Thursday, April 4, 2002

Bryce links to Walter Mossberg's negative review of the Sharp SL-5500. Bryce is correct in his assessment of Mossberg in being Palm-centric in his reviews. Walter has a dim view towards all PDAs not running Palm OS. After using the SL-5500 for little bit, I tend to agree that this is not a prime time device. Every comment and review that I have read about SL-5500 says the same thing. However, the buzz around this handheld is not so much how it is now, but what it could be. In my opinion this is a major test for the idea of putting Linux on handhelds. Sharp is a big name player in handhelds, and if they can't have success using Linux, who can? IMHO, Linux on handhelds is a tough sell if the SL-5500 is an indication. There is nothing that this device provides in terms of functionality that is not provided by a Pocket PC or Palm OS device today. And that is the rub... there has to be something to make people want to buy the device. Then there is the user interface, which beyond the home page doesn't look very appealing. Using the SL-5500 makes me have a deeper appreciation for the amount of work that goes into developing a GUI for handheld devices. The Pocket PC UI is better because it is simply more polished. Two things are going to happen with this device. Either the huge group of Linux/open source software developers are going to write good, compelling applications that will provide a reason to buy this device, or the SL-5500 will be heavily discounted and discontinued by Sharp by the end of 2002. And if Sharp doesn't succeed, one has to wonder whether Linux can succeed at all in handhelds. 6:34:48 PM    [Macro error: Can't call the script because the name "liveTopicsSeeAlso" hasn't been defined.]

This article suggests that the Sharp SL-5500 has root access exposed when connected to the network. 6:34:48 PM    [Macro error: Can't call the script because the name "liveTopicsSeeAlso" hasn't been defined.]

ZDnet on the Sharp SL-5500. Reports that Sharp will be launching a CDPD service at $29 per month and $99 for the modem. A CDPD offerring at this stage when there are faster services is curious. It is interesting to note that while the SL-5500 uses the supposedly cheaper Linux operating system, the device does not cost significantly less at $500. 6:34:44 PM    [Macro error: Can't call the script because the name "liveTopicsSeeAlso" hasn't been defined.]