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Not my first Mobilepro by Rich Hawley
History/Intro: As I write this, I have owned my NEC Mobilepro 900C now for a full month. I have poked and prodded it more than the average user. I have performed a hard reset on it more than 500 times as I've discovered what software runs on this machine and what doesn't.
Handheld PCs: For those of you who know what a handheld pc is, you can skip this paragraph. For those of you who don't, and want to learn more, then read on. The newest NEC Mobilepro is the 900C. It is a ½ VGA color screen Windows CE device. It is the only Windows CE device still manufactured in this format. ½ VGA means that the screen is one-half the size of that display on the original IBM type computers. Those machines displayed 640 x 480 pixels. This device displays 640 x 240 pixels, making the screen half as tall. That doesn't mean it squishes everything down, it just means you can only see half as much without scrolling down to see the rest. If you display the 900C on an external monitor using the VGA cable, you still get the same screen size unless you are running a PowerPoint presentation, then you get the normal computer size screen.
Windows CE: For those of you who know what Windows CE is, you can skip this paragraph. For those of you who don't, and want to learn more, then read on. PDAs such as Palm and pocketpc devices are instant-on machines. All the needed software to make them run is built into the memory chips of the devices. All the devices have a little extra memory set aside to store and run programs you might choose to add. Since there are no moving parts, and since the screens are small, these devices, unlike your desktop computer, run fine for a long time on batteries.
Portability: Unlike the smaller PDAs, the Mobilepro 900C doesn't fit in your shirt pocket. On the other hand, unlike your laptop computers, it doesn't weigh a ton and require you to tote it around in a small suitcase size bag. Its exact size is 9.69 x 5.05 x 1.19 inches (24.6 x 12.8 x 3.0 cm) and weighs 1.8 pounds (0.82 kg), and that includes the standard battery which lasts different times according to who you talk to. The NEC has a 2200 mAh Lithium Ion battery. NEC states that the battery lasts for about 8 hours. So I decided to test it out and see what kind of use I would get. I set the screen brightness at max, set the audio level at max, turned off the power saving features, and looped an audio MP3 file to play continuously. That is a pretty severe power drain on any handheld. I got 6 hours and 22 minutes until the screen went blank. Pretty impressive really. I think if I had added a CF memory card and my PCMCIA WiFi card I probably could have taken off another couple of hours of battery use, but still that is very respectable when you consider if you tried the same thing with a standard laptop, you'd be lucky to get 2 hours out of it.
Real honest to goodness keyboard: The one thing that makes the 900C desirable over a regular PDA is the fact that it has a keyboard you can type on. A great keyboard. It is almost full size, or certainly close enough that I can type on it comfortably. To give you an idea, on a standard computer I can type about 70 wpm with 1-3 errors. On the 900C I can type about 50 wpm with the same error count. On a pocketpc, using the virtual keyboard, I can type about 10 wpm. Pretty significant difference. NEC says the keyboard is 92% full-size.
Heart of the machine: The 900C has an XScale processor. This is an updated version of the old StrongArm processors. This is also the processor found in almost all the PDAs produced today. It runs at a snappy 400 mHz speed. The good news is that it is significantly faster than the old handheld devices such as the Mobilepro 770, 780, 790, and the Jornada 680, 720, and 780. And while the Jornadas and Mobilepros used different hardware/cpus, it is the thoroughput that I am talking about…what the user experiences. The great news is that because of this cpu upgrade and redesign, many of the older HPC programs written for the ARM processor work great. As you can see from my software listing on this website, I have found nearly 200 so far and I am still searching.
Compatibility: Software and hardware compatibility can make or break a machine. Historically, there was little or now hardware compatibility for HPC devices. The NEC 900C improves that somewhat because of the newer Windows CE.NET 4.2 operating system. It has newer and better built in drivers for USB support. I found that I could plug in keyboards, mice, even external hard drives and they all worked fine. Even those little USB adapters that give you additional ports work fine, though too many devices would strain the power capability of the 900C.
