Spring 2006

There's a wider choice than ever before, but what will best suit your operation? Sharon Clancy picks up some tips

What do you think should be the key priorities when it comes to choosing portable devices for your mobile computing implementation? Ease of use? Reliability? Weight? Network connectivity?

Well, the manufacturers of ruggedised handheld computers come at the subject from a slightly different starting point. No doubt they would rate all the above features highly, but they say you should put device durability at the top of the criteria list, closely followed by battery life, and then the right communications capability. And their experience is probably worth quite a lot.

But which computer best fits the bill? In the past, that rather depended on the operation. The good news here, though, is that the flexibility of the current range of handheld computers means the same device can be deployed in different parts of the organisation. You could deploy a given device with, say, a WLAN (wireless local-area network) communications card for warehouse operations, and use basically the same device with a GPRS SI card for delivery work out on the road.

 

Whatever device it is, though, it often needs to be tough. Panasonic says its investigations have shown that one in ten notebooks stops working as a result of hardware damage, with hard disk and display damage being the most common occurrences. "The problem," points out Oliver Ledgard, marketing executive for the Toughbook range, "is that the work chain breaks down if mobile workers have to return to base and wait for repairs." Panasonic estimates the average cost of a notebook breakdown is over £2,000.

"Repair and service schemes are available," says Ledgard, "but the best method to counteract the most frequent causes of damage is to purchase more robust mobile devices that can protect the frame, display, keypad and hard disk drive."

Battery life is another key factor to consider, and one which buyers of consumer-style devices in particular need to bear in mind.

"Mobile workers whose batteries run flat will be unable to perform tests and diagnostics, to complete timesheets or to do administrative tasks," points out Ledgard. "It's not professional to ask to charge a mobile device at a customers' house, and yet you'll compromise productivity if you expect workers to return to base in the middle of the day to top up the battery."

Symbol says buyers tempted by consumer-style PDA devices should pay particular attention to battery life. "These devices may require two batteries per shift, and many don't offer the capability of swapping batteries, so you have to recharge the device or invest in an in-vehicle charger for each worker."

What communications capability you require does depend on what the device is used for. Multiple communications capability used to be the preserve of top-of-the-range notebooks, but can now be inbuilt or added to many handheld computing devices. Adding communications flexibility costs money, but can often be done retrospectively via a device's expansion slots should business demands change.

"For a device to be truly mobile it must have the wireless capabilities to enable the user to be mobile," says Panasonic's Ledgard. The company's Toughbooks have multiple wireless LAN capabilities whilst also having the required wide range technologies such as EDGE and 3G to realise mobile device strategies. Ledgard also points out that PPAN connections such as Bluetooth are becoming more important to connect serial devices such as printers and testing tools.

PDA or ruggedised handheld

There are signs of a shift in the traditional divide between PDAs and ruggedised handhelds. More PDAs are getting the ruggedised treatment as manufacturers seek to protect the sales threat from the new generation of smartphones, with their hugely enhanced data capabilities.

At the same time, manufacturers of ruggedised devices have recognised that for some companies a low price is more important than extreme ruggedness. That has led to development of modular devices which cost as little as £600 for the basic version, but whose functionality can be enhanced via expansion slots.

Microsoft's Windows CE .Net operating system is now ubiquitous, and has helped widen device choice by making it easier for application developers to adapt their software quickly and cheaply to different form factors.

Now there is Windows Mobile 5.0 for voice-centric devices, promising enhanced data capabilities. It includes support for GPS, 3G mobile phone networks, Wi-Fi for smartphones and hard disk drives. Dell and Intermec are among makers offering Windows 5.0, and Dell offers upgrades on some of its handsets. There is enhanced support for Bluetooth with fast USB 2.0 interface and Bluetooth authorisation and end-to-end encryption over a virtual private network.

Applications are now loaded into fixed ROM memory not RAM, so should remain intact even if the battery runs down. Some developers are beginning to exploit the capabilities of Windows Mobile 5.0 as a lower-cost operating system for some data-based applications that are currently running on CE .Net.

While there has always been a trade-off between up-front costs and robustness and reliability in the field, now management of PDAs has moved up the agenda. "Shiny consumer devices are sold on airtime and the price is often subsidised by the network operators." says Neil Bonner, mobility products manager for the EMEA region at Symbol. An often overlooked downside is that PDA models are updated far more quickly than a device developed for business use.

"What we call device attrition is higher in consumer devices. Models are superseded much more quickly than the minimum three years that most businesses are looking for." That brings its own problems, Bonner points out. Workers may need time to become familiar with the new model, and may not like it as much as the old one; and if you can't replace a broken unit with an identical one you may have to pay for new accessories such as cradles and Bluetooth connectors.

