At the flagship Nordstrom store in downtown Seattle, most sales associates in these departments can be found armed with a mobile point-of-sale device and using them to checkout customers paying with plastic.
As exciting as the iPhone 5 is, there are definitely enough changes here that the ecosystem -- the main selling point of an iOS device -- will suffer some growing pains.
The companies used an unspecified infrared-equipped Palm device and a Toshiba Libretto, which beamed requests for check authorizations to a point-of-sale terminal, in this case a VeriFone Tranz 330 that was retrofitted with an infrared device from ACTiSYS and a custom cable from CrossCheck.
As a point scoring device in the sound-bite driven immediacy of a TV studio debate, it's quite useful.
Well, the model number is a possible clue -- ASUS' Eee Slate B121 has a 12.1-inch panel, so P1801-T may point to this device having 18 inches of screen.
ENGADGET: Mysterious ASUS P1801-T visits the FCC, might be the finished Transformer AiO (updated)
It's hard to say just how realistic that dream is at this point, of course -- the device is set to go up for order in the fall, and Pettis is the first to admit that the company still has a long way to go before the Digitizer is consumer-ready.
"As far as real-world applications at this point, it would be more of a quality-control device, " said researcher Christopher Musto, who presented the device this week to the national convention of the American Chemical Society.
However, HDTVs will become more prevalent, high-definition titles will continue to roll out in both formats, and the prices for high-definition disc technologies will fall to a point where they can compete with standard-definition DVD as a replacement device.
ENGADGET: Switched On: Seeking neutrality in the hi-def format war
Point-of-Sale (POS) mobile payments where a smart phone becomes the authentication device to complete a transaction at checkout.
FORBES: Who's Ready For Mobile Payments? The U.S., Canada...And Kenya
To call this a risky procedure would be an understatement, however -- venturing past a certain point raises the real possibility of bricking the device, and HTC's bootloader tool already puts limits on post-unlock support even when it's blessed by carriers.
ENGADGET: Hack gives HTC Droid DNA the bootloader unlock that Verizon took away
With a feature called Nokia City Lens, users can point the device in any direction to receive real-time information for restaurants, bus stops, and other businesses.
FORBES: Apple Fans Would Swoon for Nokia's Lumia 920 -- If it Were an iPhone
My father-in-law and I had a conversation about this a year or so ago, regarding the point that schools could assign an iPad or some like-device to each student, and all text books and assignments etc could be directly fed onto it, saving money and time and resources.
FORBES: South Korean Schools To Have Digital Textbooks by 2015
Drop a second device on Surface and the system will offer up point-by-point comparisons of the two phones.
We'll need to spend much more time snapping outside of an office environment before passing any formal judgement, but it's easy to see the appeal of such of device -- and the advantage over less-abled point-and-shoots.
ENGADGET: Samsung EX2F point-and-shoot with f/1.4 lens hands-on (video)
But before you knock it for falling short of even 720p territory, bear in mind this device's being marked at a 229 Euro price point -- so it's affordable and geared squarely for the budget segment.
ENGADGET: Huawei MediaPad 7 Lite hands-on at IFA 2012 (updated: video)
The packaging is all we have to go off of at this point -- Samsung reps we spoke to didn't know to expect the device today, so there's no pricing or availability info to share.
The captured data is then encoded with GPS info and immediately sent to a call center or trusted friend, or stored for future transmission if a signal is not readily available (since you need to reenter a coverage area at some point for this device to be effective, we can safely rule out T-Mobile as a potential carrier).
They would rather rely on a general-purpose and, from a copyright holder's point of view, highly untrustworthy device: the personal computer.
Addressing media this week, the carrier's talking up its blockbuster holiday offering (of which the F700's arguably the flagship) and taking emphasis off the iPhone, which seems to be about the only freaking device left off Voda's 25-plus handset launch schedule at this point.
ENGADGET: Vodafone talks up Samsung F700, plays down 3G-less iPhone
Unfortunately, nearly 26 million bags go missing each year from airports around the world, according to the SITA. This is obviously a huge pain-point, regardless of how often you travel, but one company at CES this year is debuting a device that might just solve the problem, called Trackdot Luggage.
FORBES: Afraid of Losing Your Luggage? Track It With Trackdot
Another sticking point is that this unit records in a unique high-def format that you can't play on any other device.
Taking full control of the device, effectively jail-breaking the computer to run any ARM-compatible software, after that point is an exercise left to the user.
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