bsquare's new hardware reference design, codenamed Maui, is all that with its 400 MHz XScale processor, Windows CE 4.1, GSM/GPRS connectivity and a 16-bit VGA color display.
Seen from a purely technological perspective, it's amazing what can be crammed into a small package with today's advancements. And judging by the de facto laws that says smaller and faster is better, bsquare's new hardware reference design, codenamed Maui and dubbed Power Handheld, has a leg up on the rest of the field right now - and it's packing an impressive array of features.
 | The bsquare Power Handheld is packed with features
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Starting off with a 400 MHz Intel XScale PXA250 processor, the Power Handheld also comes with 64 MB of RAM, 32 MB Flash ROM, a 4.0" 16-bit 640 x 480 pixel resolution VGA display and an SDIO capable SD Card expansion slot. In addition, it also offers dual-band GSM (in two models, either as 900/1800 MHz or as 900/1900 MHz), and GPRS Multislot 8 Class B.
In terms of hardware, the Power Handheld's nearest competitors are the O2 XDA/T-Mobile MDA and HP Jornada 928 WDA devices, but these feature smaller displays with lower resolution, 206 MHz processors and run Pocket PC 2002 as opposed to Windows CE .NET 4.1 with enhancements from bsquare. A dedicated 2x zoom button allows users to zoom in on areas of the display where it's difficult to make out the contents.
The Power Handheld is however slightly bulkier than its competitors at 280g, but most of the added weight is likely to be attributed to the 640 x 480 pixel resolution display of the unit, along with its retractable thumbboard which hides beneath the handheld when not used. Measurements are however relatively comparable to other Pocket PC devices at 140 x 87 x 19.5 mm, and the device is listed as having a battery life of 3 weeks of sleep time, 135 hours of GSM standby time, from 3 to 7 hours of talk time and 3 hours of GPRS browsing time.
On the software side, the Power Handheld offers the same functionality yet slightly more advanced than Pocket PC 2002 devices, such as Pocket Inbox, Pocket Contacts, Pocket Calendar, along with Pocket Word with bsquare enhancements and bsquare Spreadsheet, a replacement for Pocket Excel. Internet Explorer 5.5 is also delivered with Windows CE .NET 4.1, and supports plug-ins for Windows Media Player, Macromedia Flash, Insignia's personalJava JVM and a viewer for PDF and other file format viewers. Additionally, the device also has a dialer application developed by bsquare, and a configurable Today screen which to some degree mimics that found in Outlook 2002, and SMS and instant messaging (through Microsoft Messenger) are supported.
Unfortunately for consumers interested in the device, the bsquare Power Handheld is for now just a hardware reference design which the company aims to sell to carriers which will deliver their own, branded versions of the device - a model similar to that of Taiwanese HTC, which manufactures both the O2 XDA and the T-Mobile MDA, as well as HP's iPAQ line of handhelds.
An additional hi-res picture of the bsquare Power Handheld is available on the following page.
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