CyX2

The Look and Feel
The body has a trim feel to it compared to the Cybiko. The CyX2 (working title) is roughly the same size as the original Cybiko. It's molded as all one unit and shaped like a figure 8 (curved edges, wide at the top, narrow waist, and wide near the bottom). In this way it resembles the m100 model of the Palm Pilot. And like the m100 series, there are skins that cover the silverized CyX2 body. There are also separate panels for the areas around the keyboard, arrow keys, and the Enter pad. I saw red, green, blue, and zebra colors. You can even mix and match colors for a unique color scheme.

The keyboard has larger keys and they are of a solid black rubbarized material. The arrow keys resemble the Game Boy keys and are (happily) separate from the ESC key. In a brilliant and very welcome move, there is an ON/OFF key situated in the center of the keyboard. One drawback to the new, larger keyboard is that Cybiko removed the top row of number keys (1-9). To type numbers into the unit you must use the FN key to 'shift'. The F1-F7 keys still exist at the top of the unit.

The antenna is no longer the 6" long rod rising from the back of the unit. Instead, a slim side-antenna (again resembling the Palm Pilot VII antenna). There are no improvements in RF distance - more on that later.

There no longer is a serial port - a mini USB port resides at the bottom of the case. This USB port will be used to download games. It also doubles as the battery charger connection. A supplied cable connects the USB port to a power adapter.

The display is the same as on the Cybiko. 160x100 pixels, 4-color greyscale.

The slot for additional devices is now at the top of the unit.

RF, CyWIG, & CyModem
The biggest advance is in the area of RF. The Radio Frequency broadcast characteristics are basically the same as with Cybiko - but much faster. I played Blazing Boards 2 - just like Blazing Boards but against another player. I could see his moves on my screen instantaneously. It was very impressive. There was also a Final Fury type of game where I battled the other guy in real time. This is a huge improvement over the orginal Cybiko. This could only be made possible with improved RF.

I also saw the famous CyWIG in person. It is just a Cybiko with no display or keyboard and plugs into the computer with a serial/USB port. This is the very thing everyone has been speculating over (the picture of the little white box with a stick coming out of it). The CyWIG is intended to sell for around $60 this Fall. The CyWIG will allow chatting online with ICQ.

The CyModem appears to be a bit of vaporware. As I understand it the price point for the CyModem is too high to make it profitable for Cybiko, Inc. to build it. There is still talk of a cellular phone attachment.

Hardware
The CyX2 is fundamentally the same as the Cybiko internally. But the processor is clocked at between 18 and 21 MHz (the actual number could not be disclosed at the Expo). This gives the CyX2 a powerful punch that allowed for improved performance. The Final Fury type of game I played would not be possible on the original Cybiko.

The memory model has been improved. The CyX2 contains 1MB of RAM and 1MB of Flash memor.

A new device has been added - a microphone. The microphone can be used to record messages and play them back through the speaker. This implies there is some sort of Analog/Digital - Digital/Analog Converter in the CyX2. There is even the possibility of using the CyX2 as a walkie talkie - but the details of this were not immediately available.

I also saw a prototype MP3 player which Cybiko, Inc. was not ready to discuss. It appeared to attach to the back of the CyX2 somehow.

Software
As I mentioned earlier, I played two new games. However, the future of the free downloads is soon coming to an end. This is because the demand for higher quality games requires more programming time. That means it takes longer to produce those games and they are more expensive. Cybiko, Inc. didn't make clear what the future of the freeware games would be, but we all knew that they couldn't produce free games forever.

Another bit of bad news is that there are incompatibilities between the existing games and apps and the CyX2. This means that games written for the Cybiko will probably not run on the CyX2, and vice versa.

The CyX2 will also probably have a different compiler for the CyX2. Cybiko, Inc. indicated that they would continue to support third party applications programmers with a freeware Standard Edition compiler for the CyX2, and a Professioal Edition compiler for a small sum. IMHO, most games compiled for Cybiko will probably recompile simply for the CyX2.

Conclusions
The CyX2 is a great improvement over the Cybiko computer. It still maintains the features which make the Cybiko great - RF, keypad, open architecture and quality software. With the addtion of skins the CyX2 becomes visually configurable to the user's whim. The improved RAM/Flash storage and faster processor make for a more powerful unit which can meet current and future needs. The one disappointing feature of the CyX2 is a lack of a backlit color display. The Cybiko's nearest competitor is the Game Boy Advance. The appeal of fast color games offered by GBA turns the heads of even devoted Cybiko users. What the CyX2 offers over GBA is its ability to act as full blown PDA for teens and tweens. Not to mention some really fun games.

Graphical User Interface
The CyX2 sports a new Graphical User Interface. The greatest difference is the use of the mini_cool_font (small letters). This is used throughout the GUI. The icons on the desktop are 1/4 the size of the original Cybiko's icons. The desktop layout is very similar in concept to the desktop for Microsoft Windows. There is also a battery indicator, friends indicator, and RF Power meter.

The standard applications have all been updated to use the smaller font too. This is a great feature because now much more information can be put on the screen. At first, I thought the screen was actually larger, but i counted rows of text and its still 160x100 pixels.

