September 25, 2003

News Factor shows us all what makes a great Smartphone (Treo) and a crappy one (Pocket PC - Hitachi)

The Handspring (Nasdaq: HAND) Treo 600 is an example of how good design happens when you get a lot of little things right. Its bigger stable mate from Sprint PCS (NYSE: PCS) , the Hitachi (NYSE: HIT) G1000, is a painful example of what happens when you get a lot of little things, and some big things, wrong.

The Hitachi ($649 with service vs. the Treo 600's estimated $500) is the latest in a line of mediocre-and-worse phone-PDA combinations based on Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Pocket PC software and the first Pocket PC to include a built-in keyboard. Some of the G1000's problems result from its physical design. It's huge, nearly twice the size of the Treo 600 and way too big to be really practical as a phone. Most women, and many men, will find their hands too small even to hold it comfortably. The keyboard is stuck all the way at the bottom of the device, below the big 5-inch display, resulting in a seriously top-heavy design that makes it hard to type. (full sory)

0 comments