Dows the new Palm measure up to the Pocket PC?
You've read the hype and the pre-release
reviews. Now, the much-anticipated Palm IIIc has arrived on your
favorite retailer's shelves. The Palm IIIc is based on the popular Palm
III design, but borrows a Windows CE innovation -- the color-screen
display. Palm (www.palm.com) is
marketing their color-screen PDA to business users and staying clear of
the multimedia user. But for either the Palm IIIc misses the mark.
This will be a little different from your standard Palm review. For
one thing, I'll talk about the shortcomings of the new Palm IIIc. I'll
also take a look at the careful (sneaky?) wording and logic Palm
marketers use to describe their product.
When I first received the Palm IIIc I was impressed with the display
quality as compared with my other Palm devices. The display is crisp,
clear, and readable. The 8 bit, 256 color display is quite an
advancement for a Palm, but not so much so when compared to the newer 16
bit, 65,536 color screens of the new Pocket PCs. Also, the Palm IIIc
display is only 160x160 pixels, the Windows CE Palm-size and Pocket PCs
have a 240x320 display.
"Ah!" you say, "but the battery life on a Palm is much
better." Palm promises two weeks of "regular usage," but
Palm's idea of "regular usage" is only 30 minutes each day.
Multiply that by two weeks and you get 7 hours of "continuous
use" on fully charged batteries. Let's say that translates in the
real world to 6-9 hours. Compare that to the 8-10 hours of continuous
use you get with a Palm-size or Pocket PC and there is no practical
difference. Add to this the fact that you tend to slip either device
into a data/power cradle each day to recharge their batteries and the
whole battery life argument goes completely out the window.
It used to be an accepted fact of life that Palm computers were
smaller than Windows CE devices. But the new round of Pocket PCs changes
that a little. The Palm IIIc's dimensions are 5.06 x 3.17 x 0.67 inches
and it weighs 6.8 ounces. Both the HP Jornada 545 (www.hp.com/jornada/)
and Compaq's new iPAQ Pocket PC (www.compaq.com/pro
ducts/handhelds/index.html) are about the same size. The Jornada
weights a little over 2 ounces more, the iPAQ actually weighs a fraction
of an ounce less. (Please see the reviews on pages 14 and 19 for more on
these Pocket PCs.) Later this year Casio will introduce a smaller
"Multimedia Pocket PC." Size is no longer a factor.
The Palm IIIc does have more memory than ever before. It comes with 8
MB RAM for running programs and storing files, and 2 MB of Flash ROM to
store its built-in programs. The Windows CE Pocket PCs have up to 32 MBs
of RAM and 16 MB of ROM. To be fair, the Windows CE operating system and
built-in applications are larger and need more RAM and ROM. The reason
for this is that the Windows CE operating system is more capable and the
suite of built-in applications more comprehensive than the Palm
computers. In addition, the advantages in terms of the ability to store
data, add new programs, and build in a lot of good applications is
definitely with Windows CE.
Normally, when I review Windows CE devices, this is where I discuss
the multimedia features. For example, Casio's E-105 Palm-size PC (and
the new E-115 Pocket PC) lets me play MP3 music through stereo
headphones, make voice recordings and watch video files. With an
optional camera card I can even take digital photos and make videos with
the E-105 (www.casio-usa.com/E105).
The Palm IIIc is lacking tremendously in this area. There is no MP3
Playback, no stereo sound capability, no voice recording, and
consequently no headphone jack. Handspring (www.handspring.com)
has hinted that they will develop an add-on module for their
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