The Games and Apps folders are still there. And they are populated with decent apps. There is a new Voice Recorder app which records .wav files and plays them back. This is a bonus because it means you can record on the CyX2 and playback on the PC and vice versa. There was also a Walkie Talkie application. I could not test either of them because the background noise at the Expo was too loud


		CyX2 Info



		The Look and Feel The body has a trim feel to it compared to the Cybiko. The CyX2 (working title) is roughly the same size as the original Cybiko. It's molded as all one unit and shaped like a figure 8 (curved edges, wide at the top, narrow waist, and wide near the bottom). In this way it resembles the m100 model of the Palm Pilot. And like the m100 series, there are skins that cover the silverized CyX2 body. There are also separate panels for the areas around the keyboard, arrow keys, and the Enter pad. I saw red, green, blue, and zebra colors. You can even mix and match colors for a unique color scheme. The keyboard has larger keys and they are of a solid black rubbarized material. The arrow keys resemble the Game Boy keys and are (happily) separate from the ESC key. In a brilliant and very welcome move, there is an ON/OFF key situated in the center of the keyboard. One drawback to the new, larger keyboard is that Cybiko removed the top row of number keys (1-9). To type numbers into the unit you must use the FN key to 'shift'. The F1-F7 keys still exist at the top of the unit. The antenna is no longer the 6" long rod rising from the back of the unit. Instead, a slim side-antenna (again resembling the Palm Pilot VII antenna). There are no improvements in RF distance - more on that later. There no longer is a serial port - a mini USB port resides at the bottom of the case. This USB port will be used to download games. It also doubles as the battery charger connection. A supplied cable connects the USB port to a power adapter. The display is the same as on the Cybiko. 160x100 pixels, 4-color greyscale. The slot for additional devices is now at the top of the unit. RF, CyWIG, & CyModem The biggest advance is in the area of RF. The Radio Frequency broadcast characteristics are basically the same as with Cybiko - but much faster. I played Blazing Boards 2 - just like Blazing Boards but against another player. I could see his moves on my screen instantaneously. It was very impressive. There was also a Final Fury type of game where I battled the other guy in real time. This is a huge improvement over the orginal Cybiko. This could only be made possible with improved RF. I also saw the famous CyWIG in person. It is just a Cybiko with no display or keyboard and plugs into the computer with a serial/USB port. This is the very thing everyone has been speculating over (the picture of the little white box with a stick coming out of it). The CyWIG is intended to sell for around $60 this Fall. The CyWIG will allow chatting online with ICQ. The CyModem appears to be a bit of vaporware. As I understand it the price point for the CyModem is too high to make it profitable for Cybiko, Inc. to build it. There is still talk of a cellular phone attachment. Hardware The CyX2 is fundamentally the same as the Cybiko internally. But the processor is clocked at between 18 and 21 MHz (the actual number could not be disclosed at the Expo). This gives the CyX2 a powerful punch that allowed for improved performance. The Final Fury type of game I played would not be possible on the original Cybiko. The memory model has been improved. The CyX2 contains 1MB of RAM and 1MB of Flash memor. A new device has been added - a microphone. The microphone can be used to record messages and play them back through the speaker. This implies there is some sort of Analog/Digital - Digital/Analog Converter in the CyX2. There is even the possibility of using the CyX2 as a walkie talkie - but the details of this were not immediately available. I also saw a prototype MP3 player which Cybiko, Inc. was not ready to discuss. It appeared to attach to the back of the CyX2 somehow. Software As I mentioned earlier, I played two new games. However, the future of the free downloads is soon coming to an end. This is because the demand for higher quality games requires more programming time. That means it takes longer to produce those games and they are more expensive. Cybiko, Inc. didn't make clear what the future of the freeware games would be, but we all knew that they couldn't produce free games forever. Another bit of bad news is that there are incompatibilities between the existing games and apps and the CyX2. This means that games written for the Cybiko will probably not run on the CyX2, and vice versa. The CyX2 will also probably have a different compiler for the CyX2. Cybiko, Inc. indicated that they would continue to support third party applications programmers with a freeware Standard Edition compiler for the CyX2, and a Professioal Edition compiler for a small sum. IMHO, most games compiled for Cybiko will probably recompile simply for the CyX2. Conclusions The CyX2 is a great improvement over the Cybiko computer. It still maintains the features which make the Cybiko great - RF, keypad, open architecture and quality software. With the addtion of skins the CyX2 becomes visually configurable to the user's whim. The improved RAM/Flash storage and faster processor make for a more powerful unit which can meet current and future needs. The one disappointing feature of the CyX2 is a lack of a backlit color display. The Cybiko's nearest competitor is the Game Boy Advance. The appeal of fast color games offered by GBA turns the heads of even devoted Cybiko users. What the CyX2 offers over GBA is its ability to act as full blown PDA for teens and tweens. Not to mention some really fun games. Graphical User Interface The CyX2 sports a new Graphical User Interface. The greatest difference is the use of the mini_cool_font (small letters). This is used throughout the GUI. The icons on the desktop are 1/4 the size of the original Cybiko's icons. The desktop layout is very similar in concept to the desktop for Microsoft Windows. There is also a battery indicator, friends indicator, and RF Power meter. The standard applications have all been updated to use the smaller font too. This is a great feature because now much more information can be put on the screen. At first, I thought the screen was actually larger, but i counted rows of text and its still 160x100 pixels. The Games and Apps folders are still there. And they are populated with decent apps. There is a new Voice Recorder app which records .wav files and plays them back. This is a bonus because it means you can record on the CyX2 and playback on the PC and vice versa. There was also a Walkie Talkie application. I could not test either of them because the background noise at the Expo was too loud						The CyX2



		All info from DevCybiko all credit goes to them and not me!


				*BlueCybiko* *CyX2*



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