Berst Alert TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1999
Palm VII The Ultimate Handheld -- Not
Jesse Berst, Editorial Director
ZDNet AnchorDesk
Yesterday 3Com released its much ballyhooed Palm VII. In addition to traditional Palm calendaring and contact functions, this latest handheld lets you query the Web and send and retrieve email -- sort of.
The Palm accesses the Net via Web clipping. You send information requests to content and service providers on the Palm Network -- Yahoo, ESPN, ABCNews.com, TheStreet.com and UPS among them. The providers' graphics and forms are stored on the Palm. When you make a request it accesses a wireless network and retrieves the info. Say an address from Yahoo. Or a baseball score from ESPN. With email, you can send to any email address, but incoming mail has to go through your account with Palm.net. Attachments are stripped and you're limited to 250 to 8,000 characters.
I applaud 3Com's effort, but this just doesn't cut it as a wireless venture for the masses. Here's why:
Doesn't come close to eliminating the need for a cell phone or laptop.
The price isn't right at $600 for the unit and $9.99 (50K of transmissions) or $24.95 (150K of transmissions) a month for the wireless service. Oh, and you get an extra charge of 30 cents a kilobyte if you go over your limit. Remember, you're still paying for your ISP or cell provider. You do the math.
Only 2 MB of memory doesn't make sense when the Palm IIIx has 4 MB. Especially when you'll want to store all those cool Web clippings.
The Palm VII is like eating a dish that's missing an important ingredient. With help from AnchorDesk's resident Palm expert Jon DeKeles, I offer a recipe for the ultimate wireless handheld:
Filtering: It's got to know which communications are important to you. For instance, I want a handheld that instantly recognizes info from my team.
Transparency: Use must be seamless. Access to all functions at my fingertips. And as long as I'm dreaming big, I want voice recognition too.
Connection: A pager, email and cell phone capabilities in one spot. I don't care from whom, or how, just soon please.
My advice: Unless you're one of those who has to get your hands on each new thing, stick with the PDA you've got. But sit tight, we're heading down the right path. Click for more.
Elsewhere in this issue, the Help Channel's Courtney Attwood offers the latest tips and cheats for Palm and CE users (click for more), and Jon has three cool new Palm downloads (click for more).
Now give me your take on the Palm VII -- and tell me what you think the ultimate handheld should have. I'll post responses beneath this article. Or hop over to my Berst Alerts forum where a discussion is already underway.
NOW READ THIS
PalmPilot Showdown
Beginning of the End for PalmPilot
Five Menaces Shielding You From a Wired World
zdnet.com
I'm just the messenger, thanks Jesse, may you burst ! |
