January 2004

Editor's Choice: BOE Hydis Wide Angle displays
2003 saw the introduction of a good number of exciting new Tablet PCs fom more vendors than we expected. However, the biggest news of the year was the emergence of dual wide angle LCD displays with both vertical and horizontal viewing angles of nominally 160 degress, but actually approaching a full 180 degrees. This makes a HUGE difference in Tablet PC readability, especially when used in portrait mode. So far, two companies are using such displays in their products. One is the Sharp Actius (12.1") and the other the HP TC1100 (10.4"). Both displays are made by BOE Hydis. For complete specs on the displays click here. The wide agle is the result of FFS Technology. For an explanation of how it works, click here. -- Posted Friday, January 16, 2004 by chb

Xplore introduces lower cost rugged tablet
Xplore, rugged computing pioneer and maker of the highly acclaimed iX104 rugged Tablet PC slate introduced the ix104 Renegade, a lower cost version of the existing iX104 All Terrain (ahhh... memories of Tusk) model. The Renegade, created in conjunction with Taiwanesetier one contract manufacturer Wistron, is far from basic, using an 866 MHz ULV Pentium M processor, a 20GB HD, and meets IP54 standards. Its US$2,999 is a thousand dollars lower than the top-of-the-line iX104, making it a perfect machine for applications previously handled by less hardy "durable" Tablet PCs. For full press release click here. -- Posted Wednesday, January 14, 2004 by chb