As we approach the official release of the Palm-Size PCs carrying Windows CE 2.0, we had a chance to test the Freestyle made by Everex. Although you are reading this in late June, the only units available for us to test are pre-release units. Everex indicated that the unit we received reflected the final hardware and almost final software. Case detail was close to final but showed the markings of a well-worn handmade unit.

The unit we tested contained 8MB of RAM, rather than the 4MBs in the Casio. Opening the backup battery door revealed ROMs labeled 1.00 3/29. Another chip on the ROM carrier was marked “B”. Opening up the Control Panel under Settings listed the Win CE revision as Version 2.0 (Build 8037-8040).

The case design is your basic rectangle with a few rounded edges. If you’ve seen the “typical” design illustrated on Microsoft’s specification page, then you’ve seen the Freestyle. The front is adorned with four direct access buttons to the major CE applications (Tasks, Contacts, Note Taker, and Calendar) in a diamond pattern. A tap of any of these buttons wakes up the system and jumps to the associated application. While this is a great feature it also introduced some troublesome behavior in our beta sample, but more on that later. The recorder’s microphone is also visible, on the top right corner of the case, adjacent to the alarm LED.

Under my thumb

The sides of the case are smooth and allow easy access to the thumb controls, which make the system so easy to use with one hand. The buttons sit almost flush with the surfaces and we found it difficult, even over several days, to easily discriminate between them just by feel. We kept looking at the unit to ensure our fingers were properly placed to perform some functions.

On the right side, from top to bottom, are the Escape, Action, and Power buttons. The power button wakes the unit and brings you back to the last thing you were doing. A left-hand mounted backlight button independently turns on and off the display backlight. Also on the left is a curiously operated contrast button, which cycles the display contrast up and down the range with repeated presses. On the top left is the recorder button, which wakes the unit up and runs the voice recorder application. Just below it is a 1/8 inch jack for an phone/mic accessory.

The top mounted pen has a contoured shape, which is slightly flattened. As a result, it only fits in the silo one of two ways and a small tab on its end clicks home only one way. A small lip is provided to get a fingernail under the pen to lift it out of its click stop position.

Connectivity

At the bottom of the system is an opening for the serial cable Everex included with the system. Our tests using Windows CE 2.0 services showed that the system worked well. Our laptop host instantly recognized the new CE device and allowed us to establish a partnership, syncing at 115K. After making some adjustments under Settings, we were able to re-sync via the top mounted infrared port, again with no difficulty.

The top mounted slot is designed to accept the CompactFlash standard memory cards and had no trouble recognizing several cards we tested. The manufacturers tell us that a new range of cards will soon be available to fill this slot with all sorts of new functionality, such as a CompactFlash sized pager card.

The Freestyle Executive package will include an 8MB unit and a dock with a built in 33.6K modem. The decision to place the unit inside the dock is no doubt based on the fact that both AC and phone line connections will anchor the unit to a desktop by necessity.

Display

The Everex display follows the Palm-size PC standard of 240 x 320 pixels. The backlight on the display is green in color, like the HP 320LX, although not as bright. The left-mounted button allows independent control of the backlight from the power switch. As with the Casio, the Settings allow for flexible control of the backlight under various conditions.

Power

Everex chose to power the Freestyle with AAA batteries to keep the profile in PalmPilot territory. Like the Casio, the Everex beta seems to burn batteries pretty quickly. After what seemed like less than 10 hours of use, we got the dreaded battery low warning. A quick check of the depleted batteries showed their combined voltage had dropped to 2.68 volts, down from the starting level of just over 3.1 volts. According to Everex’s web site, the units will be delivered with rechargeable batteries so alkalines will only be needed as backup.

The standard CR2032 Lithium backup battery is accessible via a large door on the rear of the system. The door also allows access to the system’s ROM/RAM carrier. We experienced no need to change out the backup battery even after our 4th set of AAAs.
The Freestyle does include a plug for an external AC supply to directly power the system. Our beta came with the supply but we have to admit that part of the fun of these devices is to operate them autonomously, so we didn’t use it much.

A couple of things to fix

When we noted that the front mounted buttons woke the unit up with a single touch, we were suspicious that an accidental push would needlessly turn the unit on. The provided vinyl case had a very ridged screen protector built into it and prevented most, but not all, of our attempts to accidentally turn the system on. In any event, leaving the unit out of its case makes it susceptible to wanted startup. With the proper low setting, under auto turnoff options, the risk is minimized.

It was during our testing that we had the misfortune to hit two of the top mounted instant application buttons at the same time. Our unit politely displayed the HTC Corporate symbol (a kangaroo). We thought this was cute until we noticed that the system was locked up. Two presses of the power button later, we were told that the system contained Driver Rev KAN 1.00 and 8MB of memory. Sure enough, memory had dumped and we were asked to initialize the system as if it were new.

After repeated tries, it was clear that the pressing of any two of the four application buttons would dump the system. We hope that this function is unique to the beta and is not included in the shipping hardware. Such an easy sequence to purge the system’s memory is dangerous in such a consumer oriented device.

Configurations

Everex is offering three versions of the Freestyle. The Associate package contains a 4MB Freestyle and serial cable for $330 with a special rebate offer. The Manager is an 8MB system with Everex’s folding dock for $430. The top of the line Executive includes the modem-enabled dock with a built in set of AA batteries for $500.

Overall impressions

Our overall reaction to this newest addition to the Palm-Size PC family is cautious optimism. The 8MB offering will make it a price point leader among the first units shipped. We hope that before it ships the control buttons grow some bumps to help us locate them with one hand. We also hope that Everex addresses the memory reset key sequence before the floodgates open on its help desk switchboard.

-Dominic Giangrasso

Everex <www.freestyle.everex.com>