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Julie Leigh, Co-ordinating Adviser for ICT recommends a handheld for the education market.

The EDA – the Educated Choice

Text Box:  Julie Leigh, Co-ordinating Adviser for ICT recommends a handheld for the education market.    

At our secondary conference this year, Dave Perry acquainted delegates with a number of handheld projects around the country; a particular mention was made of the Wolverhampton trials. What he was unable to do, at the time, was to recommend any one particular handheld.

Fujitsu Siemens have just launched, what appears at first sight to be, the ideal handheld for the education market. The EDA - based on the award winning N560. It comes complete with camera.

Connectivity
The EDA connects to networks with built in WiFi and Bluetooth. It has expansion slots for SD card/MM card (SD I/O) - compatible for instance with Data Harvest data loggers.

Software:
The EDA uses a wide range of standard office applications:

·          Microsoft® Windows MobileTM 5.0 Premium Edition, plus:

·          RedHalo bundle - a startling array of software including:

·          Inspiration - the leading mind mapping software in schools.

·          PhatPad  - Award winning note taking, drawing, diagram creating, image annotating, handwriting recognising, animating software which children and adults adore and is an essential add-on for any Pocket PC. Calligrapher - Vastly improves handwriting recognition on Pocket PC devices for natural handwriting input.

·          Pocket Painter - Painting and image processing

·          Opera – Ultimate mobile web-browser

·          Red Media Composer - Multimedia presentation tool

·          Red Flipper – Turns images into animation

A years subscription to the RedHalo handheld learning platform.

Worth £100 +


Hard Wearing
It is designed specifically for the education market in a rugged format, drop resistant – 26 drops from 1.22m. It comes with a 2 year warranty and is likely to be insured for “everything”.

Display
3.5-inch VGA 480 x 640 colour transflective TFT Touchscreen,65.536 colours with LED backlight

Battery Life
Strong battery guarantees will make management easy, 500 hours standby – lasts a typical school day.

Security:
The EDA has a serial number both on the shell and when turned on. Serial numbers will be logged on a database, to which the police have access.

Price
At the time of writing, the EDA price has not yet been fixed, however it is thought to be less than a pint of beer a week (£1.50) or around £400. If schools wish they can choose to go the e-learning foundation route and provide for complete cohorts – as in Wolverhampton, or alternatively buy just one or two. The price is not dependant on bulk buying.

Availability from the end of November. Contact Fujitsu Siemens direct on 01344 475000

Julie Leigh
Co-ordinating Adviser – ICT Specialist

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