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I had my hands on an eMate 300 for a couple months and I liked what I saw. The eMate
is one of the few revolutionary products to come out of Apple as of late. Combined
with an intuitive OS, the eMate is an ultimate example of industrial design making
style meet function. However, as unique as the eMate is, does the eMate have what
it takes to become more than just a glorified toy?
First impressions:
This is the coolest thing I've ever seen
If there ever was a show stopper, the eMate is it. For me, the eMate was an upgrade
from my Newton MP 120. I've used the MP 2000 a number of times and it was definitely
a step forward for the Newton. When I bought the eMate, I decided over the MP 2000
because of the built in keyboard and durability. The eMate and MP 2000 are fairly
close in specs, except for the big difference in processors.
While the MP 2X00 has a 161 MHz Strong ARM processor, the eMate only has a 20 MHz
ARM processor. Big difference. The speed is noticeable, but back to that in a minute.
The eMate is very sleek. Half the reason the eMate is so impressive is it unique
size, weight, and functionality. The other half is pure industrial design. The shell
is made of a durable transparent green plastic. The eMate is designed for the K-12
market, so it's made to take a beating. Once during a demo by Apple, it was dropped
from about three feet right in front of me. Needless to say, that got everyone's
attention. No one in their right mind would demo the drop test on a notebook.
Under the Hood
The eMate comes with 8 MB of ROM, 1 MB of DRAM (like computer RAM to run programs)
and 2 MB of FLASH ROM that is used to store information. This is adequate for low
level use, however the ability to upgrade the FLASH and DRAM with an expansion slot
can add a lot to the machine. Best of all this upgrade can be done without using
the single PCMCIA slot. If you've never used a Newton before, you should know the
programs are very small and most of what you save to the device is plain text. While
2 MB may seem small in today's multimedia world, it's actually satisfactory on the
Newton.
Powering the eMate is a the 20 MHz ARM 710a RISC processor. It ships with a 480 X
320-pixel gray-scale LCD display that like the PM 2000 is backlit. The eMate, also
like other Newton devices, sports an infrared interface that support IR communications
up to 3.3 feet. It has serial ports for LocalTalk and RS-232. The eMate supports
a number of Apple printers such as Personal LaserWriter LS, Personal LaserWriter
300, and StyleWriter printers. With an optional Newton Print Pack, most popular PC
printers are supported.
The feature I liked the most was actually the battery. If you have a laptop, the
manual says "2 to 4 hours of use." Yeah right. The eMate boasts -- get
this -- 24 hours of use. Also, unlike the MP 2000, the battery works like a Powerbook.
In other words, no AA batters. Plug it in and it recharges. The eMate also features
a charge safety which will prevent the eMate from over charging its battery. The
battery can be removed for a spare, however that requires some surgery on the machine.
I used the eMate for an hour nonstop and the battery was still reading a full charge.
Note that I was not using the backlighting since the room lighting was fine. Using
the backlight option will obviously effect battery life.
eMate in the Real World
Have you even been writing a letter, paper, memo only to lose it all when your computer
crashed? With the eMate, what you type is automatically saved. I have a nervous twitch
that hits Apple-Open S at the end of every paragraph. The eMate on the other hand
saves each character as you press it.
I would like to have used my eMate to write for Insanely Great Mac, check email,
perhaps FAX, and if needed, surf the web. I used the eMate to keep track of bills,
phone numbers, address, and as a date book. I used my Newton MP 120 as an address
book and day planner. The Newtons excel at these functions since it's in their PDA
roots. The software built in and available to buy or download do a great job of organizing
your life. Unfortunately, I'm not much for writing things down, much less doing it
digitally. I found the address/phone organizer very convenient, but the date book
was not for me. You can do some neat functions such as alarms for meetings, or have
the eMate dial phone numbers for you. (just put the phone up to the speaker)
Like all other Newton devices, the eMate has handwriting recognition. Newton's handwriting
got a bad rap with the first Message Pad, however the new hardware and software makes
it almost flawless. I'd say 95% of the time it got what I wrote. There's a little
bit of a learning curve to "think like a Newton," in that you have to get
used to writing on a small surface. I found that character spacing is more important
than actual handwriting.
Like I mentioned, I felt the eMate has a noticeably slow processor compared to the
Newton MP 2000. It is drastically under powered for what I wanted to do with it.
As soon as I started to try TCP/IP, using the eMate almost became agonizing. Telnet
was unbearable and I didn't even try Eudora. I've heard that newer software is out
that may speed things up. I haven't had a change to try anything else so I can't
really say if the new software would help. The lack of tolerable speed is what made
me look down on the eMate. If I'm going to use a mobile computer, it's crucial that
I can do email. If you can't do email, then why even taken it on the road in the
first place?
Software
Here's the thing I've always wondering about Newtons. What's out there for it? The
eMate can run pretty much all Newton software, with exception to software that's
of course incompatible with Newton OS 2.1. The shareware libraries of Newton software
is pretty extensive. While there is plenty of software to choose from for the Newton,
the eMate is a tough sell as a primary computer. The eMate is designed to link with
a Macs or PCs before heading out into the field. The eMate, like the Message Pads,
is a satellite for your desktop.
The eMate comes with a number of software packages, including an impressive word
processor. Also included is a drawing program, graphic calculator, address book,
calendar and some Internet connection software.
Bottom Line
While first only available in educational markets, the eMate is more or less widely
available. The machine is undoubtedly cool. It's very small, and at four pounds it's
easy to carry. It ships with Newton OS 2.1 and if you have never used Newton OS,
it's very intuitive. The eMate comes with a fairly good sized keyboard that while
it's not as large are a Powerbook, it's enormous compared to Window CE devices. However
also unlike Windows CE devices, the eMate 300 is on the expensive side. The $799
suggested retail price makes it a little expensive for what it does. Some resellers
are selling it for a little cheaper, but it's still a little too high compared to
the new lines of sub-$1000 PC systems. It's hard to justify paying $700 - $800 for
a "satellite" computer when you can get the full blown real thing for couple
hundred bucks more. For mobility at this price, you might be better off looking at
an older Powerbook that will be faster than an eMate and come with more features.
It's all kind of give and take.
I feel if you are looking to only type on the eMate, it's a hands down winner. Lets
say you're doing field research in some remote location or outdoors where you don't
have access to A/C power. After a couple hours a notebook is going to run dry, while
and eMate is going to go for pretty much the rest of the day. The eMate does miss
out as a mobile computer since it's under powered to handle reasonable Internet usage.
Pros:
Cool design, extra long-life battery that internally recharges, built in keyboard,
and light weight/size makes it easy to carry. Single internal expansion slot allows
memory upgrade to boost performance. Type I, Type II, or Type III PCMCIA slot offers
a wide range of upgrades. Works well with Macs and PCs.
Cons:
A little too expensive for a desktop supplement. A $499 price tag would make this
a killer. Newton OS doesn't offer a great variety of mature software. Most of all,
very under powered compared with the Newton MP 2000. While I value the battery life,
CPU power is more important. My philosophy is battery life is no good if you can't
utilize it.
/MDF
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