"Tapwave Zodiac":The competition goes stronger...

And by the way. I believe the specs talk by themselves

Hardware Specifications

Memory: Zodiac1 = 32MB*
Zodiac2 = 128MB*
* 12MB reserved for system use.

Processor:
Motorola� i.MX1� ARM9 processor (200 MHz)

Graphics
Accelerator:

ATI� Imageon� W4200 graphics accelerator (with 8MB dedicated SDRAM).

Display:
3.8 inch transflective display
480 x 320 (half VGA), 16-bit color backlit display (65,536 colors)
Portrait and landscape display capabilities
Digitizer for enhanced interactive game play, navigation and text input.

Sound:
Yamaha� audio component and stereo speakers
Standard 3.5mm stereo headphone plug
Earbud-style headphones included
Support for select third-party portable speakers

Vibration:
Supports silent notification and interactive game play.

Controls:
Variable pressure analog controller (joystick)
2 triggers, 4 programmable action buttons, 1 special function button,
1 home button, 1 power button, and 1 Bluetooth button.

Expandability:
Dual expansion slots for MultiMediaCards, Secure Digital (SD) cards
and SDIO cards, including digital cameras and more.*
Zodiac Connector for additional peripherals.
* Slot #1: supports MultiMediaCards, Secure Digital Cards (SD).
Slot #2: supports MultiMediaCards, Secure Digital Cards (SD), and
SDIO cards.

Wireless
Connectivity:

Built-in Bluetooth radio with dedicated activation button.
Ideal for multiplayer wireless gaming, sharing information and connectivity to other compatible Bluetooth enabled devices.

PC Desktop
Connectivity:

USB Cable
USB Cradle (sold separately)

Cover:
Protective Flip Cover
Wrist Strap:
Convenient strap

Battery:
High-capacity Rechargeable Lithium Batteries � 1540 mAh

Power Supply:
AC Adapter / Battery Charger (120 volt AC, 60 Hz)
International connectivity kit (sold separately)

Size/Weight
5.6� (143mm) x 3.1� (79mm) x .55� (14mm) / 6.3 ounces

Color
Zodiac1 - Slate Gray
Zodiac2 - Charcoal Gray

Software Specifications

Operating System: Tapwave enhanced Palm OS 5.2T

Writing Software:
Graffiti 2

Included Software:

Games:
Stunt Car Extreme, Acid Solitaire

Media:
Music: Tapwave MP3 player
Photos: Tapwave JPEG Photo Viewer

Video Playback:
Kinoma Player

Video Creation:
Kinoma Producer (Quickly and easily converts AVI, QuickTime, MPEG1, MPEG4 files for use on the Zodiac entertainment console).*
*QuickTime software required to use Kinoma Producer on PC

eBook reader:
PalmReader

Organizer:
Address Book, Date Book, To Do List, Memo Pad

Other Stuff:
Alarm Clock (Tapwave Alarm Clock with integrated stopwatch & MP3 music feature),
Wireless-based chat & shared whiteboard (PhatPad by Trumpetsoft)
Graphing Calculator (powerOne by Infinity SoftWorks)
Microsoft� Word�-compatible Word Processor (WordSmith by Blue Nomad)

Connectivity:
Web Browser and SMS client for use with compatible Bluetooth enabled phones (bonus software on CD).

Can you call home with this device? I think that N-gage is a different story!

Zodiac will flop even harder than N-Gage. It doesnt have the Nokia brandname and advertising machine behind it.

[quote="MaleBuffy"]Can you call home with this device? I think that N-gage is a different story![/quote]

I also made the same thoughts but that's not the point.

From the one side we have a phone. A smartphone with Symbian and Nokia's Series 60 UI. But even that way there are better phones than this on the same group (Nokia 3650), right now and many more to come (Samsung 700 and siemens sx1) very soon with quite the same specs. Yes N-Gage can play MP3 and has a radio but so many other phones do, one of them on the same category (SX1), others on the same brand (5510,3300).
But on the other side yes it is a portable gaming machine just like a Game Boy, even though Nokia first denied that N-Gage is aimed for the same group of people that owns a Game boy,they are becoming competitors not to mention that the flames of war have already begun...
So the think that really matters is games and unfortunately Nokia is way back in this...
Surely Nokia won't loose money from the N-Gage (after all the hardware used is quite outdated, isn't it). But what about the companies that are going to release games for it? I'm quite soor many of them will abandon the N-Gage.

Zodiac will flop even harder than N-Gage. It doesnt have the Nokia brandname and advertising machine behind it.

As you said this may become reality, but all depends on the Marketing side. I am not saying that Zodiac will be a failure but also not the opposite. Besides I am quite sure that it will not become an instant success but maybe after some years it may have some small success,maybe.

Just see some other companies with no fame like aMax (Napa Mp3 products), that became famous with their inovative products (copied afterwards by bigger companies). But even if it fails cause of the brandname,so N-Gage will do. Sony's PSP is coming soon and Nintendo has also sth on schedule...

I am not against N-Gage. To say the truth I am really thinking of buying it (if the price will fall). But there are so many mistakes made by Nokia that makes N-Gage look like an Alpha, Beta , concept or whatever... product.
Just like making experiments with us and the worst with game software companies. N-Gage also reminds me of other products like the portable Neo Geo,Sega's Game Gear, Atari Lynx... All failures (maybe game gear was not so big but it was). Also remember Sega's Dreamcast story. A powerful system but really sabotaged by piracy and 3rd party software companies(because they din't make enough money from it). But the strong part of dreamcast is the same with N-Gage, freeware software (emulators mp3 and video players,games). And so is for Zodiac.

PS: If only zodiac had Symbian instead of Palm...

Having now held and played both an Nokia N-Gage and a Tapwave Zodiac I can say that the Zodiac is a much better machine (stero sound, 2x SD slots, 14 hour battery life on PDA functions, around 10 hours on gaming, similar price ($299)... but it feels gorgeous, looks the business and if life was fair it would sell as well as the N-Gage...

...they'll be a lovely nice market machine (like the GP32) and the N-Gage will become either the Lynx or the GameAndWatch of the phone world.

Does the Zodiac have full Palm OS functionality or is it cut down. Because if it does have full Palm OS then it's a no brainer choice for me.

Yeah, the two memory card slots sounds great. Too bad Zodiac isnt a phone. N-Gage with that kind of display would be sooo awesome.

It's not just the 2 memory cards, although it's a big plus. It's the palm OS. It is currently much better developed then Symbian. Also with such a device the need for a smart phone is not that great. You have the Zodiac and a phone like 8910i or the 6310i that have Bluetooth and there is your mobile browsing without taking the phone out of your poket. Indeed genious.

Originally posted by Kirill
Does the Zodiac have full Palm OS functionality or is it cut down. Because if it does have full Palm OS then it's a no brainer choice for me.

Yes it has full PalmOS functionallity, and is backward compatible with existing Palm OS apps and data. Okay the interface is a bit different (it's a GAMES machine running Palm OS, not PALM OS running games).

The Zodiac is no more says their web site (http://www.tapwave.com/): "We are sorry to inform you that the Zodiac business was discontinued and service and support are no longer available as of July 25th 2005."