Expansion: There are also two expansion slots available for the 900C. A PCMCIA slot, which you often read about as a Type II PC Card expansion slot, and a CF slot which is a Type II CF card slot. These allow you to add memory or wireless/wired Ethernet cards and other devices to your HPC device. I found that any compact flash card works well. For the PCMCIA slot, the PCMCIA ' CF adapter also works fine. Ethernet cards must be of the 16 bit variety. While the 16 bit cards are found easily enough, the ones you see everywhere for laptops, that support 32 bit cardbus will not work on the 900C. To use a modem with a dial up service, the modem is built into the 900C, so you don't need to add one. It works great and runs at the max 56K allowed. It can also be configured to work with phone systems throughout the world. Other ports on the 900C include an infrared port port, 2 USB ports, an RS-232C serial port, a stereo headphone mini jack, and a VGA-out port that allows you to connect the MobilePro to a monitor or projector. I discovered that the VGA output cable (an extra accessory) is the same as the older Mobilepro machines, and is available cheaply on eBay. The stereo jack supports true stereo quality sound, unlike the hifi mono sound of the older Mobilepros. Standard Walkman size earphones work fine. To regress for a second, I installed and ran a program called Remote Control II which allows you to turn your handheld into a programmable remote control unit. It is very cool, and I was able to use the infrared on my 900C up to 18 feet away. Again a very impressive statistic. The two USB ports are different. One is host, the other is client. This means that one is used to synchronize your handheld with your desktop computer, and the other is used as you would use any normal USB port.
Memory: There is plenty of memory built into the 900C. The built in applications and operating system take 32 mb and are stored in flash rom. There is an additional 32 mb of flash rom that you can use to store programs you choose. This 32 mb block shows up on the 900C as Internal Disk on the Windows interface. On top of all of this, there is 64 mb of SDRAM. This is different than the flash memory. SDRAM is like your computers normal memory. It is what the programs run in. This memory can be allocated by the user to determine how much you want to store programs in and how much you want to set aside to run software. The big difference in flash memory and the SDRAM is that if you lose power, or have to reset your computer, the files stored in flash memory are retained and not lost. Only the newest and best machines out there have non-volatile flash memory…and the 900C is one of them.
Operating System: Of course the Windows CE.NET is the newest operating system from Microsoft. The 4.2 is their latest version to date. Windows Mobile 2003 is written using Windows CE.NET as it basic platform. Windows Mobile 2003 is the operating interface used for the newest pocket pcs and mobilephone devices. Unfortunately, because of hardware differences, the software for these devices is not compatible with the 900C. When you use the Windows CE.NET interface, it is just like when you used Windows 95/98 on your desktop…or very very similar. You can tap on "my computer" and open up a window and see the folders there. Find the folder you want, and you can tap on the program icon to run it. Of course you can also create desktop shortcuts, or add programs to the start menu. A nice plus of the HPC is that it supports single key launching of programs that you define. I can define the 10 function keys at the top of the keyboard so that each one starts whatever program I want it to. With third party software, I have found that I can define an unlimited amount of programs to open with different keystrokes. On my machine if I push the CTRL and ALT key the same time, it takes a picture of my screen and saves it as a graphic file. If I use CTRL 6, I open my Tetris game. You decide how you want to set it up.
Applications: Unlike the NEC Mobilepro 900, the 900C does not come with Pocket Office built in. You do not have the Pocket Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. And, you cannot add them either. It does come with some alternatives however. It comes with viewer programs that allow you to open files written by desktop versions of that software. It also comes with SpreadCE, an Excel compatible spreadsheet. The Pocket Notepad is a basic text editor that really does as much as the older Pocket Word did. So you actually lose nothing. But what you gain is tremendous. Internet Explorer 6, Windows Media Player 9.0, BFax, Adobe Acrobat PDF viewer, and other updated programs are just a few. Unlike the earlier HPCs, you will have no problem logging onto your secured website now.
