CDR: RE: visor phone vs. starium?

[Trei, Peter]

> ----------
> A. Melon[SMTP:juicy at melontraffickers.com] writes:
> from the clueless dept:

> > Why would I want a PDA-phone hybrid?
> 
> > Why do I have the uneasy feeling the newly announced
> > Motorola/Palm product, due in 2002, may end up combining
> > everything Palm knows about cell phones with everything Motorola knows
> about personal
> > organizers?
> 
I'm going to have to remember that line :-)

> Is it that none of the current devices even comes close to being useful
> > for most people who already own a cell phone and a PDA? Dont
> > take my word for it: Check out the MobilePlanet and iGO catalogs,
> > where the latest wireless wonders are all on display. Sure, theyre
> > cool, but are they useful?
> 
Well, the Visor GSM phone plugin creates a relatively small increase in the
size of the visor, based on photos. I carry both a cellphone and a Palm 
constantly, and the Visor device looks less bulgy than carrying both. It
might
be helpful from that point of view.

The earlier Qualcomm PDQ phone/palmpilot is like carrying a 
brick in your pocket by comparison (I've got one in my desk - I don't use
it).

> > And how about those new devices that are supposed to turn Palms
> > and Visors into cell phones? Give me a break -- Im supposed to talk
> > into something that looks like that? How useful can the combination
> > really be? Cool? Yes. Practical? Hardly. And $299 seems a bit steep.
> 
I'd use it, but the price point sucks.

> > Is this really necessary?
> > <snip>
> >
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/zd/20000926/tc/keep_your_phone_off_my_palm__1
> .html
> 
> 
> > The real issue will be power consumption vs. mips for
> > crypto.  And user interfaces.
> 
Well, on the visor speech input comes through the Visor's built-in
mike, so it may be available to the processor for manipulation.
The sound output is on a speaker built into the GSM phone module,
and I kind of doubt if the data is available to a user program.

You really need to get into a funny place in the stack - below A/D
conversion, but above GSM packetization. 

I have greater hopes for doing encrypted voice-over-ip, if we want
something that 's open source and user-verifiable.

Peter Trei