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DataMyte IDARugged CE pen slate offers tremendous peripheral attachment flexibility (December 1999 issue)
Well, there finally is a truly rugged CE pen tablet, the Rockwell DataMyte IDA (IDA standing for Industrial Digital Assistant). The DataMyte IDA has the same general form factor as the ePlate and the PenCentra, but due to generous padding around the perimeter in the form of Alcryn bumpers, it has a somewhat larger footprint, and at two inches it is also thicker and a bit heavier. There is also something about it that looks familiar. In fact, everyone in the editorial office of Pen Computing Magazine who saw the DataMyte IDA commented on how it seemed to carry on the general design theme of the long departed Kalidor pen computers. Rockwell admits that they'd looked at some old Kalidors during the design process of the DataMyte and had admired their sensible, common sense design. Despite all that ruggedness, however, the IDA is a handsome computer that sort of melds rough-tough ruggedness with the elegant design and materials found in such beauties as the new Norand Pen*Key 6642 or Fujitsu Stylistic LT. Closer examination of the DataMyte IDA reveal its purpose as an industrial tool for some very specific applications in Rockwell's core areas of electronic control and communications. Whereas most generic CE devices sport a single serial port and perhaps a couple of additional interfaces, the DataMyte's battery of ports almost seems like overkill. It isn't. If you are a field engineer engaged in statistical process control projects, the IDA offers just what you need to connect all those many peripherals: a mini-DIN serial port, two locking mini-DIN serial connectors, and four additional serial ports arranged as two "LMI" expansion blocks that look like an RJ-45 and two RJ-11s in a row. Many SPC peripherals use those LMI interface blocks. The other side features a VGA out port, audio, dual USB ports, and-yep- yet another serial port. The 640 x 480 256 color DSTN screen (it's actually a triple twist design), supplied by Sharp, is solid and reasonably bright. Like all passive screen technologies it is primarily designed for indoor use. Even though it measures just 7.7 inches diagonal, the screen looks "right" for the design and is definitely large enough for the job. It also offers an important feature rarely found elsewhere: it can be hardware rotated by 90 degrees so that you can use the DataMyte IDA both in landscape or portrait mode, just like those old slates running Windows for Pen Computing. The backside of the unit has a properly placed elastic handstrap, and the body also contains four sturdy shoulder strap pins so that you can carry the device any which way you want. Some recent pen tablet designs are incorporating a mini keypad for rapid data entry. Rockwell chose to forego that feature, but included rubber cursor control keys, page-up, page-down, enter, more/less keys, and four programmable function keys. Brightness and contrast are also controlled via hardware buttons placed alongside the screen. A battery of five LEDs shows remaining charge. On the software side, Rockwell chose Windows CE 2.12 with a rather complete subset of H/PC Pro-only Pocket Excel and Pocket Access are missing. Vadem's ParaGraph CalliGrapher handwriting recognition engine is included. It remains one of our favorite HWR engines and is perfectly suited for the rotating screen of the DataMyte IDA. Though the unit we previewed was indistinguishable from a production unit and displayed a high degree of fit and finish (down to a fancy logo), Rockwell says it isn't quite done with the DataMyte. Final production units are expected to be delivered around March of 2000.
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Just a few months ago anyone interested in a vertical market Windows CE-based pen tablet had only one choice, the venerable Casio PA-2400. While the 2400 is certainly a very nice unit, it isn't rugged and its small size may not be what you need. Earlier this year Hitachi and Fujitsu Personal Systems joined the CE tablet market with the ePlate and PenCentra 130, respectively. Both are impressive and thoroughly modern designs, but neither qualifies as rugged either.