Josey Puliyenthuruthel: Amida, simply the best

GIZMO GALLERY

section, I wrote about PicoPeta Simputer Pvt Ltd, the company that has developed the Amida Simputer, a handheld computing device running on the Linux operating system.

While the prognosis for the company was not quite optimistic, I did hint it had a goodish product going. In today's review, we will look at the features of the Amida and try to benchmark the product against competing offerings.

The Amida is driven by a 206 MHz processor and comes with a standard 32 MB permanent storage, up to 64 MB RAM, internal/external speaker, internal/external microphone, 4.2 V re-chargeable Li-Ion battery with a battery life of six to eight hours under normal usage.

The machine comes in three models: Amida 1200, which has a grayscale LCD display and 32 MB RAM, is priced at Rs 9,950 plus taxes and shipping charges. The Amida 1600, with a grayscale display and 64 MB RAM, retails at Rs 12,450, while the top-end Amida 4200, with a colour display, sells at Rs 19,950.

The next version of the Amida will use a 400 MHz processor and have additional on-device memory to make it more powerful. The current version, by virtue of its two USB ports, allows a customer to add memory by adding a flash memory stick.

In fact, as part of an offer currently on at the Amida website, buyers get a 64 MB USB flash memory stick (branded "Chikki") along with the purchase of every top-end Amida.

The shape and size of the Amida is comparable to the Palm Pilot III series of handhelds from Palm Inc. Built around a Philips India design, the Amida is a little heavy and fills a shirt pocket fully leaving little space for anything else. This, however, is only the first version of the Amida and there will be several improvements on the form factor going ahead.

One of the reasons behind the Amida's slightly clunky form factor is the hardware features it sports: it has two USB ports, a card reader, a dial to navigate through applications, short cut buttons on the side, an internal/external speaker and an internal/external microphone. Such richness of hardware options lends itself to a whole range of business applications.

The real wow-factor in the Amida is its suite of applications. Navigating through the applications is done through a user interface modelled on a "radio tuner". It is important to remember the Amida's eventual target market to understand this and some other quaint features: the vast Indian population that has never accessed a personal computer or any other computing device.

The Amida comes loaded with some standard features like a calendar, address book, notebook, world clock, stop clock and calculator. In addition, it allows a user to dial out through a dial-up modem (not provided with the Amida) or Reliance CDMA phone and connect to the Internet, access emails or news.

There is an MP3 player, photo album, movie player and voice recorder provided, besides some cool games, an e-book reader and an education application.

There is a spreadsheet-like application called khata to count beans, a health manager to keep track of all those medical numbers that have become de rigueur in corporate lifestyles, and even a panchanga to make sure events in your lives are at auspicious times.

Two applications need special mention. One, is the "accelerometer" or gesture technology embedded in the Amida. This allows users to tilt or flick the device this way or the other and watch the device respond.

For instance, one can change the view of a picture from portrait to landscape by merely tilting the Amida from one position to another. Similarly, while reading an e-book, one can flip to the next or previous page with suitable flicks of the wrist.

Next, the Amida supports handwriting in any language "" for that matter you can even draw a picture "" and port it to an application like email or notepad or even photo album. The handwriting tool could use language recognition support "" a la the Philips Nino "" so that writing in a native Indian language becomes simpler.

(The writer works with content company perZuade. His views are personal and may not be endorsed by his employers, the company's investors, customers or vendors. Comments may be sent to josey@perzuade.com)