Are Headset-Enabled PDA's The Future?

[Janak Parekh]

Much research has been done towards <a href="http://www.media.mit.edu/wearables/">wearable</a> <a href="http://about.eyetap.org/index.shtml">computing</a>. We would probably call PDA's one practical implementation. However, how about combining our existing PDA's with modern research in head-mounted displays?<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.xybernaut.com/Solutions/product/poma_product.htm">Xybernaut Poma</a> is one such device. I'm surprised we haven't picked up on it before. This WinCE unit is broken down into three pieces: the headset, the handheld, and the mouse. The handheld is a 128MHz SH4 with 32MB RAM and a type II CF slot, weighs 10oz and fits in your pocket; the mouse can be kept in your hand as you walk. The headset has a whopping 640x480 resolution.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/poma.gif" /><br /><br />While it's not a Pocket PC, according to <a href="http://www.xybernautonline.com/eCommerce/Poma/Plac_Poma.htm">their webstore</a> it has DirectX, Windows Media Technology 4.1, Windows Media Player 6.4 Control, Pocket Word, Inbox, and Internet Explorer for CE. Not a bad bundle for $1,499, and I suspect the device design doesn't match the Pocket PC requirements anyway.<br /><br />Now, if only the headset was a thin sunglass-style display, I would be all over it. I somehow don't believe the stylish people featured in the <a href="http://www.xybernaut.com/Solutions/product/downloads/XYBpoma.pdf">Poma's specification PDF</a> would actually be caught wearing this, and <a href="http://www.techtv.com/news/computing/story/0,24195,3392846,00.html">this review</a> seems to agree with me. However, such display technology is <a href="http://about.eyetap.org/library/weekly/aa101000b.shtml">evolving rapidly</a>; it's only a matter of time before it becomes a small and practical mass-market item.<br /><br />The advantage of a headset is that it creates a virtual image that's much larger than a 3.5" or 4" handheld LCD, so you can see higher resolutions, and you can read it while walking and looking ahead. The disadvantage (apart from the fact you look like a cyborg, which is solvable) is that the virtual image can be distracting and tiring. Interaction with a virtual display is also difficult.<br /><br />What do you think: do you think our Pocket PC's should be moving in this direction? Should there be a CF adapter that you can plug into a headset and table-free mouse?

[JonnoB]

What do you think: do you think our Pocket PC's should be moving in this direction? Should there be a CF adapter that you can plug into a headset and table-free mouse?

Yes, I would buy one that was a CF or SDIO card that wirelessly connected to a inconspicuous sunglasses style HUD. Then, use eye-tracking technology to simulate a pointer.

[feo]

Of course I would agree that we should keep moving that direction.
Remember 'resistance is futile, you will be asimilated...'

[Venturello]

I love the thought of this kind of devices... but I would like it as an accesory. I think I would still prefer a normal screen on my PDA. I would see this as a VERY usable device in lots of specific circumstances, lots better than a screen, or many times, the only option (think things that need hands free, for example)

But then again, I have never tried one of these 1-inch-from-your-eyeball screen. Has anyone here tried them? Does they work well? Arent they incredibly uncomfortable? Is image quality good?

[Jonathon Watkins]

Hmmmm, not at all sure about wearing one of these. :? Much too Geeky indeed.

[mscdex]

Well, I suppose you could wear a hat to disguise it a little :P

[feo]

or a pirate patch...

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

I wonder how long-term usage would effect your vision. Wouldn't this be equivalent to putting your face against the computer monitor over long periods (minus radiation of course)?

Couldn't you become terribly near-sighted in a relatively short amount of time after using this? Maybe just in one eye?

[Janak Parekh]

Couldn't you become terribly near-sighted in a relatively short amount of time after using this? Maybe just in one eye?
Not necessarily, I think. The focal length may be medium-range. But maybe if you use it all the time, even in bed? ;) The strain of a display right next to your eye worries me.

Hmmmm, not at all sure about wearing one of these. :? Much too Geeky indeed.
PDAG, take a look at the "evolving rapidly" link. It's now possible to embed one of these behind a standard pair of sunglasses, and in fact the same guy (Steve Mann) now has one that works with (what seems to be) a clear pair of glasses. Miniturization of the display technologies have happened very, very quickly.

--janak

[mookie123]

Hey maybe they should start making PDA like desktop computer, separate the units instead of one big chunk.

-main computing unit/storage
-display/headset
-other peripheral.

[Robotbeat]

Actually, you can do this pretty easily with the Toshiba e740 and the expansion pack, which has a video-out port and a USB host port on it. Just use a small trackball usb mouse, already commercially available head mounted displays, and you got this product (except with a much faster processor and integrated wifi). Unfortunately, it would look less "hip" than the thing shown here.