Symbol points out that Windows CE .Net and Mobile 5.0 devices give managers more flexibility both to deploy the sort of device best suited to the task without over complicating the management of them, and to help workers "buy in" to a new method of working.

"Device choice can help new processes become accepted by users. User requirements may differ even if they are doing the same tasks. Some users want large keys for ease of use, others want a device which is as small and light as possible. "

Some ruggedised handheld specialists are now even developing PDA-style devices. Datalogic's Jet is one such unit, and earlier this year Symbol unveiled the MC70 Enterprise Digital Assistant. It looks like a chunky PDA, but also incorporates a scanner and imager. It has WAN/LAN/PAN voice and data communications and runs under the Windows 5.0 operating system.

More conventionally, Psion Teklogix's Workabout Pro is now available in a compact version with smaller keypad that makes it more portable for delivery applications. It incorporates Compact Flash and SD/MMC memory expansion slots and a 100-pin High Speed Expansion interface for flexible customisable radio communications.

The applications you are running also affect your choice of mobile computer. If the process can be menu driven and requires little alpha input, it is worth considering sacrificing a keyboard for a larger half-size VGA screen, which will allow more data to be displayed simultaneously and can speed up productivity.

These can be an attractive solution for operations requiring digital signature capture, or where a lot of data needs to be displayed at the same time. Psion Teklogix's Netpad and Gotive's H4 range both target these types of operation. However, most of the data capture process does need to be menu-driven. Keying in lots of words using a stylus and on-screen electronic screen pad is novel at first, but soon becomes a laborious method of data entry.

To date, tablet mobile computers seem to have been aimed primarily at white collar mobile workers such as healthcare professionals, rather than at the delivery sector - although some logistics operators have adopted them, including DHL Exel (m.logistics, Issue 22). Certainly they provide an alternative to ruggedised notebooks for field service operations.

The handwriting recognition software that accompanies them can be an ideal method of making on-site entries; it's faster and less cumbersome than trying to type in a memo. Panasonic's CF-18 Toughbook, reviewed in m.logistics, Issue 22, actually combines tablet and conventional notebook. There's a price to pay for this level of flexibility, or course, but it could reduce the number of devices to manage in the field.

Power to your elbow: Battery terminology explained

1. Working out capacity

To compare battery capacity, use Watt hours (Wh) rather than milliamp hours.

A battery pack with a rating of 3000 mAh (milli-Ampere hours) at 3.7 volts has less capacity than a pack with a rating of 2000 mAh at 7.4 volts.

Watt hours (Wh) takes voltage into account and is determined by multiplying a battery pack's mAh rating by its voltage. In the same example the 3000 mAh battery pack has a power capacity of 11.1 Wh, while the 2000 mAh pack has a power capacity of 14.8 Wh.

2. Capacity

Important for long battery life because batteries may need less frequent replacement. Like all batteries, the lithium-ion batteries typically used in mobile computers lose their ability to store power with each charge. The greater the discharge and subsequent recharge, the greater the loss of power storage capability.

Most battery types used in portable computing have a typical lifespan of 500 complete charge/discharge cycles. But if the battery is routinely recharged before it is fully discharged, it can be recharged more times. Instead of being replaced after 500 discharge/recharge cycles, it may last for as many as 1,500 discharge/recharge cycles - three times as long.

With a mobile computer that can operate for longer than a full shift on a single battery charge, the battery can be recharged well before it is fully discharged. Temperature is also a factor in battery recharging. If batteries are rapidly recharged at too high or too low a temperature, damage results and battery life is shortened - a common occurrence when batteries are charged in parked trucks or indoor environments without climate control. An intelligent charger can overcome this problem.

3. Battery charge monitoring and condition analysis

Accurate monitoring is essential to prevent premature shut-down of the computer and to avoid changing batteries more often than necessary or the need to carry spares. Battery condition analysis can help identify when a battery's capacity has been reduced to between 60 and 70 per cent of what it was originally.

4. Voltage regulators

High-efficiency regulators lose less power when reducing or boosting voltage from the battery to the various power-consuming elements in a device. It's more efficient to convert voltage down to meet a component's requirements than it is to convert it up to a higher voltage.

5. Load management

Load management is a function of the operating system, but manufacturers can help by choosing the most energy-efficient mobile computer components. Maximising per-charge run times also requires intelligent operation of all power consuming components to minimise power consumption.

Source: Hand Held Products