First Thoughts On The New Motorola Es400

Guest article by Neil, head of marketing emobilescans, you can also write for TM, read Guest Blogging.
First Look At The New Motorola Es400

Motorola have just released their latest edition to their range of business class handhelds and PDA’s, The twist with the ES400 is that they have called it an (Enterprise Digital Assistant or EDA for short, but it looks remarkably like a whole host of PDA’s currently available on the market today. What sets the ES400 apart is its heavy focus on servicing the mobile workforce, boasting a touch to talk functionality, small, ergonomic size and light weight with a super vivid colour display make give a favourable first impression. But these features are just a warm up act for what the ES400 really offers.

Specifically designed for the business user, this unit is quite at home either in the board room, the warehouse floor or on the road with the mobile work force. Relying heavily on it’s data capture coupled with seamless connection to the office infrastructure will make it the ideal solution for workers that spend the majority of their time on the road.

Motorola have stayed true to their roots, and shunned away from the android operating system choosing instead to continue with the Windows mobile operating system, the main reason for this is because the business user will need the capabilities that Microsoft offer, with the recent market domination of the iPhone and android it’s refreshing to see a handheld still choosing to use the tried and trusted Windows Mobile operating system.

The Es400 is one of the first of Motorola’s new range to run on the Sprint 3.5G CDMA EVDO network in the States, it also allows for easy switching  to the GSM network when ever preferred.

Like most of this class of handheld the Es400 supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi as standard but it would have been nice to see these units come boxed with 802.11n, but I think Motorola have offered enough connectivity options to allow end users to easily connect, which ever option is readily available.

The keypad is predominately used for typing but the ES400 also offers a touch screen capability.
To use the touch screen a stylus is required as the Es400 does not support multi touch capabilities and I’ll tell you why shortly.

For the Es400 to be a true success in the business environment, it needs to be tough enough to stand up to the daily trials of life in a multitude of business environments. Tested  with multiple drops from 1m onto concrete will ensure that the Es400 is tough and long lasting, it can also easily withstand extremes in temperature, from -40ºC all the way through to 70ºC, using the Es400 in rain and wet conditions is also not an issue with this unit.

The Motorola Es400 also comes with a list of features that may help it to appeal to the mass market,, with a built in 3.2 mega pixel camera that doubles as the data capture unit allowing the Es400 to takes photo’s, record video and scan both 1D and 2D barcodes.  Also with a built in mp3 player this unit may just appeal to the mass market.

To talk about the Display again the Es400 does not support multi-touch unlike the iPhone or Googles Nexus One, but the Es400 is designed for business use and having a multi touch could play havoc with a number of the other features that have been packed into this EDA in particular the signature capture panel.

Lastly it is worth noting the Motorola Es400 has been specifically designed to cater for the every need that they mobile work force may have, from signature capture to scanning . It’s variety of network connectivity options will make it the ideal choice when it is vital for your mobile workforce to stay connected with the office infrastructure. In essence Motorola are offering a device that is reliable and can provide the tools that mobile workers need.