[Robotbeat]

Am I right or am I right?
(BTW, you can get a driver that will show a mouse pointer when using a USB mouse with a PPC with USB host capabilities)

[Robotbeat]

You can get an e740 for $350 (with a rebate), and the expansion pack for $25 ($75-$50 rebate). That makes it $400 plus however much the headset costs. Besides that, you can run your favorite PPC apps on it!

[Jonathon Watkins]

Ummmm - is there a Slight hint of over-posting there Robotbeat? :lying::scatter::flasingsmile::scatter:

[JonnoB]

Ummmm - is there a Slight hint of over-posting there Robotbeat? :lying::scatter::flasingsmile::scatter:

Maybe there was something magical about getting to 100 posts.... :?

[SassKwatch]

I wonder how long-term usage would effect your vision............Couldn't you become terribly near-sighted in a relatively short amount of time after using this? Maybe just in one eye?

That's certainly something worth considering. If the display is such that much focusing/re-focusing of the eye is required depending on whether one is trying to read the display or look at the 'hottie' walking by them on the street :lol:, that may well put undue strain on the eye. Also check out this link (bottom of the page) for other potential hazards......

http://about.eyetap.org/library/weekly/aa101000d.shtml

Here's my concern.....you know what an annoyance it can be following someone down the road while they're chatting away on their cell phone. Well, just imagine what it would be like following someone using one of these as they try to get instructions from Pocket Streets to their date's crib.

[Jonathan1]

What ever happened to the low level laser that could project an image in your eye? It was supposedly not harmful to the retina. I read about this a few years back in popular science. I could see something like that which could be relatively small. If nothing smaller then something like this. Think something small enough to be built into your glasses that has a BlueTooth receiver that can receive video from the PDA unit.

[Underwater Mike]

I was just thinking about something like this last night. No, really! If the Voyager and Margi presenters can pack everything but the adapter into a CF form, they should have no problem creating an add-on display of this type. I'd buy one in a heartbeat, especially if it supported something up to 800 x 600. A lot better for getting work done on flights than either my notebook or a PPC screen.

[Mark (NL)]

Things like this always make me wonder how the hell you are supposed to get any data into it... mouse pointer and a virtual keyboard? Now that will be awfull slow...

[guinness]

They reviewed this device on TechTV, they said a neat idea and warrents further development, but long useage of the headset led to eye-strain and headaches. The mouse takes getting used to as well, it's like putting an optical mouse on its back and putting your thumb over the led to control the pointer.

OT: I'm getting an Axim X5 for Christmas (replaces my TI Avigo :D ). Are there any 802.11 cards that use SD/MMC instead of CF? I want to use the CF for memory as it's cheaper than SD, buy.com has 256 MB CF for about $65 after rebate.

[vincentsiaw]

hmm, wearing this kind of stuff reminds me of borg from star-trek movie at tv, scary.... :lol:

[Gen-M]

Thsi is the only way that we will get useable screen real-estate in our pocket.

MicroOptical www.microopticalcorp.com has an eyeglasses mounted HMD. 640x480 64 colors for $995. If they can get something like a portable DVD player to incorporate their technology into a mass market product, the price will come down significantly.

Research has shown the technology safe.

It is purely a price issue (volume) now (and style!).

What is the refresh rate of the VGA port of the e740?

[Gen-M]

A few concept products - don't think any have hit market, but they are out there....

http://www.iisvr.com/products_wireless_Main.html

http://www.applieddata.net/products_bitsyborg.asp

http://www.antelopetech.com/apps.html

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

That's certainly something worth considering. If the display is such that much focusing/re-focusing of the eye
Actually, I believe that giving your eyes the variety to focus at different lengths is actually rather healthy (especially if there's a "hottie" nearby" :wink:).

Long-term vision impairment happens often when people allow their eyes to be fixated at a certain distance for long periods of time. Thus near-sightedness would be born from looking near for long periods of time. The shorter the distance, the more acute your near-sightedness would become. Now they could engineer the view to trick the eye into focusing further than the actual distance to the glasses...

Here's my concern.....you know what an annoyance it can be following someone down the road while they're chatting away on their cell phone. Well, just imagine what it would be like following someone using one of these as they try to get instructions from Pocket Streets to their date's crib.
Good point. In some ways it could be less of a distraction than a cellphone. For instance, in a restaurant, someone surfing the net wouldn't disturb me as much as a cellphone user, but in any place where movement is required, these devices could become a pain in the ***. They certainly could be dangerous out in the street.

[gracar]

Given that in many parts of the world there is pending legislation to limit mobile phone users in cars I would think a device of this nature would keep hundreds of legislators employed for years.

