Dana Wireless Now Available

The Dana and Dana Wireless are natural outgrowths of AlphaSmart's existing line of products, which has kept them in business since 1992. I predict AlphaSmart will continue to stay afloat, as long as they stay true to their core business and continue to produce products that make sense directly in schools.

>Sinclair tried to make a device very similar to this >over 10 years ago (the Z88), as did Apple (with the >eMate), as have countless others. They have never >been embraced by the market place.

That's true. But you also can't go into a Circuit City to buy a Dana (or if you can, it's unusual.) Most AlphaSmarts are sold directly to schools and districts, and are issued to students like textbooks, instead of bought individually by parents like organizers.

>I can pick up a PII/PIII laptop second hand (with a
>1 year warranty, CD-ROM, Floppy Disk, 10 GB Hard >Disk, 256 MB RAM, Windows 98/2000) for less than the >cost of this device.

There's no question; if you're looking for bang for your buck, the Dana is a poor investment. But it's not designed for this purpose---it's designed to be mistreated by 5th graders and still operate for a decade. I've seen older Alphasmart devices that have been in use for upwards of 7 years, with no servicing. Your laptop is likely to require considerable technical expertise after such a time, even if it sits in a closet unused for the whole period.

>If you really need something ultra portable you can
>also pick up a second hand Palm for 30 UKP in the

Absolutely, and this is what makes AlphaSmart's embrace of the Palm OS so wonderfully inviting. With wireless, the possibilities for colloboration, internet access, messaging, and better classroom interaction expand profoundly. The Dana Wireless has more potential to transform our society than any other Palm OS device to date.

But don't buy a Dana, you'll hate it--it's big and clunky and overpriced for the horsepower. Don't buy your kid a Dana either, or else she'll be the only one on the block with the device, making it anoversized Palm. No, call your local school board and ask them if they have considered issuing the Dana to students.

The Dana Wireless belongs in schools. Kudos to AlphaSmart on their continued innovation.

Palm Enthusiast since 1998

For instance, I always thought the Symbol-adapted Palm IIIx's with bar code readers were a stupid idea, until I saw every ticket agent at Lincoln Financial Field (in Phila.) using them to scan bar coded tickets for an event.

Similarly, several industrial settings can be envisioned where something simple and rugged like the Dana unit would fit in nicely.

More importantly; they are another example of why the Palm OS is such a good choice for mobile devices.

A palm trying to be a laptop is superior to a laptop trying to be a handheld (including tablet PC's)simply because of the absence of moving parts. And I'm not just talking about the maintenance of various drives, but, for me, it's the *boot up time* of a chip vs. Windows.

Imagine a Sony UX-type handheld with the lower half folding out to a full-size keyboard a la the Stowaway! I would get one in a heartbeat.I would't care if it would not slip into my shirt pocket any more. I carry mine in a mini belt pack anyway. A pocket is no place for a pocket computer anyway unless you want to smash it or drop it.(My $0.02)

Since this is the second or third version of the Dana that has come out, doesn't that mean it has already been successful? Alphasmart is still in business, after all.

I personally think this would make a kickass replacement for a ruggedized laptop: it's tougher, lasts longer on batteries, and is still cheap enough to replace if it gets destroyed. If I were a soldier serving in the Gulf, this is what I'd want.

Jon Acheson

"All opinions posted are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled."

I also think the point about appropriate spending is crucial here. At 420 USD these things are very expensive for the level of functionality and educational value they deliver. My point regarding the Sun Ray's and separate Palm device is that you could have a fully functional computer on every desk (and still have a PDA in every pocket) and it would still be cheaper than giving all the students one of these comparatively hobbled devices. I don't see it's possible to argue that a Dana for every student is of more value than a fully functional desktop (with smart card based roaming profiles) and a portable Palm device on every desk.

Companies like this survive by selling to the education market because education authorities don't have people who are able to give them better advice on how to make the most of their IT budgets.

I hope get what you seem to want and your child's school decides not to buy say iBooks, but these instead. For cost of 1000 iBooks you can get 2000 of these things, but I can be sure that your get a lot more educational value out of those iBooks than you will out of even 5000 of these things.

You should really try using a device like this - I have, and as one user has testified already, the screen size, the poor performance and the lack of functionality in word processing software make them simply useless. I'd rather share access to an iBook than have one of these, I could be just as productive (if not more) even if I had access to something like an iBook for even half the time.

Screen on one flap, keyboard on the other. Small stands under the keyboard, just like on regular PC keyboards, to flip it up and make typing just a little more comfortable. Wireless with Bluetooth or with slots for wireless cards. Slots for media storage.

The size of the screen would also make it a good layout for reading downloaded text, documents, news, emails. I'm tellin you, I don't want to spend any amount of money on a small laptop; I want an instant on, dedicated document machine with PalmOS features.