Presented at the exhibition CeBIT, held in Hannover, Germany from 22.03.2001 to 03.28.2001, the new HPC-based device operating system WinCE 3.0 (H / PC 2000) - ASUS AH100, caused some interest in the Internet and attracted my attention. A well-known Taiwanese company, a manufacturer of good motherboards, video cards, CD-ROM, of satisfactory quality notebooks, etc reached a new market and positioning your product as competition Jornada 720, an active user who I am. After a long search for information about ASUS AH100 in the network, I found the site a detailed description of ASUS, which made a big impression on me. Can not help but bring it fully, though, dropping some general praise retreat.
| Model | AH100 |
| Processor | Intel StrongARM SA-1110n 206MHz 32 bits 103MHz Host Bus |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows CE 3.0 |
| Memory | 16MB Flash ROM PC100 32MB SDRAM |
| Screen | 6.4 "STN, 640 x 240, 256 colors, CCFL backlight, High contras |
| Slot | CompactFlash Type II |
| IrDA port | IrDA 1.1 compatible, SIR-115.2Kbps |
| Modem | H / W modem 56K/19200 V.90 data / fax / voice |
| Interface | RS-232C Seq. port, headphone jack, microphone jack, built-in RJ11 USB port (Type A), Antenna connect |
| Food | Li-Ion Battery 3600mAh, up to 9.5 hours (14 days of standby standby), charging time: 3 hours / 2 hours (or in the on and off sosotoyanih), power supply: 5V DC, 2.5A, 10W; 100 ~ 240V AC , 50-60Hz |
| Dimensions | 188 x 90 x 28 mm |
| Weight | 380 g (with batteries) |
| Input | Keyboard, Touch-type keys, built-in keypad for dialing numbers |
| Audio | Built-in speaker and microphone |
| Dop.modul | CDMA module |
| Dop.displ. | Monochrome LCD display on the cover 16x64 |
Impressive! Do not you think? Particular respect is the bus speed (two times faster than the Jornada 720) and built-CDMA. Noting also the Flash ROM. And now, thanks to the draft revision HPC.ru, I managed to get to test himself PDA. After admiring it awhile, I rolled up my sleeves and begin testing. (All the options will be further evaluated on a ten-system.)
Appearance.
Strict, silver machine, reminded me of the old "Cassiopeia", but a new version. Additional indicator on the top cover looks absurd and has no additional information beyond the time display. The handle for opening the rather large, although its function is performed properly. The very lid opens easily, almost too easy. If your computer is to turn and shake, then the screen will open. I Jornada 720 spring opening screen powerful and spontaneous opening is not happening. Pen quite uncomfortable, although it should be noted that fixed it denser than the Jornada 720. Hull lines are smoothed and produce a favorable impression. Kreedl supplied with the ASUS AH100 is not attached, so the estimate of its elegance and comfort was not possible. Total for the look: ASUS AH100 - 6 points, Jornada 720 - 8 points.
Location of connectors and controls.
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The front panel control buttons made multimedia device and a headphone jack.I Jornada 720 headphone jack is located on the left side of the hull, which, in my opinion, it is more convenient. Connector built-in modem, is located in the upper left corner of the base and opens up. Work on the keyboard with the inserted modem cable is difficult, because it hinders the movement of hands. I Jornada 720 modem jack is located in the right corner of the grounds on the side and open back. Cord is inserted into the modem, do not interfere with work. CompactFlash slot is located on the left side of the device, which is much more convenient than the Jornada 720. (Located on bottom of case). The reset button is located below the device. I Jornada 720 - next to the keyboard, which is more convenient. In the ASUS AH100 a button screen-saver. In the Jornada 720 No more. Power button is related to additional functionality and, therefore, to enable ASUS AH100 need to press two buttons. Total Section Connector and controls AH100 and the Jornada 720, respectively, to get 8 points.
Keyboard.
In both units, fully functional keyboard, there are application buttons and the arrow keys. Response time of keys on both devices is practically the same, but the Jornada 720 keyboard is softer. Conveniently located control buttons display modes (brightness, contrast). I personally liked the keyboard AH100 more. Total for keyboard ASUS AH100 - 9 points, Jornada 720 - 8 points.
Screen.
Screen with ASUS AH100 bright and clear, but it displays only 256 colors, in contrast to the Jornada 720, which shows 64,000 colors. The sensitivity of the screen to push for AN100 leaves much to be desired. Response time by pressing a stylus is 0.36 seconds. (Jornada 720 - 0.23 seconds). AN100 operating experience has shown that failure to double-click is 20%, and swipe at the press of 25% of the total number of clicks. I Jornada 720, respectively 11% and 14%. Total for Screen ASUS AH100 - 5 points, Jornada 720 - 8 points.
Embedded software.
Frankly, ASUS AH100 disappointed. Of all the standard set contains only Pocket Word, Internet Explorer and Inbox. Propose a number of screen shots.
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| Screenshot of the desktop screen ASUS AH100. |
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| Screen, open Pocket Word. |
Built-in application Pocket Word - absolutely standard for this type of device. It is possible to print typed text, its transmission from the IR port, set the password to the file, save and open the file. The text can produce simple steps: select, change the font, cut and copy, paste the clipboard and copy from it to carry out a grammatical analysis. In this version of Pocket Word can be inserted in the text of the image from the clipboard.
