Psion Plc is launching an extension of its Series 3 palmtop computer line, adding speech and sound capabilities, the Daily Telegraph reported: the Series 3a has a screen four times as large as the earlier models, with three times as much software and twice the speed in the same pocket-sized case – and also incorporates a microphone and loudspeaker; at present, it can record messages, replay them and sound an alarm, but by about 1995 it is hoped to introduce software that can recognise about 100 specific command words like save or calculate and Psion says that eventually it plans to upgrade it so it can handle unstructured speech; the biggest attraction is that the new one costs just UKP270 – plus UKP60 if you want more memory – is only a little more than the existing Series 3 models and a quarter of the cost of Apple Computer Inc’s Newton; Psion launched the Series 3a in the UK, Ireland and the US yesterday, and will introduce it throughout Europe over the next six weeks.