Screen display: The screen uses old technology. DSTN passive matrix is the type of screens you first saw in laptops years ago. While it works fine indoors, outdoors is CRAPPY! This also means that the best viewing is perpendicular to the screen, and any deviation for the 90 degree angle will result in less clarity. Still the 8.1 inch lcd is a very respectable size, especially after trying to view text on a tiny pocketphone. One other thing hardly worth mentioning is that when I first started using the stylus on the screen, it felt "funny." Nothing bad, just different than what I've been used to in the past. After a month of use, this has disappeared, and now the stylus feels smooth and fine.
Finally, the nitty-gritty: Whichever handheld device you should choose must be based on what you want and need. No single device is perfect…too bad too because they could be. Here are my likes and dislikes of the 900C.
What I dislike: The screen type and resolution - I'd like a better screen. This one is pretty much useless in sunlight. It washes out terribly making it very hard to see. I'd like to see a higher resolution, about 800 x 300 pixels in size. Software development - Windows CE.NET is fairly new, but most software companies write software for PocketPC, not HPC, hence you are far more limited in software. Better support for video playback. The device plays movie files, but marginally. They tend to have intermittent pauses and the screen doesn't refresh as quickly as it could. Not as many games as I would like. I like playing games on my handheld and while the games that are available play great, there are not that many…but then again this device wasn't built with game play in mind.
Note: Since I first wrote this I have discovered numerous emulators, such as GameBoy or Nintento, even Commodore 64 that have tons of games that work fine on this machine. Cost - This is a pricey machine, even by today's standards.
What I do like: Compatibility with ARM software. The software I have in my library is comprehensive and very nice, and it runs very well. There is a little something for everyone. I like the keyboard. I can type easily on it, and it isn't half-bad when surfing the web either. Screen size - 8.1 inch diagonal is just right. Quality of construction - Superb! Portability - It fills the niche between pocketpc and laptop.
My dream machine: A hypothetical NEC Mobilepro 1000. Same size, Transreflective TFT screen, 128 mb of flash memory, built in WiFi, faster processor…one of the newer 600-700 mHz chips, the ability to load and run Windows Mobile 2003 software using a portion of the screen as well as the HPC software…and just maybe a tiny built in flip-around digital camera like on the Intermec 6651.
Another opinion: A friend of mine (Frank Beacham) I met from one of the forums also purchased a 900C. His experience was…well let's just say not very positive. Here are his impressions: "After 3 frustrating days, I've decided to bail out of the unit and stick with my existing gear. It's going back on eBay. It's very disappointing since I like the Mobilepro form factor and didn't demand a lot from it, but one gets the feeling NEC no longer cares and this model is an afterthought. Yes, the screen sucks and is years behind current technology, but what I find hard to believe is how they didn't do important things like upgrade the Inbox app for SMTP authentication (this rules out many email services and probably everybody within a year due to anti-spam efforts.) *Problem resolved with nPop I also found the unit very sluggish at times, sometimes slower than older models. My main purpose times after choking on large documents, requiring a hard reset. WordPad is inadequate. The viewers have no copy/paste function. Everything is a compromise. I even found things like restores from the backup program creating perverse problems, like leaving my time zones corrupted. One little thing after another. Also, even though it appeared at first that many apps worked fine with the 900c, as I added them, little things would create instability. Even after thorough testing after each app was installed, I'd still find myself with mysterious problems creeping in. My apps were nothing exotic, mind you. Just mainstream stuff. I also found NEC's proprietary Contacts program had no simple import feature without a corporate server. Another pain. In all, more negatives added up along the way and I found NEC has made this unit very unfriendly. It's like a big experiment, with no guidance as to what works and what doesn't. In fact, for my applications, I think older models might be superior. This thing has cost me enough time and I'm clearly disappointed. But I think NEC dropped the ball big time on this product. To me, it's a poor upgrade without obvious improvement over earlier versions."
My thanks to Frank for his honesty and experiences. I think that this shows that the device isn't the first choice for everyone. I think it also shows that every new handheld out there is probably going to have some bugs in it. It is up to the end-user to determine if those annoyances outweigh the strengths. |