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Programming IT Technology

Telepongs Linux Handheld in June 67

Posted by CmdrTaco from the check-that-mother-out dept.
Danny writes: "infoSync has got a interesting story about a mobile terminal running on Linux, which is supposed to be available in June 2002. From the pictures to tell, it's really cool -- and it supports GSM/GPRS, has a 65K color display and comes with a camera interface and a joystick for playing games." Now mind you such cool devices will take years to get to the U.S., but wow, that's a crazy looking device. Me Like-ee.
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Telepongs Linux Handheld in June More

Telepongs Linux Handheld in June

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  • mandatory question (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Can you play pong on a telepong?
    • Can you play pong on a telepong?

      Yes. You can play JAVA-based multi-player netwoked wireless pong. Hence the name, "tele" from the Greek "telos" for distance and pong from "ping pong" for the sound made by ping pong (don't you just love recursive definitions). The Telepong allows pong at a distance.

      The ergonomic design of the Telepong enables it to additionally be used as a ping pong paddle.

      With the proper extensions it can also be used as a motorized ice cream scooper, leaf blower, and many other things. You can even use it to cut a tin can - but you wouldn't want to.

  • Innovative (Score:2, Funny)

    by Traxton1 ( 154182 )
    It does look rather cool, and it looks like it would come back to you when you throw it.

  • telepong site, etc (Score:3, Informative)

    by Alien54 ( 180860 ) on Thursday November 15, 2001 @03:33PM (#2570740) Journal
    Our handsets are not meant to compete head-on with classic voice-centered mobile phones," Telepong's CEO Christoph Atzwanger, emphasizes. "They are closer to game and messaging consoles and are focused on enabling and supporting non-voice 2.5 G and 3 G services."

    That's for sure

    And Yes, there is a Telepong.com [telepong.com] with a truly large picture [telepong.com] (1700x1700) for your closeups of the device

    but otherwise the site is still a bit content lite.

    • What is up with the screen on that gigantic photo? It looks like someone is raising their Tamagochi on there (Who remembers that fad?)
    • Nothing like linking directly to a 1700x1700 (what, several hundred K file) to /. a site. That's pure evil. All that you are missing is an appropriately resonating laugh.
  • What kind of filesystems do these things use?

    I'm curious.

  • OK, where the hell did they come up with non-word, "tweens." I hate it already and this is the first time I've seen it.

    When the revolution comes, the marketing people will be the first against the wall.

    • Re:Tweens? [OT] (Score:3, Informative)

      by Mu*puppy ( 464254 )
      Apparently, you're not a Tolkien fan. :)


      from The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 1, fifth paragraph, fifth sentence:

      "At that time Frodo was still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties
      between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three."


      Mu*puppy: 'tween' and damn proud of it.

      • I was going to make an obnoxious note about telling us the exact chapter, paragraph and sentence, but then I realized I'm a tween!

        rock.
    • The word "tweens" has been around for a few years...

      Now, Tolkien notwithstanding (in which he was arguably the first person to use the word, to describe what could be called "twenty-somethings"), in marketing-speak, tweens are those people who are not quite "teens" - ie, 10, 11, and 12 year olds (get it? TWelve/tEEN/TWEEN? Or, in beTWEEN childhood and teenagers).

      This "modern" usage of the word first came about sometime in the early 1990's.

      But yeah, you are right - it is a crap word.
  • Is a Telepong anything like a Telefrag? If not, what's the point?

  • To be honest I dont understand how that is so damn cool - guess its supposedly cool cause it runs Linux.. Seems to be a good way to advertise semi-useless toys to geeks though ;).

    Seriously - last time I checked I got a cell-phone 'cause I wanted a device that lets me call parents/friends and _talk_ to them.
    I agree that SMS for instance is a pretty good way of sending short notes but that's where my need for text/graphic-based communications end. Which is why I choose the smallest damn phone..

