The Dolphin 9900 is Honeywell's next incarnation of the Dolphin 9000 series. If you need rock solid performance for your warehouse workers, direct store delivery drivers, or long haul drivers, if they need to carry all of their customer data, and catalog information, inventory, invoices, cell phone, calendar and email in a device built to survive the rough stuff, this is the guy for you. The unit I tested included the following features:

• 3.5 inch QVGA screen
• 2D image capture scanner & camera
• cell phone
• 802.11 transceiver
• alpha numeric or full QWERTY keyboards.
• 256 megs of RAM 
• 1 GB of Flash storage standard,
• Intel XScale PXA270 624 MHz Processor

The 9900 is a large device that doesn't feel like a large device. It feels great in your hand. The waisted grip makes it easy to hold and the angled scanner keeps fatigue at bay. It doesn't feel that heavy either. In fact, It's only two ounces heavier than the Dolphin 7900. Of course, that may be saying more about the 7900 than the 9900. If you've read my review of that device, you know that one of the things I didn't like about it was the weight. The 9900 also knows how to manage battery life. More on that later. A detailed data sheet is available here.  HHP also makes a wide selection of accessories, including cradles, truck mounted cradles, card readers, and the like. The best part is that most of these accessories are shared with the 9500. So, if you are already running a fleet of 9500's you can just start swapping them out for 9900's without buying new peripherals.

The scanner is an Adaptus Imager that reads a wide range of both 1D and 2D barcodes.  The imager settings allow you to choose single scan mode or continuous mode. I actually found continuous mode to be a little too fast for me. I was constantly scanning the same barcode multiple times--not just twice, but 3 or 4 times before I could move off the barcode. I'm sure there is a control setting in the scan wedge that will make this better. (To tell you the truth, Versatile never uses any manufacturer's scan wedge. Our software drives the scanner directly for absolute control.) In single scan mode it read the barcodes well under a second. Need to capture images? The scanner is also a black and white, low resolution camera. You won't be making great art with it, but you will be able to document damaged containers, or capture paper signatures.

The unit I tested has the 56-key alpha-numeric keypad, which is perfect for entering any kind of data. If you don't do a lot of text entry you can choose the 43-key alpha shifted numeric version. The screen is a large 3.5 inch QVGA polycarbonate touch panel. Its transflective technology is especially readable in bright sunshine. Even applications that are not designed with high contrast screens are easy to read. Indoors, the colors are bright and vibrant. This is truly a remarkable screen.

At 9.6 inches long, 3.4 inches wide and 2.1 inches deep, and 21.4 ounces the 9900 is slightly lighter than other entries in this class. Ergonomically, its waisted design is easy to grip. The battery housing has a finger saddle molded into it which makes one handed operation of the scanner very comfortable.   The adjustable hand strap is comfortable. The stylus isn't attached, so they've made it bright orange to be easy to find when you leave it somewhere. The stylus also has a spring loaded tip.

Sure it's pretty, but can it handle the rough stuff? Oh yeah. As sleek as it's name implies, the Dolphin's design doesn't stop at looking good. Starting from it's magnesium alloy chassis, the 9900 was built to last. Your warehouse gorillas will have a hard time beating this to pieces. It's tested (by an independent lab) to survive multiple 6 foot drops to concrete and 1000 1-meter tumbles (that's 2000 3 foot falls)  It also carries an IP64 rating. Its sealed shell will keep out the smallest particles of dust, and protect the electronics from water sprayed from any direction. So, if a dust devil comes along and carries it through a dancing fountain, you'll be fine.
 
My only real complaint is that the cell phone is not accessible through a set of physical phone keys. OK, that sounds picky, but I don't think you should have to go to the menu to get to the phone interface. It's annoying. The sound quality however is superb. Using it as a handset, I was able to hear clearly in all environments, and all but the very noisiest in speaker mode. The microphone utilizes sound dampening technology, which effectively distinguished between my voice and background noise, even loud diesel engine noise.  As for data transmission, I had no problems with communications over GPRS. It also paired well with my Bluetooth headset.

Finally, we talk about the battery, and what do we say? WOW! Of course, HHP was famous for their ability to get the most out of a battery, and Honeywell has continued the tradition with the 9900.  Called "Shift-Plus," the battery management system promises to give the user enough battery life for their entire shift, plus a little extra. And they deliver on that promise. I've gushed over their battery management before. Just read the 7900 review. With all four radios on, (Bluetooth, cell phone, 802.11 & GPS) this unit took on our standard test day, plus the extra 1000 scans, and stayed off the cradle for 12 hours, and ended the day with 53% of the battery left! Nice. The cool part of this story is this: The battery I tested is actually smaller than the one that will ship with the production models! 

To sum up, I highly recommend the 9900. This sleek addition to the Dolphin family is much more than a pretty face. It's rugged build, reliable scanner and brilliant battery will make this a winner where ever you use it.

Brett Birdsong
Sr. Editor