TDS Ranger Review

Posted: 2006-09-13 00:00:00

Software Author: ?	TDS
Product:	TDS Ranger
Cost:	from $2349.00 - $3149.00 MSRP
Reviewed By:	Russ Terrell
Rating:

A standard Pocket PC will not survive for very long outside of its natural environment (i.e. your office or home). Unless you have a waterproof and shockproof case, you?ll soon find your PPC ?bricked? in a heartbeat if it?s dropped on the ground or in water. As the result, there?s a special niche market for ruggedized Pocket PCs. A ruggedized PPC is one that is sealed from dirt, sand, water, smoke and caustic environments. This niche market is small, because of the cost involved in making the PPC almost indestructible. TDS has been making ruggedized PPCs for a number of years. Their TDS Ranger is the newest model.

Hardware info:

• Processor/Speed - Intel XScale 520 MHz
• Memory - SDRAM ~22 MB reserved 128 MB / Data storage (On-board Flash) ~40 MB reserved 512 MB
• Wireless - Integrated Bluetooth Standard / Integrated 802.11b Optional
• Microsoft Windows MobileTM 5.0
• 53 tactile keys with separate navigation, alpha and numeric keypads, plus 8+1 directional pad
• Touchscreen
• Battery life of 30 hours under normal operating conditions
• Complete recharge in 4.5 hours (80% in 2 hours)
• Battery charge status LED indicator
• Notification LED
• Rugged polycarbonate shell
• Integrated speaker and microphone
• Word Mobile
• Excel Mobile
• PowerPoint Mobile
• Outlook Mobile
• Pocket Internet Explorer
• Contacts
• Tasks
• Notes
• Calendar
• Calculator
• Windows Media Player
• Microsoft Pictures and Videos
• Microsoft ActiveSync
• Online Help
• Terminal services client

Standard Accessories

• AC charger
• Standard CF-Cap
• Screen protectors
• Rechargeable PowerBoot Module
• USB cable
• User's Guide
• Handstrap
• Stylus

General impressions:

I wasn?t sure what to expect from this device, as I tested their previous model last year. I was very surprised and pleased by their new model. If you?re use to using a PPC, there are some big changes with this BIG device.

Right away you?ll notice a few things. First off, it?s big and heavy. That?s not a bad thing though. Remember that TDS designs these units to be used in ?the field?, not in a board room. Second, the VGA screen is laid out in landscape mode. Lastly, there is a full miniature keyboard. So over all, this is a radically different PPC than your use to.

Out of the box:

You will need to charge the Powerboot before you use the Ranger, or plug it in and charge it while you?re setting it up. The Powerboot is the all-in-one battery unit. The Ranger comes with a USB cable to connect to your PC and a power adapter. The power adapter has other prongs so you can use it almost anywhere in the world without having to carry around a bunch of different power adapters.

As with any PPC, you need to load ActiveSync on your PC before you plug the USB connector in for the first time. With the device running WM5.0, you need to install ActiveSync 4.0/4.1. I had installed this previously for my current PPC. When I plugged the USB cable in, the Ranger was detected. After syncing up the Ranger, I started doing more testing.

Turning on the Bluetooth and WiFi radios is very simple with their Today screen application. Just tap on the screen item and a second screen pops up. You can then select what you want turned off and on.

Setting up the WiFi was easy. I was able to attach to my home WiFi AP with no problems. Network response was as good as my Dell when browsing the internet.

I paired the Bluetooth to an iBlue GPS and Motorola Handsfree. I could get the GPS to work after a little fiddling with the GPS settings. The Motorola Handsfree would not work though. I?ve had this problem with my Dell running WM5.0. This is a common problem with the newest operating system.

All the Microsoft standard applications ran ok. I?ll not go into their operations here. I tested music and video with Windows Media player. The sound was a little muffled, due to the speaker being buried within the case. Sound quality was good. There isn?t a headphone jack due to the sealed nature of the unit. Video play back was on par with other units I?ve tested.

The display looks good, very sharp and bright. I tested a jpg file with the picture viewer and it looked very clear.

