NEC to Produce Bsquare 'Power Handheld' Design PDA/Phone

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,116291,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/news/article...,RSS,RSS,00.asp</a><br /><br /></div>A few weeks ago Marlof <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=27761&amp;">posted</a> that the Register had <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/04/bsquare_review/">reviewed</a> the Bsquare 'Power Handheld' concept unit. Now PCWorld bring news that the design will actually be put into production: <br /><br /><i>"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."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/BSquare.jpg" /> <br /><i><span>(This is the original Bsquare design the <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/04/bsquare_review/">Register</a> reviewed, not the Final NEC version)</span></i><br /><br /><i>"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."</i><br /><br />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?

[Willmonwah]

If it had a bigger screen, it'd be so much more appealing. But, then again, the price would probably be even higher.

[Jereboam]

It's Vodafone in the UK selling these, and I had a look at one in my pet Vodafone store. In the end I settled on the combo of a SE P900 for phone/PIM functions and a new 3G PCMCIA card for actual wireless computing. A best of both worlds kind of thing. The 3G card, by the way, is awesome. 364k downstream basically anywhere in the country, and the data packages are actually approaching reasonable. I pay £40 for 300 megs traffic inclusive. Plenty for light surfing and email on the move.

The screen on the aforementioned is actually great, very clear and readable. It is pretty heavy though, and slightly awkward to use...certainly not a pluck out and use affair like a P900 or Pocket PC/Palm. The battery life, according to my salesman, is appalling, at about three hours on average, and off the top of my head I can't remember if it has removable batteries. No built in Bluetooth or wifi makes it a no-no for me too.

I've just reread the Register review after writing the above and they echo most of my comments. I can't see a reason to go for this yet, but Bsquare 2 might be a great handheld.

J'bm

[Jonathan1]

Mmmmm Newton two point oh. I want. But get rid of that fugly shell. Give me something sexy and metallic

[Marcel_Proust]

As with the above comments, there is a something not quite right feel about this device.
Why doesn't it for instance just run SE, which would adapt well with a keyboard in landscape mode, and would give it a much larger base of programs to use.

[Palm Cow]

a file viewer for popular PC applications

Why bother with SE when you can have .net lookin' like XP, PLUS run all those programs?

[Aerestis]

I don't think it will do too well. Then again, I might only think that because I think it's ugly.

[Marcel_Proust]

a file viewer for popular PC applications

Why bother with SE when you can have .net lookin' like XP, PLUS run all those programs?
it 'looks' like xp, but it won't run xp programs for sure, and regular pcoket pc programs sometimes work, sometimes not. .net doesn't have as big a user base.

[Ryan Joseph]

I think this device looks really cool! Imagine web surving with the widescreen and keyboard 8O. And because it's a phone too, you'd be able to use GPRS Internet. Way cool.

And I don't think I'd be bothered by the lack of third party applications. I don't use that many with my PPC now, so I could look past that.

I wonder how the XP style interface works on such a small screen. But I've always longed for a taskbar for Windows Mobile, so that's something I'd be instantly thrilled about! :mrgreen:

This device should be very interesting...I can't wait to see one in person!

[ricksfiona]

It's clunky looking.

[Aerestis]

It's clunky looking.

yeah. One day homes will be built from used from bsquare power handhelds... Bricks will be so obsolete.