Handheld Computers a case study NRA MIS Fall Meeting October 18, 2000

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Handheld Computersa case studyNRA MIS Fall
MeetingOctober 18, 2000
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Handheld Computer Types

• Handheld PCs
• Windows 9X
• Palm/Pocket Devices
• Palm O/S
• Pocket PC O/S

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Handheld PCs
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Project Summary

• Operations requested a handheld POS terminal to
  use in the drive lane to
• Evaluate potential improvements in drive through
  speed
• Eliminate relaying orders to another employee
• Give the customer better service
• Improve order accuracy

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Units Tested

• Symbol/Fujitsu PPT 4500
• Light weight (1.7 lbs.)
• 7.2 display - Poor outside visibility
• Single battery rated up to 5 hours our experience
  was one hour of use
• Pen device - digitizer
• 486DX4/100MHz 16 - 32 meg memory

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Units Tested

• Fujitsu Stylistic 2300 / 2300lt
• Weight (3.9 lbs.) / (2.4 lbs.)
• 8.4 display - Outside visibility adequate
• screen scratches were excessive
• Single battery rated up to 5 hour our experience
  was two hours of use
• Pen device - digitizer
• 233MHz Intel MMX 32 - 96 meg memory

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Units Tested

• Mitsubishi CPn
• Light weight (2.2 lbs.)
• 7.5 display - Outside visibility good
• screen protectors available
• Dual batteries - hot swappable
• Battery life experienced is three hours on two
  batteries
• Pen device - WACOM digitizer
• 200MHz Pentium 32 - 160 meg memory

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Units Tested

• Fujitsu 3400
• Weight (3.2 lbs.)
• 10.4 display - Outside visibility good
• Single battery with one and a half hour battery
  life
• Pen device - digitizer
• 400 MHz Pentium III 64 - 192 meg memory

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Units Tested

• ViA II
• Very Light weight 21oz. screen
• 8.4 display - very good outside
• Batteries last for 6 to 8 hours
• Screen can use any pen device or a finger
• 166MHz Cyrix 64 meg memory

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New Units (Not Tested)

• Xybernaut
• Light Weight (1.2lbs.)
• 6 Flat panel display 1.1 Head Mounted Display
  (Projects equivalent 15 image)
• Battery 4 to 6 hours (same battery as the ViA)
• Pen device or hand
• Processor 200 -233MHz 32 - 160 meg memory

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Wireless Networking

• RF Networking Equipment
• Symbol - IEEE 802.1 frequency hopper
• Networking Issues
• Users go out of range often
• Microwaves are a problem
• Symbol RF PCMCIA card prone to break
• Symbol helped us develop a new antenna to resolve
  the problem

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List Prices

• Computer
• Mitsubishi CPn 3,800
• Fujitsu 3400 4,200
• ViA 4,800
• Xybernaut 5,880
• RF Networking Equipment
• Symbol
• Access Point 1,500
• PCMCIA card 300
• Antenna, bracket, etc. 300

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Project Results

• Reliability
• Changing the Batteries is cumbersome in all
  models
• Battery life is too short (except the Via)
• Not food service rugged
• In spite of the potential for problems the
  hardware has been extremely durable
• Screen Scratches have been our biggest problem
• Customer Acceptance
• Very well received
• A more intimate view of the customer

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Project Results

• Operations Feedback
• Improvements in drive through speed realized
• Eliminated the need for re-entering the order
• Improved sales significantly
• Moving Forward
• Our ViA test store is working very well
• Currently using Mitsubishi CPn at 10 stores and
  Via at one store
• Plan to utilize Handhelds at all stores

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Datavision-Prologix Inc.Symbol Technologies
Inc.MitsubishiFujitsuVia
Our Vendors
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Pocket Devices
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Software

• Our Project
• Automating the collection of data for routine
  store inspections
• Developed an application with point and click
  capabilities
• Automated Quality Assessment Forms
• Division Manager Forms
• Creating a database of feedback specific to each
  manager

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Pocket Devices Tested

• Palm Vx
• Black White display 2.5 x 2.5
• 4 oz.
• 8 meg memory and 20MHz processor
• HP Jornada 545
• Color display 2.6 x 3.2
• 9 oz.
• 16 meg memory 133MHz processor
• HP Jornada 690 w keyboard
• Color display 6.5 x 3.5
• 17.1 oz.
• 16 meg memory 133MHz processor

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Pocket Devices Tested

• Compaq Aero
• Black White display 2.6 x 3.2
• 4 oz.
• 16 meg memory and 70MHz processor
• Compaq ipaq
• Color display 2.4 x 3.2
• 6 oz.
• 32 meg memory 206MHz processor

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Palm O/S Issues

• Development Environment
• non windows
• Processing Power Inadequate
• MHz and memory
• Reliability
• Undetermined
• Handwriting vs Keyboard
• Character Recognition not accepted by users

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Pocket PC O/S Issues

• Development Environment
• Familiar OS
• Processing Power is much better
• Reliability
• Broken several in six months
• Handwriting vs Keyboard
• Character recognition easier to use than Palm but
  still not accepted by most users
• Add on keyboard too big
• Electronic Keyboard preferred

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Pocket PC Results

• User feedback
• Improves speed and accuracy
• eliminates sending paper to the office
• eliminates re-entering the data
• Allows flexible reporting
• Store acceptance
• Feel evaluators are having too much fun
• Scores appeared to be lower at first