The DT410, introduced in 2011 by DT Research, is one of the company's dedicated handheld point-of-service and point-of-sale terminals, essentially combining standard Pocket PC technology and functionality with a variety of data capture options. The DT400 Series includes two platforms (the DT410/415 and the DT430/435) some of which also come in medical versions. This page covers the standard DT410.
But let's take a quick look at the DT410: What we have here is a small and very handy multifunction PDA based on the competent Samsung S3C2440 processor running at 533MHz. Memory configuration is standard Windows CE, with 128MB of DDR II RAM and 128MB of ROM. For security purposes DT Research decided against onboard card slots. The 3.5-inch resistive touch display is listed as offering both QVGA 240 x 320 pixel and full VGA 480 x 640 pixel resolution. We're not sure exactly how bright it is, but DTResearch calls it "outdoor-viewable."
For an operating system platform, DTResearch offers either Windows CE 6.0 or Windows Mobile 6. The former will mostly be used in applications where the unit is almost exclusively used for custom applications, the latter, with its more user-friendly interface, is for situations where workers will use the units both for data capture and more general mobile computing tasks.
In terms of size and weight, the DT410 measures 3.1 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches and weighs about ten ounces. That's a little larger and heavier than most consumer smartphones, but still small enough to fit into most pockets and hardly bigger than the latest generation of Android smartphones. For operation it's primarily stylus or touch. There are also four PDA-style (presumably soft and programmable) buttons. Unlike the DT430 Series, the DT410 does not also offer a numeric keypad option.
The DT410 comes standard with an integrated magnetic stripe reader. It's a two-frequency coherent phase design capable of bi-directional swiping and 3-track reading. Optionally available is a 13.56MHz RFID reader. On the wireless side, there's 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR.
While point-of-sales/service handhelds need to be considerably more robust than, say, consumer smartphones, they don't need to be fully rugged. The DT410 looks sturdy enough with its PC+ABS housing, though no drop spec is given. The front panel is IP54 sealed, which means it's protected against dust and also against water spray. Operating temperature range is 32 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, which should cover most POS applications.
Bottomline: the DT410 is a handy device designed for customer service applications such as mobile order-taking, ticket scanning, payment processing, as well as inventory management. With integrated WLAN connectivity, mag stripe reading and optional RFID reader modules, the DT410 is a mobile data capture device and computing tool that can bring much greater speed, service and security to formely manual or semi-automated operations.
