Modern Enterprise Digital Assistant
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

Now part of Motorola, Symbol Technologies continues its tradition of offering industrial handhelds that excel in design and are at the very forefront of technology. The petite MC35 "Enterprise Digital Assistant" measures just 5.0 x 2.6 x 0.8 inches and weighs barely more than 6 ounces. That makes it smaller, by a lot, than early consumer PDAs that couldn't dream of the wealth of functionality that this little marvel offers. The durable, pocketable MC35 is a true mobile EDGE GPRS/GSM voice and data communicator running the Windows Mobile 5.0 Premium Phone Edition. Yet, the MC35 also has image capture and bar code scanning capabilities via a 2-megapixel digital camera that can instantly scan and process any 1D and 2D codes. An integrated GPS module supports a wide range of location-based services and applications. Bluetooth 1.2 supports wireless modem communication, printing, synchronization and more. An internal 802.11b/g wireless LAN allows for data connectivity and also, via third party applications, Voice over IP connectivity.

The MC35's TFT screen measures 2.8 inches diagonally, a bit small for our taste, and has a touch panel. For applications where the 3.7V/1350mAH standard battery is marginal, there' a thicker extended battery that packs more than twice the punch. The MC35 is not an ultra-rugged device, but it is certainly sturdy enough to hold up, including 3-foot drops to hard surfaces. Symbol/Motorola also offer a soft protective boot that provides even more protection. The 36-key QWERTY thumb-type keyboard is very legible and offers the usual wealth of functionality. There's also a 5-way navigation knob, flanked by four hardware keys. "Pick up phone" and "Windows menu" to the left; "Ok" and "hang up phone" to the right. Perhaps best of all, this truly remarkable new device doesn't cost a lot. It lists from $640 to $750, depending on configuration.