Using
the Handheld PC and Palm-size PC as a Team
By
Dave Wecker
I was the Principal
Engineer for all the Mobile Electronic devices (Palm-size PC, Handheld PC
and Auto PC). As such, I've been in the fortunate position of having one
of every PC Companion out there to play around with. I get to see them at
their best and worst, and after the excitement of the development process
is over and the device ships, I only keep what I'm going to use. As it
turns out, I'm using both the Palm-size PC and the H/PC every day.
To every thing there is a season
I usually carry the Palm-size PC in my pocket everywhere I go. (I left it
home one day and actually called my wife to bring it in because I was lost
without it.) I take it with me when I go to lunch or lectures. It's like a
wristwatch in that it's always with me and tells me what I need at a
glance. I do all of my Personal Information Management interaction
(Calendar, Contacts and Tasks) on the Palm-size PC. It is very quick to
access and is always with me for just that purpose. In the car I use the
Palm-size PC for voice notes when I think of things while driving. I read
my email on the Palm-size PC while walking my dogs in the morning.
The H/PC is more of an office tool for me, targeted for specific
purposes. I take it to all meetings and on short trips where I don't want
to carry a laptop. I use it whenever I need to type in a lot of
information (meeting notes, for example), or when I need to refer to
office data (Word or Excel files). I've recently switched over to one of
the larger H/PCs with a built-in VGA port. The keyboard is easier to type
on and the VGA port lets me do Pocket PowerPoint presentations without
having to lug my laptop around.
Keeping my PC Companions in sync
I keep Pocket Outlook information on both devices, so it's important to
keep them in synchronization. But to be honest, I don't think about it
much. When I'm in my office (or at home) I leave my Palm-size PC in its
data cradle with ActiveSync set to continuous synchronization. (From the
Tools menu of the Mobile Devices application on your desktop, select
ActiveSync Options and check the box labeled "Automatically
synchronize if data is out of date.") Whenever I enter or change
Outlook data on my desktop PC, it is immediately synchronized with my
Palm-size PC.
At least once a day I connect my H/PC to my desktop via the
connectivity cable and let it synchronize the days information. Since
everything is synchronized through my desktop, all my information stays up
to date and current. On short trips I synchronize remotely. It's simple, I
just dial in over the built-in modem (or a PC card) and initiate an
ActiveSync from the communications menu. This automatically hooks up with
my desktop (back in the office) and updates any changes made on either
device (or the Exchange server). The only thing to be careful of is to
remember to leave my desktop running (future versions will allow
synchronization directly to the Exchange server)! On longer trips I take
my laptop PC along and synchronize with it. I synchronize the laptop
remotely making sure it has an up-to-date copy of my desktop PC, and then
synchronize my other devices with it. That way I only need to make one
phone call to have all of my devices up to date (laptop, Palm-size PC and
H/PC). I always have Active Sync turned on, that way any documents that I
edit or create on a trip automatically get backed up to my laptop (and
desktop).
H/PC, Palm-size PC, or both?
The H/PC is designed to be an Office companion. It's meant for
input-intensive tasks (taking notes, editing documents, replying to mail,
working on spreadsheets.). The Palm-size PC on the other hand is designed
for information on the go. I think of it more like my old paper DayTimer.
I use it for quick reference. I take quick notes (ink or voice), enter
business card information into the Contacts list and read Channels and
email.
What I haven't played with a lot is tight (daily) integration of the
Auto PC into this routine. I will be putting one in my car shortly and
look forward to seeing how it will compliment my other devices on a daily
basis. I just can't wait to see how much of a problem speech recognition
is going to be in my convertible (oh well, that's what beta testing is all
about)!
About The Author
 Dave Wecker has been the Principal Engineer for the PC Companion
product line (Handheld PC, Auto PC and Palm PC) as well as being the
Development Manager for the Palm PC. He has recently moved to the Desktop
organization where he is now the Architect for the Intelligent Interface
Technologies group. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a BS in
Electrical Engineering and an MS in Industrial Administration. After
working for a few years as an International Business Consultant in
developing countries he spent 13 years at Digital Equipment Corporation
developing database and knowledge-base products and ending up at the
Cambridge Research Lab heading speech recognition research. At Microsoft
Dave has worked on video postproduction, broadband MSN and H/PC v1 &
v2. His hobbies include scuba diving, fly fishing and Telemark skiing.
Dave has been married for more than 15 years.
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