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Psion Releases A Rugged, Water-Tight PDA
Moghedien writes: "This time a sturdy PDA, without a keyboard, but a big hi-res screen and it's designed for work in the field. Still runs the EPOC OS, 8 hour battery life time, probably a 200MHz StrongARM, 64MB RAM and MMC. It measures 215x85x28 mm. It has an IP rate of 67, meaning it's capable of lying under water for hours, and it can put up with a fall of 1.5 meters against concrete. According to Psion, its purpose is to fill the gap between powerful PDAs for the industry and handheld machines for the professional consumer market." There's a blurb describing this device on Psion's site -- but does anyone see pictures? Update: 10/01 13:35 GMT by T : An anonymous reader says: "Here is the page for the NetPad. It has a small picture, but it's better than nothing."
PDA's don't need to take water, just coffee. They should really be tested that way: just fire-hosed with gallons of boiling expresso or something. I'm sure this one could take it.
spacefem.com
Handy for when you have your PDA in your shirt pocket and bend over the john to pull your pants off -- plop.
This appears to be Psion Teklogix NetPad(r) Main Page. A small photo is included.
Here is the spec sheet (96.6Kb.pdf)
See the c't article from heise:
Heise
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Here's a picture of netpad. (http://www.fieldworker.com/HPC_Pics/netpad.jpg for those not interested in goatse.cx) Finally safely browsing from the bathtub.
I intend to live forever, so far so good.
Having owned droppable computers for some time, I'm really about ready for a computer that's capable of portability without the awful fragility. If this computer has some reasonable I/O method available (say, some form of attachable mini-keyboard, a la Targus), it might be usable, but it seems like just another data-collection device from its description.
Why doesn't the ruggedized PC hit the mainstream market? Walkabout has made a few nice PC's in tablet form, but their prices generally put off the buyer that has no specialized application in mind. I'd absolutely love a nice, sturdy, portable 'nix box like their HH3. Why haven't at least SOME of these ideas made it into the consumer models of laptops and the like?
What'dya mean there's no BLINK tag!?
At $300, I'd buy one. If it ran Linux, I'd pay a little more (although the fact that it runs Java rather than WinCE is a plus). At $1000, I'd rather have a laptop or one of the upcoming Tablet PCs (running Linux).
It has an IP rate of 67, meaning it's capable of lying under water for hours, and it can put up with a fall of 1.5 meters against concrete.
:)
Does anyone remember the Panasonic Toughbook - they had similar toughness (though I don't think they could sit underwater). You get a whole real computer and some of the models even have built in wireless/GPS capabilities. Granted they cost upwards of 5 grand and probably only have about 4 hours of battery life (though 8 hours doesn't seem like much for a PDA to me), but still sweet.
I'd be interested to see what an IP Rate of 100 (or zero, whichever is better, also assuming a 100 point scale) could handle. Elephants can sit on it while you work maybe?
BTW, whats with the random "number of physicial machines hosted on windows" bit at the end of the post there? Do all slashdot articles now automatically include a little MSFT bashing - hidden in the PERL soup somewhere?
Ad in classifieds: Pandora's Box (no box) $5
1.5 meters, if you think about it, is not that much of a drop. I've dropped a Palm M100 from a fifteen-foot ladder before, and it kept ticking. That's the beauty of solid-state electronics. No moving parts means nothing to get jarred loose or broken off. Now if these guys can put something together with a TOTALLY scratch-resistant screen, I'll really be impressed.
Here's the page with the pics and a spec sheet:
http://www.psionteklogix.com/main/netpad.htm
Personally we already use ruggedized Windows boxes that are like this so I don't see much use for a PDA that can do the same.
liB
I just got an email from Sharp. Looks like they are getting ready to sell (in limited amount) the ARM based Linux PDA with the built in keyboard real soon. I hope I can get one, if I do I'll give an exclusive /. review!
* JavaOne Promotion Update -
Those of you who were among the first 1,000 that 1) had your badge scanned at JavaOne and 2) registered on the developer web-site are eligible to purchase a Sharp Linux/Java PDA production unit for $399 (or equivalent price outside the US) when it is available (availability of initial model is limited in some European countries, due to the product safety standard
compliance.)
