ネタ | machii-little道場 | コンピュータ | まにあ道

Last year, while helping a friend take inventory of his small warehouse, I spotted a dusty black device tucked away in a corner. It had a screen smaller than the palm of my hand, thick rubber casing around the edges, and felt surprisingly heavy when picked up. My friend explained that it was an Intermec CN50—issued back when he worked in the courier business—but it had been left to gather dust after the system was upgraded.

I’d never seen a device like it, so, out of curiosity, I borrowed it for a couple of weeks. It turned out to be a rather awkward relationship—it wasn't a standard smartphone or a tablet; it was a tool through and through—a tool with a temper and its own set of quirks.

**Surprisingly small, yet surprisingly heavy**

When I first got my hands on it, I checked the specs. The body measured roughly 15.4 cm long, 7.4 cm wide, and nearly 2.8 cm thick. Compared to any modern smartphone, it was actually quite compact. However, it weighed 340 grams—nearly double the weight of my own phone.

I later came across a review stating that Intermec claimed the CN50 was 25% smaller and 25% lighter than comparable industrial devices. That would have been an impressive feat back in 2009—after all, most of its competitors were essentially bricks. But in today’s context, holding that 340-gram device feels like gripping a rubber-clad lump of iron.

**I got hooked on the scan button**

The CN50’s core function is scanning.

It features a 2D imager at the top that supports both 1D barcodes and QR codes. When you press the scan button, a red aiming frame lights up; align it with the barcode, and it registers almost instantly. That satisfying "beep" followed by the result popping up on the screen provides an indescribable sense of reliability.

However, I soon ran into an issue. I found a discussion on a developer forum mentioning that the CN50 would occasionally capture only a portion of the barcode rather than the whole thing. At first, I thought this might be an edge case—until I tried it myself a dozen times or so. When scanning a shipping label that wasn't perfectly flat, there were indeed two instances where it only read the first half of the numbers, requiring me to adjust the angle and try again. It wasn't a major issue, but the problem was real.

Additionally, there have been reports that the CN50 crashes when running resource-intensive .NET applications. I couldn't verify this myself, as I didn't have any complex enterprise software installed on the unit. However, if you asked an IT administrator who worked during that era, they would likely nod in agreement.

It took me three days to get used to the screen.

It features a 3.5-inch display with a resolution of 240×320. Those numbers might not mean much on their own, so let me put it this way: the clarity is roughly comparable to the feature phones of yesteryear.

Text looks noticeably jagged around the edges, and you have to constantly zoom in and out while browsing the web. Its one saving grace is the use of transflective technology, which actually makes it easier to read in bright outdoor sunlight than a standard smartphone screen. It’s a clever design choice—couriers scanning packages under the sun don't need to shield the screen with their hands to see it.

But if you spend most of your time indoors, this screen will frequently make you miss your smartphone.

The battery is truly top-notch.

The CN50 comes standard with a 3900mAh lithium battery. While that figure might not seem impressive by today's standards, the device's power consumption is significantly lower.

I came across online tests claiming the device could last up to 25 hours of continuous barcode scanning. In my own experience with light usage—scanning a few dozen items and occasionally checking messages—I still had one bar of battery left after two days. It doesn't waste power on flashy features or unnecessary tasks, so the energy is conserved.

Now, for the hard truth.

The operating system is the biggest hurdle.

The CN50 runs Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5, which is essentially an industrial version of Windows Mobile 6.5. If you never used Windows Mobile back in the day, it takes some time to wrap your head around its logic.

There is no app store and none of the apps you’re familiar with. The interface is designed strictly for enterprise software, so it feels quite alien when you first encounter it. I came across comments online from users whose CN50 units ran proprietary logistics applications developed by their companies, communicating with backend systems via 3G networks. In other words, the device wasn't designed for casual use or "playing around"; it was built for customized enterprise deployment.

There was also a frustrating issue: inconsistent build quality.

On a Zebra developer forum, a post mentioned that Intermec was recalling the CN50 due to a hardware defect, with clients already retrieving units from the field. A reply explained that the problem lay in the screen's mounting method, which caused an air bubble to form in the center of the display. Although that post dates back quite a while, it highlights a risk worth noting if you’re considering buying a used CN50 today.

**Real-world impact**

After digging into the archives, I discovered that the CN50 actually played a significant role in several practical applications back in the day.

In 2012, An Post (the Irish postal service) equipped all 4,200 of its delivery personnel with the device, partnering with a company called Zetes to implement a comprehensive paperless tracking system. This allowed senders to receive delivery confirmations as quickly as two hours after the package was dropped off. Australian electronics retailer Bing Lee also replaced paper delivery notes with the CN50, claiming it "significantly reduced inventory loss."

One case study particularly moved me: World Vision utilized the CN50 to create an aid distribution system known as LMMS, enabling real-time data uploads and inventory tracking in remote areas. An industrial device originally designed to scan shipping labels ended up recording relief supply distribution in refugee camps—a use case Intermec’s engineers likely never envisioned.

**So, what should I do with it?**

Two weeks later, I cleaned it up and returned it to my friend.

It wasn't for me. My daily routine involves browsing the web, replying to messages, and watching videos—tasks the CN50 either couldn't handle or performed awkwardly. Its screen was too small, the operating system outdated, the unit too heavy, and its app capacity too limited. As a "personal device," it simply didn't make the cut. But if you run a small warehouse, or if your job involves scanning hundreds of packages every day, the significance of this device changes completely. It isn’t sleek or smooth, and it offers no surprises. Its value lies in the fact that—when you’re standing by the delivery truck scanning items in the rain—it won’t malfunction just because your hands are wet. If you drop it on the concrete, it’ll likely keep working. If you forget to charge it, it’ll still hold enough power to get you through the day’s work.

It is a broom, a pair of gloves, a screwdriver. You don’t form an emotional attachment to a screwdriver, yet you can’t do without it.

That CN50 is probably still sitting in a corner of my friend’s warehouse. I never asked for it back. Not because it was a bad device, but because what I needed was a smartphone—and that was never what it was.

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