The Teleputer Has Landed

December 2nd, 2005, The Teleputer Has Landed in Kraków. I've been waiting for this moment. Good it happened friday afternoon, after office hours, since my day at work would have been wasted. George Gilder's vision materialized by HTC in form of an i-mate JasJar. "...small handheld device, that resembles a cellphone, and as a matter of fact incorporates a cellphone, (...) that also has a touchpad on it and effectively all your mp3 songs and also is a camcorder.... So the cellphone really becomes your computer." Although the JasJar's screen is not a Microvision (yet) and it's camcorder is not a Foveon (yet), this device fits the definition of Teleputer as close as possible.
First, its small. Much smaller than I originally thought (see a comparison with an iPod on a picture below). Essentially it fits in a palm of your hand. Then it's powerful. 520MHz Intel/Arm PXA270 processor and 192MB of memory (64MB RAM and 128MB Flash). With an incredible clarity of a full VGA screen (640x480). And full connectivity - it has everything you can dream of. GSM, GPRS, 3G-WCDMA (UMTS), WiFi, Bluetooth and Infrared. So if there is a piece of radio signal, you will be in the Net in a matter of seconds. There is a preloaded Skype client, twin video cameras for video calls over 3G network. Word, Excel, latest Internet Explorer and hundreds of other wonderful things I would like to tell you about. HTC has even preloaded the eTrust Antivirus suite by Computer Associates. I promise this is the first, not the last post on JasJar, so for a start, I will describe a couple of things that have surprised me (in a positive sense).
Build quality is outstanding. JasJar feels very solid, especially the rotating hinge that transforms the device from a micro - notebook to a palmtop. Screen resolution and clarity (especially when ClearType smoothing algorithm is enabled) is simply outstanding. Keyboard is great for thumb typing. Windows Mobile 5 does very good job with keyboard shortcuts, as the device can be very easy operated without a stylus. HTC is famous from some simple and obvious, yet clever design details, like a mini-USB port that is used bot for charging and data syncrhinization (so you do not have to carry yet another power brick).
JasJar is the first UMTS (3G - WCDMA) Pocket PC. So when you are not in the range of a WiFi connection, your downloads are still fast. And it supports 3G video calls (3G-324M standard). On the side picture you can actually see a 3G video call in action. There are two motion pictures embedded on the screen - the small one is from the camera that is facing you during the call (although you can switch to the outside camera to enter "see what I see" mode, and the large one comes from the other party. Note the "U" indicator at the top, signalling presence of a 3G (UMTS) network. JasJar can be used directly as a phone, but with its size (or rather proportions) you look better when using it with a supplied headset or a Bluetooth earpiece.
You will also find the reworked Windows Media 10 player, with streamlined user interface and improved media compatibility. It is capable of playing all your MP3s, WMAs, AACs, and most of the standard video formats, including wmv, asf, mp4, 3gp, avi and 3g2. The Media Player allows you to open direct URL and I was able to stream the original video of George Gilder explaining the Teleputer idea from the Forbes site over the UMTS connection. The video is available at [http://www.forbes.com/video/fvn/guru/gurupick57.vas?player=wm&section=/video]
Absolutely great device with every connectivity option you can imagine. The story will continue...