Wireless Archive

The new Zaurus SL-C3000 from Sharp is a linux-based PDA incorporating an Intel XScale PXA270 CPU at 416 MHz. It has a 640 by 480 pixel screen and is physically quite similar to the previous Zaurus clamshell models, the main difference being that it has a 4 GB hard drive built in. Read the review here.

There's no doubt that, at this point anyway, Pocket PCs have the lead in VGA screen. However, the race is far from over. The Pocket PC's implementation leaves much to be desired, so there's plenty of room for the Palm OS to come out with a better implementation of VGA.

The brand new AvantGo version offers improved wireless synchronization; an integrated Internet browser; real-time searching of AvantGo channels; a redesigned user interface with tabbed navigation, customized channel layout and small-screen optimized navigation. Also, users will now be able to add and remove channels directly from their device. Please note that OSNews fully supports most mobile browsers, including AvantGo (just create a custom subscription on your my.avantgo.com). Additionally, the text-only version of OSNews has been now optimized to look a bit better (3 weeks of slow dial-up in Greece forced me to use Firefox without "image loading" and so I took the time to optimize the site's looks for low-bandwidth usage). Here is a screenshot (subscriber's OSNews version is shown).

NewsForge reports that PalmSource Vice President of Engineering Mike Kelley has published an open letter to the Linux community. IN essence, the end result will be the ability to run PalmOs and (bits of Beos integrated in PalmOs) on Linux. It will be a software layer that runs on top of Linux, and won't be open source.

The potential synergy between the GNU/Linux OS and the Palm platform is huge, but so are the potential pitfalls. Larry Garfield looks at both the pros and cons of the Next Next Palm OS.

According to a report by the Register, the next version of PalmOS will have "Linux at its core." The Reg suggests that while the core improvements will be open sourced, the top level layers will remain proprietary a la Apple's Aqua interface.

A Gartner Research study of July-September sales data found that Microsoft's mobile OS outsold Palm's. During that period, Microsoft's OS accounted for 48.1% of worldwide shipments of PDAs, up from 41.2% the previous year. Palm's share dropped to 29.8% in Q3 2004 from 46.9%. The BlackBerry quadrupled its market share in twelve months to 19.8% from 4.9%.

"Nobody knows when we'll start the shift to Cobalt, OS 6, or on which devices. For now, we're saying that we've built the functionality we need into the Treo and the Tungsten T5 and there's no need to confuse developers by switching. I'm not even prepared to commit us to a change next year, or the year after, at this stage", said PalmONE president Ed Colligan. It is interesting to see how companies afraid to switch to new programming frameworks in fear that they will allienate their third party developers who are used to the "old way". Nobody likes big changes, it seems.

Shares of PalmSource, the handheld operating system developer, dipped Monday on an investment bank's report that said key licensee PalmOne will use Microsoft's OS in its Treo line of devices.

Recent news has covered the release of many new smart phones. We have the new Treo650, the new Sony P910, the new Audiovox PPC 6000, the new Blackberry 7100, and the new Nokia 6670. Recently, I've been speaking via email almost daily with my AT&T (now Cingular) rep. For some reason, the conversation always steers towards his wanting to push the latest from Nokia, Blackberry, etc.

As mobile devices become more common, it becomes imperative to understand how this environment poses unique application architecture challenges. This chapter will help you understand the issues involved in developing applications for mobile devices.

PalmSource today introduced Palm OS Cobalt 6.1, an enhanced version of Palm OS Cobalt. Designed to accelerate the development of next-generation Palm smartphones and wireless devices, Palm OS Cobalt 6.1 builds on the foundation of Palm OS Cobalt and provides integrated telephony features, support for WiFi and Bluetooth and enhancements to the user interface.

PalmSource will go after the emerging smart-phone market with its latest operating system, looking to grow beyond its core handheld business. As expected, the market-share leader in handheld operating systems plans to announce on Tuesday the Cobalt 6.1, its first product specifically aimed at smart phones, at a developer conference in Munich.

This release marks an important milestone in the history of OpenZaurus, since it has been created from scratch using the OpenEmbedded build system. More information about the overall project status can be found in the next edition of the official newsletter. Editor's question: Anyone knows if the WiFi hardware works with OpenZaurus and what web browsers are used when you install GPE or Opie?