Improved Screen, Improved Scanning and Competitive Pricing

In the fourth quarter of 2003 HHP released its latest attempt to wrest the hand held terminal market away from the competition. The HHP Dolphin 9500/9550 feature a rugged IP64 rated housing with a 5ft multiple drop rating. I was pleased by numerous changes in power and ergonomics that make HHP’s new offerings a tempting value for any retailer, distribution center or warehouse.

High Visibility Color Screen

The available color screen is a must have for any situation where lighting is not perfect. I found Dolphin 9500’s color screen is visible and legible from complete darkness to direct sun light.

Improved ergonomics do not stop with the screen, a minor redesign of the Dolphins three keyboards make them easier for personnel to read in conditions where back lighting is required. I took a Dolphin 9550 out to show to some of my customers. They had a preference for the 9500’s flat keys vice the rounded keys of previous Dolphin models.

The Dolphin 9500 is designed to be held like a PDA and works well for low volume scanning situations. The Dolphin 9550 comes with a pistol style handle and trigger that is slightly smaller than HHPs other pistol handles, this makes the 9550 much easier for personnel with smaller hands to work in high volume scanning environments.

Improved Power

The Intel X-Scale PXA255 running at 400MHz supplies plenty of computing power to the Dolphin 9500 while sipping power miserly enough to enable a full shift battery life. Microsoft’s Pocket PC 2002 provides a common platform for integration and development. Microsoft’s Pocket PC 2002 includes Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer for running web based applications like ProMISS.

Simplification increases reliability; by moving away from the current industry standard of adding Wi-Fi, cellular or Bluetooth capability via a PCMCIA slot HHP has proved that simpler is better. HHP has integrated all required wireless chips on a single board. This eliminates the possibility of a PCMCIA card being dislodged due to dropping.

The red and green sighting laser, of the latest generation Adaptus imaging technology, signifies that the Dolphin does not use the laser technology of most of its competition. Instead, all but the long range laser model, uses the Adaptus imager. The imager is capable of decoding 1D and 2D barcodes as well as taking images. Imaging can be used to capture signatures, document damage. The current Adaputs imaging engine has a range of over two feet with larger barcodes. A model with a long range laser, up to 30 feet, is expected late first quarter or early second quarter.

Competitive Pricing

With all of the evolved features the HHP Dolphin 9500 and 9550 are competitively priced, giving one of the best values in the industry today.

The Down Side

With all of the good to say about the Dolphin 9500, there are a few issues not addressed. The most notable is size; though the Dolphin 9500 is slimmer and lighter than most full featured hand held wireless terminals it is huge compared to most PDA’s that managers may carry around. I am hoping that HHP will debut a product with all of the 9500’s features without its keyboard thereby slimming it down to almost a PDA size.

Another concern I found is the lack of a WaveLink client. If HHP were to convince WaveLink to produce a client it could position the Dolphin to take advantage of the current trend to upgrade old DOS based terminals to Microsoft Pocket PC based terminals. A WaveLink client may be available by the second quarter 2004 so this may no longer be an issue as you read this.

Conclusion

Once again HHP has shown that they are a company that can innovate, provide value and stay on top of the competition. With a bright screen and innovative integrated communications chips the innovations over HHP’s last generation terminals.

Best Way Technologies is pleased to offer the HHP Dolphin 9500. If you are interested in purchasing the HHP Dolphin 9500 or 9550 contact our sales department for pricing.