Despite my gadget-freak tendencies, I don't normally post too much about new mobile devices and gadget developments. I did notice however that at the recent huge C.E.S exhibition in Las Vegas, there were several interesting announcements relating to new form factor mobile devices and their accessories.
Windows Mobile 5 introduced support for integral keyboards and since then there have been a number of innovative devices utilising these, such as the Orange M3100, Orange M5000 and more recently, the highly regarded Orange E650 (HTC S710). All of these have however been in the SmartPhone or PDA form factor. Apart the venerable Microsoft Handheld PC 2000 devices, few have however tried using Windows Mobile in a notebook or ultra portable format. That is until now...
New Format But Still Windows Mobile
At C.E.S in Las Vegas, Htc, maker of many of the Windows Mobile devices offered by mobile telecoms operators under different monikers, showed off the Htc Advantage. This was previously announced in February this year. The Advantage combines an ultraportable laptop format with Windows Mobile and has a very impressive spec as follows:
- 128 MB ROM
- 64MBRAM
- 8GB HDD
- Quad Band (GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G)
- Mini SD drive
- Video/Stills Camera
- Bluetooth/WiFi
- GPS with TomTom Navigator software
- 5" touchscreen
It's almost a whole new device category in its own right. The only similar device I can remember is one from Dark Side of Psion with its venerable Series 7 (although that did go on to run Windows CE.Net in the end) . One of the great design aspects, is the detachable keyboard that allows the device to convert easily from a notebook to slate format. The other aspect is that for a mobile device, it has a huge 8Gb solid state hard disk to store data and applications. Apart from the price, the only other downside is that it still runs Windows Mobile 5.
With this flexibility and its connectivity options (Quad Band - GSM/GPRS/EDGE/3G), it could make a great corporate application platform as well as a great machine for travelling. Unless you need to have specific PC applications, this device could serve the majority of day to day needs whilst away. All that's missing is a Windows Mobile version of Microsoft OneNote....
Shift
In a slightly different direction, Htc also announced a machine in the UMPC arena. This is known as the Htc Shift and it runs full Microsoft Vista Business edition. Full details are available here
Gimmee Gimmee
Either of these devices seem like fantastic solutions to that issue of balancing power and portability. Time for me to start to start saving..
Other Gadgets and Gismos
Other devices that have caught my eye recently include:
- The Super Series Info SD card from A-DATA - This won the Best Of Innovations award at CES for its inclusion of a small LCD dislay on the back of its SD card. The purpose of this, is to show you how much free space is left and the Volume ID of the drive - great for identifying a drives contents. A fantastically simple but useful idea. It also consumes no power for the LCD display. Unbelievably pricing should be similar to normal SD cards. Well worth checking into here
- The G-Tech Wireless Fabric Keyboard - This is a Bluetooth keyboard with a twist - literally. Its a fabric keyboard and uses similar technology to the rollable keyboard from Eleksen that Orange used to supply for the elderly SPV E200 Smartphone. I still have one of these original keyboards and it was brilliant for short email and SMS creation. The G-Tech measures 5 x 1.5" folded into its own case and has its own battery source. It has drivers for Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC, Windows Mobile 5 for Pocket PC, Windows Mobile 5 for Smartphone and Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphones and strangely Windows XP. Full details here.
Back On Track In Future
Enough gadgets for now. I promise to get back on the Windows Mobile and ASP.Net coding track in the next few posts and talk more about my experiences with Windows Mobile Software Factory. I also have some ASP.Net posts planned as and when I get chance.