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===== Company History===== | ===== Company History===== | ||
- | Group Sense Ltd. (GSL), an international company, | + | Group Sense Ltd. (GSL) was an international company, founded in Hong Kong in June 1988. |
**Early days (1988~2000)** | **Early days (1988~2000)** | ||
- | Their main businesses | + | Before the rise or PDAs and smartphones Group Sense' |
- | * Translation dictionaries | + | * Translation dictionaries, branded as "Instant Dict" (快譯通) in Hong Kong and Taiwan), |
- | * ODM Designs and Manufacturing electronic dictionaries for Japan market (1990s to 2010s) | + | * ODM Designs and Manufacturing electronic dictionaries for the Japanese |
- | * Pager [[https:// | + | * Pager devices |
{{: | {{: | ||
**PDA Era (2000-2002)** | **PDA Era (2000-2002)** | ||
+ | After 2000, the company faced new challenges, with the pager business in decline due to the rise of SMS, and with new competition arising in the PDA market from other Chinese companies. | ||
- | On 4 September 2000, the business restructured into three divisions; Electronic | + | On 4 September 2000, the business restructured into three divisions; Electronic |
- | In May 2001, a join venture, GSPDA, were formed between GSL, Intel, SB China (Softbank subsidiary) and UTStarcom.[14] | + | In May 2001, a join venture |
- | The PDA division was named Group Sense PDA Limited (GSPDA). | + | |
- | Company were having a rough time on fading | + | In 2001, GSL released their Xplore V series |
- | In 2001, GSL released their Xplore | + | The company envisioned that wireless-data enabled PDAs would be popular in the future, and in their annual report they explicitly indicated that this market would be a primary focus going forwards. |
- | + | ||
- | A Bi-lingual PDA with GSM mobile connectivity and own proprietary OS were shown to press and tested by connections, | + | |
[[http:// | [[http:// | ||
[[https:// | [[https:// | ||
- | |||
- | Vision on data enabled PDA would be popular and the company would focus on this path were mention in their annual report. | ||
**Smartphone Era (2002-2007)** | **Smartphone Era (2002-2007)** | ||
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In late 2002, GSPDA signed a licensing agreement with PalmSource for permission to develop Palm OS PDA's [1], with 5 Palm OS devices eventually developed. The license was initially only for devices to be marketed to the Asia/ | In late 2002, GSPDA signed a licensing agreement with PalmSource for permission to develop Palm OS PDA's [1], with 5 Palm OS devices eventually developed. The license was initially only for devices to be marketed to the Asia/ | ||
- | A flip cover device codename " | + | During this period, a new Xplore was being developed and released yearly. |
- | During | + | A flip cover device codename " |
GSPDA were also in development on possibilities of other operating systems. | GSPDA were also in development on possibilities of other operating systems. | ||
[[https:// | [[https:// | ||
- | The Singapore branch of GSPDA incorporated as a subsidiary called "Group Sense Technology (Singapore) Pte Ltd.", before renaming as [[https:// | + | The Singapore branch of GSPDA incorporated as a subsidiary called "Group Sense Technology (Singapore) Pte Ltd.", before renaming as [[https:// |
- | In 2006-2007, PalmSource cancelled the PalmOS6.1, GSPDA mention they will continue | + | In early 2005, an Oswin device running Palm OS 6.1 (" |
- | Unlike most other years, no special mention of M70 that were announced 2006 Sep and shown to press and ITU 2006 (Hong Kong) in their annual report. | + | {{ : |
- | In 2008, the Xplore brand (and Palm OS device lineup) was depreciated, | + | However, with the sacking of the PalmSource CEO in mid-2005, and the sale of PalmSource to ACCESS in late 2005, it appeared that Palm-OS 6.1 would be cancelled. In response, in 2006 GSPDA announced that they would continue to ship new devices with PalmOS 5.4, such as the Xplore M70 (announced Sep '06), alongside a second series of smartphones running a new[[https:// |
+ | |||
+ | However, by 2007, the Xplore M70 international release was canceled, while plans for the Jasper S20 were disrupted with financial troubles at SavaJe, seeing them acquired by Sun in April 2007. In 2008, the GSPDA joint-venture were closed, the Xplore brand and [[http:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
- | Post 2008, all references of PalmOS base were removed from main site, xplore.com.hk were no longer alive. | ||
{{: | {{: | ||
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https:// | https:// | ||
* Codename Zircon I, HAL ID zicn, Device ID zicn [22] | * Codename Zircon I, HAL ID zicn, Device ID zicn [22] | ||
- | * Also known as Zicron | + | * Also known as Zircon |
==== Specifications ==== | ==== Specifications ==== | ||
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Almost identical to the M68. Ann. Sept 2006, rel, early 2006 | Almost identical to the M68. Ann. Sept 2006, rel, early 2006 | ||
* Codename UNKNOWN, HAL ID zcn5, Device ID zcn5 [22] | * Codename UNKNOWN, HAL ID zcn5, Device ID zcn5 [22] | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{: | ||
A minor update, the M70S was later released in Oct 2007 with a firmware update. | A minor update, the M70S was later released in Oct 2007 with a firmware update. | ||
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- | ===== Zircon Axia A108 ===== | + | ===== Oswin Zircon Axia A108 ===== |
{{ : | {{ : | ||
- | The [[https:// | + | The [[https:// |
http:// | http:// | ||
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In Feb 2005, at a local GSPDA public meeting, a representative indicated that GSPDA indicated to release a Palm OS 6 (Cobalt) based smartphone by the end of 2006[16] - over a year after Cobalt 6.1 was announced in 2004[17], and almost two years after [[http:// | In Feb 2005, at a local GSPDA public meeting, a representative indicated that GSPDA indicated to release a Palm OS 6 (Cobalt) based smartphone by the end of 2006[16] - over a year after Cobalt 6.1 was announced in 2004[17], and almost two years after [[http:// | ||
- | In April it was indicated that the Zircon | + | In April it was indicated that the Oswin Axia A108 device would be available with a range of different OS platforms, including Palm OS 6 Cobalt [18][19]. |
These plans were again confirmed in May 2005, during an [[https:// | These plans were again confirmed in May 2005, during an [[https:// | ||
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{{: | {{: | ||
+ | Additional Photos provided by [[http:// | ||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | {{: | ||
==== Specifications ==== | ==== Specifications ==== | ||
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* Mobile: GSM TriBand 900/ | * Mobile: GSM TriBand 900/ | ||
* Data: GPRS Class 10 | * Data: GPRS Class 10 | ||
+ | * MiniSD expansion | ||
* https:// | * https:// | ||
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* [21] https:// | * [21] https:// | ||
* [22] http:// | * [22] http:// | ||
+ | * [23] https:// | ||
+ | * [24] https:// | ||
+ | * [25] http:// | ||
+ | * [26] https:// | ||