Quickies: NR70V, Stowaway, Lexar, FastCPU, Penbase, Heybaby

Posted By: As Listed Tuesday, September 3, 2002 10:32:08 AM

The price of the NR70V at SonyStyle has dropped from $600 to $550, while the NR70's price remains the same. The price of the NR70V on SonyStyle.ca has dropped from $1000 CAD to $800 CAD. -Maxime

Amazon has the Stowaway folding keyboard for the Handspring Visor for $10 after a $30 rebate. - Larry

Buy.com is offering Lexar 128 MB Memory Sticks for $50 after a rebate. Amazon.com is offering the same deal. -Pilotoved

PalmQ Online reports that Megasoft2000 is developing a special version of their FastCPU overclocking utility for the Sony NR series. It's currently in alpha and has a maximum CPU frequency of 99 MHz. Its developers plan to increase this to over 100 MHz. -Pilotoved

Penbase Visual Designer Enterprise Edition 2.0 is a development environment for generating Java-based enterprise-ready mobile applications that synchronize with corporate databases, allowing real-time delivery, processing, and update of data. This latest edition lets developers generate applications for Palm OS and Pocket PC in a single development project. -PR

WAGWARE has released Heybaby for pregnant women/couples, which helps them keep track of their pregnancy and baby's progress. It costs $15. -PR

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Price Drop

I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 11:14:02 AM #
Now that the NR70V is $800 in Canada, is there any reason to buy a T665C for $700? Larger screen with VG, remote for the MP3 player and longer battery life; never mind the keyboard and camera.

RE: Price Drop
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 11:27:12 AM #
yeah - and if they'd ever offer the non-camera version (NR70)in Canada - the price would actually be the same or less then the 665.
RE: Price Drop
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 12:08:50 PM #
What's interesting is that SonyStyle.CA now has a "30 Days Price Guarantee" that I didn't noticed before.
RE: Price Drop
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 12:24:33 PM #
One reason to buy the T665c is the smaller form factor
RE: Price Drop
big_raji @ 9/3/2002 3:00:36 PM #
One thing I noticed is that Future Shop pulled the NR70V completely from their web store. It may also be pulled from their in-store shelves.

Either Future Shop is out of stock, or they didn't sell well enough at $999 and they've been sent back.

---
Wooo!

RE: Price Drop
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 3:03:45 PM #
It's disappeared from their web store before, only to come back a day later. Maybe they just ran out of supply.

They still haven't added the T665C. I wonder if they're skipping this model altogether.

RE: Price Drop
big_raji @ 9/3/2002 4:14:40 PM #
> They still haven't added the T665C. I wonder if
> they're skipping this model altogether.

WTF?!?!?!

I SWEAR the T665c was on the Future Shop Web Store almost immediately after the T615c was available.

I know this for a fact, because I sat there and debated which one to buy, now that they were both available from Future Shop... and when I went to the store to compare them, the salesperson told me the T665c was only available on the Web right now.



---
Wooo!

RE: Price Drop
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 5:04:38 PM #
The S360 in FutureShop dropped from $269 to $249 as well.

Something new from Sony?

I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 11:18:33 AM #
If I recall correctly, Sony usually drops prices in anticipation of a new model coming to the product line--the sole exception being the T415, which was lowered due to disappointing sales and impending discontinuation (is that a word?).

Anyway, I suspect that there will soon be an OS5 model at either $600 or $650 that's similar to the NR series. And, no doubt, when we hear about it there will be incessant yammering on PIC from people who probably don't even own Sonys, complaining about how "the NR series is obsolete now," and "Sony screws its customers," and "Sony releases models too fast," and the usual assorted drivel.

I sure hope my first suspicion comes true. The second part...well, let's just say I wouldn't miss the typical BS if it was gone.

