Tablet Oscilloscope-tbook, a new kind DSO.

[jucole]

I'd be very interested to see it in action!

+1 for sending one to Mike to review - if you dare ;-)    I so loved his "QDso pocket oscilloscope review"  I could feel his frustration through my laptop screen. 

[Carrington]

As the curiosity is killing me, I searched the web:
For example: 
  - MS720CS price is about 41160 Rubles or ~ 930€ or ~ 1280USD.
Source: http://www.sea.com.ua/izmeritelnye-pribory/ostsillografy-tsifrovye-portativnye
And can be contrasted with Hantek prices, for example:
  - DSO1202B price is about 5520 Rubles or ~ 126€  or ~174USD  .
I think that now we should extrapolate these prices, because I don't think that the DSO1202B in EU cost ~ 125€.
As reference:
  - DSO1202B price is 639.715€, i.e.: x5  -> MS720CS EU price ~ 4650€.
Source: http://www.tme.eu/en/details/dso1202b/portable-oscilloscopes-scopometers/hantek/


Also this company is registered at europages:
http://www.europages.co.uk/SHENZHEN-MICSIG-INSTRUMENTS-CO-LTD/00000003999000-269142001.html


Somewhere I read: Micsig philosophy it is based on competitiveness and innovative:
Source: http://www.ittsb.eu/forum/index.php?topic=529.0
And following the previous joke (to not get bored), for the Greek language, they already have a candidate. 


And one question. Is it really so hard to achieve these specifications?

[grenert]

It has been shown at a Hong Kong trade show, and won a silver award, so seems tangible enough.
http://www.hkeia.org/Eng/hkeia_activities/2013/20131013_hkeiaaward_e.html
Not uncommon to have "pre-release" products shown at such trade show, with no pricing or further delivery info available yet. So this is probably the case here.

The same people who voted for the Micsig also voted for awards for bluetooth heart rate monitoring earphones and a breast pump!
I would bet they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a functional oscilloscope and a tablet with a pretty demo running.

[mikeselectricstuff]

In that trade show pic, there are no probes plugged in.
The pictures look to me to be a bit too clean to be showing a real LCD display. Or it could just be a mockup image displayed on any tablet.
My bet is they don't have anything useable yet.

Video or it doesn't exist   
 

[pinkysbrein]

And one question. Is it really so hard to achieve these specifications?

The greater than a couple 100 MHz models ... yeah. Rigol for instance doesn't offer above 600 MHz with "high" impedance probes. They promise all the way up to 1 GHz without even offering a probe capable of it, and without a 50 Ohm input for a Lo-Z or active probe.

What faith can we have in a bandwidth spec for which they don't even deliver a probe to meet it?

PS. that all the channels can be isolated is very interesting BTW. I wonder how they handle that, it seems unlikely they duplicate all the signal processing ... so they have to get 1.25 GB/s per channel across galvanic isolation for the highest end model.

[JoeyP]

The pictures look to me to be a bit too clean to be showing a real LCD display. Or it could just be a mockup image displayed on any tablet.

That's one of the things I noticed too. I would take it  step further and say that even the tablet looks an awful lot like a CAD image.

PS. that all the channels can be isolated is very interesting BTW. I wonder how they handle that, it seems unlikely they duplicate all the signal processing ... so they have to get 1.25 GB/s per channel across galvanic isolation for the highest end model.

You often find some pretty amazing features on vaporware products

They may be considering (or actually) working on something of this sort, and getting some feedback on its potential market. From everything seen here, I'd bet no such hardware exists at this moment or any time soon.

[Fsck]

so I've been thinking more about the formfactor.
is it just me or does 10" seem a little cramped if you have to include both the data display and all the buttons you typically want
the agilent 2000s/3000s use an 8.5" display and about an additional ~60% of the screen's area in buttons
the rigol 2000s use an 8" display and also 60-70% of the screen's area in buttons

and from the photo, there doesn't seem to be much going on...  maybe as a really niche product it could work with its current formfactor
or with people who don't mind dealing with menus upon menus

[zlabsoft]

Can I hack the 70MHz model to he higher banwidth later? I feel disappointed if it doesn't.
What's the estimate price?

[rolycat]

It looks as though the micsig international sales director has been hard at work. The tablet page in the available products section has now vanished and the announcement page has been revised and has now sprouted a bunch of irritating feedback popups (all in Chinese).

One can't help feeling that the headline specifications are somewhat aspirational, considering that none of the existing scopes operates at more than 200MHz and 2GS/s.

