Questions

Crystal

When will the first Crystal Devices be released? How much will the cost? Where can I get the Emulator? Is OPL available on Crystal? Will all Crystal Devices include a phone (GSM/ 2.5G/ 3G)? Will a Series 7 (larger screen size) device become available? Will Psion produce a Crystal Device? Is Data included in Crystal ? What is CBS?

Quartz

When will the first Quartz devices be available? Is OPL available on Quartz? How much will these devices cost? Will a future Palm run on Quartz? Where can I get the Emulator? Will GPS be included? How do you enter information into the device?

Pearl

When is Pearl When will the first Pearl phones be available? How much will they cost? Who is the competition?

Answers

Crystal When will the first Crystal Devices be released? They should first start coming on the market in the 2nd half of 2001 (Nokia 9210) and volumes will build into 2002 with new devices being released (Psion?). [Back to top] How much will the cost? Again this is very difficult to answer. However as an estimate they may be between £300-£600, depending on what you get (e.g. with a phone contact the cost is likely to be less). Prices will drop, as with all things, over time. [Back to top] Where can I get the Emulator? It will be available of the SymbianDevNet site. However currently the only source is the Nokia Developers site (see links page), where you can get a CD sent to you. [Back to top] Is OPL available on Crystal? Yes it is. However the program does not run on the Nokia Beta Emulator. Additionally there is no guarantee that OPL will be included in any given Crystal product. The run time (allowing an OPL program to run) will be present on all machine. Current OPL programs are incompatiable with ER6 and may require major or minor changing depending on how they are written. [Back to top] Will all Crystal Devices include a phone (GSM/ 2.5G/ 3G)? It seems likely, but we do not really know. The Nokia 9120 is a combination phone / communicator device. However it is quite likely that Psion will produce a machine without a Phone included (especially following the collapse of the partnership with Motorola). [Back to top] Will a Series 7 (larger screen size) device become available? There is no absolute answer to this. However it has been suggested (see The Reg Articles feature) that it would be possible and will be developed at some stage. This will most likely come as a replacement to the netbook and will therefore be produced by Psion Treklogix. There is no indication of timescale. [Back to top] Will Psion produce a Crystal Device? Yes. A recent release mentioned a date of 2002. However following the 1st March 200 announcement about discontinument of Project Odin this may now happen faster. In any case it is likely that a new Crystal Psion will arive in about a years time (Spring 2002?). [Back to top] Is Data included in Crystal ? The Data application from ER5 was not on the beta version of the Nokia Emulator from which the screenshots were taken. However this does not mean it will not be present. [Back to top] What is CBS? CBS is on of the applications in the Extras of Crystal (on the Nokia at least). The "CBS" function is to recieve "flashes" sometimes called "cell broadcast" - these are network dependant and are info broadcast from the nearest cell. For instance there is sometimes one called "district" which gives you the local area code (or postcode) of the area. In essence, when you enter a cell some networks can provide you with information specific to that cell as a "flash"/"broadcast" message which sometimes appears as a sms (depending on implementation). (Thanks to MA for this). [Back to top]

Quartz When will the first Quartz devices be available? There is no concrete answer to this. However they should first start coming on the market in the 2nd half of 2001 and volumes will build into 2002 with new devices being released. Ericsson may be releasing their Quartz device in Q3 2001 [Back to top] Is OPL available on Quartz? No OPL is not available on Quartz nor are there any run times on the machine itself. You'll have to program in Java or C++ for applications for Quartz. Crystal will however have OPL. [Back to top] How much will these devices cost? Again this is very difficult to answer. However as an estimate they may be between �200-�500, depending on what you get. Prices will drop, as with all things, over time. [Back to top] Will a future Palm run on Quartz? This is actually quite likely. The Palm GUI may be grafted onto the OS. Wait and see! See the links section for a great article on this. [Back to top] Where can I get the Emulator? It is available of the SymbianDevNet site. You need to download one of the SDK's. The Java SDK is smaller if your only interested in the emulator itself. Alternatively you can order a CD which contains both SDK's. [Back to top] Will GPS be included? Maybe. Some of the prototypes have been show running route planning type programs. This would suggest that these machine may have GPS functions built into them. An example of this can be seen on the Ericsson Page. [Back to top] How do you enter information into the device? You can either use an on screen keyboard, or you can use the built in handwriting recognition (see the handwriting page for more info on this). It also likely once the devices become available that stowaway type keyboards will become available. Some manufacturers may even sell these as acessories, rather than the customer having to rely on a third party. [Back to top]

Pearl When is Pearl Look through some of the other pages in the Pearl section to answer this question. However in short it is the Operating System from Symbian for the next generation of mobile phones. Read the Introduction to Pearl for more information/ [Back to top] When will the first Pearl phones be available? This is difficult to answer. Symbian have given the oS to its members so that they can begin making phones around it. However the infrastructure for the mobile networks must also be finished. The tech for 2.5G and 3G are expensive and has not yet been implemented on a wide scale. Mobile phones should be available by the end of the year (December 2001), but the networks to support them may take a little longer. [Back to top] How much will they cost? Again a difficult question to answer. At first they will be expensive (ful coat might be around �500, however you are unlikely to pay this as the phones may be subsidised by contracts and may be available for about �200 (the same as the Ericsson R380). Eventually there may come a time when they are available free so long as you sign upto a contract (like the Nokia 7110 today). [Back to top] Who is the competition? Competition will mainly come in the form of Microsft's Stinger super phone and from PalmOS based phones (such as Samsung's recent offering). However it is difficult to predict this market accurately as very few pieces of hardware have been announced or seen in the flesh. An article will be coming soon to this site on this very subject. [Back to top]