I saw the TAPWAVE ZODIAC at CompUSA last night

[Adrian M]

First time I've seen one of these units in person. They had the Demo unit (which was unfortunately in a frozen/crashed state...it just sat there at the Palm OS logo screen. ) out for all to see and touch, as well as two games for sale (Spy Hunter and THPS4) along with some stylus packs and charging cradles.

 

My impressions:

Firstly, it's a cool little unit from a hardware perspective. In regards to shape and size, it's black and well made and when holding it, it almost reminded me of holding one of the newer Zire PDA's horizontally. I'm not particularly crazy about the analog thumbstick as the main controller though. The buttons themselves had a nice feel to them, but the analog stick was mighty loose. The screen is rather large, but I could not get a good idea as to the clarity and quality of the LCD as it was stuck on the Palm OS screen. Meh.

There were no price signs up, so it's unknown as to how much CompUSA is selling these for.

 

As a PDA, this may be a good choice for a handheld since it has full PALM OS compatibilty built in. From a games standpoint, there are only 2 games for sale at retail (they're sold in DVD style cases) and I have no clue as to what else is out there or planned as news regarding the Zodiac is very sparse as of late. Yes, one could argue that the vast libary of PALM OS games gives a potential customer plenty of games to choose from, but the fact is, none of these are optimized for the Zodiac as Spy Hunter and THPS4 are.

 

I shall keep my eye out on the Zodiac the next time I'm at a CompUSA to get some more in depth impressions. I asked the sales clerks to reset the Zodiac that was on display last night, but sadly they did not know how to (I tried myself, but it didn't respond to any of my attempts...I looked for one of those reset holes that most Palm OS PDA's have and did not see one...perhaps it was obscured by the large mounting hardware?).

[Jasoco]

I just saw an ad for the Zodiac in the new issue of GI and well, normally, I wouldn't care.. but I saw it.. DOOM II! Fucking hell ass damn! I gotta look into it more! At the resolution the Zodiac has, I'd love to have that. And I wonder what Duke is like. I really want to try this. Also, it means even if I don't buy a Zodiac, I still have to pick up a copy of DOOM II for my collection of Console DOOM's.

[Jasoco]

Wait.. according to the site, DOOM II is only downloadable. WTF? No box? Fuck that! I don't want a Phantom to play games. I don't want a Zodiac to play games. I want physical games I can hold. Dammit. Unless I can walk into CompUSA (If I knew where one was.) and pick up a boxed copy, fuck it.

[spongebue]

The Zodiacs are $300 for the model with less RAM (32mb IIRC) and $400 for one with more, I believe. Or maybe it was $200 and $300

[msaeger]

That's pretty funny I just happened to go to comphell last night and saw one too. It was running some demo movie kind of thing and I couldn't figure out how to exit it so I could actually try it out.

[SteveW]

I saw one at a CompUSA a week and a half ago, and it looked pretty nice. I believe that they are $199 and $299, depending on their memory.

 

I was considering getting one, just out of love of odd videogame hardware, but I have changed my mind. I have no real use for a PDA, and it doesn't have a cell phone attachment so I could access the internet on it. I've decided to get the N-Gage QD when it comes out on July 27th. The phone is nice, but the people who use the N-Gage aren't. All the web forums for the N-Gage are filled with the same things, nothing but posts like "can any1 pm me a cracked copy of spiderman 2?" and such. These guys love their N-Gages, but the idiots won't buy any software for it, they'd rather just pirate it. So I guess I won't be using the Bluetooth networking feature with another N-Gage user, since I have no interest in meeting any of them.

[eric_ruck]

The download for Doom 2 is not like Phantom. Basically you download the whole thing once and its yours forever. You don't have to connect online to play or anything.

 

I have a Zodiac 2 and I love it except...

 

1) Really short battery life

2) Somewhat odd and inconvenient cables

3) I think their rendition of the standard Palm apps could use a little more tweaking.

 

Also I sort of got used to the keyboards on the other PDA's I've used, and I kinda like the bash shell on my Zaurus.

 

Eric

[Adrian M]

I saw one at a CompUSA a week and a half ago, and it looked pretty nice. I believe that they are $199 and $299, depending on their memory.  

 

I was considering getting one, just out of love of odd videogame hardware, but I have changed my mind. I have no real use for a PDA, and it doesn't have a cell phone attachment so I could access the internet on it. I've decided to get the N-Gage QD when it comes out on July 27th. The phone is nice, but the people who use the N-Gage aren't. All the web forums for the N-Gage are filled with the same things, nothing but posts like "can any1 pm me a cracked copy of spiderman 2?" and such. These guys love their N-Gages, but the idiots won't buy any software for it, they'd rather just pirate it. So I guess I won't be using the Bluetooth networking feature with another N-Gage user, since I have no interest in meeting any of them.

 

That's the unfortunate downside to gaming today...widespread piracy and children who like to accumulate games rather than play them. When my NGAGE QD comes in on July 27, rest assured that I will be purchasing legit copies of all the games, as I always do.

[Jasoco]

The download for Doom 2 is not like Phantom.  Basically you download the whole thing once and its yours forever.  You don't have to connect online to play or anything.

Still doesn't matter. I want a physical product or I will not even consider the system.

 

A) When the console becomes unsupported, I want to take solice in the fact that I can always reinstall it.

B) I WANT THE PRETTY PACKAGING! I AM A DOOM COLLECTOR! I NEED SOMETHING TO PUT ON MY SHELF!

 

Damn you, Zodiac.

[Adrian M]

The download for Doom 2 is not like Phantom.  Basically you download the whole thing once and its yours forever.  You don't have to connect online to play or anything.

Still doesn't matter. I want a physical product or I will not even consider the system.

 

A) When the console becomes unsupported, I want to take solice in the fact that I can always reinstall it.

B) I WANT THE PRETTY PACKAGING! I AM A DOOM COLLECTOR! I NEED SOMETHING TO PUT ON MY SHELF!

 

Damn you, Zodiac.

 

Actually, I was at CompUSA again last night and saw the Zodiac running a non-interactive demo. I also noticed that the Tapwave DOOM II does indeed come packaged in one of those DVD style cases and retails for $19.99.

Looks like you have another version to add to your collection....

[Jasoco]

Actually, I was at CompUSA again last night and saw the Zodiac running a non-interactive demo.  I also noticed that the Tapwave DOOM II does indeed come packaged in one of those DVD style cases and retails for $19.99.  

Looks like you have another version to add to your collection....

If you are serious, I am very happy. I wish I knew where a CompUSA was besides NYC and Philly. And I ain't drivin' to either of those.

[Adrian M]

Actually, I was at CompUSA again last night and saw the Zodiac running a non-interactive demo.  I also noticed that the Tapwave DOOM II does indeed come packaged in one of those DVD style cases and retails for $19.99.  

Looks like you have another version to add to your collection....

If you are serious, I am very happy. I wish I knew where a CompUSA was besides NYC and Philly. And I ain't drivin' to either of those.

 

Here it is:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_in...3873&pfp=SEARCH

 

They don't show an actual picture of the packaging, but I can assure you that I have seen it for myself.