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Global Moderator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 12,662 |
Location: | Southern California | Status: | |
| This is possibly the best deal on a CE device I've come across on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/130879191527?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trks...
Couldn't find anything on this model on the Web, but figured I had little to lose by picking one up. It's a tiny device: about 8 cm by 5 cm (3 1/2" by 2" ). It has Bluetooth, GPS, and FM tuner applications in \Windows, but I haven't found any evidence of actual radio reception or Bluetooth or GPS functions working on it. It boots to the core CE 6 OS. It also doesn't appear to have built-in WiFi, or even a speaker. (Sound is entirely through stereo earphones that connect to one of two mini-USB ports. The other mini-USB port supports ActiveSync, so I can synchronize cePIMS and Pocket On-Schedule with it. It retains everything after reboot, including synchronized cePIMS data. ) Internal flash storage is 2 GB, and there's also a TF (micro-SD ) slot. Interestingly, no version of .NET CF is pre-installed. One other downside is that the display doesn't support rotation.
Overall, though, a pretty nice toy for about 8 USD. |
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Global Moderator H/PC Guru Posts: | 7,188 |
Location: | USA | Status: | |
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Moderator H/PC Vanguard Posts: | 2,812 |
Location: | Choking on the stench of ambition in Washington DC | Status: | |
| I assume the 110-key keyboard pops out of the right side
Jake |
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Global Moderator H/PC Guru Posts: | 7,188 |
Location: | USA | Status: | |
| No, it has the slider type keyboard like a smartphone... Or don't I wish it did... (snap1.jpg) Attachments ---------------- snap1.jpg (206KB - 2 downloads) |
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Factorite (Junior) Posts: | 38 |
Location: | United States | Status: | |
| I gazed long and hard at this device, but finally closed the ebay page without buying.
There must be something wrong with me ;-) |
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Moderator H/PC Vanguard Posts: | 2,812 |
Location: | Choking on the stench of ambition in Washington DC | Status: | |
| Rich, that's wonderful! You should be a hardware developer, one of those think-guys that sit around and doodle the next big thing.
The machine'd be even cooler if it made ice and knew Winona Ryder's home number.
Jake |
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Factor Fanatic Posts: | 51 |
Location: | South Dakota | Status: | |
| Not sure what I'm going to do with it - but hey 8 buck and only 2 left so I snagged one as well. If nothing else the included accessories are worth that to me (usb charger, cables etc). Nice find CE Geek, thanks for sharing! |
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Global Moderator H/PC Guru Posts: | 7,188 |
Location: | USA | Status: | |
| Got mine in the mail today. Nice little CE6 handheld. Has all the features of a larger unit, though tiny in size. The screen is about 57mm x 43mm, standard pocketpc size of 320x240 resolution. The thing is 2gb of storage, and you can either use it via Activesync or as an external HD. There is a program on there that lets you AS it. Has a bunch of games on it, and all of the normal thingies...also has several media players flahsed into the OS...third party stuff. Here is a complilation of some screenshots I did with it using SOTI.
Note this post on the bottom...that is what HPCFactor looks like on this thing.
Oh by the way, I'm not sure about the GPS stuff, can't see where it works any, but the FM transmitter does. You can set an FM frequency and it transmits the audio to it wirelessly. Nice to use it in your car. But when you do that, you had better plug in. I ran down the battery quick time trying it without plugging in.
What you essentially have is a tiny CE6 pocketpc here...I'm going to try to install a USB wifi stick on it this week and see if it works...I did my screen capture through the AS connection to my desktop. (tiny CE device.jpg) Attachments ---------------- tiny CE device.jpg (589KB - 4 downloads) |
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Global Moderator H/PC Guru Posts: | 7,188 |
Location: | USA | Status: | |
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H/PC Sensei Posts: | 1,278 |
Location: | Silicon Valley, USA | Status: | |
| I wonder how much Microsoft charges for the license on such a unit. |
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Global Moderator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 12,662 |
Location: | Southern California | Status: | |
| Oh, so the FM just transmits audio. It looked like it might be an actual FM receiver on which one could listen to local stations. That would've been really cool. (I think a few of these CE multimedia devices actually have an FM receiver built-in. I've been hunting for one of those too. ) |
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Global Moderator H/PC Guru Posts: | 7,188 |
Location: | USA | Status: | |
| Sure is a lot of incompatibility however running external software....most all of the CE MP3 players I installed don't work. The one native with the device is fine, I was just experimenting...
Also I tried to install the CE6 drivers for my wifi stick using a mini USB to full-size USB adapter...didn't get anywhere.... |
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Global Moderator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 12,662 |
Location: | Southern California | Status: | |
| HPC Media Player seems to work fine on mine. It's just the versions of Windows Media Player 9 that don't seem to work.
As a USB mass storage device itself, the NAND flash storage folder shows up fine on my PC, but unlike my MintPad, it doesn't show up when plugged into another CE device's USB port. (I notice that the PC identifies this device's NAND as a FAT[16] volume, so it should be readable on another CE device. ) |
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Global Moderator H/PC Guru Posts: | 7,188 |
Location: | USA | Status: | |
| Would the fact that it is 2GB in size make any difference? |
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Global Moderator H/PC Oracle Posts: | 12,662 |
Location: | Southern California | Status: | |
| I don't see how. The MintPad has 4 GB flash storage.
Well, as they say, you get what you pay for. Now this device won't get past the boot screen. Playing around with the buttons, I found that there appears to be a reflash mode a la the SmartQ by pressing the Power On/Off and Volume Up buttons simultaneously and then releasing. The screen remains dark, but the device is then recognized by the PC it's connected to. However, there's no evidence of a reflash image on the Web. |
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