[Jason Dunn]

Ummmm - is there a Slight hint of over-posting there Robotbeat? :lying::scatter::flasingsmile::scatter:

Especially with no quoting - it looks like he's talking to himself three times in a row. :lol:

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Especially with no quoting - it looks like he's talking to himself three times in a row. :lol:

Ahhhh... now I see what he was doing... looks like the first post was in response to the original and the next two were in response to maybe the last 2 on the first page.

I was just thinking to myself, "Oh dear... someone's hearing voices!!"...

[AKBishop]

OT: I'm getting an Axim X5 for Christmas (replaces my TI Avigo :D ). Are there any 802.11 cards that use SD/MMC instead of CF? I want to use the CF for memory as it's cheaper than SD, buy.com has 256 MB CF for about $65 after rebate.

The Axim's don't support SDIO so you'll need to use CF for 802.11b or other networking and use the SD slot for memory. On the plus side SD cards are really small which is neat. Also, with CF I felt like if I sat on a card, I'd crush it. The SD feel pretty indestructible. Although I'm sure some people out there have horror stories regarding memory destruction. That might be a good topic. I think I'll go start it.

[Robotbeat]

Ummm... yeah. I've sat on my CF card all the time and it's fine! (well, not really, but most likely that's because it's crappy to begin with.) I mean, I have thrown it around, cracked it open, and all sorts of fun stuff. The top part of the case keeps coming off. When I drop it both the front and the back metal cover thingies come off and there's not much there except the PCB (green board thingy with the black memory chips and the lines running all around...).

Anyways, it was unintentional that I posted three times and it happened to be my 100th post. Although I WAS going to post some random posts somewhere else and get to my 100th post "Pocket PC Ponderer" milemarker, I had forgotten about it until you just reminded me. I hate editing posts, since I think that most people want to see what you originally said. It seems to me like a more credible thing to do and something that holds me more accountable. I want to be out in the open. BTW, I do sometimes hear voices... :wink:

I don't know what the refresh rate on the e740 expansion pack's video-out is, but I intend to find out. I think that what you're sort of asking is whether you can expect the same sort of graphics experience on the video out as you can with the straight display. I think that it might be very high performance, like right out of the actual video memory. I say this because of the ATI mobility video graphics chip (which is usually a pain in the butt, but sometimes it increases performance, like in the new tweaked versions of PocketDIVX/PocketMVP and PocketTV). It might be possible that the expansion pack has direct access to the video memory, and so will work in GAPI games like Argentum and anything else that writes directly to the display buffer. Even if it doesn't have direct access, PocketTV has the ability to display video to video-out accessories like Margi's CF card thing or whatever.

Responding to yet another post, I do believe that the display technology that shines a laser on your retina is a good idea. It is currently used for the HUD (Heads-Up-Display) that the Air Force uses in its pilots' helmets. For that reason, I think that the technology has a future. I mean, if a product is being used and sold in an actual product, then it is also probably being researched and stuff. My dad thinks that the retina-laser-display thing is a good idea. He always likes to talk about it when something like it is mentioned...

I think that the "weariness" that one would experience using the display is only because of the focal length of the eye. I mean, if the display appears to be five feet away, then that shouldn't be too uncomfortable. The focal distance of the display should probably be adjustable so that near-sighted people and/or far-sighted people could both get optimal usage out of it. If the focal length of the display is really long, like twenty feet away, it may be easier for the eye to change focus. I mean, if military pilots use a similar technology, it can't be too distracting that you can't operate a car, let alone a fighter jet. Anyways...

[Robotbeat]

Wow, that was a long post. I don't even know if anyone will read it because it is slipping off of the news page...

[Kati Compton]

Beware the dangers of wearable computing :) Here's a story about a University of Toronto Professor, Dr. Steve Mann, who calls himself a cyborg...

http://theregus.com/content/28/24417.html

Here's his main site (http://www.eecg.toronto.edu/~mann/) if you want to know more about this guy, and some pictures (http://wearcam.org/pictures.html) (scroll down) from one of his classes, where all the students are wearing "wearable computers"...

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Good gracious Kati!!! That's hilarious!!!

...discriminated against b/c he was a cyborg???

Shouldn't the accused even understand what a cyborg is before he/she/they can even be accused of discriminating against one?

[Gen-M]

Put in some time researching the facts here. Don't believe that the Register reports all the facts.

Dr. Mann tried to cooperate with the airlines. He delayed his trip for several days while he got the medical documentation requested by the airline. They still destroyed some of the equipment that he has been wearing for 10+ years and damaged him physically. :roll:

Remember the science experiments about the guy who wore glasses that made everything look upside down after a while? Even after he took the glasses off? Same principles apply here. 8)

------------------
Just got an e-mail from IIS - they are coming out with an HMD for iPaqs in Q1 (its not on their web page yet). :D

[Pony99CA]

The Xybernaut Poma (http://www.xybernaut.com/Solutions/product/poma_product.htm) is one such device. I'm surprised we haven't picked up on it before. This WinCE unit is broken down into three pieces: the headset, the handheld, and the mouse. The handheld is a 128MHz SH4 with 32MB RAM and a type II CF slot, weighs 10oz and fits in your pocket; the mouse can be kept in your hand as you walk. The headset has a whopping 640x480 resolution.

