I threw together an accurate-to-scale mock-up of the Nino with the modem attached to give some idea of the proportions of the coupled devices. The design of the unit is purely my own speculation. (Click the thumbnail to view the full image.)
Is the Nino going to be the speed-demon of the PalmPC's? Quite possibly yes!
I gathered all of this data through the informative postings of Todd Ogasawara, the Computing Central Windows CE Forum Manager. His posts can be found on msn.computingcentral.windowsce.general. Thanks, Todd.
Be sure to check their website to find out more about this product and others that they offer for handheld computers. I've enjoyed WriteRight's on a Pilot, a Velo 1, and currently on my Newton MP2100. They're great!
2/9/98 - Updated Links Page
2/4/98 - Speech Recognition On The Nino
This is interesting as it possibly confirms what we've seen in the Adobe Acrobat-format spec sheet on Philips' Nino page as far as speech recognition coming bundled with the Nino, but goes against what the rep I spoke with at 888-FOR-NINO told me. It is also interesting to note, however, that the person I spoke with told me that it is indeed true that all standard Windows CE v2.0 applications (Pocket PowerPoint, Pocket Word, etc.) will comes with the Nino. This was the only palce I'd heard this, and I questioned the woman many times on the issues but she seemed quite sure of herself. I've since concluded with a high degree of certainty that she was misinformed. Hopefully she was misinformed when she told me that there is no bundled speech recognition software to be released with the Nino. We'll see.
2/3/98 - Nino Makes Cover Story!
I've only played with it for about half an hour, but I must say--it is nice. The bundled apps (not all of which were functional, I believe intentionally) were very logically laid out and not hampered by what one might fear is a "Windows app crammed into your fist." That is to say, the screensize is surprisingly sufficient. All of the apps are much more complex and more "rich," for lack of a better word, than anything I've used on a PalmPilot. The HWR was presented in a manner different than what I've seen in screenshots before, and was extremely slow, due in part to the fact that it's running on a virtual process and that it is still a wee bit off from release. (I did not hear any speed complaints from those who have used the actual prerelease units at CES and elsewhere.) This aside, the thing really had a good feel to it. I'm now much more anxious to posess one (the Nino!) and to develop for it. While the bundled apps are great...we need some cool stuff for the device!
I'm not going to sit here and jot down a full-fledged hands-on review, so I'll cut it short here. I now should be able to compile applications that will run on the virtual PalmPC. This should go a long way in getting some of my ideas out there. At any rate--if you've got NT 4 up and running, go get this emulator!
