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Premier
Planet PDA Wrap-Up
BY RICH TEHRANI
The first-ever Planet
PDA, held December 4-6, 2001 in Las Vegas, was very eye-opening
for me. The pace of miniaturization is incredible. Case in point is
the Wi-Fi card. Until recently these thin devices were relegated to
the PC card format, designed to fit in laptops and PDAs of the Pocket
PC variety that had an external sleeve containing a battery.
Miniaturization Of Technology
Recently, however, Symbol
Technologies and others have begun selling CompactFlash Wi-Fi
cards that are literally a fraction of the size of the PC card format
counterpart, and that consume less power as well. Symbol's card, the
Spectrum 24, is about 20 percent or less of the size of my Compaq and
Linksys PC format Wi-Fi cards. Symbol tells me that they have an SD
(Secure Digital) form factor card in the works as well. If you haven't
seen SD cards yet, picture 10 postage stamps in a stack -- that is the
size of these cards! At the recent Planet PDA show, I even witnessed
an attendee with an SD-based Bluetooth card. Unfortunately, I didn't
get to test it myself, but it is clear that wireless access is coming
from smaller and smaller devices that take less and less power. The
speed of miniaturization is astounding and seems to be increasing more
rapidly than ever before -- save when transistors replaced vacuum
tubes.
While talking with Symbol's booth
personnel, it became apparent that they think that Bluetooth may not
be the Wi-Fi killing panacea that some have hyped it up to be. You
shouldn't rule Wi-Fi out completely, says Symbol, as there are very
useful applications for this technology. For example, Symbol currently
sells United Parcel Service (UPS) a device that is used by their
package handlers allowing them to quickly move a package and scan it
with a bar code reader that is worn as a finger ring. A cord connects
the ring to a computer on the handler's wrist. As you can imagine,
there is a chance that the cord can get snagged on a rapidly moving
package. Therefore, Symbol decided to Bluetooth-enable both the ring
and the computer on the arm of the handler, thus eliminating the cable
and the danger.
A good point that came up in my ensuing
Wi-Fi versus Bluetooth discussion was that Bluetooth will excel at
point-to-point solutions, while Wi-Fi will capture the market for
devices like laser printers that are typically shared by multiple
computers at distances greater than the range of Bluetooth (about 30
feet).
It should be noted that there were many
companies at the show demonstrating networked Pocket PC apps using the
ad-hoc mode of Wi-Fi, which of course is of the point-to-point variety
like Bluetooth and requires no access point. One demonstration worth
mentioning was a VoIP call between two iPAQs from DiamondWare.
Although I can't fathom a use for this software other than turning
your $500 iPAQ into a walkie-talkie, it is "cool" and has
potential when bundled as part of a greater solution.
Wireless Printing
Just so you don't think I am against Bluetooth: I was blown away by
the demo in HP's booth, where I saw
the new Bluetooth-enabled deskjet
995c printer proudly displaying a glowing blue light in the upper
left-hand corner. This printer also has a USB connector, if you feel
you need an alternative to wireless printing. I immediately picked up
an HP Jornada 567 with a CF Bluetooth card from Socket
Communications, and printed. Unfortunately,
Microsoft doesn't provide printing software for Pocket PCs so I used
PrintPocketCE from Field
Software Products, which lets you point and click (point and tap,
anyway) and immediately see your document printed.
The question remains as to whether you
really want Bluetooth in your printer. If you are going to have your
printer connected to a network, why not use Wi-Fi so all your devices
can print? The flipside to this logic is that there are millions of
potential PC purchasers that aren't confident enough about their
technical knowledge to connect a parallel cable between the printer
and PC. Simply Bluetooth-enabling peripherals would make computing
seem so much easier, and probably have a very positive impact in
general PC adoption. I am surprised that Apple isn't leading the march
to Bluetooth-enable all of their peripherals. The only joined the
Bluetooth Special Interest Group in June of this year, which is very
late in my opinion.
Innovation Abounds
Beyond glowing blue lights, what really impressed me about the HP
booth was the variety of devices and configurations that the company
was showing. There were elaborate next-generation prototypes
encompassing hidden keyboards that pull out, clamshell lids, 12-hour
batteries with expansion slots built into them, as well as devices
with variations on the common CF standard that allow full-sized
sleeves to neatly connect to the bottom of the device. HP wanted to
show off its R&D muscle, and I was very impressed.
Another very interesting device that
startled me in its usefulness was Avaya's Enterprise Class IP
Solutions (ECLIPS) Voice Communication Feature for PDAs that works by
making an IP connection from a PDA to an enterprise DEFINITY PBX
office extension. An H.323-based product, you can interact with a
Bluetooth headset, making and taking calls. If you have a fast enough
network, you can use VoIP for the voice portion and if not, your calls
can come in through your cell phone. This is a fantastic solution for
mobile professionals and anyone that would prefer to not have their
office calls go into voice mail when they leave their desk. We need
this technology to work with all PBXs.
Custom Volume Handheld Solutions
One of the more interesting parts of the custom volume handheld
computing market is the vertical applications. I saw attendees from
fire departments, schools, government agencies, and insurance and
financial companies. The usefulness of PDAs is unlimited, and as
connectivity options increase and mobile processors evolve, there are
almost no applications a PDA can't handle. Some areas that you may not
think appropriate for PDA use are those of the outdoor variety, since
PDAs are not waterproof (as my wife can attest to).
One option for handheld applications
that need to work in all weather (think: rental car returns, field
service reps, law officers, etc.) is to buy ruggedized handheld
computers from a company like Mobile
Planet with prices starting at $1,600; or look to Symbol
Technologies who sell Pocket PC-based PPT 2800 Series Portable Pen
Terminals for just over $1,000.
For those of you that have champagne
taste but a beer budget, you may want to try a solution that I have
tried myself and can personally recommend: Heavy Armor from Otterbox
is a line of PDA protection cases from a company that makes waterproof
enclosures for scuba divers. Although PDA cases may not be able to
withstand many atmospheres of underwater pressure due to the lighter
and thinner plastic covering the touch-screen, they are still a
perfect solution for PDAs that get dropped often, get rained on, and
even get dropped in puddles. And before you start worrying, rest
assured that these cases come in as many colors as LifeSavers candy,
and cost about $70.
There was more to this first Planet PDA
event… much more. Plus, everyone felt that this event will grow
considerably in the future. We've already had suggestions to hold this
event on the East Coast next year, so expect to see it in Boston in
May 2002. Please make sure to subscribe to Planet PDA newsletters at www.tmcnet.com/enews/
to stay abreast of the latest in handheld productivity solutions for
the mobile enterprise.
Hope to see you at the next Planet PDA!
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