They've got Volvo, they've got Ericsson, and now they've got Netboards too. Quite an interesting concept, the Netboard PDAs are interfaces to an online service, accessible from multiple platforms.
A Netboard XL PDA from Echoo would not be of much use for non-swedish residents, as the unit has a proprietary OS that uses the swedish language. Although it seems on the outside like a Palm unit that has been remodeled, it's in fact a brand new never-seen-before PDA that functions as a thin client towards an Internet-based software engine.
 | | Ill: Echoo |
Much of the hardware specifications are similar to standard Palm units too, as the units have 2 MB FLASH RAM and 8 MB DRAM, has a 160 x 160 pixel resolution monochrome display and runs on Motorola's 16 MHz Dragonball-processor. It measures 77 mm x 117 mm x 16 mm, runs on two AAA batteries, and communicates with the rest of the world through an IR port and an RS-232 port. Sounds familiar? It's an almost exact match of several devices in Palm's series III, although the exterior is more similar to a PDA made by Cellvic - another company that produces communicators, PDAs with integrated telephony features.
Although the telephony features are not integrated in the new Netboards, they heavily rely on contact with the Internet to perform their duties. The real platform is not in the device itself, as the functionality is accessible through a range of interfaces, for instance a WAP phone or an ordinary PC with access to the Internet and a browser.
Say that you would like to read your e-mail - in case you didn't want to download it to your Netboard, you could just as well read it on the WAP phone or on the PC - or perhaps even another PDA. The Echoo platform makes use of so-called unified messaging, that means that all information is stored on one central server, such as e-mails, voice messages, SMS messages, faxes and so on.
When you subscribe to the service, users receive a virtual local phone number that is connected to the user's e-mail address by Echoo. Anyone who wishes to can then send you faxes, which you receive as an ordinary e-mail. In addition, you can use the phone number as an answering machine, with the ability to access your voice messages both through an ordinary phone or a PC with a sound card an access to the Echoo system through the Internet.
Speaking of the Internet, as I mentioned before the Netboard relies on a connection to the Internet - this takes place through a mobile phone, either through the IR port or through a serial cable that connects the mobile phone and the Netboard. The solutions supports a wide range of phones, both GSM and GPRS. When you connect to the Internet with the Netboard you can access all your personal databases, but you can also access WAP sites, and also ordinary web sites which are adapted to the Netboard's special browser through a system called SmartWeb.
There are also a range of other features such as teleconferencing, synchronization of calendar and the contacts list, encrypted transfers for those concerned with security, and also free upgrades to the OS. Whenever a new upgrade becomes available, it is automatically downloaded and the Netboard OS is upgraded without the user having to pay anything.
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