    --H

    • Re:wierd.. (Score:2, Interesting)

      by O2n ( 325189 )
      You're right.

      Basically they try to create a market for the GPRS and 3G wich will be at least hard, because they have to make the users change their habits.

      For almost 100 years the telephone was primarily a means of oral communication; only within the last 10 years there's been a sensible change to this trend, maybe significant, but definitely not a change of focus.

      What happened is that at the height of the dot.com bubble, a lot of (cell)phone and other co.s in Europe paid enormous price tags for 3G licenses.
      After the bubble burst, they found themselves in huge debts, with deadlines to meet and networks to build (as 3G needs it's own infrastructure).

      Enter GPRS, which was supposed to be just a transition phase to 3G, but due to the circumstances was seen as the corporate ass saviour, being cheaper to deploy than the 3G; the net result seems to be that instead of beeing an intermediate step, it's a goal itself, which is less likely to work due to the global economic slowdown, and has good chances of killing 3G also in the process.

      It's hard to predict how this will evolve, but as it seems, their winning business plan for now is "10s of bilions to pay for the G3 licenses, no network and no market".

      • I couldnt agree with you more.

        The only people that would use these "specialised" phones are the kids and the teens that dont really pay they're own phonebills. Doing expensive products that seem silly to everyone else but them is dangerous because the person paying the bill should also be convinced.

        I dont think this economic slowdown will stop the building of a higher-bandwidth global telecommunications network but it will take longer than they anticipated in they're tech-bubble dreams. All in all im not holding my breath or keeping myself from buying a new cell-phone once my old one dies.
        T

        --H

  • Userinterface? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by AdmiralMustapha ( 536603 ) on Thursday November 15, 2001 @03:40PM (#2570769)

    What all these devices lack IMO are really easy-to-handle userinterfaces; operating on a small screen, using even smaller buttons and keys is not my ideal idea of easy of use.
    Heck, i even prefer my good old diary to my palm 5!

    I guess we will have to wait for some years, until we can command those gadgets with our very voices or thinking.

  • 64K colors, 65536 colors, 16-bit. 64000? No siree bob.
    • In this case, K = 1024.

      64*1024 = 65536.

      And last I checked, that was 16-bit.

      Or have I been trolled again???
      • 65K [as stated in submission] -> 65 * 1024 -> 66560

        so therefore

        not 16-bit color palette.
        • Yes, but this depends on whose value of K do you use. For purposes of technical discussions, 1K = 1024. But, and I think it was mentioned somewhere here on /., that PR/advertising typically uses the 1K=1000 valuation.

          I honestly do remember reading something like this recently, and it was either here or The Register. I will attempt to add a link when I find out. Or someone else could do it.

          EFGearman
          --
  • Audiovox Communications [audiovox.com] Corporation Wednesday unveiled a GPS-enabled third-generation (3G) wireless handset that incorporates Bluetooth technology.It includes a Web browser and supports Short Message Service (SMS) messaging.
    The company said it would release the device in conjunction with the Consumer Electronics Show in January. The handset will retail for $299.

  • Strek Trek Tech (Score:2, Interesting)

    by rhekman ( 231312 )
    Is it just me, or are these newer gen handhelds looking more and more like Star Trek Communicators? This one looks a lot like the Mularian communicators from the Enterprise: Civilization episode last night. I guess it's fitting that it runs Linux.

    Trip and Archer with equipment [startrek.com]

    Regards,
    Reid

  • "Me Like-ee" (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Great. Let's ruin another perfectly good story with antiquted racist references. Just the sort of thing to bring people together around the glow of portable electronics.

  • handhelds. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by garcia ( 6573 ) on Thursday November 15, 2001 @03:48PM (#2570813)
    Honestly, I have had a handheld device for almost a year now... I haven't had much use for it other than as a glorified gameboy and an oversided MP3 player.

