Handhelds have come a long way since the days they could all be referred to as Palm Pilots. There are now three flavors of software, or Operating System: the Palm OS (found on models made by Palm, Handspring and Sony); Pocket PC, made by Microsoft and deliberately designed to work better with your Windows computer than the Palm can; and other generic devices which cost a fraction of the price of the others.
One of the best of the new season’s Pocket PCs is the Hewlett Packard Jornada 568. At $650 it’s not cheap, but with 64 MB of RAM this Jornada can handle Microsoft’s rather bloated 2002 version of the Pocket PC OS.
The unit has a 206 MHz 32-bit StrongARM processor, which makes it more powerful than most desktops from the mid 1990s. Programs open swiftly and the rechargeable and removable Li-polymer battery lasts for around three hours of continuous usage – not bad when you consider the 16-bit color display has extra side lighting.
PPCs are the best at handling of audio – you could conceivably use this as an MP3 player, although that takes a lot of juice – and even tiny scraps of video. But that’s not ready for its close up yet.
As with all handhelds, this one synchs up with your PC, but an improvement on old Jornadas is the new CompactFlash slot, which allowse xtras to be added.
One such add on is H’s own digital stills camera.This tiny device is really for the person who already has everything. At $169 it’s no joke, but it will keep someone mildly amused on Christmas morning, as it takes basic snaps with no installation necessary.
The Jornada 568 retails at $649.99, though $50 discounts have been spotted at Amazon.
Fans of Compaq’s iPaq are cultish in their devotion to its looks and speed, and now $400 versions are in the works. The Compaq iPaq 3650 also has a 206mhz chip and a reflective screen (good for viewing outside), plus the usual pocket versions of the programs biz people rely on: Word, Excel, Money and Internet Explorer. This machine runs on the original Pocket PC OS not the 2002 version, but there’s little difference. However, you need to add clumsy plastic “sleeves” to get extra slots for Flash cards and modems. Three of these and your cover is blown! Still, for the price, at $399 the Compaq iPaq 3650 is a safe bet.
Handspring was formed by the people who invented Palm so they could make thinner, smarter, cheaper machines and so far they are doing a great job. Always one step ahead of the game, the company has just brought out a PDA/cell phone/pager combo that actually works.
If you can wait till January, the Treo 180 is PDA and a fat little flip-front phone which does both jobs adequately. Obvious problems solved include one hand operation and realistic battery life. Web browsing and e-mail can finally be done on the go without too many headaches, an the GSM phone works around the world as well as on the Nextel network.
It also features a tiny keyboard, though a “graffiti” entry version is coming too. Beware though: it stores a detailed call history of up to 1,000 entries…
It will sell for $399, and at that price the only competition comes in the form of Samsung’s SPH-I300 which runs on Sprint’s network, uses Palm OS, has a color screen, and sells for around $500. (Microsoft’s Stinger cell phone and PDA has gone AWOL. A spokeswoman said it would be around “early next year – in Europe.”)
If you know a Palm devotee (they love the OS because thousands ofhobbyists have written ingenious programs for it and released them on the ‘Net) try this: the Handspring Visor Deluxe (which comes in translucent blue) retails for $249, but is often discounted to as little as $129. The little dynamo does a lot with only 8 MB of RAM, a 16 Mhz Motorola DragonBall chip and monochrome screen. Plus, customer service is excellent (break it and they’ll fall over themselves to replace it).
Also it has wavy edges, which means it won’t fly out of your hand the way all other PDAs do.
One caveat: changing the battery is a risky business, and you can lose data.
Finally, one to avoid: Sony’s efforts with the Clie have been an embarrassing triumph of design over function, and while some of the higher end units (usually in plum colored metal) are passable, at the lower end the Clie is a flop.
The PEG-T145 is a monochrome unit, cold and thin and priced at $300. It has a handy jog-dial for one handed navigation, but the front buttons are ugly and the screen is terribly dark. It claims to be able to view images but the choppy quality is not what you expect from Sony. When you can still get a Palm M105 for 100 bucks, who needs this?