Neil is the head of marketing at emobilescan, who are on course to be one of Europe’s leading online retailers of barcode scanners and handheld terminals, partnered with leading manufacturers in the AIDC industry including Motorola, Honeywell and Intermec.

Since Motorola’s takeover of Symbol Technologies they have begun to bring their experience of designing user friendly  mass market cell phones and combined this with the experience Symbol have had with building more rugged business focused Pda’s and handheld computers and this is exactly what they have done with their latest release the Motorola ES400. Though it takes the form of a more traditional cell phone the ES400 is aimed at managers and mobile workers that need to keep connected with the office infrastructure. It also builds on the success of the Mc55 and moves Motorola one step closer to combining the user friendly features of a cell phone with the essential business needs of an Industrial Pda.

Billed as an EDA (Enterprise Digital Assistant) The ES400 has many of the features  found on many smart phones on the market today including a full QWERTY keyboard combined with a touch screen, but it has also been built to stand up to the rigors of business life. Though not out of place in a board room it can also easily withstand every knocks and falls, increases in humidity, fluctuations in temperature and moisture. It has also been successfully drop tested up to 1 meter onto concrete without any disasters.

The key to the success of the ES400 is that it can cater for a wide variety of everyday business needs, It comes pre loaded with Windows Mobile 6.5.3 which allows for easy integration of essential business applications and helps to put the right tools in the hands of the mobile workforce.  Built using the Qualcomm 600MHz processor allowing applications to run smoothly and sync seamlessly with your desktop.

For the Motorola ES400 to really be a success in the business world they had to pack it full of features these include the normal additions associated with handheld running windows mobile, with the 3.2 megapixel camera the ES400 can easily function as a mobile data terminal, an included signature capture panel will make it ideal for any logistics or courier companies.  Other standard features include and LED flash, video and camera; though none of these would be considered essential for business environments they help to make the ES400 appeal to a wider market.

With the addition of both GSM and CDMA the ES400 will allow you to connect to multiple networks even when you are outside the 4 walls of your office. The built in MP3 player is yet another addition which will make this handheld appeal to the mass market, Integrated Bluetooth will allow wireless connection to a multitude of devices from printers to head sets.  A extended life battery will allow up to 250 hours between charges. GPS with a built in speaker will mean you or your team will never get lost again.

Motorola are definitely trying to build on the success of the MC55 and at the same they are trying to carve out a new market of professional business users that need a device that can help them in their daily working environment, while still having a device that can be used after work hours as a more traditional smart phone. Time will tell if they have actually been able to achieve this but they have made a great start in offering a fully formed unit that can offer business users all the style and function needed in an enterprise handheld.