A few well-chosen Handheld or Pocket PC accessories, and a little preparation can make your life a lot easier.
Travel is a lot easier now than it was in the good-old days of 14-pound "portable PCs." The advent of smaller and lighter notebook PCs, as well as the development of increasingly smaller and more powerful handheld technology, has made the mobile professional's job a lot easier. Still, travel is tiring for the individual and grueling on electronic equipment.
My handheld experience began with the Hewlett-Packard 100LX Palmtop PC and has evolved through generations of "Windows Powered" Handheld and Pocket PCs. My notebook PC has stayed on my desk for several years now, replaced by Handheld, Palm-size and Pocket PCs. These rugged devices have most of the applications and features I need, along with instant-on convenience, electronic storage, and very reasonable battery life.
However, years of on-the-road experience have taught me that, in this world at least, nothing is perfect. A few-well chosen accessories and precautions help me get the most out of my Handheld and Pocket PCs. Over the years I've developed a travel kit and mobile checklist to help me prepare for my journeys.
Things to bring along
In addition to my credit card, there are a number of things that I don't leave home without. My CE travel kit includes these items:
- PC or CompactFlash storage card with a backup of Pocket Outlook data.
Windows Powered Handheld and Pocket PCs have become more reliable over the years, but flawless operation of any mobile device cannot be guaranteed. A few years ago something happened to one of my address entries, corrupting my whole Contacts database file. Fortunately, I had all of the Pocket Outlook data backed up on a PC storage card, and I quickly restored the database.
A number of manufacturers and vendors market PC and CompactFlash storage card, including SanDisk (www.sandisk.com), Pretec (www.pretec.com) and MobilePlanet (www.mobileplanet.com). IBM makes the one-gigabyte Microdrive in the CompactFlash format (also available at www.mobileplanet.com). The cost of PC and CF storage cards has decreased in recent years. Buy one and keep a recent backup of your data on it. Don't carry it in the Pocket PC's card slot. If you lose your Pocket PC while the storage card is in the card slot, you don't have a backup. Storage cards are cheap enough now, so why not buy two of them? Use one for your data backups and the other for day-to-day file storage. Remember back up your data!
You need to carry extra power with you on long trips. Most Pocket PCs and Handheld PCs let you do this, one way or another. For example, my iPAQ Pocket PC does not have a removable battery, so I can't carry spare batteries around. But it does have optional PC Card, and Dual-Slot PC Card Expansion Packs
(www.compaq.com/products/handhelds/pocketpc/), both of which have built-in rechargeable batteries. I can go a long time without a recharge, on the power of the iPAQ's and a PC Card Expansion Pack's rechargeable batteries.
The HP Jornada series Pocket PCs do not have removable batteries. But HP does market an external power pack that gives Jornada users up to 7 additional hours of usage
(www.hp.com/jornada/products/540/acc_ power_Pack.html).
All of Casio's Pocket PCs have removable battery packs and Casio sells spare packs for all devices. In addition, Casio sells external chargers for most of the batteries. (I could not find one for the E-125.[The charger for the E-100 & E-105 works fine for the E-125]) If you can't find an external charger for spare batteries, you can charge the spare in the Handheld or Pocket PC overnight.
Most Handheld PCs have removable battery packs, which means you can purchase a spare to take along with you on long trips. I still carry an extra battery for my HP Jornada 720, as I use it for extended periods of note taking in various meetings, and for writing on the road.
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