Getting closer: The HandyPC

[bradb]

Anybody see this?

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/17/road_handypc_targets_nokia/

Looks interesting... wish the screen was a bit bigger, and no mention of any memory expansion though.

Brad.

[kimmoj]

Interesting, but too low resolution and it could really have benefited from having 128MB of memory, I'd say. We've seen that 64MB is on the edge of too little. The CPU was a better choice than Nokias though.

I'm not sure I'm convinced it is a better device than a Nokia Communicator just because it has Linux in it. Symbian is a pretty solid operating system, especially for phones, when all is said and done.

I'd rather see a 770 followup from Nokia with a 600+ Mhz Xscale CPU (that can be throttled down to save power), 128 MB of RAM, full Bluetooth device support out of the box and a screen with a touch-sensitive layer that doesn't look like crap, like the current one. :)

[fpp]

640x240 is what I had on my first Psion Series 5 in 1997... I'm not going back ten years, even with colour added :-)

[shrimp_was_disabled2]

it look like it's running Windows 3.1 ...

they could at least try to make a nice GUI ...

[Bernard]

I don't think the user interface is bad. It looks really familiar, and the other screenshots are really nice. Simple and effective.
http://www.road-gmbh.de/produkte/index_02.html

It uses Qtopia as the user interface:
http://www.trolltech.com/products/qtopia/learnmore/screenshots

This is also used in their new mobile phone:
http://www.trolltech.com/company/newsroom/announcements/press.2006-08-11.2301672831

Also the Sony Mylo is rumored to be based on the same platform.

Does anybody know what browser is used? is it a version of Konquerer? or have the included a Mozilla or Opera browser?

[sonoronos]

Hi bradb,

Looks interesting... wish the screen was a bit bigger, and no mention of any memory expansion though.

Brad.


Kind of reminds me of an old NEC Mobilepro crossed with a cell phone.

http://www.necam.com/mobilesolutions/images/MobilePro/900/ho506_029.jpg

Anyone else feel like this device is coming straight out of the 90's?

[NokNok770]

Looks like Nokia 9290 communiactor. Screen still too small for me...Maybe wait for their next model...and what's the price?

[wiredless]

Interesting but i agree as well that the screen res is to low. Realy waiting on NOKIA to turn the 770 into a device like this. Imagine 770 guts in a new case with keboard and phone radio. Perfection!

[Odin]

Looks like Nokia 9290 communiactor. Screen still too small for me...Maybe wait for their next model...and what's the price?


Road hasn't said when it expects to ship the HandyPC, or how much it will charge for the device.

What we have here is a (UM)PC-phone, this is not the same as the 770. In fact, I am bemused by the people on this board saying that Nokia needs to put a phone in the 770--puhleez!

I am somewhat narrow minded on this issue. I have a Razr and I very rarely talk into it. That is what my BT headset is for. Occasionally, I have a need for a phone-connect to the Internet and that is the beauty of the 770's BT-DUn capability.

Sometimes less is better than more.

[aflegg]

I'm sure that this has been floating around for a while, with Symbian & WinCE versions as well. When there's an actual device (even a prototype), I'll believe it.

Until then pretty pictures from an unknown company aren't exactly compelling.

Cheers,

Andrew

[kimmoj]

I don't think Qtopia is necessarily ugly, but it definitely has a rather dated look. The 770 is a lot nicer looking in my opinion, as is the Symbian based Nokia 9500 or 9300.

Besides, the trend is away from big clamshells when it comes to phones; it's more phone-formfactor machines with higher resolution screens and miniature thumbboards a la Blueberry that is the rage at the moment.

[shrimp_was_disabled2]

I don't think Qtopia is necessarily ugly, but it definitely has a rather dated look.
That's the word I was looking for. Dated.

Seriously, if you copy the Windows GUI like that ... a copy is never as good as the original. So since the Windows 3.1 GUI is dated enough already, they're in trouble if that's the final.

[Odin]

I don't think Qtopia is necessarily ugly, but it definitely has a rather dated look. The 770 is a lot nicer looking in my opinion, as is the Symbian based Nokia 9500 or 9300.

Besides, the trend is away from big clamshells when it comes to phones; it's more phone-formfactor machines with higher resolution screens and miniature thumbboards a la Blueberry that is the rage at the moment.

I am waiting for the headset phone. No. not the tiny BT HS that connects to a phone (I have that now, Razr+H700). No, what I want is the whole phone up there, in the ear--something like Lt. Uhura's communicator. It would also have BT to link to a larger device (like the 770) for DUN, contact lists, etc. or to allow you to listen to music, etc., but it would be independent and able to call with voice commands.

