Sunday, May 30, 2004
NEC to Produce Bsquare 'Power Handheld' Design PDA/Phone
Posted by Jonathon Watkins in "THE COMPETITION" @ 10:00 AM
A few weeks ago Marlof posted that the Register had reviewed the Bsquare 'Power Handheld' concept unit. Now PCWorld bring news that the design will actually be put into production:
"The CeBIT America show here is full of road warriors on the prowl for lightweight but powerful portable computing. NEC is showing its entry: a hybrid phone and personal digital assistant. Power Handheld, developed by Bsquare, is about to be released in the United Kingdom bundled with a wireless phone and Internet service from a wireless carrier, according to Michael Tidwell, Bsquare director of business development. The product itself retails for about $650 but is being sold for about $280 when a customer signs a long-term contract for wireless service at $75 monthly. NEC hopes to begin reselling the handheld device in the United States within six months."
(This is the original Bsquare design the Register reviewed, not the Final NEC version)
"The unit's QWERTY keyboard runs the length of the product and is designed for thumb typing, much like a BlackBerry device. The product comes with 64MB of permanent storage and 128MB of RAM. For communications, the Power Handheld includes a speakerphone and built-in GSM wireless circuitry, with modem speeds of 20 kilobits to 40 kilobits per second, according to Tidwell. An SD slot provides expandability for Bluetooth devices or additional storage. An update to the product this summer will include a louder, clearer, speaker phone, he adds. For software, the product uses a version of Windows CE.Net that has been tweaked to resemble Windows XP. Bundled software options include PIM programs, Web browsing, VPN and security, encryption, handwriting recognition, a file viewer for popular PC applications, and a Citrix thin client for running network-based programs."
NEC are believed to be first OEM to produce their own version of the Power Handheld design. Quite a nice package overall. What do you guys think?
"The CeBIT America show here is full of road warriors on the prowl for lightweight but powerful portable computing. NEC is showing its entry: a hybrid phone and personal digital assistant. Power Handheld, developed by Bsquare, is about to be released in the United Kingdom bundled with a wireless phone and Internet service from a wireless carrier, according to Michael Tidwell, Bsquare director of business development. The product itself retails for about $650 but is being sold for about $280 when a customer signs a long-term contract for wireless service at $75 monthly. NEC hopes to begin reselling the handheld device in the United States within six months."
(This is the original Bsquare design the Register reviewed, not the Final NEC version)
"The unit's QWERTY keyboard runs the length of the product and is designed for thumb typing, much like a BlackBerry device. The product comes with 64MB of permanent storage and 128MB of RAM. For communications, the Power Handheld includes a speakerphone and built-in GSM wireless circuitry, with modem speeds of 20 kilobits to 40 kilobits per second, according to Tidwell. An SD slot provides expandability for Bluetooth devices or additional storage. An update to the product this summer will include a louder, clearer, speaker phone, he adds. For software, the product uses a version of Windows CE.Net that has been tweaked to resemble Windows XP. Bundled software options include PIM programs, Web browsing, VPN and security, encryption, handwriting recognition, a file viewer for popular PC applications, and a Citrix thin client for running network-based programs."
NEC are believed to be first OEM to produce their own version of the Power Handheld design. Quite a nice package overall. What do you guys think?
