12-16-2005, 08:36 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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DualCor's cPC Blends Windows Mobile 5 and Windows XP in One Device
"DualCor Technologies next month will unveil the cPC, a full-fledged handheld Windows XP computer that also comes with a built-in smart phone that runs Windows Mobile 5.0. The cPC is 6.5 inches long, 3.3 inches wide, 1.2 inches thick and has a 5-inch diagonal screen. It will be aimed at sales representatives and executives who travel extensively, said CEO Steven Hanley, who joined the company seven months ago. There are signs of demand for such a device. A small but growing number of white-collar workers have begun to trade in their notebooks for BlackBerrys and other handhelds."
When Pocket PC Thoughts reader ecard mentioned DualCor back in October, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. I thought people were getting it confused with Ultra Mobile 2007, but it looks like I was completely incorrect. This device looks...interesting. There are definitely times I've wished my Pocket PC could do more, but I'm not at all convinced that I want a full-blown copy of Windows XP with me at all times, having to look after an OS that needs monthly patches. The cPC seems to address this issue by offering the user the best of both worlds. I definitely need to see how this will work, because having a device that does both well (with 40 GB of storage on it to boot!) is no small feat.
Raphael Salgado, who alerted us of the story, offers us up some commentary about the proposed features:
"It's a true hybrid Pocket PC and Tablet PC device, running both Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, respectively. It's target price is $1500 and they will offer volume discounts. Think of the price of the Universal plus $500 or so, but with much more functionality. It's scheduled for release in March 2006 around CES, comparatively very soon to market! If this files, this could blow away the entire OQO line and the Vulcan FlipStart PC, both of which are just handtop PCs with an average/estimated price of $2000, respectively. The OQO is already out (sporting mediocre battery life) and the FlipStart PC still remains vaporware. The 1.5GHz VIA processor would prove sufficient while maintaining good battery life, and the Windows Mobile side has an Intel PXA (XScale processor). While most Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC devices have 64 to 128MB of Flash ROM, this device will have 1GB of FlashROM for the OS, not to mention the 40GB hard drive, the 128MB of RAM, and the (separate?) 1GB of memory for its PC side. Now that's a lot of space! Its dimensions are 6.5 x 3.3 x 1.2 inches. In comparison, the Universal's dimensions are very roughly 5 x 3 x 0.8 (using a ruler to measure mine). It will be bigger than the largest Pocket PC Phone Edition, but the tradeoff of PC functionality and the likelihood of Bluetooth implementation for headset use may be worth the difference."
So what do you think - a device that will rock the mobile world, and re-define the gap between Windows Mobile and Windows XP? Or another doomed-to-fail effort at creating the "perfect" mobile device?
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12-16-2005, 09:06 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 498
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How to input? No touch screen, no keyboard, not hardware buttons. $1500 for a brick-size phone and document viewer? I didn't see the point here. :cry:
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12-16-2005, 09:12 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Hmm...that is rather bizarre that it uses the Tablet PC OS and yet has no touch screen. 8O What exactly does "the company figured it out" mean?
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12-16-2005, 09:21 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 468
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Hmm...that is rather bizarre that it uses the Tablet PC OS and yet has no touch screen. 8O What exactly does "the company figured it out" mean?
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My understanding was that it has a touchscreen, just not an active digitizer like most Tablet PCs.
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12-16-2005, 09:25 PM
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Oracle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 841
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Which makes it very strange. Windows Mobile requires touchscreen. Tablet PC OS works with active digitizers, but there's a new crop of Tablet PC devices coming out soon with touchscreen instead.
I would say you still have to "feed" the Windows XP side of the things with monthly updates, so the "having to look after an OS that needs monthly patches" from the OP is still there.
Personally if I wanted a communication tool with Windows XP I would simply add a GSM/GPRS/UMTS module to it and been done. Two OS is an overkill, a nightmare for IT management actually.
As we all know, Windows Mobile is not the best thing in the world for upgrades - meaning that when upgrading your Windows Mobile, the whole Windows XP will go away.
Nah... Too much hassle.