    Sure it is invaluable as a note taking device in research libraries that don't allow pens and since I don't have a laptop here w/me it is nice (especially that I don't have to lug around 10 lbs)

    Honestly though I don't understand the need for a handheld other than that. It takes me more time to take down quick notes than it would on a piece of paper (in an appt book).

    I love using it for what I use it for but I don't see the need for a $500 piece of paper/gameboy.

    That's just my worthless .02 as a user of one of these devices.
    • Sure it is invaluable as a note taking device in research libraries that don't allow pens

      What?!

      • I know it sound retarted, but it is not that uncommon. If you are doing research using sources like old manuscripts the librarians will not allow you into the room with the manuscripts if you have any type of writing device. It is all to protect irreplaceable documents.

        Hooptie



    • I just recently got the new Samsung I300 SmartPhone [samsungusa.com] which runs the Palm OS. It is sweet!

      It has a nice small form factor (for a Palm Device) and not much larger than your average phone. It has a color screen. Can do voice memos, which is a great feature! I can access the Internet, check email, and use it as an access device to my ISP for my PC using the data cable which is sold separately. It's fantastic!

      I also like the functionality of having my contact list sync'd from my PC and being able to call directly from that. It keeps me organized and reminds me of things I have to do. It's everything I want in a personal communications/organizer device. It's so nice to finally have a Palm device and phone in one small package. Oh, and btw, it looks really cool!

  • they make a left handed version
  • Wow, now I can play Flight Simulator while on the road! Too bad the screen is so small that it really doesn't matter!

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • June 2002? Bah! Save your money for when my vaporware wristwatch phone/game system/microwave/shoe buffer comes out in August.

    A word of caution though: Don't aim it at pets.
  • I can see it now - 'tweens' can moon each other over the phone by sending a picture of their bare ass.
  • telephong?(http://www.alphabet-soup.net/dir6/eleph ant.html)
  • I think it's pretty interesting that a lot of companies are looking at Japan and thinking that the doing the exact same thing in western Europe or the US will result in an equal success.

    What these companies probably have not realized are:
    A) Japanese culture differ alot.
    B) Housing is cramped in Japan and each person does not have as much room as the "average" western person, to store a lot of gadgets
    C) There are fewer computer systems per capita in Japan, due to B.
    D) West is overflowing with home computers.

    Sure, there might be a market for these toys, but at the prices they are offered in the west and the very minor value-add (or fun-add) these toys will probably not be nearly close to the success they have been Asia.

    Purchasing a [enter favorite PDA name] as an entertainment gadget is like having a computer minus good interface, minus memory, minus storage and minus a good and enjoyable display.
    Look at the iPac, it's not very far from an OK gaming rig when it comes to price.
    Which one would you rather play [enter favorite game] on?

    But hey, for $500 you get a 5 minute "wow this was cool" experience before dismissing it to the bottom of a drawer.
  • Bah. Looks great...if you're right handed. The trend of phones (and loads of other peripherals) to be of completely right-handed design is a pain.

    Sure, squeeze in those little ergonomic gimmicks, but not if it's going to render the device unusable to a fair chunk of the population. There's an entire swathe of peripherals - mice, joysticks, phones and so on - that lefties struggle to use. The IBM TransNote [ibm.com] is probably the culmination of that trend.

    There are plenty of really good devices on the market that cater to either handedness. It's not like you have to leave off features, just design a bit more considerately and intelligently. Is that so much to ask?

    Sheesh, this sounds peevish :)

  • agenda (Score:1)

    by CN-1 ( 537170 )
    what does everyone think of that agenda linux pda? i'm thinking about purchasing a pda and at the moment i'm thinking a handspring. i refuse to use a nazi ce machine. does anyone know what the difference between the platinum and neo models are? i went to the handspring official site and compared the two and wondered if there was a difference seeing how they compared exactly the same. are the external colors the only difference?
    • forgot to mention it-cmdrtaco is GODLIKE! seriously, check out his page, that's some funny shit. http://cmdrtaco.net

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