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Thoughts on the
Cassiopeia E-200
By: Jason - October 3rd, 2001
 Already,
a mere 9 hours away from October 4th, there are pictures
leaking out of the new Pocket PC 2002 devices. While the new iPAQ pics
leaked out a long time ago, Jornada's are already shipping, and some
other devices have made announcements, no one had really heard anything *solid*
from Casio. Now "Dreampages" has taken the early move and posted this image of the new E200 device.
Being that this is on a Pocket PC vendor's site, it's probably pretty
solid information.
They
list the device with the following specs:
Interestingly
enough, the listing doesn't mention anything about Pocket PC 2002, but
it's clearly installed in the screen shot. The 64MB, likely the RAM
amount, is no major surprise, either. Casio has been one of the most
consistent in offering the high end of what's most common. Also, they
probably read a discussion board or two mentioning that any Pocket PC
would fail if it had less than 64MB of RAM. Casio has long been lauded for
their beautiful screens, and their move towards a reflective, or
likely Reflective TFT, is another smart move, consistent with what most
manufacturers are including in their new devices. Many in the Pocket PC
community knew the device would have dual slots, much like their
Japan-only release of the "E-707"
several months ago. Additionally, the move to a StrongARM
processor is no surprise either; all new Pocket PCs will have them per
Microsoft's requirements for Pocket PC 2002.
So,
what's the most interesting part of this post? Finally seeing a picture
of the new Cassiopeia. Casio did a stellar job at keeping this one quiet,
and it just might pay off in a big way. From initial observations, the
device has a striking resemblance to the new Jornada 560 Pocket PCs. I
can't help but notice from the front that they've maintained a very
brick-like shape to the device. Additionally, the
famed gaming pad has moved! Many gamers were hoping to
see Casio maintain the location of their multi-directional pad, but now it
looks like no device will be ideal for gaming. While the one picture may
reveal a lot about the device, there are several more angles that need to
be explored: How thick is the device? What buttons are on the side? Where
are those slots really located? And, of course, there are things that can
only be determined by a hands-on evaluation: how much does it weigh? Is
the screen just as stunning as it's always been?
Questions
like these will all be answered in the next 24 hours, and many more are
sure to arise. It's an exciting week in the Pocket PC community stay
tuned.
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