May/June 2004

Already a major player in the handheld computer market, Symbol has stepped up its drive into this sector with the launch of two new mobile-oriented products.

They are both variants of the MC9000 series, Symbol's new-generation handheld range, which first saw the light of day last autumn in the form of the G version (a grip/handle-based model). The S model introduces a compact, slimmer format, while the K provides a full-sized keypad format, yet only adds marginally to the unit's overall length.

The market targeted by these new products is clear. Symbol's Brian Viscount described it to m.logistics as "out-of-building" operations, citing examples such as transport, logistics, service engineering, van sales ("route accounting" in US parlance) and field service automation.

He says Symbol's priority list included modular architecture that could be configured to individual requirements; ugradeability; ruggedness to withstand harsh environments; and "ubiquitous connectivity" using local and wide-area networking and Bluetooth.

 

In all cases, MC9000 uses Intel's XScale processor at 400MHz, and runs the Windows Mobile 2003 operating system or Windows CE .NET 4.0. If voice connectivity is required, it uses the Windows Mobile phone edition, with a headset for delivering sound.

The screen is a quarter VGA unit. Symbol says that while two years ago 70 per cent of customers wanted mono, now the same proportion want colour. Consequently it has experimented with different formats, and reckons its choice of mono or LED backlit colour gives an ideal balance of low-temperature operation and low power consumption, improving on the glass fluorescent alternative.

Symbol also says battery performance exceeds a ten-hour shift, helped by a switch from the previous 1550 amp/hr standard to 21 amp/hr.

All units meet the IP 64 rating standard for ruggedness, and Symbol also applies its own "tumbler" test, which includes 2,000 drops from a 1-metre height, which is said to equate to 4,000 conventional 3ft drops.

An innovative feature of the K model is that its keypad is removable. The reasoning here is that customers might want to transfer units between operations requiring different kinds of input terminal; and in the event of failure will be able to fit replacements more easily. The company is also opening up the option of providing features such as magnetic-stripe readers, fingerprint readers or GPRS receivers in future.

The units are designed from the outset to work with 802.11b, Bluetooth and GPRS, and can be supplied in various configurations and upgraded later.

The range can feature a single-dimension Symbol barcode scanning engine or its SE 4400 engine for omni-directional reading of 1D and 2D symbologies. Viscount says that following "curiosity" when Symbol unveiled its 2D system in the late 1990s, "it's now ready for prime time."

Image capture at 640 by 480 pixels is also available, and Viscount says this feature is likely to be included in 15 per cent of units supplied by the end of the year. Symbol users charge-coupled technology in preference to CMOS, which although possibly cheaper, is reckoned to deliver a poorer image and to use more power.

• • A massive boost to Symbol's new MC9000 range has come with the announcement of an order from Coca Cola Enterprises for now fewer that 16,000 of the MC9000-S model, which will be deployed in south-eastern United States. Features that appealed are said to have included the quality of the display and the battery life.