10-12-2007, 02:00 PM
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Executive Editor, Android Thoughts
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,233
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Dolphin 7850 Announced
"The Dolphin 7850 is purpose-built for scan-intensive, in-premise retail and warehousing applications. Featuring user-focused ergonomics and industrial-grade construction, the 7850 is designed to increase productivity and maximize your return on investment."
If you've ever wished you could, say, drop your windows mobile device from 5 feet without worrying whatsoever about it, and you want to scan some barcodes (or pretend to shoot someone), then here's a device for you! Seriously, it's always interesting for me to see the rugged devices as I have no use or experience with them. I find it a bit weird to imagine using this device for email or calendaring, making me think that sometimes, Windows Mobile may be overkill. What do you guys think?
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Dr. Jon Westfall, MCSE, MS-MVP
Executive Editor - Android Thoughts
News Editor - Windows Phone Thoughts
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10-12-2007, 02:53 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 171
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Quote:
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Windows Mobile may be overkill. What do you guys think?
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Having developed apps for Symbol devices and come up against the brick wall of their support system even though the company had purchased a third of a million dollars worth of scanners, the ability to develop on a windows mobile base seems very attractive.
Beverly Howard [MS MVP-Mobile Devices]
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10-12-2007, 03:33 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 412
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Re: Dolphin 7850 Announced
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Originally Posted by Jon Westfall
I find it a bit weird to imagine using this device for email or calendaring, making me think that sometimes, Windows Mobile may be overkill. What do you guys think?
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You're probably thinking of personal calendaring and e-mail ("kewl, let's all go see slash 5 on sat night at the Walmart plaza") instead of business functionality.
I've worked with systems that use these ruggedized devices in warehouses and stores. There are plenty of requirements for event management and messaging. Think in terms of deadlines, notifications, reminders, check lists, etc, not meet-ups and chatting about who Pam Anderson is marrying this week.
Perhaps think of it this way: If you had to deliver a solution that involved scheduling, resource planning, event management, messaging, chat, inventory, monitoring, and more, why would you want to build your own calendaring, e-mail, and chat functionality from scratch?
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10-12-2007, 04:24 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 484
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As both Bev and Karen have pointed out, it's not about the "Personal" in PDA, but about having a complete suite of tools available for enterprise application development.
I've also worked on projects based on various versions of Windows CE and it was harder to work around the various limitations. Also, it's generally cheaper to just use the full Windows Mobile than to build a custom subset of programs.
The biggest downside I see to having the full Windows Mobile suite on an industrial device is that it's much harder to "lock down" the user so that they can't "surf the web" or play solitaire when they should be working. There are some tools to try to help with that, such as SPB's kiosk tool, and most industrial devices have their memory slot internal to the unit so that the user can't remove the card or put in their own without disassembly.
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10-12-2007, 04:38 PM
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Executive Editor, Android Thoughts
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,233
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Don't get me wrong, I thought of the business applications for calendaring, email, etc.. However, Windows Mobile in my mind doesn't lend itself well to workers who may not be mindful of checking such things.
For example, in a factory environment where the primary purpose is to scan labels of some sort, what are the odds that the average employee will periodically stop and check to see if new memos have come in, new events scheduled, etc..? Unless management is extremely persuasive on this, I can see employees simply forgetting to check, which makes me think that custom applications would be better from a management perspective (e.g. a notification appears on the screen that can't be dismissed unless the employee initials that they received it, etc..).
I suppose I view WM as a platform more for professional business usages and less of a platform for traditional "blue collar" tools. But then again, if I'm wrong that simply means that this market can be a potential boon for the platform we all know and love (or hate)
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Dr. Jon Westfall, MCSE, MS-MVP
Executive Editor - Android Thoughts
News Editor - Windows Phone Thoughts
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10-12-2007, 05:27 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 484
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jon Westfall
For example, in a factory environment where the primary purpose is to scan labels of some sort, what are the odds that the average employee will periodically stop and check to see if new memos have come in, new events scheduled, etc..?
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Generally a custom application is written for such devices that acts as a "wrapper" around any of the built-in applications. So for example, if your factory worker is scanning inventory, and finds that a certain item is low on stock, the custom application might want to notify purchasing of that fact via a "canned" email message. The scanning program can use the built-in email application to automatically send the message "behind the scenes" as it were. Or the custom program might want to use alarms to notify the user of specific events.
Just as programs such as Agenda Fusion or Pocket Informant use the built-in calendar and contact databases with their own custom UI, many enterprise applications use the built-in application suite to streamline development.
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10-12-2007, 06:15 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 70
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Actually - the CE 5.0 "Premium" package from Symbol gives you the best of both worlds (support issues not withstanding). I think you get just about everything you get with Windows Mobile (email, web browser, word, excel, etc.), but you can uninstall the things you don't need.
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10-12-2007, 11:46 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 22
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Windows Mobile is a complete nightmare from an enterprise device perspective. It's like whack-a-rat - every time you think you've got it locked down, some other blasted notification pops up. I curse all rugged device OEMs who don't offer a custom CE platform option (and those who only offer the custom CE platform on some devices or form factors in a range - I'm looking at you, Symbol MC90xx 'brick' devices, only the Gun form factor like this Dolphin have a custom CE option).
Even worse is that all the drivers for the built-in devices, on top of the Windows Mobile 5.0 Phone Edition platform, seems to lead to a DLL crunch issue. It's not funny when you get an exception in device.exe, I can tell you. WM 5.0 Phone Edition is TOO DAMN BIG! Devices with GSM/other cell radios only seem to come with Phone Edition, though.
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Mike Dimmick
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10-15-2007, 01:06 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 554
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jon Westfall
Don't get me wrong, I thought of the business applications for calendaring, email, etc.. However, Windows Mobile in my mind doesn't lend itself well to workers who may not be mindful of checking such things.
For example, in a factory environment where the primary purpose is to scan labels of some sort, what are the odds that the average employee will periodically stop and check to see if new memos have come in, new events scheduled, etc..? Unless management is extremely persuasive on this, I can see employees simply forgetting to check, which makes me think that custom applications would be better from a management perspective (e.g. a notification appears on the screen that can't be dismissed unless the employee initials that they received it, etc..).
I suppose I view WM as a platform more for professional business usages and less of a platform for traditional "blue collar" tools. But then again, if I'm wrong that simply means that this market can be a potential boon for the platform we all know and love (or hate)
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If a worker is instructed to check for messages and notifications, and it is his or her responsibilities, it will be done. WM has notification system that works well enough. Of course you will have "rogue" employee who doesn't do the job once in a while, but you meet those on all levels, from janitor to CEO. Have some faith in people.
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