JORNADA!

A First Look at Hewlett-Packard's NEW Jornada 820 Handheld PC Pro

By Chris De Herrera

Hewlett-Packard Company was one of the first manufacturers to embrace Windows CE over two years ago. Their original HP 300LX series, and the subsequent color-screen HP 620LX and 660LX have all been very well-received by the handheld community. They have built their Windows CE success upon solid engineering of their Handheld PCs, and including a variety of useful add-on software with their units. The new HP Jornada 820 Handheld PC Pro continues this Hewlett-Packard tradition.

The Jornada 820 is Hewlett-Packard's first Windows CE Handheld PC, Professional Edition (H/PC Pro) system. It is one of the smallest of  the announced H/PC Pro systems I've seen so far. It measures 9.5" long by 6.75"wide by 1.25" thick and weighs 2.5 pounds. The 256 color 8.2" VGA (640 x 480 CSTN) display is brightly backlit and easy to read (see Screen 1).

The Jornada has a near full-size keyboard with 75 keys (including on/off and 11 application launch keys, see Screen 2). Holding down the Fn key turns 10 of these keys into a number pad. This will come in handy for numeric data entry. The tab key is located where the caps lock is on a standard keyboard. This non-standard placement will slow touch typers down a little, until they get used to it.

No touchscreen

A big difference between the Jornada and previous Windows CE Handheld PCs in that it does not have a touchscreen. Instead, HP included a small mouse touchpad similar to those found on many notebook computers (see Screen 2). The pad measures 2.125" diagonal and is centered below the keyboard. In addition to the touch pad, Jornada users can add a mouse using the Jornada's USB port. The lack of a touchscreen makes the display brighter and easier to read. But it eliminates the ability to use the screen with handwriting recognition software. It may also indicate that HP is positioning the Jornada as a competitor in the sub-notebook niche. The Jornada includes the Voice Recorder application introduced in the previous generation of Handheld PCs, but there is no button on the outside of the case to access it. You must open the unit in order to play or record.

HP included a standard VGA monitor port that is capable of dual-mode operation. Not only can you display PowerPoint presentations on an external monitor, but you can use HP's "Jornada Show" application to view any Jornada application, in real-time, on a VGA monitor. The Jornada comes with a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port, a feature new to Windows CE in the H/PC Pro edition. Unfortunately, Microsoft only included a mouse driver for this port (for the Microsoft Intellimouse V3.0 USB, or a compatible mouse). You will need to look for additional drivers if you want to use the USB port for other peripherals. The Jornada also includes a fast infrared (IrDA 1.1) port, a serial port, and a v.90 56k modem. The software modem extends battery life while minimizing the effect on the performance of the Jornada. To add additional peripherals and file storage, the Jornada has a type II PC Card and type II CF+ CompactFlash slot (CF+ means that the Jornada support CompactFlash size I/O devices). Both of these slots have doors that cover the slots to keep them clean when they are empty.

With the standard lithium-ion rechargeable battery, the Jornada runs for approximately 10 hours. The optional extended-life battery is no larger than the standard battery, but lasts approximately 15 hours. The standard battery takes approximately two hours to charge. The Jornada uses an Intel StrongARM RISC CPU. It operates at a blazing 190 MHz, making it the fastest of the announced H/PC Pros. Since this CPU has not been supported in previous versions, few shareware, freeware and commercial applications are available. This will change since the latest versions of software development tools include compilers that support this CPU type. The Jornada comes standard with 16 MB of RAM and it is expandable to 32MB. The 16 MB ROM is user upgradeable.

Powerful software for the mobile professional

The Jornada comes with the standard H/PC Pro applications, including Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Pocket Outlook (Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Inbox), Pocket PowerPoint, Pocket Internet Explorer, Accessories (Calculator, World Clock, Terminal, Solitaire) and Voice Recorder. New to the applications Microsoft has built into the H/PC Pro are Pocket Access and InkWriter. We'll take a more detailed look at those applications in a later issue.

Hewlett-Packard has added an impressive lineup of software from independent vendors. The Jornada includes the following applications built into ROM:

• HP Jornada Viewer -- lets you quickly display your Pocket Outlook Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks information (Screen 3). Viewer displays the information you choose in as much detail as you like, including detailed contact information, tasks and notes on a single screen, or all the appointments and tasks scheduled for a single day, a week, or up to 12 months at a time.
  
• HP Jornada Dialup -- walks you through the process of creating a network connection, including setting up e-mail and Web service (Screen 4).
  
• HP Jornada Hot Keys -- lets you re-configure the Jornada's quick launch keys to start any application installed on the Jornada.
  
• HP Jornada Settings -- lets you change or adjust important settings and check the status of available memory and battery power. It also lets you set the password delay feature for added security.
  
• HP Jornada Show -- lets you display your HP Jornada screen image on a VGA-compatible monitor in real-time. Whenever you have a desktop monitor (or projector) available, you can connect it to the Jornada, for easier viewing.
  
• HP Jornada Backup -- lets you back up Pocket Outlook data information to a PC Card or CompactFlash Card for secure storage (Screen 5). You can also back up data to a folder on your HP Jornada.
  
• LandWare's OmniSolve -- a financial application designed for real estate, retail, and business professionals. OmniSolve employs a "form filling" metaphor to provide you with a powerful and easy-to-use problem-solving environment.
  
• bFAX Pro -- lets you send, receive, and view faxes and attachments from your Jornada.
  
• bFIND -- lets you search for a word or text string in any database, file, file name, or e-mail message stored on your HP Jornada.
  
• Proxim RangeLAN-2 -- software driver that lets the Jornada access a RangeLAN-2 wireless network.

Also bundled on CD-ROM with the unit is HP TopTools Agent (providing system management for the DMI-compliant Jornada), TrueSync CE 2.0 (allowing the Jornada to synchronize with the REX and REX Pro PC Card organizer), Microsoft Java Virtual Machine, Citrix ICA client, and INSO file viewer. This suite of applications makes the Jornada a very competitive choice for corporate users who want to maximize their capabilities with Windows CE and their environment.

The H/PC Pro for corporate users

HP has done a great job of creating a device that has what the average corporate user wants ­ the ability to work with a VGA monitor, a nearly full-size keyboard, a fast 56k modem and USB port for enhanced connectivity. In addition, HP has bundled with the Jornada an excellent assortment of add-on software to make life easier for the user. The dial-up utility greatly simplifies the process of creating a network connection, and setting up e-mail and Web service via Ethernet, Proxim Wireless LAN, or dial-up connections. Once connected you can access a Citrix Winframe server, or a Windows NT Server.

Pocket Word and Excel on the new H/PC Pro can now open and save documents in the same format as the desktop versions (Screen 6). This makes it easier to read and respond to attachments when you're on the road. And the INSO File Viewer lets users read attachments in other formats (Word Perfect, Lotus 123, Quattro Pro, etc.). The only thing missing from the Jornada is a parallel port for direct printer connections. HP (and Microsoft) expects that most users will wait until they are back in the office to print out documents. Mobile users who must connect directly to a printer must use a slower IrDA port connection (if the printer has an IrDA port), or the Jornada's serial cable with a serial-to-parallel adapter to do this. It works, but can be as much as 1/5th the speed of a true parallel port.