Motorola Unveils Magical Envoy

Is this the much heralded “personal” communicator?

Personal communicators are nearly here!

But why nearly and not already here? Certainly the EO 440—which first made us believe that want we really wanted to do was communicate instead of compute—has already come and gone in the past year. Wasn’t that a personal communicator?

While the EO 440 could be turned into a communicator when the rather clumsy cellular phone option was grafted to the back of the unit, the device was far from personal. Here are the main reasons why:

• The wireless communication hardware was far from tightly integrated. While the EO 440 received nearly universal praise for its ergonomic tablet design, nearly everyone cringed at the thought of fastening the cellular phone module to its back.
• While EO stressed that the 440 was a personal communicator and not a computer, the device still forced the user to think of communication as an adjunct to the computation (such as word processing) being performed at the time. Simply put, the device relied on a model of mobile computing with, at the time, unparalleled access to communication. However, the user was still computing.
• The price of the device was far from personal. While this is understandable at one level, let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that people will walk into the nearest AT&T phone center and purchase an EO 440 along with a cordless telephone. Perhaps they should have called it a professional communicator.

Before getting too hard on EO, let’s remember that they were the first to entice us with the idea and appeal of true personal communication and, more importantly, pioneered the trail leading us there. However, they too were straddled with the legacy of computing and may not have received the religion of communications in time.

Now shift to March 1994, and Motorola’s introduction of its new Envoy personal wireless communicator at the Mobile ’94 conference in San Jose, California. Does this device earn the right to be called a personal communicator? Almost.

Addressing the three concerns we found with EO’s communicator, we find that the Envoy goes far in advancing the state-of-the art in the first two. The wired and wireless communication options are beautifully integrated with the main device, in a package smaller than the original EO 440 without the communication option. The range of present and promised communication options makes the Envoy the first device that deserves the label of “communicator.”

The reason is not just the software on which the Envoy is based, but also the model that this software presents the user. General Magic’s Magic CAP interface, and the Telescript communication technology underneath it, presents the first true departure from mainstream computing in the past decade. And therein lies the challenge and the opportunity for hardware manufacturers, software developers, and service providers.

However, returning to the question—why aren’t personal communicators here yet? Alas, the problem remains price. In a world where $1500 buys several televisions and VCRs—not to mention just about any major home appliance—the cost keeps it out of mainstream reach. What this means is that the device must still be marketed as a professional, business solution if it hopes to succeed for future, less-expensive generations. In a sentence, it must still be marketed mainly as a computer and not a personal communicator.

As an example, the cellular phone market presents a reasonable analogy. Truly one of the most important personal communication devices, its gestation was the familiar professional and business market, until the cost approached the personal level. Likewise, Motorola should restrain its understandable enthusiasm about the Envoy and concentrate on selling the devices to users who can justify the cost through productivity and competitive gains.

This is not to put a damper on any of the excitement. Indeed, the Envoy is a ground-breaking device that appears well-crafted and thoroughly thought out. The product features two-way wireless communication that enables users to connect to the AT&T PersonaLink and RadioMail electronic mail services using IBM and Motorola’s nationwide ARDIS network—support for future wireless networks to come in the future.

In addition, the device is equipped with a thorough set of ports, options, and software built into ROM. The product is planned for general availability in the summer of 1994.

Personal communicators are nearly here! Long live the personal communicator!

Summary: Motorola Envoy

• Dimensions: 7.5″ x 5.75″ x 1.2″ (190 x 146 x 30 mm)
• Weight: 1.68 lbs (733 g)
• CPU: 3.3 V, 16 MHz Motorola Dragon I 68349, 32-bit, and special purpose ASIC called “Astro”
• Screen: 3″ x 4.5″ (76 x 114 mm)
• Resolution: 480 x 320 resolution, 4-level grey scale, 105 dpi
• Memory: 1 MB DRAM, 4 MB ROM
• PCMCIA: Dual Type II PCMCIA 2.0 slots
• Ports: Magicbus external port, modem port, power adapter port
• Battery: Rechargeable NiCad
• Pen: Touch sensitive input screen (plastic pen optional)
• Software: Magic CAP and Telescript
• Modems: 9600 bps fax send modem, 2400 bps V.22 data modem, 4800 bps send/receive two-way wireless packet radio modem
• Antenna: External whip antenna