[Karel Jansens]

I am waiting for the headset phone. No. not the tiny BT HS that connects to a phone (I have that now, Razr+H700). No, what I want is the whole phone up there, in the ear--something like Lt. Uhura's communicator. It would also have BT to link to a larger device (like the 770) for DUN, contact lists, etc. or to allow you to listen to music, etc., but it would be independent and able to call with voice commands.
This is eerie; I was saying the very same thing to a mate the other day. This would be almost ideal: a BT-phone with voice recognition hanging from your ear, and a 770 (or, for the terminally insane, a Sony Milo -- oops! no can do: Mylo doesn't "do" BT) for when you need a tad more than voice.

Really close to ideal would be if the phone was implanted behind my ear (Heinlein's "Puppet Masters" anyone?).

And truly ideal? Why, the 770 implanted in my arm, of course, and both devices running on bio-electricity from the body (don't laugh! serious people are looking into that stuff!).

[kimmoj]

Talk about painful upgrade path... "Doc, pry this 770 out of my arm, willya? I want to shove a 780 in there." ;)

Personally I'd frankly not want a surgically implanted communicator. I want to be able to leave the phone on a desk and walk away if I don't want to be bothered.

[Karel Jansens]

Talk about painful upgrade path... "Doc, pry this 770 out of my arm, willya? I want to shove a 780 in there." ;)
The UBD (Universal Bio-Dock <TM>) is compatible with all Nokia Communicators from the 7700 upwards.

Adapters and first-aid kits are available for UMPC-insertion. :rolleyes:

Personally I'd frankly not want a surgically implanted communicator. I want to be able to leave the phone on a desk and walk away if I don't want to be bothered.

For the last year, I have never been more than three meters away from my P910. For a large portion of that time however, I could not be reached by phone. I like off-options. :D

[kimmoj]

Quite a few people are too enslaved by their phones. Heck, at work for instance during the coffee break, lots of people cling to their cellphones and some even bounce out of the couch to run to the phone if it starts ringing. Sheesh. :) Let them call back for crissakes, if it's important they'll call again! :)

[Karel Jansens]

Quite a few people are too enslaved by their phones. Heck, at work for instance during the coffee break, lots of people cling to their cellphones and some even bounce out of the couch to run to the phone if it starts ringing. Sheesh. :) Let them call back for crissakes, if it's important they'll call again! :)
But I have smartphone. It be my brain. Me so stupid without smartphone. Duh...

[MirandaSoft]

Hmmm... The HandyPC... It is Handy for the thief to steal...

Though I own the Nokia 770, N70, and Motorola V360, and used to own the Palm Treo 600, I prefer to keep my Data Tool and Phone seperate.

[james.bottomtooth]

did they ever sell these?

[Drewvt]

No, what I want is the whole phone up there, in the ear--something like Lt. Uhura's communicator. It would also have BT to link to a larger device (like the 770) for DUN, contact lists, etc. or to allow you to listen to music, etc., but it would be independent and able to call with voice commands.

Dude, the research done into the emitted radiation so far suggests that it's relatively harmless, but medical science definitely hasn't said the last word on that yet; many longer-term studies are still ongoing. In the meantime I'd be wary of actually shoving a phone into my ear.

[johnkzin]

did they ever sell these?

Since I'm in Germany, I don't know.

But, I did hope that they'd release a qwerty version (instead of qwertz), and these days they'd need to update it to 3G.

What might be interesting is, since it has bluetooth and wifi, seeing if you could use it as a companion for the N800/N810.

1) use the wifi as an access point, for tethering your N800/N810
2) if it does bluetooth-dun, use hat for tethering your N800/N810 instead
3) if it has the right bluetooth profiles, using its keyboard as the keyboard for your N800.


Seeing an updated version, maybe with more screen real-estate and, HSPA, the above communication profiles, and memory expandability might be interesting.

[bartsimpson123844]

Since I'm in Germany, I don't know.

But, I did hope that they'd release a qwerty version (instead of qwertz), and these days they'd need to update it to 3G.



Really? I thought the German keyboards used the qwertz layout. I've tried that layout on a regular keyboard and it is a lot easier typing umlauts instead of using the alt+# combos. Or is everything you type in English?

[johnkzin]

er... sorry. My bad. I meant to say "since I'm NOT in Germany". (makes more sense when you consider that it's a german phone company)

Thus my pref. for qwerty over qwertz.

[polossatik]

did they ever sell these?

Ask them: http://road.de (http://road.de/english/01_unternehmen.html)