The Tao of Comdex

Like swallows to Capistrano, over 80,000 folks flocked to Las Vegas recently for the annual Comdex technology trade show. Despite all the hype, pending mergers and acquisitions, government lawsuits, an economic downturn not to mention the dot com implosion, amazingly technology continues to get better and more affordable. Best Stuff has had a first look at some of this new technology and will be reporting on it and other Comdex news here on the site through the holidays.



First Look: iPAQ Pocket PC H3700 Series
Give Compaq credit for resuscitating the fledgling Windows CE Market. Its iPAQ Pocket PC wowed even the most jaded palm biased techies last year and breathed life into the whole category.

For all those who jumped ship and bought the iPAQ this year, I have bad news. The new iPAQ introduced today at Comdex is even better. Granted I've only had it in my hands for two days, but Compaq has tweaked the new version just enough to get you to post your other iPAQ on Ebay.

The new iPAQ maintains its best in class processor and your choice of 32 or 64 MB RAM. New features include a Secure Disc (SD) memory card slot built in to its top. This is a surprise. Compaq chose SD cards over the more common CompactFlash and Sony’s Memory Stick. SD cards, developed by Panasonic parent Matshusita, were late to the storage party, but they must have some muscle to beat out the original players. New palms are also to feature SD cards except the Sony Clie of course.

Anyway, previous iPAQs required bulky add-on attachments for memory cards. Also new is a cool casing with protective tinted cover, which thankfully retrofits older models. Compaq has moved the speaker to the top of the unit and made its touch controls a bit smaller and if I may say, easier to use. For road warriors, the new iPAQ comes with a nifty dongle charger adapter that allows you to leave the bulky backpacks and charger base station at home and charge the IPAQ with its single AC cord.



Models will also be available with integrated Bluetooth wireless capabilities for all those products we've yet to see with Bluetooth capabilities. All existing iPAQ accessories will fit the new version so if you do auction last year’s model you’re not stuck holding a bag of useless gear.

The iPAQ launch coincides with Microsoft’s next generation Pocket PC 2002 software. New features include easier drag and drop calendar capabilities and icons, instead of a drop down list for day, week and month. Microsoft finally fixed the most basic and frustrating problem inherent on every previous software version. Yes, the Redmond braintrust has added an " X” in the upper right hand corner of PocketPC program (i.e. Inbox, Pocket Word), which allows you to finally exit a program. This sounds trivial but it is the most frustrating thing about a product that is supposed to save you time.

Rumorville -- Bill Gates is announcing a new NEC PocketPC at the show --NEC Once in, once out of the market appears to be making a come back. Is it too little too late? After all this is the same company that bought Packard Bell.

UPDATE: NEC Pocket PC Announced




Compaq Evo N200
Compaq’s EVO line (formally known as Armada) is the best lineup of laptops for mobile professionals since IBM ThinkPad’s dominated the market in the 90’s. The latest addition to the EVO line is Compaq’s tiny 2.5 pound EVO N200. Just introduced, this subnotebook computer is the first to offer Intel’s, Transmeta-challenging full featured low powered processor capable of delivering 6 hours of battery life (with tiny dual batteries). Unless you commute to Japan, after three hours who really cares but six hours is a feat nonetheless in a full-featured notebook.

Other features include an optional Mobile Expansion Unit that accommodates all common MultiBay storage devices; and provides two speakers, a 10.4" XGA panel, high-capacity hard drive plus integrated mini-PCI modem and NIC combination.



Integrated instant messaging, emergency GPS tracking and hybrid organizer phones are just three of the new phones Samsung is previewing at Comdex.




Emergency GPS
Samsung’s SPH-N300 is America's first CDMA phone equipped with the Global Positioning System (GPS) Emergency Location Assistance capabilities. Unlike tradition GPS systems which are two –way devices, the GPS emergency assistance allows 911 emergency workers to locate distressed callers via GPS. The new phones will also support Enhanced 911 (E911) and other location-based services, such as driving directions, traffic updates and location of local entertainment, as each service becomes available.




Palm Phone
Samsung’s SPH-I300 Palm Phone is the first combo Palm organizer cell phone that’s not the size of Montana. We’ve had this guy in the office for a few days and it’s starting call out my name. Especially when I lay my PocketPC and my cell phone down next to it.

