August 2006

Full review: ViewSonic V38r rugged Pocket PC
RuggedPCReview.com takes a very detailed look at ViewSonic's V38r Enterprise Digital Assistant. The V38r is a rugged Pocket PC available either with Windows Mobile or CE .NET. It is a fully ruggedized, IP54-sealed handheld with a 4-foot drop spec suitable for use in demanding environmental conditions. Integrated 802.11b/g, a versatile 1-D imager, superb WiFi performance, and a 1.3 megapixel CMOS digital camera add to the appeal of this economical and quite compact mobile computer. Also interesting is an extended battery that gives the unit full-shift battery life. [See our full review of the ViewSonic V38r.] -- Posted Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Can Linux save the Palm OS?
News.com today ran an interesting feature/interview with Access's chief technology officer, quizzing him on his views of what seems destined to become the next OS platform for Palm devices. [read News.com interview] Our take: This, of course, is a huge question. Palm got started with a minimalist OS to run devices conceived by one of the foremost mobile technology minds of our time, Jeff Hawkins. Hawkins' interests changed, and the Palm meandered off into a different direction and now seems headed for what really is a very sophisticated OS platform. This approach sure worked for Apple, but then again, Apple has been a niche player for a very long time whereas Palm once dominated. -- Posted Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Enviance uses Tablet PCs in US Navy application
Enviance, a provider of Internet-based on demand systems for the management of environmental, health and safety (EHS) compliance activities, announced that it is enabling real-time mobile compliance data collection for the United States Navy through its Naval Online Environmental Compliance Checklist System (NOECCS). The Navy expects the Tablet PC-based system to significantly reduce the engineers’ time to perform and document the inspection process, provide real time finding notifications, trend and report on potential Notices of Violation (NOVs) and improve compliance workflow while promoting data accuracy and integrity. [see press release -- Posted Monday, August 28, 2006

Enviance uses Tablet PCs in US Navy application
Enviance, a provider of Internet-based on demand systems for the management of environmental, health and safety (EHS) compliance activities, announced that it is enabling real-time mobile compliance data collection for the United States Navy through its Naval Online Environmental Compliance Checklist System (NOECCS). The Navy expects the Tablet PC-based system to significantly reduce the engineers’ time to perform and document the inspection process, provide real time finding notifications, trend and report on potential Notices of Violation (NOVs) and improve compliance workflow while promoting data accuracy and integrity. [see press release -- Posted Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Partnership hopes for innovative portable electronic writing and reading solutions
Vision Objects, provider of handwriting recognition technology and iRex Technologies BV, a supplier of solutions for reading written digital content, announced a technology partnership. iRex’s E-reader called “iLiad” combines revolutionary electronic paper display and MyScript handwriting recognition to build business to business applications. -- Posted Wednesday, August 23, 2006

HTC launches its own wiki site
Wetpaint.com announced that High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC), the world's leading provider of Microsoft Windows Mobile-based devices, has chosen Wetpaint to build and host a new wiki Website to help support HTC's growing online community. The Web site, which can be found at www.htcwiki.com, is a place where HTC's customer can share their experiences, offer tips and tricks, and recommend new devices to other customers as well as to HTC. Our take: We're not sure we like the current trend for everyone and their uncle having their own "wiki" instead of ammassing information in the official wikipedia.org that, despite takeover efforts and turf wars, remains fairly useful, but hey, we'll see how it works out. [Go to the HTC wiki site] -- Posted Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Cellphones: jockeying for position
Not too log ago, it seemed like Samsung and LG Electronics were blowing everyone else away with their cool cellphones. What a difference a year can make. Nokia, Sony Erricsson and, especially, Motorola have re-asserted themselves and put the hurt on the Koreans. Whereas Sony emphasizes multimedia phones and Nokia comfortably sits in the #1 spot, Motorola charges hard with its RAZR megahit. Compared to the Sony/Moto/Nokia offerings, Samsung and LG handsets, these days, look unimaginative and portly. That may quickly change if the Koreans' investment in not yet widely available next gen services pays off, though. -- Posted Saturday, August 19, 2006

