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Bluebird Pidion BIP-6000 ready to beat Android into you
SDG's Bluebird Pidion line is nothing new -- nor is its ultra-rugged BIP-6000 handheld computer -- but what is new is Android compatibility. Previously equipped with Windows Mobile 6.1, the beastly machine rolls on a Marvell PXA320 at 806MHz with GSM / HSDPA voice and data, a 3 megapixel cam, barcode scanner, 3.5-inch VGA display, full QWERTY keyboard, and -- you guessed it -- mil-spec 810F compliance for resistance to just about any reasonable thing you could throw at it. Needless to say, this isn't the kind of phone you buy for your pre-teen, your grandmother, or yourself for that matter -- but if you've got a fleet of mobile dudes and gals that need to scan stuff, drop their phones without a care in the world, download Market apps on the go, and hate on their Trimble Nomad-toting competition, this could very well be your lucky day. It's on Android 1.5 at the moment, but the company anticipates a "2.x" upgrade (we're guessing this'll be 2.1) either this quarter or next, so start socking away cash -- and dreaming up the most creative way to put that moisture resistance to the test while you're at it.
Bluebird shows off Pidion BM-350 at CeBIT
Bluebird's one of those manufacturers we don't hear a heck of a lot from, but it warms our heart to hear that they're alive, well, and equipped with fresh wares that were demoed at CeBIT last week. The latest device in its Pidion series is the BM-350, looking a heck of a lot cleaner than the BM-500 we saw at last year's show and reasonably equipped with HSDPA, 1.3 megapixel primary and VGA secondary cams, Bluetooth, WiFi, microSD expansion, the all-too-typical QVGA touchscreen, integrated GPS and FM radio, and a healthy dose of Windows Mobile 6. Unfortunately, the rumored asking price of €500 (about $769) seems way too high for the spec sheet, so it looks Bluebird might just be doomed to anonymity for another year.[Via PHONE Magazine and NaviGadget]
BlueBird's BM-300 Pocket PC does DMB too
It takes a pretty special phone-less PDA to pique our interest these days, and even though Korean manufacturer BlueBird's new Pidion BM-300 doesn't really push the envelope in areas like processor speed or screen resolution, the fact that they threw a DMB tuner into the mix puts this model in some pretty distinguished company. Besides the PM80 from LG, in fact, we're hard-pressed to think of another palmtop that sports a built-in digital TV receiver -- which is probably because there's little demand for this feature anywhere outside of Korea for now. Specs-wise, the WiFi- and Bluetooth-equipped BM-300 definitely comes out on top, as its 512MHz Bulverde CPU, 64MB/128MB RAM/ROM configuration and Windows Mobile 5.0 OS are all superior to what the LG model offers, though the two do share the same unfortunate 320 x 240 resolution. South Korean TV fanatics can expect these to hit stores sometime in October -- from the look of things, they need some time to polish up that design a little -- for a price that's yet to be announced.[Via Digital-Lifestyles]
