Fishie
12-29-2002, 03:13 AM
Note:These are my experiences and toughts about this machine, if you wanna know more about it I have provided links and I suggest you check those out to get a full picture.
My experiences with embedded windows devices started about 5 years ago when I bought a Casiopeia CE machine with a screen that looked greenish and blurred like the original Gameboy.
CE back then was aso les then stable.
After that I switched to a Packard Bell mobilepro 770(NEC) and what a difference the screen made.
Awesome keyboard that for me felt better then most full size keyboards, large colour screen, excellent battery life and windows CE 2.11 provided for an extremely cool productivity machine wich came in handy in my international travels.
The built in modem and expandability trough CF and PCMCI were excellent points as well.
I used the machine more and more but eventually was tempted by the Ipaq.
Sold the 770 and bought an Ipaq.
I loved the Ipaq as a gadget, it could play lots of games, avantgo was a hoot and it fitted inside my pockets.
As time went on however I started to miss the functionality of the 770.
The 770 had served me so wel for so long and unlike the ancient Casio(still have it somewhere) it didnt lock up and actually did what I had bought it for.
Sure it was a lot slower then the Ipaq and even Gameboy emulation sucked on it and it only had 256colours etcetera but damn the large half VGA screen and excellent keyboard were sorely missed on those long trips.
I hate bringing along a full laptop do conduct interviews, take notes and check up on meetings etcetera, the 770 was perfect for my on the road needs and I regretted selling it.
So I started to contemplate buying the NEC Mobilepro 790 or perhaps the Jornada 720.
Checked the jornada and it was to small for my needs, typing was a pain and I felt it was overpriced for what it offered.
Did some more digging into various devices and I found the machine that seemed perfect for me.
Intermec 6651/Sharp telios 7000
So why did I choose the Intermec then over the familiar form factor of the Mobilepro?
Well basically I was offered a great deal on the machine and I checked all reviews I could find online.
None of the reviews was negative and all seemed to praise the machine as what WindowsCE machines should be like.
Only downers were always the price(1395US$) but that didnt apply to me becouse I was offered one with warrantee for 350$.
As I was anxiously awaiting the UPS tracking number I saw a parcel on the living room table wich a family member had signed for.
pon confirmation that the parcel was for me I opened it and inside was much to my surprise the Intermec.
Checked the contents, then started charging.
Powered on the device and I was immediatly floored.
Damn, that screen is unreal.
The colours, the clarity, the amount of pixels per square inch.
I can honestly say I havent seen a portable screen of that quality before and that includes the subnotebook Vaio laptops and the Clie70.
Resolution is high(800by480 on a 7.1inch screen), colours are vibrant and picture is incredibly stable.
Forget the screen of a Vieuwsonic or the new HP Ipaq´s, they dont come even close.
They cant no matter what as this screen is both bigger AND has far more pixels per square inch.
The screen and colours on the device are so high in quality and well defined that it is hard to believe the machine is limited to 16bit colour(64k).
Checked the software in the rom and I was greeted with newer versions of all the programs I was used to from my trusty old 770.
In addition to those however I now had a machine that also had a Terminal server client and dedicated remote networking.
On top of those were a host of Sharp applications like a backup tool, FTP manager, Image editor a PC file viewer and a host of other Internet related services as well as software for the integrated swivel camera.
After checking those I decided to grab a hold of my good old 128mb CF card and see how well the machine would deal with the pictures, movies, music and programs on it.
Much to my surprise the machine recognised everything on the card and was able to start most of the non device specific programs.
MS Pocket streets 2k2 launched immediatly from the card and the maps were displayed full screen at speeds only slightly slower then they did on my Ipaq.
Windows media player found all MP3 files and played them, pictures were found and displayed in brilliant high res and the build in Sharp Mpeg player played most Mpeg 1 movies.
Sadly tough it played only movies with a resolution of 320by240 or lower and automaticaly downsampled them to 160by120.
