The Philips Velo was a
Handheld PC
A handheld personal computer (PC) is a miniature computer typically built around a clamshell form factor and is significantly smaller than any standard laptop computer, but based on the same principles. It is sometimes referred to as a ''palmto ...
.
Velo 1
The initial Velo 1 was a PDA device released by Philips in August 1997. The device was typical of the HPCs at the time, being powered by two AA batteries or a rechargeable
NiMH NIMH may refer to:
*Nickel–metal hydride battery (NiMH), a type of electrical battery
*National Institute of Mental Health, an agency of the United States government
*National Institute of Medical Herbalists, a professional organisation in the Un ...
battery pack. The device had a green back-lit 5.1-inch
resistive touchscreen
In electrical engineering, a resistive touchscreen is a touch-sensitive computer display composed of two flexible sheets coated with a resistive material and separated by an air gap or microdots.
Description and operation
There are two diffe ...
with a resolution of 480×240 pixels at two bits per pixel which allowed for the display of four shades of grey (16 shades with Windows CE 2.0 upgrade). It originally shipped with Windows CE 1.0, with a
ROM upgrade to Windows CE 2.0 that customers could order for $99.99. Expandability was via two internal 'miniature' expansion slots, as well as a
PCMCIA
The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) was a group of computer hardware manufacturers, operating under that name from 1989 to 2009. Starting with the PCMCIA card in 1990 (the name later simplified to ''PC Card''), ...
slot in the docking station.
The standard model included 4 MB of
RAM
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
and 5 MB ROM. An 8 MB model with NiMH battery pack was also available for $839.99 with a free upgrade to Windows CE 2.0 when it was available.
Unlike most other HPCs, the Velo 1 included a built-in low-power software
modem
A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by modulating one or more c ...
, where most other devices required a PCMCIA card modem. PCMCIA cards quickly drain batteries, so the low-power software modem helped eke out battery life. The modem operated at 14.4 kbit/s. Other communication features included an infrared (IrDa) port and serial port, both capable of a maximum transmission rate of 115,200 bit/s.
The MIPS processor in the unit made its performance snappy compared to other devices, such as the HP 300LX or HP320LX.
Velo 500
In July, 1998 the Velo 1 was replaced by the Velo 500, which included more RAM and ROM and a much faster Philips
PR31700 MIPS processor running at 75 MHz. The Velo 500 had a widescreen resolution of 620×240 pixels, which was becoming the norm. Not only did the screen feature more horizontal pixels, it now displayed in four bits per pixel, allowing 16 shades of grey to be displayed. It featured up to 24 MiB of RAM as well as an upgrade to the software modem, which operated at 28.8 kbit/s, a digital voice recorder and shipped with Windows CE 2.0.
Features - Philips Velo 500
By Dan Hanttula, 1998,Pen Computing Magazine
See also
* Philips Nino
The Philips Nino is a so-called Palm-size PC, a predecessor to the Pocket PC
A Pocket PC (P/PC, PPC) is a class of personal digital assistant (PDA) that runs the Windows Mobile or Windows Embedded Compact operating system that has some of ...
References
External links
Philips HPC
at linux-mips.org
{{Philips
Mobile computers
Philips products
Windows CE devices