All, I need some assistance with a project one of our partners is currently working on. They are looking to develop an RFID solution for one our customers. The customer currently has RFID deployed in about 200 sites (out of an estate of about 650 stores), however, they are using non-GEN2 tags. They are now looking at an upgrade to this solution and a transition path to GEN2, but that means supporting both technologies and therefore some kind of dual reader. The partner is looking to develop a "Wand" of some sort that they can snap a mobile computer into. They like the idea of the CA50 as it is small and light but obviously if comes with development challanges and doesn't have a nice big colour screen. They are also looking at the MC75 but are concerned about the size and weight (the whole solution including the wand needs to be sub 700grams) They have asked the following questions to work out whether this is feasible, if someone can help with these fairly urgently I'd really appreciated it, we could be looking at a 1000+ device opportunity;
 

Questions:

Battery life of the MC75 (with WLAN on)? I don’t envisage the wand powering the unit during operation; the wand battery life would be compromised.
Confirm that the unit does have a serial port? What is it’s maximum speed (baud rate)? Any handshake lines? Is the interface TTL level or true RS232?
Need to understand connector type and if the MC75 O/S supports the serial port and has an API for the application.
Pin-out diagrams for the various connector on the device, with an explanation of each function and electrical limits.
Connector types used (inc. Manufacturers Part numbers).
How is the MC75 charged? What is the voltage/current requirements at maximum levels? How long does it take to fully charge?

 
Thanks IJ