The market for truly small and portable PCs is currently divided (in the UK anyway) between the largely keyboard driven handhelds [lead by Psion and Hewlett-Packard] and the touch-screen, shirt-pocket sized PalmPilot and its clones. In the US, the Palm Pilot has about sixty percent of the market share. What's the difference between them?
Well, they both actually share a combination of touch-screen and keyboard input - but the bigger handhelds do have a real keyboard and use the Windows-CE operating system, whereas on the PalmPilot everything is tapped in from its tiny 3" X 4" screen, and they have their own OS.
Palms [or will we say Pilots?] have a keyboard option which can be summoned into the bottom inch of the screen.
But the big difference is that they have their own handwriting input option - a proprietary code called Graffiti.
This is reasonably easy to learn, consisting as it does of only the basic alphanumeric letter shapes, plus a few taps and oblique strokes to produce most of the ASCII character set.
On both systems the input can be transferred to a desktop PC system via software programs, or on the very latest models via infra-red cable-free transfer. They can also both run full fax, modem, and web browsing systems.
There is a proliferation of supplementary programs and accessories for these - which suggests that they are more than mere toys and will be here to stay. [It's also worth noting that older versions are rapidly dropping in price as new models are released.]
David Pogue admits that the Palm Pilot is basically a personal organiser. It's not designed to be a word-processor (it doesn't display italics or bold, for instance) and all the touchy-tappy Graffiti writing will obviously represent a new learning curve for some people. Whether this will be offset by the convenience of the truly minute size and portability will depend on the user's needs. Personally, I was a total convert within forty-eight hours of opening the box, and I have used it every day since.
This typically handsome volume from O'Reilly offers a very thorough tour of the appliance - from installing and uninstalling new software, through to using the PP Desktop in conjunction with your home or office PC [for which the PP was designed in the first place].
There are four primary programs - the date book, the address list, the to-do list, and the memo pad. Other programs include a calculator, a Graffiti tutorial (called Giraffe) games, a mailing facility, and the HotSync program for getting your data into your desktop PC.
This is the true marvel of the Palm Pilot - largely because the synchronisation works in both directions. For instance, you can update your files on the palmtop, hotsync them into your desktop and work on them in a text editor - then hotsync them back into the palmtop. There's a section in the guide on additional 'hidden' features such as the ability to rotate text and display it in a variety of fonts [useful when reading E-books].
With additional software it can also display pictures in four shades of grey, or can have a four octave piano keyboard. [Remember, all this is on a unit half the size of a postcard.] There are also chapters on the wireless email and Web access features [for the latest model VII] plus faxing, and 'beaming' - the infra-red feature which allows wireless transfer of data between two PPs.
Crucial breakdowns can be solved with the 'soft reset' feature. Pogue recommends fixing a paperclip into the back of the handset for this eventuality. Yes - a paperclip.
"To do this semisoft or warm reset, hold down the Scroll Up plastic button [then] press a paperclip's unfolded end (or the Palm III's pen-cap pin) into the Reset hole in the back of the unit"
Six appendices give full details of the top 100 software add-ons, accessories (fancy holders and carrying cases) and PP web sites, plus using the Palm with Unix and Linux - so he really does cover everything. The book is also well illustrated with screenshots. But the truly amazing feature of the latest edition is that it comes with a CD-ROM containing over 3,000 programs from PalmCentral, the Internet's largest Palm software site. These include all sorts of utilities, games, databases, dictionaries, and even full length novels.
I've noticed that there seem to be two types when it comes to new equipment and instruction manuals: those cautious souls who read the manual, and those who open the box and go straight for hands-on learning. If you're in the first group [like me] this book is exactly what it claims to be - 'the ultimate guide'.
PS - Just in case you don't believe me, The Computer
Press Association has just awarded this book the prize for the Best How-To Book for 2000. CPA says the book "earns the title 'ultimate guide' by its comprehensive
approach to the total Palm environment"