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| Standard e-mail application Inbox. |
Appendix Inbox (work with mail messages) is identical to the application Inbox PDA Jornada 720.It is possible to send and receive mail as to local connection, or via the Internet. Supported IMAP. E-mail messages can contain attachments of any type, but will only open attachments format Pocket Word. In addition, the application Inbox, you can add services.
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| Screenshot of Input Panel application |
As a novelty - the application called Input Panel. (To quickly switch between input methods, from the menu that appears, select the desired input method). To my deep regret the drop down menu does not contain any information, so to change the input method I could not. In contrast to the Jornada 720 in AN100 missing and Pocket Excel, and all other components of a standard office. (Later I found information that Microsoft refused to license the company ASUS on WinCE).
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| Screenshot of Control Panel applications |
As can be seen on the pictures, the screen further action with the above program does not lead to any results. Now consider the remote network access. As seen from the screenshot in ASUS AH100 is possible to configure a set of parameters of the device, though it should be noted that surprised me was the inability to remove installed programs.
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| Screenshot of the application date and time settings |
Setting the date and time AN100 completely identical Jornada 720. Takes into account daylight savings time. Of greatest interest, in my opinion, pose the possibility of AN100 for remote network access.
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| Screenshot of Dial-Up Networking |
As can be seen on the pictures, except the internal modem, ASUS AH100 proposes to use two types of CDMA connection using its own integrated module. I tried to use the CDMA connection and get acceptable results. (The module was tested in the laboratory). Built-in modem will connect at a speed of 50 kb / s protocol V90. You do not encounter problems inherent in modem Jornada 720 - loss of carrier. In AN100 built-in support network cards, but unlike the Jornada 720 is supported by a smaller number of cards. PC-Link application allows you to connect to a desktop computer via serial and IR ports. Select the speed of the serial communications is limited to two speeds. Infrared AN100 faster than the port Jornada 720 and a connection to it is instant. Application Internet Explorer has support for gif-files, but does not support Java Script. In the Jornada 720 is built VM machine in order to maintain Script. Total Section "Embedded Software" ASUS AH gets 5 points, Jornada 720 - 8 points.
The hardware part.
AN100 has no slots PCMCI card (minus point), in contrast to the Jornada 720 and has an additional module of CDMA (plus point). USB port at ASUS AH100 full (plus 1 point). The infrared port is faster (plus 1 point). Flash Rom (plus 1 point). In the two times faster than the Jornada 720 bus (plus 1ball). I Jornada 720 has graphics accelerator, the AN100 is not (minus 1 point). Check the multimedia capabilities AN100 failed (minus 1ball). The computer has a built-in voice recorder and all (Section software compatibility). Weight EA 100 less than the weight Jornada 720 to 130 grams.(Plus one point). Total Section AN100 gets - 9 points, Jornada 720 - 6 points.
Software compatibility.
Good results were shown in the previous section are potential after starting the installation of third-party programs. First problem: ASUS AH100 categorically refuses to synchronize with your desktop computer. In principle, it is clear - there is no calendar, no contacts, etc. True, there is a post, but even she "did not want to." Leave alone synchronization, and see how to install the program. What I have been tested 100 programs under the system of H / PC 2000 and 100 programs under WinCE 3.0. The outcome is sad. Standard message during the installation of the program - not a comparable type of equipment. Through a long ordeal and battles with the registry was made to work 10 programs under the H / PC 2000 and 5 programs under WinCE 3.0. Most readily be installed and run the command line. (Something like Dos). An example of the program Tascal RegEdit look at the photos. Unfortunately, other Tascal-products-native to work for AN100 refused. Steadily working game programs like Tetris and crosswords. Start the emulator GameBoy, but after loading the ROM hangs tightly. The program allows you to capture the screen worked just fine. Unable to revive or crack, or fax program, or ... much more. Without all of this computer into a useless toy and so rightly deserves 2 points, line of compatible programs. Jornada - 9 points. To my deep regret at the network is very little information about the AN100. I managed to find some descriptions of the computer on a German site, the site in Brazil (Whew!) And several references in RuNet. At the conferences, this computer is not being discussed. Therefore, all information is limited to the original ohami-ahami and reports from CeBIT. AH100 - available (yet scheduled) for Korea and until Europe and America have not yet reached. It is possible that test I got no production version. To summarize. ASUS AH100 scored 33 points. Jornada 720 - 48 points. As can be seen Jornada ahead by a wide margin. In conclusion I want to say that compare quite tuned and smoothed computer from HP with a new device from ASUS is not quite correct. AH100 - not quite working computer. Its consumer properties are still low, but the potential is high. With a built-CDMA module an opportunity to access high-speed wireless data network and possibly even the use of AN100 as a cell phone. Fast IR port simplifies and accelerates data transfer on a laptop, a desktop computer and printer. Availability of Flash memory allows the operating system upgrade that becomes relevant in light of the new version of WinCE (4.0) Fast, cheaper than the Jornada 720 minicomputer AN100 will be good for corporate use as a remote terminal or an external data collection terminal, especially when there is sufficient software. The authors, translation:
