Your good neighbor
who's also a computer
consultant!
Friday 21 November 2008
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Your good neighbor |
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Friday 21 November 2008
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From TNPC issue #4.15... 
iPAQ - A Handheld that Means Businessby Al GordonJuly 26, 2001 The hottest new thing in handhelds these days is Compaq's iPAQ Pocket PC. The device itself, as readers of TNPC #3.15 know, is not new; it was introduced in the spring of 2000. What is new is that: a) The range of peripherals that use the iPAQ's expansion sleeve technology has grown to the point where they meaningfully increase the unit's functionality, and, b) you can actually find one to buy. For all of last year and much of this, the iPAQ has been handheld computing's incarnation of the famous Yogi Berra-ism: "nobody goes there any more; it's too crowded." In the case of the iPAQ it was: nobody can buy them; they are selling too fast. I put the question to Cindy Box, Compaq's director of marketing for the iPAQ. "They did go into the retail channel as well as to corporate" customers, she said, "but they sold very quickly. They were never sitting on the shelves." "The demand was overwhelming," Box said, while production was "constrained by a shortage of key components." Compaq has been "moving aggressively to catch up with demand," she said, "although there is still a backlog." The shortage has not been entirely a problem for Compaq. The iPAQ
has been positioned as a handheld equivalent of a sports car--
sleek looks, high-performance, and a hefty price tag to match. A
color 3600 series iPAQ without any accessories runs $500 list--
and street. Only recently has Compaq started to make deals. The 3635--a 32 MB
RAM color unit bundled with a sleeve for CF expansion cards lists
for $600, but now has a $50 rebate. Compaq also offers a less expensive monochrome, 16 MB RAM 3100
series. Here the unquestioned best deal is the 3135 bundle with
the CF sleeve, which at $299 (after $50 rebate) is cheaper than
the 3100 alone. The money buys you a sharp-looking silver toned unit that, without a sleeve, is comparable in size (and, thus, as portable) as standard-size Palm OS handhelds. As with all Pocket PCs, you are going to need a relatively large pocket. But it is easy to carry. The iPAQ comes with an 206-MHz Intel StrongARM 32-bit RISC Processor, the fastest in any handheld. And it has the biggest and brightest screen, which pleases my middle-aged eyes. It carries the usual Pocket Office suite--Pocket Outlook, Word, Excel, and Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player. The latter allows the handheld to double as an MP3 player--an expensive option on Palm OS Handspring Visors and Sony Clies. If you plan on using a handheld as a media player, Pocket PC are a lower-cost solution than the Palm platform. Pocket PCs use Microsoft's ActiveSync 3.1 software for connections to your desktop. Users who always complain that Microsoft products are too intrusive into their systems, will no doubt feel the same about ActiveSync. Personally, I liked the instant linkage with desktop Office and the ability to treat a Pocket PC as essentially another drive on my PC in Windows Explorer or My Computer. However, the expansion sleeves are the true "killer" feature. When I tested the iPAQ a year ago, before the expansion peripherals were rolled out, I thought it was really cool and full of promise. But at the end of the day, you really couldn't do anything on it that you couldn't do on, say, a Palm Vx. Now, the iPAQ is a handheld that literally means business. "The iPAQ Pocket PC Expansion Pack design gives our customers the flexibility to add the functionality they need to the iPAQ Pocket PC," Box said. "It also allows them to remove that functionality and add other functionality if they desire. We're focused on providing mobile professionals with the functionality they need to get the access to the information they want in their hand wherever they are." The CF expansion slot--and don't buy an iPAQ without at least the CF sleeve--allows users to attach a wide array of devices: CF memory storage, of course, but also modems, network cards, barcode scanners, links to cell phones. And many more are under development. Even more options open up with the PCMCIA expansion sleeve, as it
allows notebook cards to be used with the handheld. This is not
for the budget-conscious, though, as it is a $150 item clearly
intended for business use. Among the key peripherals here is the Sierra AirCard 300, which
both the GoAmerica and OmniSky wireless services use to provide a
wireless Internet link for the iPAQ. More of this in a later article, but the wireless connectivity is a key productivity tool. The iPAQ allows you to manage email, tap into the Web, and do some basic document work while in the field- -without needing a notebook and with the ability to sync up with your desktop commuter or your corporate network. Box sees wireless being an even more central feature of future incarnations of the iPAQ. Expansion sleeve technology has been licensed to other companies.
According to Box, the first third-party sleeves will be released
later this year. The idea is to combine functions that otherwise
would require more than one card into one unit. For example, a
GPS expansion pack would allow for both the hardware to connect
to the Global Position Satellite network to track your location
and also provide the hefty additional memory needed to store the
mapping software needed to make use of the positioning data.
While Compaq does make a sleeve that holds two PC Cards, good
luck finding one to buy anywhere. And if you do, the slender iPAQ
turns into something of a brick. Compaq released a v.1.77 ROM update for the iPAQ, which has fixed a few operational glitches. With the upgrade installed, my test unit ran well and with a high level of stability. Again, as noted here before, if all you intend to do with your handheld is carry an electronic address book and calendar, don't waste your money on this level of technology. But if you want to be able to attend to business from the palm of your hand, the iPAQ offers impressive capabilities. You can reach Al Gordon at:
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