Motorola's New Symbol MC3

Now that Motorola has acquired Symbol, the leading manufacturer of rugged mobile devices, the spectrum between consumer-focused Smartphones and industrial-strength handhelds continues to be blurred. The MC35 is the newest model in the class of device that Symbol has dubbed the Enterprise Digital Assistant.

Target user: the "gray-collar" worker

While the market for this device may not be readily apparent at first glance, potential users occupy the previously neglected space between blue-collar workers needing extremely rugged hardware, and white-collar workers who are often content using the mobile devices they acquired personally for business use. For instance, many supervisors who oversee workers using ruggedized mobile applications need to lug a heavy unit around with them all day, because they may need to occasionally perform a specific task. With the MC35, though, the manager could use the device as their primary wireless phone for voice and e-mail, as well as be able to run applications used by their workers that may have been initially deployed on an industrial-strength device like the Symbol MC9000.

"The new Symbol MC35 from Motorola creates a new category of rugged device."

To help accelerate the rapid adoption of this device, Symbol worked with software partners like Corrigo and Dexterra to ensure that their software was fully tested and validated with the new device before its launch. With over a dozen certified line-of-business applications including transportation, logistics, deliver, and field sales or service, Symbol can offer customers one-stop shopping to rapidly deploy robust enterprise application functionality to their mobile workforce. While not necessarily appropriate for all customers, there is certainly a class of businesses that could see dramatic benefit from deploying these readily-available solutions.

Digital camera reads barcodes

The MC35 runs the Windows Mobile 5.0 Phone Edition software with Direct Push technology and is loaded with goodies. With a built-in phone that supports push-to-talk and the high-speed Cingular EDGE GPRS/GSM wireless data network, this device was designed with communications and connectivity in mind. It also has built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and optional GPS that can be used with location-based services or applications. The device is powered by a 416 MHz XScale processor from Intel with 64 MB of RAM and 128 MB of ROM.

One of the most innovative features is a 2.0 megapixel camera that reads barcodes. The device includes built-in software that recognizes the barcodes from the image taken by the camera. When I first got the device, I had trouble getting it to successfully scan any barcodes. After a little trial-and-error, I quickly learned that turning on the built-in flashlight, holding the device still, and making sure the barcode is centered improves accuracy quite a bit. While certainly not the most efficient way to scan barcodes, this approach is fine for occasional use. It might be a good strategic move to make this software available to other devices as high-resolution cameras are becoming more common in Windows Mobile devices.

In the real world

Several years ago when I first saw the MC35's predecessor, the MC50, I was somewhat skeptical about its usability as a day-to-day device. I carried it around for about a week when it first came out, and while it was a great device, it's also a bit of a brick—suitable only for those who truly need a device with rugged durability. Even though the initial target for the MC50 was this same white-collar and gray-collar user, its ultimate adoption was largely driven by blue-collar deployments that just didn't need the extreme rugged capabilities.

The MC35, though, is a much sleeker device with a lot more mainstream appeal. While I can't imagine anyone calling the unit "sexy," it's not "geeky" either. In fact, the device has an eerily similar appearance to certain BlackBerry models. About 15 percent larger than the Palm Treo 700w, but weighing only 1/10 of an ounce more, the unit is physically comparable to widely