We originally promised production units for this promotion would be available in September. Some exciting additions and changes to our platform have unfortunately caused some delays. We apologize for the delay in satisfying this promotion, but think a few weeks more will be worth the wait.
------
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
I'll be curious as to how it holds up to being left overnight in a car in January (up in the northeast US) and whether it still works or just has a horrible wait-to-be-used time as the Palm's do.
Mind the gap...
Casio has offered these type of devices for quite some time now.
I'm glad that it can run underwater for hours and take a 1.5m fall and still work great but, what happens if the 300pound owner sits on it? Will the screen still crack - voiding the warranty - putting the consumer out on thier ass spending $200 bucks to have it replaced? Or will they finaly make a more resiliant, shatter proof, glass plate for it? Just curious...
This division of Psion is seperate from the division behind the series 3 and 5 - it makes industrial PDA's. You see their very sucessful Walkabout device in shops over here in the UK a lot - mostly the models a barcode scanner is used in stock control.
They do quite well. For all Compaq's adverts of someone walking thru a factory with an iPaq, there are places where the environment is just too nasty - freezers for example.
I always fancied their netbook, which is a corporate variant on the Psion series 7 (the one that's an EPOC handheld in notebook form-factor, with a full size color screen etc.)
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
IP ratings don't work quite like that. Rather than a 0..100 scale, they're actually a string concatenation of three 0+ scales. High numbers are better. First number is dust rating (0..6), second fluids (0..8), third mechanical impact (0..9). IP67 means "no ingress of dust", "short-term water immersion to 1m" and no description of mechanical impact strength.
There's a few on-line resources around with the full list.
That's also why some mil-spec equipment costs much more than the civilian equivalents.
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"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Something that my girlfriend won't kill when she decides that my shirt needs to be washed...
The device itself doesn't need to be ultra sturdy or water-tight. Instead, you can have a normal device protected with something that can withstand a nasty environment, including coffee, Mountain Dew, and CmdrTaco flatulence. While the PDA-Pak isn't the perfect answer, it should get you thinking.
How to Download YouTube Videos
Casio released a WinCE device similar to their e-125 with very similar ruggedness specs (and yes, you COULD hack it to run Pocket Linux. Not that you'd want to). They also released a wireless model and a bunch of other cool stuff that nobody has ever seen, because Casio didn't market ANY of these. They were mostly sold through catalogs for commercial applications and in Japan (BTW, japanese handwriting recognition software has to be seen to be beleived...no crummy "Jot" notation there!)
i on=145&market=0&product=1880
Links to casio: EG 800 Ruggedized PC http://www.casio.com/personalpcs/product.cfm?sect
By the way, I love Casio's name for these devices..."Personal PCs," the connotation that these machines are not mere "assistants," but real PCs that are always handy and could someday replace the desktop (or at least heavily offset it). And as the machines get smaller and more rugged, we get closer to the geek ideal of "wearables" that will run our lives: reminding us to feed our cats, telling us if our outfit matches, and generating fractal pickup lines that work every time.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
images.google.com yeilded a nice 300x400 images of the Netpad here
There were some other, smaller pictures too, including an outdoorsy yellow model as well.
--I assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones that are someone else's fault.
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it's in my head
I hacked 6502 assembler for a few hours this weekend, to make M.U.L.E. play for whatever number of months I want it to, in CCS64 running on my laptop THEN
I went out to cheer on a friend competing in the Santa Cruz Sentinel Triathalon THEN
I went out for a 36 mile ride on my road bike, between searing heat and blasting wind, around Monterey Penninsula THEN
I went out and had a few beers and watched the Final Time Trials of La Vuelta (which Levi Leipheimer placed 2nd in and 3rd overall G.C. First American to stand on the final podium for the final Grand Tour of the season, but don't tell fscking american media outlets about it, sheesh!)
Tech geeks are increasingly athletic, many even compete in cycle racing (the most grueling sport there is) and combination events like triathlons. I'm actually in the market for rugged devices such as this, as I want to take them hiking or biking. My primary interest, atm, is one of these. So I can profile hikes and bike climbs. That is, when I'm not hacking or reading slashdot.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
...with decent pictures here.
...stupid lameness filter...