The handset weighs only six ounces and offers Graffiti Writing Recognition for easy note transcription and a 256-color touch screen panel (TSP) display. There’s also a web browser and two unique displays - a large for both PDA and phone combined and a battery saving very smartly located tiny LCD on top that displays Caller ID and signal strength. The BIG question: Battery life- We have one out on the road now –So far so good. $499.




Mobile PRO Phone
For mobile professions Samsung’s SCH-T300 offered by Verizon features an internal answering machine that gives the user the ability to screen messages while they are being recorded. Along with an enlarged, full graphic, six to twelve-line screen, the T300 also provides one touch Internet access and a phone book with 500 allowable entries that are easy to access using the phone's directional navigation key. If you like big screens in a usable form factor plus the ability to run your business while on the run, at $199, this is a great deal on a phone.




Dick Tracy Watch/Phone
Every year a new company tries to enter the watch phone organizer business. This year watch maker behemoth Seiko is betting on its Wrist Companion to corner the Dick Tracy market. The Wrist Companion is a Seiko watch with built-in Bluetooth communication capabilities, which links with a cellular phone and email. Seiko and a company called AU-System are tentatively planning to have the watch available to the public the end of 2002’s first quarter.



Here’s a sneak peek …

Rumorville—Sony/Ericsson’s new phones, yes Sony and Ericsson have hooked up in Europe, are selling like hot cakes. The US version hybrid cell phone/organizer/web companion is on display at Comdex and the rumors is the US could see them in third quarter 2002. We’ll get a sneak peek on Tuesday.



Digital Photography and Imaging

Digital Camera and Photo Printer makers are banking on a pile of cool products on display at Comdex to jazz up its holiday season.


First up is HP with its toaster sized new 4 by 6-photo printer. This Swiss army knife of photo printers accepts all sorts of digital film (CompactFlash, SmartMedia and Sony Memory Stick) for PC or PC-less printing of borderless photo-quality 4 x 6-inch prints. It’s easy to used with top-panel buttons and sells for $179.




For more multipurpose printing chores, text and photo, Epson is bowing its Stylus C80 featuring a brand new ink technology called DuraBrite for water resistant, no bleed-through and light resistant output up to 70 years. But that’s not all. This printer sprints to the finish line with fast 20 pages per minute black and 10.5 PPM print speeds in color. It also includes four separate ink cartridges - users only have to replace the color they're out of instead of throwing away an all-in-one cartridge that would usually contain ink in the other chambers, a super quiet operation plus Auto Edge Smoothing - a new algorithm that automatically smoothes the edges of low-resolution all for only $149, after 30 mail in rebate. www.esponstore.com.



Although there is a new batch of awesome 5 megapixel consumer digital cameras on the market, camera makers appear to be focusing on more affordable 2 megapixel products for the holidays.




At $299 , HP’s Photosmart 612 digital camera features 8MB of internal memory and a CompactFlash slot for additional digital film. Pocket sized, this camera is the perfect entry level digital. It's easy to use and has all the features (LCD screen, flash, 2Xzoom) you would expect.




One hundred dollars more will get you Nikon’s entry in the low cost category, its Coolpix 775. This teeny 6.5 ounce 2.1 megapixel digital camera fits in your shirt pocket and adds Seven Scene Modes that automatically set focus, exposure and color balance, making great picture-taking a snap in any setting. Other features include a one –button share for easy image PC transfer and access to Nikon’s new NikonNet web site for image storage. It sells for $399.95.



X Marks the Spot
Fresh off its court victories, Microsoft is up to its old tricks blanketing sin city with its arsenal of product offerings.

Windows XP is plastered all over everything at Comdex and for good reason, as computer makers are pinning its survival on XP success. Funny, this is the first software launch by Microsoft that not one computer company on or off the record is complaining about. Not one. Hmmm, I wonder if the 128MB RAM XP requirement helps sell PCs.

Last year we did a story on a new Microsoft TABLET PC running special Microsoft software – well, its déjà vu all over again. MOSES is back with another tablet offering parting the red tape sea again.



Another, X, BOX is here too. Corey Greenberg’s got ours, no word from him yet. We have the Nintendo Game Cube set up and it’s incredible --we think the sleeper hit of the two. Our game guy Davis Lentz is putting it through the ringer as we speak.