By: JimC1997 $$$$
Reply To: 649467 by Pokonchi $$$ Tuesday, 27 Mar 2001 at 7:59 PM EST
Post # of 649564
OT: Pok, obviously people have different opinions about the Palm vs PocketPC issue, just as they did in the early Apple vs IBM days.
I don't own either type yet, but the Compaq 3670 Pocket PC seems far superior in every way to any Palm device that I tried (color screen, 64MB RAM/ 16MB ROM, 206 Mhz processor, full suite of Windows programs, expansion sleave, music function, etc.)
They are in very short supply, but if you get a chance, try one out. The display is beautiful, even in daylight, and it is loaded with lots of little features (like a voice recorder) that some nerds like me love.
It is quite small and will easily fit in a shirt pocket.
The price is $499, but you can't find them anywhere for that price.
Well, as I said, this probably has little to do with EDIG, although the company has stated that they are working on something related to a PDA.
I'd guess that there will be no single standard that will emerge in the PDA area. As long as they are user-friendly and can sync with a desktop, I suppose that all types will survive.
One point about processors, however. As VTT/TTV becomes more common, it will take much more powerful processors than the Palm has to function properly. I doubt that even the Compaq processor could handle that type of application.
JimC
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IBM Puts Voice on Palm
IBM announces ViaVoice version for handhelds, non-PC devices (like cars).
Ephraim Schwartz, InfoWorld
Wednesday, March 08, 2000
As mobility moves the market for processing cycles off the desktop and into the palm, IBM Tuesday took a major step in offering a useable interface for devices with limited keyboards. The company announced an embedded version of its ViaVoice speech engine for handhelds and other nontraditional devices.
At the Mobile Insights 2000 conference here, Big Blue demonstrated its speech recognition and text-to-speech technology on a Palm III personal digital assistant. The Personal Speech Assistant prototype shown on stage was attached to the back of a Palm III, similar to other Palm III add-ons. Inside the PSA unit was the Embedded ViaVoice software, optimized for both the Palm OS and an NEC embedded processor.
In the demonstration, billed as only a technology demo, IBM official David Barnes made numerous voice-command and control calls to the unit, which responded by verifying appointments, taking short messages, and translating selected words into Spanish and Japanese.
Barnes reiterated that IBM is not interested in making the hardware but that its speech division will license the embedded speech software development kit to developers working on almost any platform.
The SDK includes recognition for 500 words, enough for most command and control functions, as well as unlimited text-to-speech capability for reading e-mail messages.
As part of the unit, flash memory was used to store longer voice episodes, which according to Barnes could then be hot-synced via the Palm cradle to a desktop that included a full version of ViaVoice. The desktop version would convert the voice .wav files to text and automatically send them back to the Palm.
The Embedded ViaVoice for Multiplatforms SDK, now in beta, will ship by the end of the second quarter, according to Patricia McHugh, director of New Business Development for IBM Voice Systems.
IBM would not say which hardware vendors may create products, but a number of PDA as well as car manufacturers are interested.
