I was offered the opportunity to buy an "Engineering Sample" of the
DualCor cPC today, and I jumped on
it – you had better believe it! Consumer models will not be shipping for another
90-120 days, and as most of you know, I have been eager (understatement!) to try
this device since its announcement early this year.
The cPC I ordered will not have built in BT or WiFi, but it will
include a WiFi card. Most importantly, I was told that future shipping
versions will include built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. Even better, I was told
that I would be able to upgrade my device to the shipping model once they are
ready. YAY!
Since mine will not be a final version, I won’t be doing a full review on it
shortly after receiving the device, but I will be posting impressions here in my
Gear Diary.
Hmmmm – Wait 90 to 120 days for the cPC with built-in wireless or have mine
delivered on July 27th. Since I was offered an upgrade path, the decision seems
clear-cut. I have waited long enough for my DualCor; all I have to say is
come to mama! :0D
I’ll just need to purchase a SIM card Compact Flash adapter now so that I can
access my unlimited T-Mobile Wireless plan. Does anyone have a favorite GSM card
they would like to recommend?
Added 07/22/06: A couple people have written and asked if the DualCor
will be shipped with either CDMA or GSM capability. Well, it ships with neither,
but it allows both.
According to the DualCor FAQ:
Is the cPC a phone?
You can add a phone card such as a Compact Flash GSM/GPRS or a USB
Phone/Data peripheral that supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE.
and
Is the phone portion of the cPC a Tri band or a Quad band?
It is peripheral specific. For example thru a USB peripheral it is
Quad-band and thru Compact Flash it is Tri-band.
So in other words, if you are a Sprint customer then you would use one way to
get wireless access, while a T-Mobile customer would use another.
As a matter of fact, I just placed an order for the Enfora/WeiTel GPRS Unlocked Compact Flash Modem.
Now I realize that some people are going to have a problem with this, but I
actually think it is the most flexible. Remember
why I cancelled my Sony
UX180P order? It was because out of the box the Sony only had Cingular
service. Granted, I found out later that I could do a bit of tweaking to use
T-Mobile, but if I were a Sprint user that wouldn’t have helped.
Anyway, as with PDAs. mobile phones and digital music players – there is
something for everyone, and that will now also be the case with itty-bitty handheld
computers. :0)
