CybikoXtreme, the £9.99 Wonder PDA

PERSONAL DIGITAL Assistants have, if the vendors are to be believed, changed the way we capture our thoughts and organise our time on the move. The Apple Newton was the first of its breed, a massive PDA which showed the way to the rest of us. Palm and its original Palmpilot are still the favorites of thousands.

This review looks at a PDA which is either too different from everything existing or just too advanced for our times. If you are a regular Ebayer looking for a PDA, then you should have come across the Cybiko. This cross between a Gameboy lite and a wannabee Treo without the phone bit is a real bargain and at £9.99 here, I told to myself that I would did no wrong if I bought one for my girlfriend, which I did. Today, we are reviewing the Xtreme version. Originally, the CybikoXtreme was on sale at $149 when it first came out back in 2001. But it was a mere blip for the rest of us. The fact that the vast stocks of CybikoXtreme are being sold on Ebay at rock bottom prices almost certainly means that it is on its way to technological heaven.

Bargain technology
You'll get some pretty good technology under the hood for the price of five pints of West-Ended Beer. The main processor is an Hitachi H8S/2323 running at 18MHz while an Atmel AT90S2313 coprocessor blazing its way at 4MHz provide with some support. One of the main limitations of the Cybiko is its memory - only 512KB ROM FLASH memory and 1.5MB RAM. There is no way currently to expand it except perhaps by means of the MP3 player which we'll see at a later stage. The screen is a 160x100 pixels grayscale one covered by a transparent protective lens. Expansivity is restricted to a cartridge slot, à la Gameboy. To my knowledge, the Cybiko MP3 player, is the only accessory that can plug in it.

It comes as a sleek black plastic shell and it allows you to listen to your MP3 files at a bitrate of up to 320Kbps. It is compatible with SD/MMC cards of any size - an Integral MMC 1GB card will cost you £52 here. Just put your MP3 songs on the card and that's it. Use the free MP3 software player provided and you're ready to go, the latter is a basic player showing song title, song info, volume and balance control bars as well as time bar.

An equaliser is provided as well as the ability to pause and forward. A 3.5mm phone jack for stereo earphones is provided as well as EMI suppression ferrite cores. To appeal even more to teenagers, the CybikoXtreme features detachable faceplates.

A 1GB MP3 Player
What is even more exciting is the MXD technology - Music Xchange Digital, which promised to let you view videos, albeit in greyscale and at low FPS. In Cybiko's own word "a still motion video clip and audio clip combined to create exciting entertainment". Fortunately enough, the extra capacity provided by the removable cards also means that you can download and store the 400 or so free software packages currently available on the interweb. You can also use the MP3 player as a SD/MMC card reader. Interestingly, SDIO devices are supported which means that in theory, existing SDIO 802.11b wireless LAN cards, Bluetooth, Barcode scanners and digital cameras could be connected to the CybikoXtreme fairly easily, given the right drivers. Don't forget, we're still talking of a £9.99 PDA. With a noise Ratio of 90db, a harmonic distortion of 0.1%, a bit rate ranging from 8 to 320 kbps and a sampling rate index from 8 to 48 kHz, this cheap MP3 player represents good value for money. And guess what? You can also record your voice using a software called Cyrecord. More on the software later.

The CybikoXtreme is physically larger than the average PDA but fits in my shirt pocket and more importantly, it feels rugged and sturdy, due mainly to the weight of its battery. At 150g, it is relatively light.

Wireless Wonder
A row of function keys to access frequently used functions is present above the screen. By pressing simultaneously with the Fn keys, you can access even more functions. But that's not all, those function keys are totally configurable and the shift key can also be used. You also get a QWERTY keyboard with dual function keys. These are quite small and might not suit all hands.

But after all, the initial target group of the CybikoXtreme was nimble-fingers teenagers, not businessmen. The Cybiko ressembles another winner, the RIM Blackerry. It can access your email and supports WAP should you want to go online. One of the functions put forward by its manufacturers is its wireless capabilities. This is pretty much apparent as a plastic antenna protudes from the right of the Xtreme. Unfortunately, the Cybiko is only compatible with its own community when it comes to two way or multicasting communication.

You can easily imagine the uses of such a technology within a small company. Employees could receive memos through it and use it as a Walkie Talkie via the free Cytalk. There are three different channels available and you can also invite a specific person to talk. You can also record the conversation going on. The estimated indoor range of the Cybikoxtreme is 50m, what you would expect from a 802.11b card. In a warehouse or in open space, the range increases to around 300m. The file transfer/multi-player game range though is around 25m with a maximym 19.2kbps transfer rate. In theory, you can connect up to 3000 Cybiko computers at the same time in a star-like network.

Software
The Cybikoxtreme comes with its own operating system the CyOS 1.5 and a complementary communication Protocol, the CyDP x.30 (Cybiko RF Digital Protocol) and fast communication protocol. Also hardware embedded is the ability to form Dynamic Virtual Local Wireless Networks. As mentioned before, Cybiko provides with more than 400 pieces of software downloadable for free via its Cyberload program. Altogether, their total size does not exceed 30MB and you can batch download them. There are also many other third party applications developped by Cybiko fans and free to dowload including a Drawing software, a personality scanner and a BASIC programming software. There is even a Zelda 2 game being developped, spawning from NES here.

Installing a Cybiko software is a matter of second, just click on the application you want to download and follow the steps. That's all. Cybiko also provides with some software update, of which the most interesting is the CyWIG which stands for Wireless Internet Gate - this program turns your Cybiko Xtreme into an Internet gate so other Cybiko computers within range can wirelessly access the Internet.

But let's not forget that the primary function of the CybikoXtreme was to allow teenagers to communicate in a continuous way; profiles can be set in your own personal Cybiko to match the profile of the owner of another passing by Cybiko; also you can chat or converse in real-time using the provided chat software.

The future
Minor gripes exist though. There is no Caps Lock for the Function Keys and the amount of memory should have been increased. Furthermore, the fonts and their size cannot be changed. The keyboard requires more force to depress keys, which causes fatigue quicker. The inbuild NiMh battery has an autonomy of 9hrs though this is greatly reduce should you enable vibration, use wireless communication and listen to MP3.

You can recharge the CybikoXtreme via a normal USB port. Take care though not to leave it for to long or it could permanently damage the battery. I doubt that there will be future Cybiko models. But who knows....

Anyway, suggestion for any forthcoming models would include larger screen and colour ones, possibly with backlit, more memory, better placed and designed control buttons, longer lasting batteries, an integrated MP3 player, improved wireless range and most importantly, a reasonable price.

Conclusion
I am pretty sure that given the right support and modifications, it could become more than a worthy competitor and a successor to the bloated and relatively more expensive Simputer. The latter is a low cost portable alternative to PCs, by which the benefits of IT can reach the common man. It has a special role in the third world because it ensures that illiteracy is no longer a barrier to handling a computer.

But at £118, twelve times the cost of a Cybiko, it seems that it is no longer in touch with the third world reality. Clearly, the CybikoXtreme has proved to be one of my best buys again and this product has a lot of potential. As for all bargains, grab it while you can and support them by giving a hand to develope new software. µ

See Also
CybikoXtreme official Website
Cybiko's Official Website
Cybiko Forums
The Cybiko Weekly
Hyperdev
Cyplace
Cydevr
CyIce
Cybigamerz
Cybiko1
Cyblank
Cybertown
Cysite
Cybikomods
Cybikos
Google's link
Planet Cybiko