MpegTV on my CF card was recognised(all programs on the card showed theyre correct icons and names but since often the executables are device specific the device specific ones of course didnt play)but since it was the ARM PPC version it was useles.
I proceeded to download Mpeg TV for Mips based HPC2000 devices and checked the high quality Mpegs on my cards and much to my surprise they played better then they had on my Ipaq.
In fact it looked like the limiting factor was the transfer speed of the CF card.
A 38Mb big 3.40minutes long Mpeg1 file was played at a verry good framerate and unlike on the Ipaq at the right aspect ratios.
Sadly PocketTV for hpc2000 devices is pay only and im not about to pay 50$ for it.
Another bummer was the fact that there is no PocketDiVX player compatible with this device.
Decided to put the machine to a hard and rigorous gaming test so I downloaded a compatible version of Yame and again I was surprised by how well the processor dealt with the heavy task at hand.
The intermec runs on a 129Mhz Mips processor(slower clockspeed then my old 770 wich also had a Mips processor but clocked at 131Mhz) yet it runs GB, GBC and NES games at near perfect to decent speeds with sound while the PCEngine emulation framerate wise is less then perfect.
It even played the PCEngine Street Fighter2 rom, something my Ipaq never did.
I never expected the machine to deal that wel with such processor intensive tasks becouse I knew the processor ran at almost half the speed of the StrongArm in my Ipaq.
Yet here it was doing a mighty fine task and not much slower then my Ipaq.
Downloaded Mobipocket and Avantgo for my first real field test so I would have stuff to read on my train journeys.
Mobipocket was awesome.
The Intermec can be fliped over and used as a tablet PC and Mobipocket can make good use of that.
The tablet mode combined with the incredible screen and custom letter sizes of Mobipocket makes it look like youre holding and reading a real book.
Avantgo however is a less then satisfactory experience as the resolution is geared towards PPC devices so on the Intermec Avantgo opening page itself takes up less then a quarter of the fabulous screen and everything is really small.
Things improve but not by much when you open one of the syncronised channels, the syncronised channels stretch over the entire screen for easier readability but remain in a verry small hard to read font designed for use on PPCs wich have far less pixels per square inch.
No options to change the size seem to be present either.
On the road I decided to test the machines included swivel camera as well.
Started filming(the camera films in Mpeg4 format and the movies get converted to asf before you can use them)and was quite let down.
The framerate was low(higher on a desktop strangely) and contrast wasnt what it should be, filming too can only be done for 1 minute straight maximum.
After that minute the camera starts converting the movie to ASF format and that itself takes as long.
For pictures the documentation claims VGA resolution but I havent found anny options that allow VGA to be set and instead im stuck at the 320by240quarter VGA maximum that the camera has for movies.
Inclded off course is a second Sharp movie player to play back the ASF files.
Hmmm so much more to say and I have typed so much already.
Ill end it here for now.
If anny of you have specific questions feel free to ask em here and ill provide answers.
Ill end this for now with some of its strong and weaker points as experienced by me after almost 2 weeks of usage.
Positive:
Despite low clockspeed a really fast device that doesnt seem to suffer from the amount of pixels it has to push.
Incredible screen the likes of wich ive never seen before.
Excellent connectivity and expandibility to/with other devices(PC and Rex, PCMCI and CF, build in Modem, USB that accepts quite a few devices without needing driversetcetera)
Excellent battery life(up to 10 houres)
MS Productivity suit(word, excell etcetera) KILLS the PPC equivalents.
PC File vieuwer.
Tablet mode.
Negative:
Multimedia capabilities out of the box are not as good as on a PPC.
Keyboard is a little too small for my liking.
Camera is a mayor dissapointment.
Some links:
http://home.intermec.com/eprise/main/Intermec/Content/Products/Products_ShowDetail?section=Products&Product=CMPTR6651&Category=CMPTR&Family=CMPTR2
http://www.pencomputing.com/frames/textblock_intermec_6651.html
http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/intermec6651.htm (Chris De Herrera is mighty impressed)
My experiences with embedded windows devices started about 5 years ago when I bought a Casiopeia CE machine with a screen that looked greenish and blurred like the original Gameboy.
