Uniden’s HomePatrol is a new, very different kind of scanner.
It’s got a touch-screen, for starters. It also comes pre-loaded with a dump of the Radio Reference database making setup ridiculously easy for anyone not well-versed in such matters.
You turn it on for the first time, tell it your zip code, and in less than two minutes you’re auto-programmed and listening to whatever’s around you. Regular updates will be made available online and you can of course program in your own systems if they’re not already included.
Form factor and interface aside, this is just another digital trunking scanner, basically an audio-recording BCD396XT:
It certainly looks slick with that fancy LCD touchscreen and should be a big hit with the Wal-Mart crowd, especially if they can do something about the 396XT’s sky-high pricing, which generally hovers around $500.
The “HomePatrol-1″ is pending FCC approval and should hit retail this October.
This is much more interesting than some new iPhone!
Both are great eBook readers from what I’ve seen…however the Kindle is now the low-price leader, and that just feels weird to say.
All of this of course just gets us closer and closer to the magical $99 pricepoint that’ll get eInk into the hands of everybody. Remember, the original Kindle debuted at $399 just two years ago. I bet we’ll see something hit $100 by this Christmas.
However it’s starting to sound like IOA has finally been topped – by IOA.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opens in ten days, and soft openings have been running for the last week.
I just read a glowing review of “Forbidden Journey”, the big new ride, and it sounds like Universal’s got another winner on its hands. Exciting!
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