In addition, Microsoft recently re-
leased the latest version of Windows CE
called Pocket PC, which offers more ap-
plications and features. Pocket PC had
not been released when this article was
written. However, by the time this artic-
le is in print, HP, Casio, and Compaq
(as well as other vendors of Windows
CE devices) will have available new
palm-size products running Pocket PC.
(For more information, see “Interested
in Pocketing a Pocket PC?” on p. 8.)
Palm fans are unimpressed with the ex-
tra features and applications built into
Windows CE (commonly referred to in
Palm circles as “WinCE”). In fact, when
confronted with the Windows CE pizzazz,
Palm fans ask “So what?” and are likely to
point out the costs of this pizzazz. For ex-
ample, the more features you add to a
handheld, the larger it becomes. Not sur-
prisingly, Windows CE products are typi-
cally larger than Palm OS products.
Case in point: The smallest Palm OS
product I tested was the Palm V, which
weighs only 4 ounces. The smallest Win-
dows CE product, in contrast, was the
Aero 1530, which weighs 5.2 ounces. (In-
cidentally, the Aero is a full 3.6 ounces
lighter than the next lightest Windows CE
product I tested, the Jornada 430se Palm-
Size PC).
Pizzazz also takes a toll on battery life:
Windows CE products typically last few-
er than 10 hours compared to Palm OS
products, which commonly last more
than 100 hours.
Of course, when this pocket fuel issue
is raised, Windows CE fans ask “So what?”
The hours of battery life indicate hours
of continuous use, and every time you
synchronize your handheld with your
desktop computer, you can recharge the
battery. How often will you use your
handheld for 10 hours straight—with-
out even synchronizing? (I’m not being
rhetorical here. You really should think
about the answer to this question.)
DIGIT-AL INPUT
The operating systems are also both
alike and different in terms of the data
input methods they allow. For example,
both OSs offer an on-screen keyboard,
which you can use by tapping the tiny
keys using the devices’ stylus. (Every
handheld features a slot for storing its own
stylus, which looks like an inkless pen.)
Only the Windows CE products offer
what amounts to electronic ink, which
you use in the application called Note
Taker. In Note Taker, you write or draw
on the screen, and the images remain
exactly as you wrote or drew them. When
you synchronize with your desktop com-
puter, you can save these files to your
desktop and later open them in Word,
where the files open as graphics.
Both Palm and Windows CE also offer
their own handwriting-recognition sys-
tems. Products running the Palm OS ship
with a handwriting-recognition system
called Graffiti, a Palm OS application.
Most Windows CE products ship with a
handwriting-recognition system called Jot
from Communication Intelligence Corp
(CIC). (For more information about Jot
and CIC, visit http://www.cic.com.) The
Jornada 690 Handheld PC is the only
Windows CE product I tested that did not
include Jot, offering instead its external
keyboard for data input. (For more infor-
mation, see “Something To Talk About,
Something To Think About” on p. 18.)
To use Graffiti and Jot, you write
characters in the manner prescribed by
the program in a specified area on the
screen. As you write, the characters are
transcribed into type. You probably want
to know two things: Which of these two
handwriting-recognition systems is easier
to learn, and which system enables you
to write faster?
The answers to these questions are
difficult to prove empirically. However, I
conducted a little unofficial test. I spent
30 minutes viewing the Jot tutorial and
using Jot on the Cassiopeia E-100. Then
I spent 30 minutes viewing the Graffiti
tutorial and using Graffiti on the Palm
V. I found that after this brief introduc-
tion, I felt more confident using Jot than
I did using Graffiti.
I initially thought my lack of confi-
dence using Graffiti may have stemmed
June 2000 NetWare Connection 8
Texuries or Techcessities?
If you’ve never actually used a handheld computer, you may
think that they are technological luxuries—what my brother-in-
law calls texuries. Texuries are electronic gadgets, such as digital
cameras, that you want but can’t convince anyone, including
yourself, that you need.
To millions of people worldwide, however, handhelds are unmi-
stakably technological necessities—what you might call techces-
sities. Techcessities are gadgets that were once texuries, but have
proven their usefulness to such a degree that they are now prac-
tically as essential to daily routine as running water is. Microwave
ovens and cordless telephones, for example, were once texuries,
but are now techcessities to most of the people who use them.
Such is the case with handhelds. To anyone who uses a hand-
held, working without one is like relaxing without a television re-
mote control—a foolish disregard for basic techcessities. Case in
point: Had I asked my friend Ace Sannier whether his Palm V falls
into the category of texury or techcessity, I’m certain he would
have said “techcessity” without hesitating. Instead I asked, “What
would you do without your Palm V?” to which he answered, “I
couldn’t do anything.”
As the vice president and general manager of e-services at
Engineering Animation Incorporated (EAI), Sannier travels a lot
and uses his Palm V as a traveler’s guide, among other things.
For each trip, Sannier’s administrative assistant loads all the
information he might need, including ticket and rental car in-
formation along with a destination map. Consequently, with his
Palm V in hand, Sannier claims to “go from being a very poor
traveler to being sort of excellent at it.”
Sannier has lost and replaced a Palm product three times
within the past three years. “I lose one each year,” he points out,
“usually at some critical time, so it’s some desperate effort to
get it replaced.” For example, he once realized just minutes
before a meeting, that he’d left his Palm on an airplane seat
and asked his administrative assistant to help him replace it.
“She dashed out to the store, snatched up a new one, snapped
it on to the existing cradle, and was able to restore the [Palm] as
though I’d never lost it in under an hour.” In this instance, his
Palm V “was critical to [his] success,” says Sannier.
When you talk with Sannier, you get the idea that he believes
his Palm is critical to his success in any instance. Sannier has
only one suggestion regarding a potential improvement to Palm
products. If they “came with chain[s], like those wallets,” San-
nier says, “that would be a good addition.” He’s joking, of
course—at least I think so.
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