Pen Computing 27 - April 1999 -- WalkAbout Computers of Singer Island, Florida, is one of the success stories in
the pen technology field. The closely-held, private designer and manufacturer of
environmentally-rugged field computing solutions has been marching to the beat of
its own drummer ever since day one, eschewing hoopla and fanfare in favor of
single-minded dedication to their core product and their target market. The
product is the rugged Hammerhead pen computer and the target market is the gas
and electric utility industry. Over the past several years, WalkAbout has quietly
deployed some 12,000 Hammerheads and grown into a well-respected (and profitable)
business with annual sales in the $20-30 million range. Frankly, we're not
surprised at the Hammerhead's success. It is one of those simple, purposeful
products that does the job just right.
On the outside, the Hammerhead P233 looks
identical to the Hammerhead 586 we reviewed in our February 1996 issue. There
simply wasn't a need to change a design thatÕs hard to be improved upon. Unlike
most rugged computers that are heavy and bulky, the Hammerhead has a handy
footprint of 11 x 7.75 inches and is just 1.5 inches thick. It is a pen tablet in
the traditional sense, a thin slate without any handles or other protrusions. The
whole computer weighs just over four pounds, light enough to be carried around
all day, though it was initially designed to be used in vehicles. The housing is
machined from a single block of aircraft grade aluminum. It is sealed airtight
and totally dust proof. The housing is finished in grippy, sandstone like
dark-gray. The front bezel is a matte silvery aluminum.
Masterful design
The outside of the unit is smooth and free of anything that
could cause trouble. There are no doors or latches or other things that can break
off. With the exception of the small infrared window in the rear of the unit,
there isn't a single piece of plastic in sight. And don't look for the usual
battery of ports and connectors that can leak or short out. All peripheral
connectivity is provided through a port replicator that cleverly screws onto the
sole expansion connector in the rear of the unit. The replicator has three
portsÑparallel, serial, and video--and the AC/DC jack, and doubles as a deskstand.
There's a spare cutout for additional functionality. The only movable port on the
outside of the unit is the recessed on/off switch. Unlike previous Hammerheads,
the P233 has two sealed Type II PC Card slots. A word of caution here: unlike
most PC Card compartments, the Hammerhead's doesn't provide a push button to
eject the card. Make sure your card has a strap attached to it, or you may have a
hard time getting it back out. The 7.2 Volt GP Batteries Nickel Metal Hydride
sits in a recessed, sealed department and the cover is held in place with a
Philips screw. A group of five LEDs indicates remaining battery charge.
What's changed and what hasn't
While Hammerheads were always spritely performers,
the P233 is by far the fastest and most powerful computer WalkAbout has ever
produced. It has a 233MHz Intel Pentium processor with a 1.8Volt core for low
power consumption, 32 to 64MB of RAM, and a 3.2GB shock-mounted Ultra ATA hard
drive (a 6.4GB drive is also available). Unchanged is the 9.5-inch transflective
monochrome VGA screen that can be read in direct sunlight while still providing
adequate, albeit not great, brightness and contrast indoors. A photo sensor
adjusts, or turns off, the backlight. The screen is protected by a chemically
strengthened anti-glare glass plate. The Hammerhead uses a proximity-sensing
electromagnetic Wacom digitizer using a battery-less inductive pen. Digitizer
resolution is in excess of 1000 dots per inch. Like everyone else, WalkAbout is
investigating indoor/outdoor readable color screens but hasn't settled on a
display technology yet. The aluminum case, incidentally, forms a very effective
heat sink. The P233 hardly warms up at all, and actually runs cooler than its 586
predecessor. Like the computer itself, the Hammerhead's sleek foam carry case
didn't need change. It remains one of the most functional (and attractive) cases
ever made, adding a minimum of bulk while providing extra protection and a place
to store the pen (which can, but doesn't have to, be tethered).
Docks galore
Since many Hammerheads are used in vehicles, WalkAbout spent a lot
of time designing and perfecting a unibody docking mechanism called the
Hammerdock. Like the Hammerhead computer, the dockÑmade of milled aluminum and
tempered steelÑis extremely sturdy. The tablet is easily and securely seated in
the dock, and a key lock makes unwanted removal virtually impossible. The dock
can be tilted and swiveled so that it can be adjusted just right. It also
contains a keyboard tray. A breakout box on a six-foot cable offers three RS232
ports, an enhanced parallel port, and a PS/2-style connector. Since many of
WalkAbout's customers require wireless functionality, the company offers a
variety of wireless radio options. They may either occupy one of the internal PC
Card slots or be completely integrated into the unit. To accommodate the antenna,
WalkAbout offers a clever PC Card slot cover that contains an antenna screw-mount
and an external RJ-11 jack.
There are few, if any, other computers that feel as
rock-solid as the Hammerhead, and it's easy to see why an increasing number of
utility companies select this unit for their field forces. We didn't test whether
it was really submersible to six inches for five minutes, but we're reasonably
sure it is. In a global economy where an increasing number of electronics
products are designed in one place, built in another, and sold in a third,
companies such as WalkAbout that do their own electrical, mechanical, and
software R&D and engineering; their own manufacturing; and their own marketing
are somewhat of an anomaly. Yet it's an approach that seems to work exceedingly
well for the Florida company and its customers. The Hammerhead, unchanged in
appearance, remains an excellent choice for utility industry applications. The
P233 is much faster than older units and technologically up-to-date, except for
the video subsystem where we hope to see an indoor-outdoor color screen option
sometime in the near future. The two internal PC Card slots offer additional
expansion functionality.