CE back then was aso les then stable.
After that I switched to a Packard Bell mobilepro 770(NEC) and what a difference the screen made.
Awesome keyboard that for me felt better then most full size keyboards, large colour screen, excellent battery life and windows CE 2.11 provided for an extremely cool productivity machine wich came in handy in my international travels.
The built in modem and expandability trough CF and PCMCI were excellent points as well.
I used the machine more and more but eventually was tempted by the Ipaq.
Sold the 770 and bought an Ipaq.
I loved the Ipaq as a gadget, it could play lots of games, avantgo was a hoot and it fitted inside my pockets.
As time went on however I started to miss the functionality of the 770.
The 770 had served me so wel for so long and unlike the ancient Casio(still have it somewhere) it didnt lock up and actually did what I had bought it for.
Sure it was a lot slower then the Ipaq and even Gameboy emulation sucked on it and it only had 256colours etcetera but damn the large half VGA screen and excellent keyboard were sorely missed on those long trips.
I hate bringing along a full laptop do conduct interviews, take notes and check up on meetings etcetera, the 770 was perfect for my on the road needs and I regretted selling it.
So I started to contemplate buying the NEC Mobilepro 790 or perhaps the Jornada 720.
Checked the jornada and it was to small for my needs, typing was a pain and I felt it was overpriced for what it offered.
Did some more digging into various devices and I found the machine that seemed perfect for me.
Intermec 6651/Sharp telios 7000
So why did I choose the Intermec then over the familiar form factor of the Mobilepro?
Well basically I was offered a great deal on the machine and I checked all reviews I could find online.
None of the reviews was negative and all seemed to praise the machine as what WindowsCE machines should be like.
Only downers were always the price(1395US$) but that didnt apply to me becouse I was offered one with warrantee for 350$.
As I was anxiously awaiting the UPS tracking number I saw a parcel on the living room table wich a family member had signed for.
pon confirmation that the parcel was for me I opened it and inside was much to my surprise the Intermec.
Checked the contents, then started charging.
Powered on the device and I was immediatly floored.
Damn, that screen is unreal.
The colours, the clarity, the amount of pixels per square inch.
I can honestly say I havent seen a portable screen of that quality before and that includes the subnotebook Vaio laptops and the Clie70.
Resolution is high(800by480 on a 7.1inch screen), colours are vibrant and picture is incredibly stable.
Forget the screen of a Vieuwsonic or the new HP Ipaq´s, they dont come even close.
They cant no matter what as this screen is both bigger AND has far more pixels per square inch.
The screen and colours on the device are so high in quality and well defined that it is hard to believe the machine is limited to 16bit colour(64k).
Checked the software in the rom and I was greeted with newer versions of all the programs I was used to from my trusty old 770.
In addition to those however I now had a machine that also had a Terminal server client and dedicated remote networking.
On top of those were a host of Sharp applications like a backup tool, FTP manager, Image editor a PC file viewer and a host of other Internet related services as well as software for the integrated swivel camera.
After checking those I decided to grab a hold of my good old 128mb CF card and see how well the machine would deal with the pictures, movies, music and programs on it.
Much to my surprise the machine recognised everything on the card and was able to start most of the non device specific programs.
MS Pocket streets 2k2 launched immediatly from the card and the maps were displayed full screen at speeds only slightly slower then they did on my Ipaq.
Windows media player found all MP3 files and played them, pictures were found and displayed in brilliant high res and the build in Sharp Mpeg player played most Mpeg 1 movies.
Sadly tough it played only movies with a resolution of 320by240 or lower and automaticaly downsampled them to 160by120.
MpegTV on my CF card was recognised(all programs on the card showed theyre correct icons and names but since often the executables are device specific the device specific ones of course didnt play)but since it was the ARM PPC version it was useles.