:roll:
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12-16-2005, 09:26 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Perry Reed
My understanding was that it has a touchscreen, just not an active digitizer like most Tablet PCs.
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To me that means no touchscreen at all, though that makes hardly any sense. :?
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12-16-2005, 09:28 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 468
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Perry Reed
My understanding was that it has a touchscreen, just not an active digitizer like most Tablet PCs.
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"The company figured how to include TabletPC functionality without incorporating a digitizer, which is an additional chip."
To me that means no touchscreen at all, though that makes hardly any sense. :? |
I guess we just interpreted that differently. I know that Microsoft has relaxed the spec requirements on Tablets, allowing manufacturers to use touchscreens in addition to, or instead of, the active digitizers that all of the current Tablets use.
I'm assuming then that that statement means that they're using a touch screen -- and not a digitizer -- because, as you say, no touchscreen would make no sense.
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12-16-2005, 09:39 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 541
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This won't fly.
I may be wrong, but even the specs are a bit over the top. Compared to OQO it has everything more, disk, RAM and CPU speed + a whole PPC Phone edition... To integrate this in such small form would be a nightmare, to integrate it well would be near impossible IMHO.
My guess is, that if it's ever released it won't be good at anything, especially at beeing a phone - I have the Universal and it's too big and heavy as an everyday phone, not to mention the fragility of a HardDrive.
Also a couple of usability questions. How is this going to work:
- You are in XP and the call comes - will the WM5 run in background and take over the machine for the call or you won't have a phone during XP session? So will both sessions run in paralel and will XP use the WM5 part as wireless modem will they share the wireless radios, what about addon cards and stuff? Will you get a special backpack with the battery, because powering all the RAM, HD and two CPUs + bunch of radios will suck the battery dry in no time.
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12-16-2005, 09:45 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 468
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by alese
Also a couple of usability questions. How is this going to work:
- You are in XP and the call comes - will the WM5 run in background and take over the machine for the call or you won't have a phone during XP session? So will both sessions run in paralel and will XP use the WM5 part as wireless modem will they share the wireless radios, what about addon cards and stuff? Will you get a special backpack with the battery, because powering all the RAM, HD and two CPUs + bunch of radios will suck the battery dry in no time.
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My guess/hope is that you can have both components running at the same time (otherwise, how would you sync them?) and simply switch between which one has control of the screen and I/O. Should a call come in, you'd switch from Tablet mode to Pocket PC mode (or, more precisely, switch the display and controls to Pocket PC mode) and take the call.
Or, perhaps, again assuming both components can be active at once, perhaps the Pocket PC component would maintain "control" of the Bluetooth radio even when the Tablet is functioning, so with a Bluetooth headset you could take the call even while the Tablet continues to use the display, etc.
I dunno, I guess we'll have to wait and see as more information becomes available.
I can tell you, though, as an avid fan of both Pocket PC and Tablet PC, I'm extremely interested and intrigued by this device and can't wait to see more of it. I certainly have high hopes for it.
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12-16-2005, 10:12 PM
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Magi
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 2,341
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Re: DualCor's cPC Blends Windows Mobile 5 and Windows XP in One Device
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
So what do you think - a device that will rock the mobile world, and re-define the gap between Windows Mobile and Windows XP? Or another doomed-to-fail effort at creating the "perfect" mobile device?
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Won't fly.
The longer I'm involved with mobile devices, the more I'm convinced the real key to sucessful mobility is having mobile applications that interact with their non mobile counterpart back home or in the office.
When I first started playing with mobility I wanted a portable device that would run a desktop version of Windows. My primary reason was to be able to have Quickbooks, my accounting software at my fingertips. Now I can do pretty much everything I need to do with Quickbooks in a mobile version, along with almost every other computing function I need. I do all this in a convenient little Pocket PC package that is also my phone and internet connection to the world, which opens even more opportunities for mobile computing.
For the foreseeable future I don't see tiny XP devices being effective or cost efficient. As I said I think the key is in software and it's ability to interface with desktop versions. Portable devices such as Windows Mobile now have a pretty decent compliment of features that can be used in conjunction with that software.
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