Talk about the Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) and the thing that comes to mind is a professional pointing the stylus at the dainty little gizmo. The stylus is what makes the PDA indispensable. Ever used your fingers (or thumbs for that matter) to choose options or click onto the menu on the PDA's screen?

Well, you might just be on your way using the PDA entirely with your fingers and the stylus might just become extinct. Get ready for the new generation PDA ­ the Tactile Digital Assistant (TDA)!

What TDA's all about?
Novinit ­ a French company - has developed the world's first TDA based on touch-screen technology, which relies entirely on the thumb for input. The uptake is that thumbs are harder to lose than a stylus!

The TDA is named Jackito and comes with two simultaneous touch points ­ so you can operate it with your thumb - and at the same time there is no need for a stylus. Using the TDA is very easy, since you can search a database or a large address book, with just your thumb. The device comes with a variety of features like finger-touch control, battery life, fast graphics, multi-tasking, real-time processing, interchangeable skins and much more.

The idea of Jackito was conceived from the fact that the world's first touch screen based PDA was already developed by a US company called Litton in 1978 for US and German armies. After some years Novinit pondered if there's a touch screen based PDA for the armies, why not create one for gizmo lovers?

Arnaud de la Fouchardière of Jackito says, "The architecture chosen for Jackito focuses on user friendliness. Fingertips (as opposed to a stylus) are used as a natural device for touching the options displayed by the LCD touch screen. $50 million has been invested in these efforts."

ENGINEERING OF TDA
Jackito runs on seven processors with full parallel-processing capabilities (two micro-controllers and five accompanying reconfigurable cores), a large 4.5" color QVGA LCD fingertip touch-screen that offers resolution of 320x240 dpi, display with landscape orientation and two SD/MMC card slots. The TDA runs on an operating system called 3ActilOS, has 2.5 MB SRAM and 16 MB NOR Flash memory.

It measures 140 x 80 x 16 mm and weighs just 150 grams and feeds on a single AA battery, which according to the company, can sustain for several weeks. Using the touch-screen with your thumb or index fingers means that you don't have to carry or use a stylus, keyboard or any other input device. Also, Novinit says that the finger's contact area is hundred times larger than that of a stylus and a stylus exerts hundred times more pressure on the screen than a finger.

Arnaud further added, "Jackito is not only an electronic device, but also a personal companion, supporting the three essential ingredients of a well-balanced lifestyle ­ work's productivity, personal life and edutainment." Jackito will also come preloaded with about twenty applications, which includes games, puzzles, address book, clock, to-do list, synchronization feature, backup application, etc.

AVAILABILITY OF JACKITO
Novinit has not yet appointed any dealers for Jackito, though as of now they plan to make all the transactions through their website. Jackito is available for sale on www.jackito.com at a list price of Euro 600, which works out to almost Rs 33,500 (shipping charges and other taxes extra). Novinit says that if you are interested in buying the product, you will have to order it online through their website by remitting $100 and then wait for about 90 days for the product to be delivered to you.

However, you can choose the screen type (color or monochrome), user interface, removable front cover and changeable stick-on strips of your choice. The Jackito is entirely customizable ­ you can choose between add-ons like internal MP3 player, FM radio, microphone, headset, Bluetooth, solar battery charger and much more at an extra cost. According to Arnaud, they will target at "early adopters" for this product, but "the product is destined for everybody because the product has all the facilities that we lack as human beings ­ gigantic memory, vast capabilities for computation, learning, games and communications."

OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD
The development of TDA doesn't stop here. In fact, this is just the beginning. Novinit expects that by April 2005, it will be able to make available innovative accessories for the TDA, you will be able to choose from WiFi modules, GPS, digital camera (CMOS based), micro-printer, micro-scanner, barcode reader, smart-card reader, TV module and much more.

Though TDA seems to be an 'in' thing with all the features it talks about, there are certain things that work against the very concept of 'digital assistant'. Jackito doesn't come with character recognition software built-in. It means that you will have to type through the virtual keyboard on the TDA's screen if you want to enter a few important data. This is far more tedious than just scribbling a few notes on a PDA screen with the stylus and leaving the conversion part to the handwriting recognition software.

The TDA runs on an operating system called the ActilOS, which no one has even heard of before. This means that there wont be any third party applications for the TDA, at least immediately. Moreover the product is similar to a PDA ­ its just that the TDA can be used with the fingers / thumbs and supports landscape orientation too.

Though the TDA seems promising enough, time will only tell whether it remains stable in the market. So if you want to experience the magic of TDA or strike a deal with them, log on to the Jackito's website and click 'buy'!

CHRIS FERNANDO

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