What’s Making Palm Sweat?

The PocketPC began life as a very ugly duckling. But if the "Palm-size

PCs" of 1998 haven’t quite turned into something beautiful, the latest

versions built on Microsoft’s new PocketPC 2002 software have at least become

a flock of attractive and useful handheld computers.

I checked out three brand-new models, the Hewlett-Packard Jornada 560, on

sale starting October 4, and the Compaq iPAQ 3800 and Toshiba e570, which appear

in a few weeks. Although all share the same basic software, a 240-by-320-pixel

color display, and an Intel StrongARM processor, each offers its own strengths.

When the first iPAQ model came out last year, its sleek design made it the

star of the field, and it remains the sharpest-looking and the most versatile of

the class. While the weight has dropped a smidge, to 6.5 oz., the iPAQ has

gained its first internal storage slot, which uses the same memory cards used in

Palms. Although the slot currently can only be used to add memory, Toshiba is

about to offer a card that provides short-range Bluetooth wireless

communications with other devices, such as cell phones.

Brightest

For broader networking options, iPAQ retains a system of

accessory "sleeves" that slide onto the iPAQ and let it accept either

CompactFlash or PC Card accessories. This gives the iPAQ the broadest range of

communications choices, from standard telephone modems to wired or wireless

Ethernet to wireless phone network access. There’s a price for this

flexibility, though: The sleeves, especially the PC card unit, add a lot of

weight and bulk to the sleek iPAQ.

The iPAQ also continues to have the brightest screen of the

bunch. And in a small but important change, the stylus storage slot is less

prone to jamming.

The new Jornada marks a big improvement from last year’s

540 series. Although it’s about the same size as its predecessor, it has lost

nearly three ounces of weight. It retains the flip-up cover of the earlier

version, but the odd "popsicle stick" stylus that was stored inside

the cover has been replaced by a conventional round stylus kept in the body of

the unit.

The most important change is a frontal attack on the PocketPC’s

weakest point, battery life. Batteries on the older versions lasted 8 to 10

hours. But despite a much brighter screen, HP promises up to 14 hours power on a

charge, enough for several days of use. Better yet, it’s the only PocketPC

with a removable battery. It’s not clear what will happen to the iPAQ and

Jornada lines if and when the planned Compaq-HP merger is consummated. Officials

of both companies declined to speculate.

Toshiba’s e570 is the big Japanese computer maker’s first

entry into the handheld arena. Its design is conservative–basically, a

rectangular box. Its most interesting feature is that it has slots for two types

of expansion cards, SD and CompactFlash.

The bigger CompactFlash cards are being used for a lot more

than memory. Until recently, the only way to get a PocketPC onto a wireless

local area network–great for reading e-mail during boring meetings–was to

use the iPAQ with a PC Card designed for a laptop. But Symbol Technologies now

offers the Wireless Networker, a $150 CompactFlash card that can get any

PocketPC onto a wireless LAN that uses the Wi-Fi standard. It’s much less

power-hungry than the PC Card version, with Symbol estimating it will reduce

battery life by about 15%, compared with about 50% for a Wi-Fi PC Card.

While Palm and its partners dominate the market for handhelds,

these products show why the PocketPC is coming on strong. And additional models

are on the way.

By Stephen H Wildstrom in BusinessWeek. Copyright 2001 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc