Software & hardware options to replace an old handheld application

Question

I'm looking for options to replace and old application running in a Psion Workabout mx handheld, developed in OPL. The handheld and the application (developed more than 10 years ago) are both working fine by now, but the device is discontinued, and each time is harder to find replacement parts for it.

Then I started to look to the newer Psion handheld models, but they are expensive and filled with features that I don't need at all (color screen, barcode reader, ...). Also, they look a lot less rugged than the actual Workabout mx that I'm using. I had to replace around 50 handhelds, and i'm looking for good options with this features:

• Reasonable priced
• Fast numeric data entry, optionally alphanumeric data (not usual)
• Readable screen, with at least 7 lines of text visible. No color needed
• Rugged
• Replacement parts available
• Reasonable development environment (handheld emulator, IDE, minimal GUI support, PC / handheld connectivity)

Maybe an old mobile phone with Java support can do the work?

Please indicate the suggested device model and the development options available for it.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Perhaps a compaq ipaqs may be suitable replacements, but I'm not sure they make those anymore.

I was also thinking an iPod iTouch (serious suggestion!) may be a good device to get (cheapest version £165) Its a good development environment (Objective-C, free compiler download, although you'll probably have to register with apple to get your apps. a certificate so it works on the device). This may be too expensive, and far above the requirements you're looking for.

If you're thinking about java enabled phones (I'm not sure what you're performance requirements are, but sounds quite minimal if its a port of a 10 year old app) you want to be careful, some mobile java implementations won't support floating point arithmetic directly, you may have to implement a fixed point math library. Somes phone Java VMs vary quite dramatically performance wise too, again this may not be your primary concern. The mobile phone development route may be a valid one, if you're assuming that your off-site engineers all have company phones anyway!