AlphaSmart Announces the Dana Wireless

What would help Palm and Alphasmart(Or whoever the company is) is to get them into schools and give each student one of them for the year and install Wifi printers in the class room. The only problem I see is lack of customizability(Might easily get switched) and chatting in class.

In my day, I had to use IR to chat. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, BAH!

I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. We're in space.

Now an OS 5 Dana with a double density colour screen would be very nice, but i'm not sure 1120x320 is realistic, and the 480x320 sony display wouldn't be wide enough. 960x320 perhaps? Matbe a 1.5 density 240x810? I imagine an OS 5 device will run as a single density device. Which is a shame because it would make a nice wide screen movie player. ;)

Still the OS 4 wireless model is tempting - I could stick it in my bag and cycle which my laptop is not suited for. What would be really nice tho' is if I could use WiFi to access a folder on a server as if it was a VFS card. Can't see that happening for PalmOS for some time.

Edward Green
--
http://www.khite.co.uk

Like comparing apples to pipe wrenches. They're both the same color, but that's just about as far as it goes.

The one 250 and 350 are much cheaper alternatives (heck the 150 is free after rebate!)

The 150's "free", but using it requires a $12.50/month account from Earthlink - and also requires a minimum contract. Check
http://www.earthlink.net/home/mailstation/
for details on their various bloodsucking offers.

although they do not offer wifi or PalmOS funtionality.

...Which is the point of buying an Alphasmart, as opposed to a MailStation, or a pipe wrench.(Although IIRC, some of the MailStations do offer wireless communication - Just not through 802.11.)

Also, I think Alphsmart should have also integrated VoIP with this new model. That would have been a truely powerful combo...but perhaps that isn't possible with OS 4.1?...

Voice over IP? You're kidding, right? Even a brutally stripped down VoIP stack requires WAY more processing power than any 4.1 (Dragonball-based) machine is going to deliver.

But a Dana with a built-in modem or a bundled USB modem might just give the mid-range MailStation some good competition. Just the fact you could choose an email appication which could use larger more readable fonts, or an ISP with custom spam filtering instead of being locked into Earthlink, would win a lot of customers. Plus you could bundle-in targeted PalmOS applications.

I can just see some VAR selling a bunch of Dana/modem/ISP bundled systems on late night informercials: (But that's Not All! Call Now, and we'll include a Free Calendar, ToDo List, Alarm Clock and Scrabble Dictionary! yada,yada...)

Wassup? http://www.pocketscience.com.au/

"...It sounds like there's already at least two of you in there already"

"I make it a rule not to get involved with possesed people".

Ok, I'm done....really. =)

_________________
Sean

It is not very comfortable to have the gift of being amused at one's own absurdity.
-Somerset Maugham-

-alan

And that "estimated" 3.5 hour battery life? What happens, in the middle of her language lesson, when she and the other 30 kids in the classroom get the message "Your laptop is now going into hibernation. Please plug in your power adapter" and all of them dive for the four outlets over behind the bookshelf? Do YOU want to the be referee in that fight? The Dana runs for days on AAAs. And, being solid state, the data is saved immediately.

Yes, for most of the folks who read this site, it's a bad choice. For my daughters, who are in high school, it's a bad choice. They'd never give up their wifi laptops (which run rings around an Inspiron!), and they don't want to carry anything that bulky or geeky. But for Elementary and Middle School, where they're learning keyboarding skills, cooperative learning, and data manipulation, having a room full of kids at their own limited keyboard workstation is much better than having them share 2-on-1 with a laptop, or 4-on-1 with a desktop. That's why the Alphasmart 3000 is such a great seller. The Dana just gives you more functionality - in the market where it's designed for.

Dell Latitude Notebook PC Survive Torture Test for a Record Fifth Time

Dell Is the First and Only Notebook PC Vendor to Reach This Durability Milestone

PC/Computing's seventh annual notebook torture test rounded up 22 notebook PCs and subjected them to extreme durability measures. These measures include: baking the PCs for two hours at 180 degrees Fahrenheit; freezing them for another two hours; a 29-inch drop; and two liquid splashes, one with coffee and one with soda. After each test, if the machine still boots up and can retrieve data, it is considered a survivor.

http://www.dell.com/us/en/gen/corporate/press/pressoffice_news_1999-03-19-rr-000.htm

> I'll also bet the Dana has better battry life.

Yup, 25 hours. Plus there's a choice of batteries - either rechargeable (which comes with the Dana) or regular (disposable) batteries. So when you're out and using the Dana, and the low battery level indicator appears, all you need to do is replace the rechargeable with regular and continue working. Instead of bringing along the AC adapter and looking for a wall outlet, all you need to bring along is a new supplye of AA alkaline batteries.

My laptop is never off (or very rarely, I never go to "Shut Down" though). I do a reboot every so often (every week or two) though, but that only takes maybe 2 minutes.

This Dana is very nice for students though.

So, really, most of us are in no way, shape, or form interested in purchasing this unit... but the educational market should rejoice. Clearly, they've been able to sell enough product to create an upgraded model, so SOMEONE is buying. Even though it doesnt work for us, it's still a wonderful unit

AlphaSmart may be officially targetted at the educational market, but a lot of writers have found it to be the ideal writing tool that lets them write away from the desk. Inexpensive, lightweight, instant-on, long battery life, too.

So:
Official market - schools
Unofficial, but growing, market - writers

The built-in Palm apps are all wide screen enabled. Plus PalmReader, as well as the QuickOffice suite. More and more Palm apps developers are also coming out with wide screen support for the Dana.

At last count, at least 10 developers have widescreen versions of their applications, including DayNotez by Natara and iSilo."<

Nice. I have to admit that if I needed it's functionality and couldn't afford a *decent* laptop (in other words, NOT Dell's Piece of S**t models), then this would be a great alternative.

_________________
Sean

It is not very comfortable to have the gift of being amused at one's own absurdity.
-Somerset Maugham-