Memory: This is a ?memory rich? unit. The unit I tested had 512M of storage memory. With the Ranger using Windows Mobile 5.0, this memory should be persistent (meaning it does not clear on a hard reset). This is a big plus when using the device for data capture or as a data entry device. There are 3 memory card slots on the top of the unit, 1 SD and 2 CF (1 is a CF I and the other is a CF II). I tried all the slots and they detected memory cards correctly. When you use CF memory cards in the Ranger, be sure to use the pull tabs on them, as you will not be able to get them out of the slots without them.

There?s a Host USB connector on the bottom of the unit. I plugged in a flash drive and an 80G USB hard drive. The unit saw both of them correctly. In File Explorer, both showed up as a hard drive.

Battery:

Battery life is where TDS shines. Without a long battery life, your rugged PPC is next to useless in the field. The battery is integrated into the bottom Powerboot. The Powerboot also contains the USB Host slot, sync connector, DB9 serial port and power connector. You can charge a Powerboot without it being attached to the Ranger. This way you can always have a spare fully charged.

The Li-Ion rechargeable battery pack that comes with the Ranger is 6600 mAh and is rated at 30 hours. The Powerboot is hot swappable. A nice feature to keep the Ranger sealed correctly is a warning message if the screws aren?t tight.

I ran the battery test program provided with the unit. For all the tests, the screen was set to stay on full and on maximum brightness.

As you can see, the battery with heavy load lasted at least 18 hours. With this battery life, the unit should work great in the field for extended amounts of time. With the settings tweaked, I would expect that you can get the 30 hours stated in their information.

GPS testing:

One of the big selling points for ruggedized PPCs is field work with a GPS. With this unit you have lots of options. You can use a CF, SD, serial, USB or Bluetooth GPS. If you go with a CF or SD GPS, TDS offers a protective cap for the top of the unit. Two ideal uses for the Ranger are surveying and park and recreational support.

There are many GPS programs available. A few are suitable for survey use. There are also some dedicated survey programs for Pocket PCs. I tested a demo of SurveyArea with the Ranger and my iBlue GPS. I walked my property line with the software. There was a little bit of ?drift? in the data. I?m sure it was in the software. As an example of the usefulness, I imported the data into Googlemaps.

I used VisualGPSce to get an accurate location sample. With 18,000 samples overall accuracy was within the standard 20 feet.

Here I used GPS Tuner to test the precision. With 500 samples, precision was 3.86 feet.

Data Entry in the Field:

Another use for the unit is data entry in a warehouse or field setting. I created a small database with Visual CE. It?s a very basic bird census database. With the built-in keyboard, it made it easy to entry data that you would need to enter with a stylus normally. The data was then exported and could be moved or synchronized back to the PC.

Conclusion:

As I stated before, this is not a device you will use in the boardroom (unless your making a sales pitch to have your business buy some Rangers). The Ranger is large, but is contoured to fit your hand well. I liked the built in keyboard. It was nice not to have to tap out everything with the stylus. Anything you can do with the stylus, you can do with the keypad and buttons.

Having multiple memory card slots and the USB host port open up a lot of possibilities for field applications. An example is to run a large database off a memory card, then be able to back up the database to a memory stick or external hard drive at the end of the day. The aspect of having a USB host port allows you the luxury of not having to sync the data to a PC at the end of the day. Remember that one of the drawbacks of WM5.0 is that you can not Activesync over WiFi the way you can with previous versions of the operating system. You have to Activesync over USB or Bluetooth.

The WiFi range seemed normal. I was able to get as far away from my AP as I can with my Dell. The Bluetooth radio was as responsive as other units I?ve worked with. The iBlue GPS I used worked very well with the Ranger.

The only complaint I have is their lack of an easy method of removing CF cards. I didn?t like the fact that you had to use their plastic tabs to remove them from the unit. I?m not sure there is anyway of removing a card if the tab comes off the CF card.

Over all, if you?re looking for a ruggedized PPC, this is a tremendous unit. TDS Rangers are not cheap, but you get what you pay for. The unit is water proof to 1 meter, crush proof, environment proof (dirt, sand, chemicals) and drop resistant. My recommendation is to give them a call and work with a sales person to figure out what you need for options, including additional software.

I have a caveat with many of the screen captures, although the screen was 640 by 480, the screen capture program displayed them as 320 by 240. There for, many of the screens will look different when you work with the Ranger.

Where to buy it:
Direct from TDS.

WWW.TDSWAY.COM