Digital Photography Review
Minds@Work Digital Wallet review
Page 1. Intro

 Digital Photography Review


Digital Wallet Review, Phil Askey, July 2000


Review based on a production Digital Wallet from Minds@Work
 (logo on above image faked, too difficult to capture...)

For quite some time now digital photographers have been crying out for a product like the Digital Wallet. Out in the field it's not convenient to carry a bulky notebook everywhere you go, most people resort to purchasing large numbers (or capacities) of memory cards but promise of a better solution has been on the horizon, now it's a real product...

The Digital Wallet is a simple concept, a portable device with a large amount of storage (in this case 6 GB), a flash socket (in this case a PCMCIA port) and built-in processor capable of copying the contents of the flash card. This enables the photographer to go out on a shoot with a small portable storage device capable of storing many thousands of images.

Minds@Work Digital Wallet Specifications

Case Material Plastic
Interface Connection PCMCIA (Type II max)
Storage Capacity 6 GB (5,838,752 KB available after formatting)
Microprocessor Motorola ColdFire
Interface USB 1.1 (4-pin)
Hard Disk Toshiba 2.5".
4200 RPM, Avg. seek 13 ms, Max 25 ms, Latency 7.14 ms
Internal Buffer 512 KB
Power Six AAA NiMH battery pack (supplied) 7.2V, 650 mAH
Charger Charger / AC adapter supplied, 2.5 hour charge time. Accepts 90-240 VAC ~50-60 Hz
Vibration & Shock Operational Vibration 1.0G, Shock 150G
Non-Operational Shock 700G
Altitude 10,000 ft (3,048 m)
Compatibility PC (Windows 98 & 2000) & MAC (OS 8.5 + higher)
Dimensions 135 x 95 x 32 mm (5.25 x 3.75 x 1.25")
Weight (inc batteries) 350 g (12.3 oz)
Price Approx. US$ 500 ($0.08/MB)

It's worth noting that for a limited period Minds@Work will be offering an additional battery pack or carrying case for the Digital Wallet at not extra cost when bought through their MindsGear.Com website.

The specs look good, time to put the Digital Wallet through its paces and see if it fits the bill for the digital photographer...

Photographs were taken with a Nikon Coolpix 990, images which can be viewed at a larger size have a small magnifying glass icon in the bottom right corner of the image, clicking on the image will display a larger (normally 1024 x 768 or smaller if cropped) image in a new window.

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This review is Copyright 2000 Phil Askey and the review in part (text or graphics) or in whole may NOT be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the author. For information on reproducing any part of this review (or any images) please contact: Phil Askey.
From:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/DigitalWallet/
Item May Only be Printed for Home/Personal reference
 
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