"HP's brand new PocketPC packs powerful punch for palm devices"
Paul Andrews, Seattle Times Columnist
Sunday, April 23, 2000, 12:00 a.m. Pacific
The new PocketPCs are truly a sight for sore eyes.
With bright, colorful screens and Microsoft's ClearType electronic book technology, the third-generation devices are good news to long-suffering users of palm devices. There are penalties in weight and pricing, but the PocketPC has gotten its form factor down to shirt-pocket size and portability.
Casio, Compaq and Hewlett-Packard are offering PocketPCs. The unit I received for review, an HP Jornada 545, is sleeker and more functional than its predecessors. It has a removable clamshell top, 16MB of RAM and 16MB of ROM, a 2 1/4 by 3-inch screen and a rugged metal exterior. At 8 ounces and $499, it weighs and costs about double that of a typical black-and-white display of the market-leading Palm unit.
It has more than double the features of a typical Palm, however. Besides the contact-management, note-taking and data capabilities of a standard personal digital assistant, the Jornada can play music (with Windows Media Player), record voice notes, display images and even browse the Web with a technology it calls "fit to screen." For such a small screen it handles a standard Web page fairly well, providing enough content for the user to decide whether to move around the page. With a compact Ethernet card or 56K modem card, you can log onto the Web and start surfing.
Missing is a true wireless connection, especially given the nifty browser. You can hook up via infrared and a data-enabled cell phone. I'm told Microsoft is pushing ahead on wireless connectivity, but for now the Palm VII is a clear leader.
PocketPC operation is considerable lighter on its feet than Windows CE predecessors. The unit boots up instantly. Calling up programs and hopping around among applications is similarly painless. The familiar "Start" button is still there, but in a lot of ways the PocketPC has shed Windows' baggage for a cleaner, sprightlier feel. One feature sorely missing is a "Back" button. You pretty much have to go back to "Start" for any activity, even if you just want to backpedal a step or two. For a frequent Web user this is an irritation.
The power and versatility of the unit are impressive. After synchronizing the Jornada with my desktop PC, I immediately began downloading MP3 files. Storage on the unit as shipped is pretty much maxed out, so I had to use a flash memory card (48MB) to build a playlist.
Once I did, I began carrying headphones everywhere I went, even wearing them while walking around the house doing chores. My one regret is that my $150 portable CD player is now obsolete. The music keeps playing, by the way, while you perform other functions on the Jornada, a real plus considering the data-entering drudgery these units can require.
Synchronization was easy once I got past a somewhat clumsy installation routine. Although my desktop recognized an "unknown device," it could not find the driver files on the installation CD. I had to direct it manually, and the solution was not something a typical PC user would find obvious.
Once synchronization was complete, the PC and Jornada kept each other up to date automatically. With the Jornada in its cradle (or connected via infrared), the units instantly shared any data changes. Synchronization takes 5 to 10 seconds on bootup for routine calendar or contacts changes. After that you don't even notice as the programs update.
Besides Word and Excel, the PocketPC comes with Money, for financial management; Reader, for electronic books, and three games, including Solitaire and a ZIOGolf. Money and Reader are increasingly strategic applications because of the Internet. Barnes & Noble expects to make available hundreds and eventually thousands of book titles for downloading over the Net.
I was disappointed that only "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "The Little Match Girl" were provided with the unit. It's a fine story, but Microsoft needs to have a variety of titles to showcase ClearType, which is a genuine leap forward in display technology. I'm told several other titles were in the works, but there was no room left on the units.
ClearType, a new Microsoft technology designed to make text nearly as readable on screen as on paper, benefits any text-based content and begs the question as to whether I would read a book on a PocketPC. Instinct tells me that, for any reading other than pure pleasure reading (e.g., curling up on the couch or in bed), the PocketPC does the trick, particularly in saving on the heft of carrying lots of books around. For book lovers it's a close call, though, and something I'll be monitoring as titles become available on the PocketPC.
The rechargeable lithium-ion battery is optimistically rated at eight hours. Running the unit constantly, I got almost four hours of usage. Intermittent use may extend, but doubtfully would double, usage between recharges.
With its raft of features and applications, the PocketPC offers a steeper learning curve than a Palm unit. The payoff is a world of diversity. In addition to music, images and video promise to be a big application for PocketPCs (a compact flash digital camera is in the works).
Besides wireless capability, the big caveat is the price, which should come down with time. The Jornada 545 was said to be available as of last Wednesday through retail outlets and the Web, although as of this writing I could not find it anywhere; its pricier $599 cousin, the 548, with 32MB of ROM, will be sold only on the Web, beginning next month.
Paul Andrews is a Seattle-based writer and longtime observer of the technology industry. Send e-mail to: paul@paulandrews.com.
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