Psion Teklogix iKôn / Psion Teklogix 7505

Expected December 2007
1st November 2007
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Imagine what would happen if you decided to design a mobile handset with absolutely every feature you could think of. Sure, it would be great.. but it would probably be huge and expensive. But what if size and cost weren't an issue?

Well, you might well end up with a beast like the peculiarly named iKôn from Psion Teklogix (or rather more mundanely, the Psion Teklogix 7505). It might not look too large in the picture, but this 450 gram monster measures a sizable 115 x 80 x 40mm. The weight is at least partly due to the 5000 mAh battery pack, with around five times the capacity of a standard smartphone power cell - Psion Teklogix say that the iKôn's large battery "ensures full-day productivity for mobile workers".

You might guess from the physical characteristics that the Psion Teklogix iKôn isn't really a consumer handset - this is aimed at corporate customers, especially those working in the fields of warehousing and distribution, healthcare, field service and any other application that potentially requires a very powerful handheld device.

The most striking feature on the iKôn is a huge 3.7" VGA resolution (480 x 640 pixel) touchscreen, which is easily one of the largest on the market and has four times the pixel count of a standard QVGA smartphone display.

Underneath the screen is a numeric keypad with large, easy-to-use buttons. If you're familiar with current Psion Teklogix they you'll notice a familiar set of function keys and softkeys, so adapting existing handheld applications should be relatively easy. Alternatively, you can specify a QWERTY option instead of a numeric one - and a close examination of the iKôn product photo shows a set of accessible screws in the front indicating that this swap-over might be quite easy to do.

On the back is a two megapixel camera, and on the top is a barcode scanner.. again, if you're familiar with Psion Teklogix handheld terminals, then you will have seen this before. This means that an operator can take reasonably good photographs of anything that they might need later, and also scan in product and packaging barcodes directly into the handheld.

Network connectivity is through GSM/GPRS/EDGE, UMTS (3G), WiFi or Bluetooth, so the iKôn is very flexible and it should always be possible to get a network connection. There's a USB connector, and usefully for this type of device, you can also plug in an old-style RS232/serial cable.

There's also a built-in GPS receiver, although you would need to add your own satellite navigation software to it. Inside the iKôn is a 624 Mhz XScale processor with 128MB RAM. The 7505 / iKôn also takes microSD memory cards and is SDHC compatible which should mean that you can fit a 4GB card in or even bigger.

When you order the iKôn, you can tell Psion Teklogix which operating system you would like it to come with - a choice of Microsoft Windows CE 5.0, Windows Mobile 6.0 Classic or Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional. This may seem like overkill, but this will help many corporate customers port their applications onto the iKôn.

The whole package is wrapped up in a rugged housing that can protect the iKôn from a 5 ft drop onto concrete. It's also highly dust and water resistant, can withstand shocks and vibrations and it is specified to work in a wide range of temperatures. Add to this a range of accessories such as vehicle mount kits, holsters, carrying straps and docking stations, and you can see that the iKôn is a well-rounded device for industrial applications. But then with the name Psion Teklogix on it, most customers would expect nothing else.

Of course, the what you get out of a device like the iKôn depend on what you put into it. For the maximum benefit, you'll need to write or adapt your own packages for it, but that can be as simple as a web-based application that can be used on the large 480 x 640 pixel display.

Psion Teklogix haven't confirmed how much the iKôn will cost - but in all honesty, if you're worried about the price then it's not for you. Our guess would be something roughly in the £1000 / €1500 / $2000 range, but in any case it will vary according to the exact specification you order. Psion Teklogix say that the iKôn should start to become available from December.

If we had to make a criticism of the iKôn / 7505 then it will be this: it's a shame that there's not a version of this for office users and consumers. It's also ironic that it's a Windows device, as Psion Teklogix is part of Psion who invented (and then sold on) the Symbian operating system. But perhaps we will one day again see the Psion name on a consumer device.. we certainly hope so!