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The
PC Expo 2001/Fanfest:
The PC Expo 2001
was the place to be if you wanted to play with every single PocketPC on
the market. There were stands where you could try them out all over the
showroom. Also amount the numerous exhibitors, Palm had a significant section,
through which I felt as an intruder (I was as a matter of fact noticed,
thanks to my PocketPCpower.net badge)!
I finally had the chance to hold the $1000 EG-800.
This unit just felt great in the palm of my hand! I had to hold myself from
trying the well advertised 3ft drop!
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- Personal Internet
Browser:
One product that really interested me at the Expo was the new iCOM
Personal Internet Brower, from
IIS (Interactive Imaging System, Inc.). This new device features a 206Mhz
Arm, 640x480 12bit VGA, an optical mouse, and two CF slot (type II). It
will be available in both a 16MB and a 32MB of RAM model. I just love it.
It run on WindowsCE (Handheld version) and has just about the size
of a regular PocketPC (I was also told that engineer are working on reducing
the size of the prototype that I saw). The two built-in CF slot allow you
to use a storage card in addition to a wireless LAN card or whatever you
can think about. A digital camera option will also be available. What you
need to realize is that you need to stuck your eye to the little "opening"
in order to visualize the desktop (the visualization is supposed to be similar
to viewing a 21" monitor at 30" from the screen). Browsing is
performed by using the optical mouse placed below the display opening.
Also included are the major PIM available on PPCs. This is just a great
unit. Nevertheless, I found out that it will be commercialized for about
$995.00. I found this price a little too expensive considering that this
unit can't really replace a PPC nor a Handheld, mostly because of the lack
or a true input method. You need to use the virtual keyboard, and the optical
mouse in order to enter text which might seem a little too time consuming.
On the other hand, for business officials that need a portable solution
for presentations, this unit seem to be offering great features. You can
just upload you presentation on a CF card, bring you VGA card and even review
your presentation before firing it up on a full display! As far as battery
life, it has been announced to be 12 hours, but the user will have the option
to interchange the battery and this without loosing precious data, thanks
to the onboard safety battery (you can't run the device with only this battery!).
Finally a rugged version will also be available.
Ummm, I'd love to get one of these!! Maybe a little cheaper! Ahhh, I'm still
only a college student :).
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- Conduits:
Conduits
Technology Inc. was also present on the floor with their great demo
of the new Pocket Slide! They had an iPAQ hooked up to a 17" monitor
and from what I saw, the application was running flawlessly!
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- URThere:
Another great participant was URthere,
manufacture of the @migo. I
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- Storage
Cards:
Scandisk
was present but I didn't see Pretec.
It would have been nice, especially with the newly annouced 612MB CF card.
That one should be a pretty nice competitor to the IBM Microdrive even with
a price tag most likely higher!
Also Microtech
was present. They offer a variety of card readers, ranging from the little
"key chain" reader to the faster FireWire unit.
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- Casio:
Casio had
a pretty impressive representation at the PC Expo. They were introducing
their new BE-300 Pocket Manager. This unit features a 166Mhz processor (280
MIPS), and many of the features that are already bundled with most PPCs
(such as MP3 player, Calendar, Task...). Never the less this unit is not
a PocketPC. It does run on WindowCE 3.0 but that's pretty much it! The nice
little PDA also has a CF slot, and will be sold for a very competitive price
of $299. For that price you will get a really cheap display that has the
tendency of becoming difficult to read when the device is turned a certain
way (very similar to an old laptop with DSCN display). I felt like I was
using a Palm but running on WindowCE. One nice thing about it is that it
does come with Transcriber so that you can use the all screen to write.
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- Networking!
Networking was on everyone's mind at the Expo. From huge server
stations taking up a few racks to wireless applications for mobile users.
Among the participants, Sierra
Wireless presented several options, ranging from CDPD to CDMA PCMCIA
card. Also they announced the release of a CDMA/1XRTT card this fall, as
well as EDGE, GPRS and UMTS (3G) card that will be supporting speed up to
384Kbps and faster.
Socket was also present
with their now well-known cell phone cards (I also won one of these at the
Fanfest :)!!!). After talking to one of the representative, I was told that
the Bluetooth cards will be coming out within the next 60 days!!! I can't
wait.
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- Electric Fuel:
Electric Fuel®
was also there, and I found out more about their product at the Fanfest.
They sell a battery pack that works nicely through an oxidation process
that allows you to recharge your PPC (iPAQ, Casio, HP... and more devices
such as digital cameras...) up to 3-4 times. Once the battery is drained
you could simply replace it, and keep the link cable. The initial pack (that
includes the cable and one battery) cost about $19.95 and each additional
battery is $9.95. A little more expensive than your own home made charger
but these units are tiny, and look great!!!!
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- Toshiba, where
are you?
Unfortunately the new Toshiba PocketPC was absent from the PCExpo
theme! One thing that I can add to the previous article on this new PPC
is that it will feature a 129Mhz MIPS processor with MPEG4 hardware supported
encoding/decoding, which seems to be a little lethargic but with MPEG4 support
should provide good performances.
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- Let's not forget
the Fanfest!
The Fanfest was a blast for all PPC users! This event was perfectly
organized, and featured many enthusiasts eager to learn more about their
new device!
Just in case you did stop by, I was upstairs with the NYCDAUG.
Here is Dale Coffin and myself!
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And yes, I gotta
get a tan!
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