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 Complete Information: The HP Wireless Sled
Searching for clues on the dirty streets of my home in New York City, I, Custos, spotted an HP representative happily pecking away at his trusty HP 545 Pocket PC. However, there was something strange about that device. It seemed slightly larger than the one I carry with me at all times. Upon closer inspection, the blinking lights and yes, an antenna, gave it away..... With a little pressure, my informant explained that the sled, which was just as thick as the 545 itself, was a prototype CDPD modem designed and built by Novatel. The HP rep was proudly surfing the web and gladly brought up a number of sites at my behest. Having been weaned on the latest Palm V and Omnisky wireless sled for it, I was truly amazed at the full color web sites as they came up, edge to edge in the Pocket PC's "fit to screen" mode. Performance: Considering graphics and pictures were enabled in Pocket IE, the site did take a bit of toe tapping to arrive. During the pregnant pauses, my new informant confided in me that the prototype was running of New York Cities AT&T CDPD system and seemed a bit slow. Rarely has CDPD's advertised optimal speed of 19.2kbps been reached by any such device. Still the effective speed of between 9600 and 12Kbps was an acceptable sacrifice for true wireless freedom. True PC power folks may balk at such a consideration. 12Kbps is considered truly antediluvian by such power users. Still, the Wireless Pocket PC will run circles around laptop users trying to find a power socket there for their Pentium III while we're in the back of a cab careening through the streets of Manhattan. Meanwhile I got the email, edited and emailed the proposal and won the heart of the fair maiden, all with my wireless PDA. Form Factor: The device did as it was told all the while I could hold it and it seemed to roughly double the weight of the entire system, fairly acceptable since the modem sported its own batteries just like the other Novatel incarnations. Of course, that is a crude estimate since I don't usually carry a scale with me, except for that night at the Bellevue 7-11, but that's another story. A Novatel rep, painfully shorter that yours truly, noted that the batteries should last several hours, as the design was similar to their other production units. However, the prototypical nature of the devices translated to no available specification sheets, no price estimates and no product availability dates beyond a vague reference to "this summer". The prototype was definitely a crude arrangement so I cannot report on secure connection to the Pocket PC. While the connector mated to the bottom of the HP, there were no catches to hold it in place. A second unit in the distance was also being demoed and was similarly carried by its caretaker.
Availability: While the HP stool pigeon wouldn't give me any information on availability or cost, I heard from another mole in the organization that the device will be hitting the streets at the end of July and will street for under $200. While the partner providing the CDPD connectivity hadn't yet been selected, I expect the monthly service fees to be around $40/month. I'll keep my ear to the ground as more information becomes available. As the smell of the city streets and the drunks in the nearby alley mixed in the air with adrenaline and hype, yours truly blended into the crowd after snapping a few spy photos. Do you have Arcanum Indicium (secret information)? Send an E-mail to custos@semperaptus.com. He'll keep your identity private and hold the information until the date and time you request.
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