The Pidion line of rugged and industrial handhelds is made by Bluebird, a Korean company that has been in the mobile computer hardware business since 1998. Specializing in products serving enterprise mobility (AIDC) and payment industries, Bluebird's offerings also include bardcode scanners, RFID readers, and printer-integrated handhelds. The BIP-7000 described on this page is the company's entry into rugged industrial handhelds with optional gun-style handle.
The Pidion BIP-7000 is a "flashlight"-style industrial handheld computer that can be equipped with a pistol grip handle for scan-intensive applications. Despite its designation as an industrial-strength computing tool, the BIP-7000 is a fairly small and handy devices that weighs just 11 ounces. Its resistive touch screen is on the small side as well—just 2.8 inches diagonally, and using 240 x 320 pixel QVGA resolution. The 7000's 40-key keypad, on the other hand, is large and ergonomically designed, and offers a wealth of assignable and programmable function keys as well as shifted functions and three dedicated scanner keys.
On the technology side, the Pidion is built on mature vertical market mobile computing hardware and software. For processing power, the BIP-7000 relies on the rather powerful 806MHz version of the competent Marvell PXA320 chip. This is the fastest and most powerful version of the PXA processors that have been used in Pocket PCs and Windows Mobile handhelds for many years. On the software side, the 7000 Series comes with either the developer-oriented Windows CE 5.0 that continues to have wide-ranging support, or the more enduser-oriented Windows Mobile 6.5.
The BIP-7000 is clearly designed for use with an integrated scanner, and Bluebird offers the unit with either a 1D/PDF417 Class II laser scanner or a 1D/2D CMOS imager. The device also comes with an integrated 3-megapixel auto-focus camera with an illuminator light. This won't replace a dedicated digital camera, but can be used for close-ups and asset condition documentation.
For wireless connectivity, the BIP-7000 comes with Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR and either single band 802.11b/g or dual band 802.11a/b/g WiFi. Optional 3.5G wireless broadband and GPS allow both real-time voice and data communication as well as fleet management, route accounting and other GPS-assisted applications.
The BIP-7000 is a rugged device that can handle multiple six-foot drops onto steel, has an unusually wide operating temperature range from minus 22 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit, and carries IP65 sealing, which means it is totally sealed against dust an can also handle low-pressure water jets from all directions. The unit's Li-Ion battery packs a modest 8.4 watt-hours (which Bluebird says is full shift capable), with a more powerful 12.5 watt-hour extended battery also available.
Bluebird clearly designed the BIP-7000 for those who need industrial-class scanning and data capture capabilities in a durable, rugged device, but who want it in a handy package that fits anywhere and won't weigh them down.
As of February 2016, the BIP-7000 is listed as an active product on the mypideon.com website.
