Mark Haury wrote:
> Matt Emson wrote:
>   
>> Fernando Cassia wrote:
>>     
>>> Which shows  "newer" is not always "better"... anyone remembers the
>>> good old PalmPilot cradles?
>>>
>>> Not only were those rock-solid, but also it  was impossible to break
>>> any connectors by pulling hard or by tripping on wires.... it'd just
>>> unplug itself without any damage.
>>>       
>> Um... showing my age here, but I almost killed myself by tripping over a 
>> Palm Pilot Pro serial cable... it broke. The serial cables were designed 
>> to be screwed in to the serial port. In the fight between my foot and 
>> the cable, the serial connector sheared off. Luckily, the device flew 
>> out of the cradle and landed on the carpet face up, else that would have 
>> been toast too. The serial cradles also didn't charge the device, though 
>> the Palm Pilot Pro use 2 x AAA batteries, so it wasn't hard to keep it 
>> running :-) Them was the days!!
>>
>> M
>>     
>
> I think you're missing the point. The *PC* end is a different story. The 
> *Palm* 
> end doesn't screw in to anything in the handheld.
>   
Well, no. Clearly, they are not "indestructible". I've also seen the 
other end come out... it was only held in by a zip-tie, at least on the 
Palm Pilot Pro model.

> I have a Handspring Visor Deluxe that I still use. In fact, I'm only now 
> (after 
> more than a year of IT ownership) getting  my contacts straightened out in my 
> N800 so I can stop carrying the Visor with me. (And even then I'm going to 
> have 
> issues with exporting the data elsewhere.) 
>   

I had one of those! A blue one. Nice bit of kit at the time, crippled by 
the odd version of PalmOS they used. Not quite 3.0, but also not 3.3.

> The Visor cradle doesn't have 
> anything that connects to the Visor in such a way that anything can break in 
> the 
> handheld. The plain cable is different, but even that will break the catches 
> on 
> the cable rather than anything on the device.
>   
I'm trying to remember it there was any damage to the visor cradle that 
I owned... I think the usual wear on the wire coating... The cradle was 
sturdier than the Palm ones I had. I think it was possible to damage the 
connector with downward force - if you sat on the device in the cradle 
for example.

> The point is that cables are relatively cheap and *extremely* easy to 
> replace. 
>   

A PC component and a closed consumer device is hardly an analogue.

> Even the serial port connector on your PC can be replaced a lot easier than 
> the 
> power jack in your IT. All connector cables for portable and handheld devices 
> should be designed with that as a top priority.
>   

Nokia have been using that exact connector on their phones for a long 
time. My wife recently got a Nokia slider phone (5600? something like 
that) and the PSU has a different part number, but otherwise looks 
identical to my N800 one.

Still, with the GSM consortium announcing common Euro plugs by 2012 (or 
so), we'll all be happy I guess.

M
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