Friday, June 27, 2003
CeBIT America, Part 2: A Tour Of The Show Floor (Page 2)
Posted by Janak Parekh in "EVENT" @ 04:08 PM
Go back to page one by clicking here.
Displays!
There were a number of interesting screen technologies at CeBIT.
Pick a screen, any screen... :lol: These guys develop screens for many embedded applications.
Any of you willing to buy me an Activu setup? Please??? ;)
One more for good drooling measure. For what it's worth, this is about twice the height of the other Activu screen in the first CeBIT article.
SmartTech's DViT technology -- massive interactive plasma screen. (It's actually brighter, but the flash dimmed it somewhat.)
SmartTech's DViT technology is amazing. They can support existing plasma displays, or you can get one from them. The kicker is that the screen becomes "touch-sensitive", so you can tap at Windows controls with a finger... and it's big enough to do so practically. It's so much fun to be able to "play" with your desktop -- I could see how this would be a great interactive whiteboard tool. Unsurprisingly, it won a Best of Show award.
HP's smallest projectors. Oh so cute...
I continue to be blown away by how small projectors are getting. I don't think it will be long before you'll be able to carry a projector the size of your PDA and just connect it via Bluetooth to either your laptop or your Pocket PC.
Fits so nicely in the hand, and it's light. To run or not to run away with it, that's the question... ;)
Handheld computing
Apart from the phones I previously mentioned, there were a few manufacturers whose products were worth seeing.
Fujitsu
Fujitsu is improving upon their previously-groundbreaking LifeBook P2000 with the new P5000, which is a Centrino powerhouse with a simply stunning display. The P5000 won a Best of Show award. Too bad that doesn't translate to a "give Janak one award"...
The P1000 and the P5000 side-by-side. They're tiny, and tinier.
A closer look at the P5000. The flashless shot shows off the screen, although it came out slightly blurry. :(
The Fujitsu ST4000 Tablet PC... with a reflective display!
Moreover, Fujitsu finally did something I wish was done quite some time ago: make a reflective Tablet PC. What's the use of a Tablet PC if you can't use it outside? This one should work fabulously in the sunlight, and is very manageable sizewise. Unfortunately, the Fujitsu guys wouldn't let us carry it outside to see how good it looks. ;) (As for transflective, I'm not sure which would be better: for outside applications, the reflective is clearly an advantage over transflective, although I wouldn't mind having a tablet PC which looks great indoors and merely satisfactory outdoors either.)
NEC
Do I hear anyone say the HPC is dead? Well, you'll have to tell NEC that. They recently released a new 400MHz XScale unit, the MobilePro P900. I tried typing on it and noticed that it had significantly larger keys than the HP Jornada 720 and 728 units -- it was very easy to touch-type. If it wasn't so expensive, this would serve as a killer laptop replacement for me.
Fossil's PalmOS-based Wrist PDA
Despite the fact that this puppy is running the PalmOS, it's just darned cool -- and not really that large-looking. Their previous unit looked far worse. (Interestingly, the old Wrist PDA doesn't seem to be on Fossil's Web site anymore.)
The Wrist PDA as worn on a hand.
Comparison of the new Wrist PDA to my medium-sized Casio Wave Ceptor and my other colleague's ultra-compact Swatch.
We're not finished yet, though. I've got a third full page of pictures and commentary!
Discuss this story here (and not the link immediately below)
Displays!
There were a number of interesting screen technologies at CeBIT.
Pick a screen, any screen... :lol: These guys develop screens for many embedded applications.
Any of you willing to buy me an Activu setup? Please??? ;)
One more for good drooling measure. For what it's worth, this is about twice the height of the other Activu screen in the first CeBIT article.
SmartTech's DViT technology -- massive interactive plasma screen. (It's actually brighter, but the flash dimmed it somewhat.)
SmartTech's DViT technology is amazing. They can support existing plasma displays, or you can get one from them. The kicker is that the screen becomes "touch-sensitive", so you can tap at Windows controls with a finger... and it's big enough to do so practically. It's so much fun to be able to "play" with your desktop -- I could see how this would be a great interactive whiteboard tool. Unsurprisingly, it won a Best of Show award.
HP's smallest projectors. Oh so cute...
I continue to be blown away by how small projectors are getting. I don't think it will be long before you'll be able to carry a projector the size of your PDA and just connect it via Bluetooth to either your laptop or your Pocket PC.
Fits so nicely in the hand, and it's light. To run or not to run away with it, that's the question... ;)
Handheld computing
Apart from the phones I previously mentioned, there were a few manufacturers whose products were worth seeing.
Fujitsu
Fujitsu is improving upon their previously-groundbreaking LifeBook P2000 with the new P5000, which is a Centrino powerhouse with a simply stunning display. The P5000 won a Best of Show award. Too bad that doesn't translate to a "give Janak one award"...
The P1000 and the P5000 side-by-side. They're tiny, and tinier.
A closer look at the P5000. The flashless shot shows off the screen, although it came out slightly blurry. :(
The Fujitsu ST4000 Tablet PC... with a reflective display!
Moreover, Fujitsu finally did something I wish was done quite some time ago: make a reflective Tablet PC. What's the use of a Tablet PC if you can't use it outside? This one should work fabulously in the sunlight, and is very manageable sizewise. Unfortunately, the Fujitsu guys wouldn't let us carry it outside to see how good it looks. ;) (As for transflective, I'm not sure which would be better: for outside applications, the reflective is clearly an advantage over transflective, although I wouldn't mind having a tablet PC which looks great indoors and merely satisfactory outdoors either.)
NEC
Do I hear anyone say the HPC is dead? Well, you'll have to tell NEC that. They recently released a new 400MHz XScale unit, the MobilePro P900. I tried typing on it and noticed that it had significantly larger keys than the HP Jornada 720 and 728 units -- it was very easy to touch-type. If it wasn't so expensive, this would serve as a killer laptop replacement for me.
Fossil's PalmOS-based Wrist PDA
Despite the fact that this puppy is running the PalmOS, it's just darned cool -- and not really that large-looking. Their previous unit looked far worse. (Interestingly, the old Wrist PDA doesn't seem to be on Fossil's Web site anymore.)
The Wrist PDA as worn on a hand.
Comparison of the new Wrist PDA to my medium-sized Casio Wave Ceptor and my other colleague's ultra-compact Swatch.
We're not finished yet, though. I've got a third full page of pictures and commentary!
Discuss this story here (and not the link immediately below)
