Intermec's most successful rugged terminal ever
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

Note: On December 10, 2012, Intermec announced that it will be acquired by Honeywell. [See Intermec press release]

The 700 Series of rugged industrial PDAs is perhaps Intermec's most successful handheld terminal of all time. It won the 2003 Pen Computing Editor's Choice for Advanced Industrial PDA for its state-of-the-art electronics, tough and rugged body, superior expansion capability, large reflective TFT, and programmable 18-key keypad. The 700 Series comes in numerous configurations and has a wealth of integrated and external options (scanners, wireless printers, vehicle docks, etc.). Recent changes include a switch from PC/CF card to CF/SD card. At this point we'd like to see a transflective display and perhaps a switch to Intel's latest chips, but the 700 Series (730/740/741/750/751/760/761) remains a formidable mobile computing workhorse that can be ordered and configured for any job imaginable.

As of summer of 2006, Intermec continues to offer the original, basic 700, still running Pocket PC 2002 and the 206MHz StrongARM SA-1110 processor. Most customers will order the latest versions of this immensely successful libe of rugged handhelds, the 741B, 751B, and 761B. All are now RoHS compliant, can handle multiple 6-foot drops, have numerous radio and bar code scanning options, more powerful batteries, and, yes, the color displays are now transflective. This very mature line of rugged handhelds also has more accessories and peripherals available than most, including portable receipt printers, workboards that hold a computer and a printer, vehicle docks and cradles, multiple depot docks, scan handles, mag stripe readers, snap-on modems, 3.3 to 5 Volt adapter, and the usual assortment of cases, chargers, cables, cards and holsters.

Of special interest for use in industrial locations where flammables may be present is an intrinsically safe version of the Intermec 700, the 730 I-Safe.