The Itronix Fe X21 may look attractive with it's aqua-green body, but it's more than a pretty face; it can take a beating. In fact, its name is short for "Field Explorer of the 21st Century." That should give you an idea of what Itronix has in mind for this device.

The Fe X21 has an open book design, so the enhanced LCD and ergonomic keyboard are always visible. Should you not want to use the keyboard, the 6.5 inch screen is also a resistive touch screen, so you can use a passive pen to input data or make selections. Not wanting to limit your choices when buying a handheld computer, Itronix also allows you to choose between three different screens: a monochrome 16 greyscale with backlight, or a color or color transflective screen with 256 colors and backlight.

As for ruggedness, the 7.5 x 6.1 x 1.45-inch casing is made of impact-resistant plastic, so you can drop it a few feet a few times, and it will still keep on computing. It has even been sealed for water resistance. The Fe X21 weighs about 27.9 oz with the 1600 mAHr NiMH rechargeable batteries included.

But what can the Fe X21 do? Well, for starters it can use either a Toshiba 92 MHz or a Toshiba 129 MHz MIPS R3912 RISC processor to run Windows CE Handheld Professional Edition V3.01 in flash memory. You can use that as the starting point for whatever software you want to run on this device, but it also comes with 16 MB low power DRAM and 16 MB of flash ROM for you to run programs, as well. Unless you choose the 129 MHz processor, in which case you'll get 32 MB of each. The Fe X21 connects to the outside world using a variety of ports: either two Type II or one Type III PC Card slot, RS232 serial port, IrDA, USB, or even an integrated 33.6 kbps modem. If wireless is more your cup of tea, choose the device with more processing power and you'll get your choice of CDPD, Motient, Mobitex, Spread Spectrum, or GSM wireless communications.

Pricing and Availability

The Fe X21 is currently available starting at $1499.95.

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