RE: Something new from Sony?
Ed @ 9/3/2002 12:02:20 PM #
The speculation began on this a week or so ago when the NR series began to disappear from Tokyo stores and several webstores dropped their prices on the NR70V. At the same time, some details on a possible replacement leaked. If you missed it, you should check out this article:

www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=4070

---
News Editor

RE: Something new from Sony?
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 12:03:58 PM #
It's Semptember already, so the OS5 devices should be here RealSoonNow(tm).

On the other hand, there's already rumours of the NR90 floating around. So maybe the reason for the NR70V price drop isn't an indication that OS5 devices will be here soon. NR90 is rumoured to be another OS4.1 device.

Hopefully something good....
speed-angel @ 9/3/2002 1:54:04 PM #
I have been waiting for a T665 with virtual graffiti on it and lasting 10 days (with daily use about an hour). So if something new is coming hopefully it is this.

But I suspect that the N/NR series will come out with something new because historically N series comes out alternate with the T. It is N710, T415, N760, T615,NR70 then T655. Better be NR90 with better form factor.

Lets keep our fingers crossed.

Lexar memorystick not recognized in N760C

I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 11:29:55 AM #
I bought a Lexar 128mb memorystick from Buy.com last month and was not able to get my N760c to recognize it. My sony camera works fine with it, only the N760c does not "see" it. Interestingly, the N760c works fine with Sony 64mb and 16mb MemoryStick. Anyone else have this problem with Non-Sony Memory Sticks?

RE: Lexar memorystick not recognized in N760C
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 11:47:23 AM #
My Lexar 128, bought months ago for my N760C, works great. Never had a problem with it.

E>

RE: Lexar memorystick not recognized in N760C
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 11:54:15 AM #
I have both Sandisk and Lexar 128M, no problem with my N760C.
RE: Lexar memorystick not recognized in N760C
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 1:31:42 PM #
Did you format the memory stick in the camera? If there is no PalmVFS directory structure, some things stored on the memory stick may not be visible to some apps.

Just a thought

RE: Lexar memorystick not recognized in N760C
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 3:42:13 PM #
Same to me. I bought two Lexar 128MB and one 64MB with no problems on my N610, T615 and NR70V at all.
RE: Lexar memorystick not recognized in N760C
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 3:51:01 PM #
I did not Format the Memory Stick at all. I just put it in the N760c and it did not even recognize that a Memory Stick was in the slot (no sound effect). I put the same memory stick in the Sony camera and it recognized it and worked fine (even stored pictures on it). Oh well, I guess I got the quirky one. :-)


RE: MS not recognized? In a Sony?? :-) No Surprise
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/4/2002 8:25:31 AM #
Just wait. Your other MS will stop being recognized soon also. Then, you can send your device to Sony and pay for a fix, OR wait a few weeks for a limp software "fix"-- all of this to induce you to buy a new device. Duh. Don't you folks "get it"??

Overclocking

abosco @ 9/3/2002 12:08:01 PM #
Why would you want to overclock an NR? Is 66 MHz too slow?!?!?!

(This program has performed an illegal operation and needs to close) "But I only went to microsoft.com! Oh..."
RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 12:12:36 PM #
.... and 640KB is plenty of Ram. People always want more and faster. If it can be done it will be done.
RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 12:29:15 PM #
Hmmm....why would you not want to, is 99 MHz too fast?
RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 12:57:07 PM #
It'll be the fastest Palm on the planet! ...for the five minutes that the battery lasts.
RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 1:35:35 PM #
Has anyone been able to try a copy of the FastCPU for the 66mhz clies? Will it work on the Sony 665c? I would love to use this for my medical databases and ICD9 look ups.

I have never understood narrow minded thinking (or lack there of...), "if I don't need it, why would someone else..." dumb question, but didn't want to start a new forum. I am sure his friend is posting "Why would people want 206mhz palmpcs and 400mhz..."


RE: Overclocking
abosco @ 9/3/2002 1:36:34 PM #
"It'll be the fastest Palm on the planet! ...for the five minutes that the battery lasts."