I proceeded to download Mpeg TV for Mips based HPC2000 devices and checked the high quality Mpegs on my cards and much to my surprise they played better then they had on my Ipaq.
In fact it looked like the limiting factor was the transfer speed of the CF card.
A 38Mb big 3.40minutes long Mpeg1 file was played at a verry good framerate and unlike on the Ipaq at the right aspect ratios.
Sadly PocketTV for hpc2000 devices is pay only and im not about to pay 50$ for it.
Another bummer was the fact that there is no PocketDiVX player compatible with this device.
Decided to put the machine to a hard and rigorous gaming test so I downloaded a compatible version of Yame and again I was surprised by how well the processor dealt with the heavy task at hand.
The intermec runs on a 129Mhz Mips processor(slower clockspeed then my old 770 wich also had a Mips processor but clocked at 131Mhz) yet it runs GB, GBC and NES games at near perfect to decent speeds with sound while the PCEngine emulation framerate wise is less then perfect.
It even played the PCEngine Street Fighter2 rom, something my Ipaq never did.
I never expected the machine to deal that wel with such processor intensive tasks becouse I knew the processor ran at almost half the speed of the StrongArm in my Ipaq.
Yet here it was doing a mighty fine task and not much slower then my Ipaq.
Downloaded Mobipocket and Avantgo for my first real field test so I would have stuff to read on my train journeys.
Mobipocket was awesome.
The Intermec can be fliped over and used as a tablet PC and Mobipocket can make good use of that.
The tablet mode combined with the incredible screen and custom letter sizes of Mobipocket makes it look like youre holding and reading a real book.
Avantgo however is a less then satisfactory experience as the resolution is geared towards PPC devices so on the Intermec Avantgo opening page itself takes up less then a quarter of the fabulous screen and everything is really small.
Things improve but not by much when you open one of the syncronised channels, the syncronised channels stretch over the entire screen for easier readability but remain in a verry small hard to read font designed for use on PPCs wich have far less pixels per square inch.
No options to change the size seem to be present either.
On the road I decided to test the machines included swivel camera as well.
Started filming(the camera films in Mpeg4 format and the movies get converted to asf before you can use them)and was quite let down.
The framerate was low(higher on a desktop strangely) and contrast wasnt what it should be, filming too can only be done for 1 minute straight maximum.
After that minute the camera starts converting the movie to ASF format and that itself takes as long.
For pictures the documentation claims VGA resolution but I havent found anny options that allow VGA to be set and instead im stuck at the 320by240quarter VGA maximum that the camera has for movies.
Inclded off course is a second Sharp movie player to play back the ASF files.
Hmmm so much more to say and I have typed so much already.
Ill end it here for now.
If anny of you have specific questions feel free to ask em here and ill provide answers.
Ill end this for now with some of its strong and weaker points as experienced by me after almost 2 weeks of usage.
Positive:
Despite low clockspeed a really fast device that doesnt seem to suffer from the amount of pixels it has to push.
Incredible screen the likes of wich ive never seen before.
Excellent connectivity and expandibility to/with other devices(PC and Rex, PCMCI and CF, build in Modem, USB that accepts quite a few devices without needing driversetcetera)
Excellent battery life(up to 10 houres)
MS Productivity suit(word, excell etcetera) KILLS the PPC equivalents.
PC File vieuwer.
Tablet mode.
Negative:
Multimedia capabilities out of the box are not as good as on a PPC.
Keyboard is a little too small for my liking.
Camera is a mayor dissapointment.
Some links:
http://home.intermec.com/eprise/main/Intermec/Content/Products/Products_ShowDetail?section=Products&Product=CMPTR6651&Category=CMPTR&Family=CMPTR2
http://www.pencomputing.com/frames/textblock_intermec_6651.html
http://www.cewindows.net/reviews/intermec6651.htm (Chris De Herrera is mighty impressed)