Well Sony’s finally released the new T iteration. At the core it’s a T250P/L with integrated EDGE GPRS in the flip. The article seems to imply a data plan is required, but it may just mean Cingular is the only supported carrier at this time. The most interesting thing about the T350P/L is that at moment it’s not available in Japan , which is peculiar since not only does Japan usually gets the new tech first, but the Ts are all manufacturered there. Discuss.
It’s not peculiar at all. Japan doesn’t use GSM or GPRS. The Japanese prefer their i-Mode phones to connect to the Internet over computers anyway.
The “partnering with Cingular” bit means that it will be sold at Cingular stores (along with Best Buy) alongside the iPaqs and Treos. It’s a good bet the device is Sim-locked to Cingular SIM cards too.
[quote author=“Drachen”]It’s not peculiar at all. Japan doesn’t use GSM or GPRS. The Japanese prefer their i-Mode phones to connect to the Internet over computers anyway.
Hm, that’s true. I would have expected atleast some kind of analogous i-mode T. Sure it might be redundant when they already tether their cellphones, but Japan is a nation with an electronics addiction. They’ll probably get the new T replacement first anyways.
[quote author=“Archival”]Yup.. keep it coming (technology).. Can’t wait for a T series or similar from Sony that has DUAL CORE processor :drool:
Maybe next year I’ll buy a T.. 8)
Yeah, that’s what I’m basically waiting for…dual core ultra low voltage laptops. I’m not too concerned about the clock speeds either. I can get most of my work done already so I’m not necessarily hurting for speed. I would even take a dual core pentium m at 1GHz if it will give me longer battery life.
I find it lame that despite all these advances in technology, brand new laptops being announced still only get 2.5 hours of battery life as standard.
[quote author=“gr00vy0ne”]Yeah, that’s what I’m basically waiting for…dual core ultra low voltage laptops. I’m not too concerned about the clock speeds either. I can get most of my work done already so I’m not necessarily hurting for speed. I would even take a dual core pentium m at 1GHz if it will give me longer battery life.
I find it lame that despite all these advances in technology, brand new laptops being announced still only get 2.5 hours of battery life as standard.
A 1 GHz dual-core chip would be a frequency upgrade for me (TR1). Call me cynical, but I’m not really convinced that dual-core is the right way to go. For dual-core to be of much use, you have to use threads which tend to be more complex to write than single-threaded apps. That and you get bugs that aren’t obvious due to concurrency, deadlocks, synchronization and such. There are enough serious bugs in software and drivers without these added issues. If you have a useful multi-threaded app or tend to run multiple CPU-intensive tasks simultaneously, dual-core rules. Most people use computers for email, browsing, music and word processing, in which case, your primary CPU core will be waiting for commands to process, much less your other core. The machine I’m sitting at is currently at 5% utilization playing MP3s and surfing… er… programming (yeah, that’s it, programming). My dinky 900 MHz CPU handles that just fine.
If you ask me, the real solution to the laptop power problem will have to be on the battery end.
Yeah, that’s true. I guess my point was that since Intel is going buckwild with dual cores seemingly across the entire product lines, I would prefer if they made some ULV versions of the “slower” cores.
Seriously, the 900MHz in my TR is more than enough speed. I’m even “underclocking” my S in most cases. It serves a few pretty cool purposes. First of all, it keeps the fan from barely spinning up and the system is very quiet. Secondly, I’ve noticed my battery life is a bit better as a result of the slower frequency. Of course, when I need to get serious work done, I let the CPU go all out but for everyday stuff it’s clocked down to 1.2GHz.
For most users, the biggest advantage of the dual core processors is that it doubles as a coffee warmer. That’s especially true for the T series, with their limited grahics capability and slow hard drive. The T is a great machine but hey, face it - we can’t have everything.
:?: Anybody care to upload the SmartWi software included on this machine when (if) it becomes available? Or provide a download link somewhere? I want to try and hack this for use with my GC83 PC card.
[quote author=“Anonymous”]How quick is EDGE GPRS? Is it faster than the EVDO Verizon PC5220 BroadbandAccess card that I have? I usually get a little over 1 Mbps using this speedometer link:
EDGE’s theoretical max may be 200 kb/s, but the actual throughput has been around 75-90 kb/s. EV-DO is at max 3 megabits, I was getting about 60-75 Kb/s downloading which puts it probably ~800-900 kb/s.
This doesn’t make sense to me because putting EDGE on a cutting edge ultraportable is like putting a tape player in a brand new BMW. EV-DO is already out, and Cingular themselves are releasing HSDPA, their own version of a high-speed network.
GPRS is slow and antiquated technology. And if you think it’s cheaper because it’s slower, it’s not. Cingular’s unlimited EDGE data plan is $80/month. Verizon’s unlimited EV-DO plan is also $80/month.
I still can’t believe these companies are charging so much for these types of connections. It needs to be closer to half the price. I might subscribe if it was closer to $40-50/month…and maybe another $5-10 off that if you’re already a phone service customer.
[quote author=“gr00vy0ne”]I still can’t believe these companies are charging so much for these types of connections. It needs to be closer to half the price. I might subscribe if it was closer to $40-50/month…and maybe another $5-10 off that if you’re already a phone service customer.
If T-mobile was the provider that might have been the case. Then again, any potential purchaser of cutting edge Sony ultraportable notebooks probably aren’t prioritizing budget anyways.
[quote author=“superchicken”]This doesn’t make sense to me because putting EDGE on a cutting edge ultraportable is like putting a tape player in a brand new BMW. EV-DO is already out, and Cingular themselves are releasing HSDPA, their own version of a high-speed network.
It makes sense if you’ve done a deal with Cingular. EV-DO isn’t compatible with GSM and Cingular’s UTMS network is in the larval stage. Sell what you’ve got.
[quote author=“gr00vy0ne”]I still can’t believe these companies are charging so much for these types of connections. It needs to be closer to half the price. I might subscribe if it was closer to $40-50/month…and maybe another $5-10 off that if you’re already a phone service customer.
T-Mobile charges me $20 for unlimited data with a voice plan, $30 without. Unfortunately, with T-Mo you’re stuck in GPRS land. If Cingular had as good a deal on data, I’d have jumped a long time ago. I don’t want to deal with no data at all, but I don’t use it enough to justify $80/mo.