EXACTLY. Why don't you want to run it up to 99 mhz? Battery drain, crashes, and the fact that IT'S A PDA FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! This is a pda, NOT a laptop. 33 mhz is fast enough for ANY application out there; games, avantgo, calendars, and even anything graphic intensive. 66 mhz is just adding to it with a tiny, yet still noticeable speed difference, but 99 mhz just seems absolutely useless. What exactly can you do with 100 mhz that you can't do with 66 mhz?

-----
(This program has performed an illegal operation and needs to close) "But I only went to microsoft.com! Oh..."

RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 1:36:49 PM #
"It'll be the fastest Palm on the planet! ...for the five minutes that the battery lasts."

LOL! That's a good one. Of course you can also underclock and get a battery life increase, but I've never used it that way. FastCPU is a great product and used to be necessary on anything under 30Mhz if you wanted that 'snap'. Apps like TealMovie needed 38Mz just to maintain audio sync on larger movies streamed from a card if the framerate was above 12FPS. I have to admit though, even with a 33Mhz device I did not really miss the overclocking when it was turned off, so I imagine its main use on a 66Mhz unit would be mostly for bragging rights.

Altema

RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 2:17:33 PM #
Games. Really helps my daily commute on the subway fly by. Probably the most common reason why faster would be better. I like games, and make no appologies for the fact that i want to see 3D games - such as quake (already ported to PPC) - running on my Palm OS device (Clie). With OS 5/6 Arm devices, this will happen. Could happen now on an overclocked 66mhz Clie.
RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 3:01:26 PM #
Per-application *underclocking* for the NR70V is what I want. Allow me to extend battery life, while still using the full speed for those apps that really need it.
RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 3:06:39 PM #
Does overclocking help load your massive mapopolis maps faster? Loading a lot of contiguos map takes a while.
RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 3:45:10 PM #
To abosco: please read the post right above you.

> I have never understood narrow minded thinking (or lack there of...), "if I don't need it, why would someone else..." dumb question.

Maybe 99Mhz is not for you. Fine. But there are people who want the speed. Maybe they don't need it, but just want it. e.g. for playing movie clips, for running GameBoy emulator. Maybe their train/bus ride is 20min only, and they can recharge immediately in the office. They can afford to have all the speed they need in the 20min without caring about the battery drain.


RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 4:50:33 PM #
I think Abosco needs to learn some manners--and practice his reading skills. Several times lately I've seen him take great liberties with someone's original posting and/or post a smart-a**ed, ill-formulated response.

The fact of the matter is that it does you _no_ harm at all if there are people out there who want to drain their batteries by "playing" around with high clockspeeds. Does it also irk you that there are people applying liquid cooling systems to their PCs just to squeeze a few extra mhz out of an already hideously overclocked P4?


RE: Overclocking
abosco @ 9/3/2002 5:36:29 PM #
Listen buddy, when you register, then you can try and trash me, but in the meantime, don't talk bad about anybody else, and for the people who told me to read the response above me, look at the times between out comments. It's less than a minute and it wasn't there when I posted. So to that guy who last responded, thanks, because we really enjoyed your contribution to the discussion. Anyway...

What can you do on 99 mhz that 66 mhz isn't more than substantial for? Right now, the most graphic intensive game is questionable, but there is NO game that 66 mhz will have a hard time on. Everything runs smoothly and without a hitch, and for future games that come out solely for OS 5 and ARM processors, they will not even work on this device because it is using the 66/99 mhz dragonball supervz processor, which can't run the application or game.

So instead of trashing me, why not contribute to the discussion?

-----
(This program has performed an illegal operation and needs to close) "But I only went to microsoft.com! Oh..."

RE: Overclocking
danger @ 9/3/2002 6:12:02 PM #
Overclocking = Massive Battery Drain + Crashes...

Sounds like it'll make a Sony PDA more of a Sony!