Tele Atlas announces win
Geographic content provider Tele Atlas, continuing its efforts to chip away at NAVTEQ's lead in US mapping services, announced it has been selected by TomTom as the data provider for the new TomTom ONE product in North America. TomTom ONE is an entry-level all-in-one portable navigation device combining ease of use and portability with TomTom's patented touch screen technology and excellent software. Hey, if that means one of them will eventually get the location of my home right, more power to them. -- Posted Thursday, August 17, 2006

When being "red-hot" isn't so good...
That's when your Li-Ion batteries get red-hot or even explode. Whew. A few days ago Dell announced a recall of no fewer than 4.1 million laptop batteries, all made by Sony. That sort of thing, of course, isn't exactly good news for a company that's been at the very brink of losing its once shiny luster of inimitable style and superior technology. And the financial impact of the battery debacle may be severe. We hope that this won't undermine faith in Li-Ion technology, the one thing that's softened the (battery life) blow of ever increasing power consumption by ever more power-hungry mobile technology. -- Posted Thursday, August 17, 2006

SplashData SplashID now on BlackBerry
SplashData's secure password management application, SplashID (over 500,000 users), is now available for BlackBerry devices . Users of SplashID for BlackBerry can organize, manage and access passwords and other critical information securely on their BlackBerriest as well as their notebook or desktop PC. SplashID for BlackBerry is available for download at www.splashdata.com for $29.95. This price includes both the BlackBerry handset application and the Windows desktop companion software. [see BlackBerry SplashID page] -- Posted Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Mobile video to rocket off into hyperdrive?
According to a new Infonetics research report entitled Mobile Video Devices, Services, and Subscribers, "if mobile video providers are able to resolve a number of quality- and content-related issues -- and analyst firm Infonetics Research thinks they are -- revenue generated from mobile video services around the world is set to skyrocket from $46.2 million in 2005 to $5.6 billion in 2009, a staggering 11,997% jump in 5 years." Wow. -- Posted Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Itronix releases new high-performance rugged notebook
Itronix, a General Dynamics company, announced the GoBook XR-1, the first Itronix product to be released under the General Dynamics brand. The XR-1 is a IP54-rated rugged notebook that combines excellent performance from a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo processor, compact size (11.8 x 9.65 x 1.98), amazingly low weight (6.8 pounds), and very good battery life (up to 6.5 hours) with ergonomics and superb industrial design. The new machine, which has a starting MSRP of US$4,330, is geared towards a variety of industrial and government markets and applications. [Read our full review of the GoBook XR-1] -- Posted Monday, August 14, 2006

Full review of MobileDemand's rugged xTablet T8600
We examine MobileDemand's new xTablet T8600, a versatile, rugged tablet computer for vertical markets. The T8600 runs the Windows XP Tablet PC edition, is technologically up-to-date, has a massive battery for full-shift operation, a digitizer that can be switched from touch screen to active operation, and features an integrated numeric keypad for rapid data entry. [Read full review of MobileDemand T8600] -- Posted Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Dell halting PDA development?
Digitimes reports: "Dell halted R&D development of PDA products since the middle of 2005, when Dell's Taiwan Design Center completed development of the PC vendor's last Axim-series device, which was manufactured by HTC, according to market sources. According to the sources, Dell's TDC switched all PDA-related R&D resources to the notebook segment in the middle of 2005, following the company's plan of reducing the number of its R&D staff at its handheld device division at the end of 2004. Dell has not announced new PDAs for almost a year and PDA products that it currently offers are old models that were introduced in 2004, indicated the sources. In addition, the PC vendor has not shown any moves in the PDA phone and GPS-enable PDA segments, the sources noted." -- Posted Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Why no Tablet Kiosk eo UMPC review at Pen?
We had really looked forward to bringing you a detailed review of Tablet Kiosk's eo Ultra Mobile PC. Sadly, once we were finally scheduled to get a review unit, Tablet Kiosk informed us that we not only had to pay for shipping of the review unit BOTH ways, but also supply a credit card as a security. Sorry, no can do. We review hundreds of products a year and if we had to pay for shipping both ways and hand our credit cards as "security" for evry one of those products, we'd be broke and buried in paper work. Hey dudes, we are doing YOU a favor, not the other way around. -- Posted Wednesday, August 2, 2006