While it's not a Pocket PC, according to their webstore (http://www.xybernautonline.com/eCommerce/Poma/Plac_Poma.htm) it has DirectX, Windows Media Technology 4.1, Windows Media Player 6.4 Control, Pocket Word, Inbox, and Internet Explorer for CE. Not a bad bundle for $1,499, and I suspect the device design doesn't match the Pocket PC requirements anyway.

Not a bad bundle for $1499? It sounds pretty overpriced to me. Let's compare it to a $299 Dell Pocket PC.

Processor: 128 MHz SH4 vs. 400 MHz XScale
Memory: 32 MB vs. 64 MB
Expansion: CF vs. CF &amp; SD
Display: 640 x 480 headmount vs. 240 x 320 screen
Pointer: Handheld mouse vs. stylus
Weight: 10 oz. (just for the CPU part) vs. 6.9 oz.

So the Dell is faster, has more memory, is more expandable, weighs less and costs $1200 less. The Poma has a better display (if you don't mind wearing it) and possibly better cursor control (again, if you don't mind carrying it). Are the display and mouse worth $1200? I think not.

Steve

[Pony99CA]

That's certainly something worth considering. If the display is such that much focusing/re-focusing of the eye
Actually, I believe that giving your eyes the variety to focus at different lengths is actually rather healthy (especially if there's a "hottie" nearby" :wink:).

Long-term vision impairment happens often when people allow their eyes to be fixated at a certain distance for long periods of time. Thus near-sightedness would be born from looking near for long periods of time. The shorter the distance, the more acute your near-sightedness would become. Now they could engineer the view to trick the eye into focusing further than the actual distance to the glasses...

Why would someone become nearsighted? Nearsightedness (myopia) results from a misshapen eyeball, where light is focused in front of the retina. These monitors aren't pressing against your eye. :crazyeyes:

If you're worried that the muscles that focus your eyes would be accustomed to this distance, I doubt that would happen, either. Do people who read books for a living have problems focusing farther or nearer? As you said, focusing and refocusing is actually good for the eyes, I believe.

I suspect much of the eyestrain would occur from staring into the monitor for a long time with one eye while the other eye is focused at its normal distance. To test this, try reading something held very close to your face with both eyes, then try reading that same thing held close to your face with one eye while watching a TV or something across the room with your other eye. See which causes more eyestrain.

Steve (a very nearsighted guy)

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

Why would someone become nearsighted? Nearsightedness (myopia) results from a misshapen eyeball, where light is focused in front of the retina. These monitors aren't pressing against your eye. :crazyeyes:
Uhhh... you didn't become nearsighted by having something "pressing against your eye", did you?

If you're worried that the muscles that focus your eyes would be accustomed to this distance, I doubt that would happen, either. Do people who read books for a living have problems focusing farther or nearer? As you said, focusing and refocusing is actually good for the eyes, I believe.
People who tend to use computers or read books or do anything where there eyes are focused at a short distance tend to be near-sighted. So they have problems focusing far. For computer-geeked out people that probably spend most of their time already staring at something 12"-18" in front of them, another instrument that has your eyes focusing even closer might not be a comforting thought.

All of my ascendents within my family tree had perfect vision. I was the first to experience near-sightedness at a young age. Coincidentally (or not so), I was also the first in my family to use a computer and the myopia developed within a year after getting my first Apple IIe (I give credit to Wizardry for keeping my face plastered to that screen).

I suspect much of the eyestrain would occur from staring into the monitor for a long time with one eye while the other eye is focused at its normal distance.
Yeah, if you look at my very first post on the 1st page, I wondered about this "one-eye-strain" effect myself. It's not too uncommon for people to have uneven vision between their eyes... I'm sure this device wouldn't help too much.

[Janak Parekh]

The Poma has a better display (if you don't mind wearing it) and possibly better cursor control (again, if you don't mind carrying it). Are the display and mouse worth $1200? I think not.
Considering this unit came out 6+ months ago, and it doesn't have the economies of scale, plus the special interfaces and R&D that went into it, plus the fact that headset-mounted displays are generally expensive, it's not a terrible price. It could use a price cut about now, but what other product is out there in the same niche competing against it?

It's not like PPC's, where there are smartphones, Palms, etc. competing and forcing the devices to have an aggressive price point.

I didn't say it was a deal, mind you :)

--janak