(And yes I own one)

RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 6:19:51 PM #
Overclocking is not a massive battery drain, and you don't get crashes either.

I have a Palm m505 overclocked from 33MHz to 54MHz with AfterBurner (a very good utility).

54MHz is the highest possible speed you can set with AfterBurner. My m505 is just slightly slower than a standard NR70(V).

It runs absolutely stable since more than a year now. Also, I have *never* run out of batteries.

I have measured that my batteries last approximately 5% to 10% less long with overclocking. What a big deal! I won't ever notice it!

It must also be pointed out that for many users the increase of battery drain will be close to zero. There is a technical reason for this: PalmOS is very smart and switches the processor to the "sleep" mode when waiting for user input. When the user asks for a task to be done, it will be completed faster and the Palm will go back to sleep mode faster.

That's what happens when you use the standard apps for example: they spend most of their time waiting for you in very low power mode. Overclocking doesn't cost a thing here.

On the other hand, the speed increase is essential for me. I have developped Chess Tiger for Palm. A chess program gains much strength from a faster processor.

So if you wonder why more speed is important, ask the chess players for example. But there are many more people who need more speed.

I am eagerly waiting for the ARM Palms and a way to overclock them! :)


Christophe Theron
www.chesstiger.com

RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 6:30:55 PM #
A chess program's strength is a direct function of the CPU's speed. Although strong enough as an opponent for most players, the best current Palm chess programs are considerably weaker than human chess masters, due solely to the slow CPU. But more importantly, a mobile chess program is a great analyst's tool for a serious chess player. For a chess program (analyst), there's no such thing as too fast: even if it could run a billion times faster, it would not "solve" chess.

Faster CPUs? Bring 'em on!

RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 6:40:03 PM #
Funny coincidence! I began typing that last post about chess BEFORE Christophe posted his message. Chess Tiger is a great program (the strongest) and I'm a registered user. (Hi Christophe, it's Roy E.).

RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 6:51:38 PM #
To the person that said why do you need any more speed beyond 33Mhz:

I'm running Sony 760 overclocked to 54Mhz. That is the only way to get large Kinoma movies running decently. Even at 54Mhz, AcidImage displays jpgs and their thumbnails too slow.
My chess games run still too slow. Mapopolis loads maps too slow still. Avantgo could be faster. Everything is usable but would be nicer to be even faster.

The NR70 running at 66Mhz I've heard runs quite a bit faster than my 760 running at 54Mhz due to optimization with some programs like AcidImage for example. I'm sure even that PDA could use some overclocking to be faster at mapopolis and chess programs.

So do some testing before you criticize overclocking needs.

RE: Overclocking
blue9 @ 9/3/2002 6:57:01 PM #
Who would need the extra overclocked MHz (99MHz total)? Well how about gamers who are running palmboy or other emulators? Abosco, are you saying these emulated games are running smoothly on a 66MHz cpu?
RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/3/2002 11:26:41 PM #
I agree with the medical post above. I had a palm 615c and upgraded to the 665c the first day it was out to increase the speed of doing my patient tracking and billing, the database has over 1800 entries and takes 4 to 6 seconds per search, (times 4 entries per patient.) I have a very busy inpatient service and cutting that time in half gives me more time to spend with my patients, or more time to waste reading narrow minded people's post like the previous person pointed out.
I will buy fastCPU the first day it is out if it works with the 665c and my medical databases. I bought tornado for the Palm V and afterburner for my Palm 505, then Sony Clie 615c within the first few days they were out. I have NO games installed, NO movies and can name a dozen programs that would benefit from the speed. Give the speed and sound and the programs will come. I would love to go back in time and read your post "who needs a color palm, I see no reason for a color palm."

ps. Sorry for the typos, but until I get a faster palm/sony I have to save time where I can ;)

RE: Overclocking
I.M. Anonymous @ 9/4/2002 9:20:08 AM #
Movies.

'nuff said.

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