeDrive. McDonnell doesn't think so--my thought is that most people in the room can't open it either
• Be aware, the Acrobat files are supported "via a conversion"--McDonnell just confirmed in response to my question that formatting is lost on the handheld (which was the case for earlier PalmOS Acrobat Readers)
• Battery life was raised: Up to 2.5 days with regular Wi-Fi and MP3 use; "If you're just solidly watching movies, for example, you can watch 2 full length, 120 minute movies." Also non-volatile file format, so "even if your battery goes totally dead, you're not going to lose data"; "Battery Life: Powerful, but not as critical as it used to be."
• Question as to why not a removable battery: "It would have added size, complexity and cost."
• Question as to why use hard drive as virtual memory, which slows it down--not really answered
• Regarding the Garnet vs. Cobalt decision: "We're looking at Cobalt, and trying to decide where it falls with our product line at well."
• Question re: compatibility with older programs: "Whenever we change things dramatically, there can be some things that cause applications problems...my experience is that most of the applications that I've put on there does work, but some don't...We [now] have a working version of PocketDVD."
• Can plug the LifeDrive in as a USB drive and run apps off it
• There's a driver for the PalmOne-branded BlueTooth keyboard, as well as the Wireless (infrared) version
• Does not come with a cable; can sync either with cable or wireless (including Bluetooth); shares peripherals with T5, Treo 650, and E2; you can buy a cradle for it
• Question re: biometric security: "Can't discuss products that may or may not be in development...there are third party attachments that do support that sort of thing"
• With the LifeDrive File Manager application, when you drop files onto the window, you can copy, convert (with compression), or keep synchronized (can be multiple directories, but McDonnell thinks they have to be local to the synching PC, rather than network directories); if you make a change on both, it will maintain the two copies, allowing the user to decide which is the primary files
• All existing synchronizing technologies work as well; this is file synchronization
• LIFEDRIVE FILE MANAGER IS PC ONLY; DriveMode works with both
• Files View allows you to explore, view files from PC on your LifeDrive
• With VersaMail, ActiveSync is built in -- works with MS Exchange Server 2003
• Blazer Web browser allows either proxy or proxy-less surfing, with the ability to save pages locally
• Comes with WiFile to allow access to networked file servers via WiFi
• VPN software is all third-party; don't bundle any
• For Wi-Fi, supports WEP; unsure if supports WPA
• In terms of Bluetooth, can connect to keyboards, GPSes, etc--uses Bluetooth 1.1
• For security, includes 128-bit encryption, password protection and "Private Records" function; "intrusion protection" where, if someone incorrectly enters the password three times, can set it to wipe the drive
• Has 64 Megs of RAM; caches last "whatever it can kind of fit in there" applications; "Applications that you're using regularly will be sitting in that 64 Megabytes and will load quickly"; no data stored on RAM, which is non-volatile; Saved and Unsaved Preferences are stored in the RAM
• There are applications resident in ROM
• VersaMail keeps mail on the hard drive
• When you put a camera's SD card into the slot, it launches Camera Companion, which gives the option of Copying to the device or to the PC, or viewing the media without storing it; when you connect the LifeDrive, it will launch the existing photo management software on the PC; can also "browse to the photos" via Blazer on Web sites like Snapfish and Ofoto
• Comes with PocketTunes (on the CD, not in ROM)
• Built-in Media application supports JPG, TIF, MPG1, MPG4, AVI, and others
• Unlike the Tungsten C or Treo 650, uses standard stereo headphone jack
• Real Rhapsody offer in box with first month free; service subscription comes with full version of PocketTunes Deluxe for free
• AddIt comes on the device; Try/Find/Buy software application, plus headlines
• Hold button locks all button presses, whether the device is on (passing it around, listening to music) or off
• LED shows charged/charging/disk access
• Vibrating alarm removed; a fellow attendee pointed out that vibrations could interfere with the spinning drive (guy won a t-shirt)
• HD tested for one-meter drop with head not engaged -- Don't try this at home!
• Moving on to actual demo--it's clearly slower to open Documents to Go than a Tungsten C (which uses RAM only
• One subtle point--you can clearly hear the clicks from about 10 feet away, meaning it's a loud speaker; music playing is also clear from the same distance
• It's possible to launch a .prc (Palm application) program from the Drive Mode
• Supposedly comes with Star Trek ebook, along with sample chapters from other books
• There was a slight stutter playing an MP3 in the background while accessing the drive at the same time to open Documents to Go--not too bad, but definitely there
• Status bar is always on screen, other than during slideshow mode
• McDonnell also briefly discussed the Tungsten E2
• Statistics:
- 75% of Zire users are new to the category
- 50% of Tungsten E users are new to the category (sold 50 million)
- 30% upgraded to the Tungsten E from a previous PalmOne product
- 90% would buy a PalmOne product again
• LifeDrive Desktop installer will detect earlier version of Palm Desktop
• Unsure whether Treo650 Wi-Fi driver coming soon
• Tungsten C is being discontinued--this is news
• PalmOne Days Back will add E2 & LifeDrive
• E-mail Palm-related trivia questions to Triviaquestions@palmone.com to earn PalmOnebucks--multiple choice
- Professor Jonathan, Associate Writer (Long Island, NY, USA)
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