How surprising would it be it the new tablet scope is "initially" only made available with similar bandwidth to their existing products and a patched together user interface with serious usability issues?

[zlabsoft]

For those oldies like knobes, the developer can make a frame to include then so that it work & feel like traditional DSO, One can refer to SONY QX10/100 as example.

[amyk]

so they have to get 1.25 GB/s per channel across galvanic isolation for the highest end model.

Coincidentally, that's also the raw bandwidth of 10Gbit Ethernet, which can run over optical fiber. Not saying that's what they've done here, but it's what comes to mind as an existing technology for galvanically isolated 1.25GB/s links.

[madshaman]

I will up the offer to do a Spanish, Canadian English, and Chilean review!

This guy takes advantage... 
Saludos Lightages. 

I'll review it in Texan, Y'all!

Just wanted to say, even though I'm joking around, I *really would* do an English/French/Japanese review if given one :-).

I don't mind a fair exchange ;-)

(never said I *wasn't* a freeloader)

[carloscuev]

Just got this from a seller:

Dear Carlos Cuevas,
     thanks for your quick response, and for the tablet oscilloscope we have the bandwidth range from 70MHz to 1GHz, and the price range from around from handreds USD to Thousands, and for tBook 207 the price is about 628USD. however if you need more than one piece the price is lower.
...
...

I'm guessing the tBook 207 is the 70Mhz model, as their MS207 is 70Mhz: http://www.globalmarket.com/product-info/micsig-dso-handheld-oscillosopes-3122364.html

[Stonent]

Intriguing. Better value than an iPad.

[Micsig]

It has been shown at a Hong Kong trade show, and won a silver award, so seems tangible enough.
http://www.hkeia.org/Eng/hkeia_activities/2013/20131013_hkeiaaward_e.html
Not uncommon to have "pre-release" products shown at such trade show, with no pricing or further delivery info available yet. So this is probably the case here.

The same people who voted for the Micsig also voted for awards for bluetooth heart rate monitoring earphones and a breast pump!
I would bet they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a functional oscilloscope and a tablet with a pretty demo running.

could you tell us what will you bet on?   

[Micsig]

It has been shown at a Hong Kong trade show, and won a silver award, so seems tangible enough.
http://www.hkeia.org/Eng/hkeia_activities/2013/20131013_hkeiaaward_e.html
Not uncommon to have "pre-release" products shown at such trade show, with no pricing or further delivery info available yet. So this is probably the case here.

The same people who voted for the Micsig also voted for awards for bluetooth heart rate monitoring earphones and a breast pump!
I would bet they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a functional oscilloscope and a tablet with a pretty demo running.

I believe you never go to Hong Kong fair.  you can go to HKTDC website to learn HIIEA award info first, then you will know that if there are same people to vote. 

[Stonent]

I'd say most of us don't make it to HK often.

[madshaman]

Micsig, are you planning to demo your product anywhere in North America any time soon?

[Hydrawerk]

I don't know who will ever buy this Micsig touch oscilloscope. It is not a cheap scope for beginners. Professionals will buy a scope with proper front panel. A rotary encoder is much better than a touch screen, especially for a big, expensive scope not designed for holding in your hand.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Micsig - Just one question - Why have you not shown any video of this thing working?
Until we see it actually working, the only conclusion we can draw is that it doesn't yet exist in a useable form.

[Stonent]

Micsig - Just one question - Why have you not shown any video of this thing working?
Until we see it actually working, the only conclusion we can draw is that it doesn't yet exist in a useable form.

The fact that they're based in Shenzen doesn't really instill a lot of confidence.

Time to go buy a Fuke Multimeter and a Wriggle Oscilloscope.
 

[Hydrawerk]

In 1980s, Hewlett Packard came up with a futuristic and revolutionary scope with (almost) no knobs. But it was probably not much successful, so they  abandoned this concept and started using knobs, as they do till today.
In early 1990s they introduced the well known 54600 series that had many rotary encoders and looked like an analog scope.
Engineers will never get used to a special knob-less front panel.

[Micsig]

Hi,

I am surprised that Micsig produces no hits on eBay.

Jay_Diddy_B

Micsig will control the sales channel very carefully. we will try our best to protect our distributors and the end user benefits  .

[Stonent]

I've noticed those 54000 series scopes tend to sell for less than other scopes of that vintage. I guess people don't want them.

[Micsig]

Micsig, are you planning to demo your product anywhere in North America any time soon?

yes ,we will. we are preparing for many exhibitions and product demo vedio. and try to release them earlier.

By the way, i do not want to make the same mistake like GMHz....so,, i will be very carefull this time..