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Mobile Computing
by by Chuck Horowitz July 2000 Journal of Hal-PC.org On the road, again - August 29, 2000 at 02:21:23:
Have you seen the It Drive?No..., I didn’t think so. Caleb Technology Corporation (Boulder, Co.) makes the It Drive, an external, USB, 144Mb removable storage device. The drive is compatible with the standard 3.5 inch floppy drive (1.4Mb capacity) and can also store up to 144Mb on a 3.5 inch magnetic cartridge. You can connect the drive to your notebook by USB or Parallel ports or by a PC Card. The drive transfers data at a rate of 950Kb per second and measures 1 inch by 4 inches by 5.9 inches and weighs slightly less than 1 pound. The price for the drive is $69 and the cartridges are $7. Caleb Technology can be contacted at 800-341-9272 or www.calebstor.com.
PocketScience (Santa Clara, CA) has the BackFlip. This modem for the Palm (Professional, III series and the VII), IBM’s WorkPad and TRG’s TRGpro weighs less than 6 ounces with the required AAA batteries. The difference between this modem and others that are available for Palm-type devices is that you put the BackFlip on the receiver of almost any phone, dial a toll-free number (US only), wait for a voice prompt, and tap a button on your Palm’s screen. Sending and receiving e-mail is done with PocketScience’s Pocket Mail Service. Because the BackFlip uses sound to send and receive e-mail, there is no phone jack to connect. The One-Touch mail software for the Palm works with regular phones, cellular phones and cordless phones. You can buy the BackFlip for $99 with a $10 a month service fee or for $198 with a year’s worth of service. You can only get e-mail with the BackFlip, no Web surfing and no text or image attachments. PocketScience can be reached at 408-919-7444 or www.pocketscience.com.
Quantex Microsystems, Inc. (Somerset, NJ) makes the Quantex W-1500. This notebook has a 700MHz Pentium III processor, Intel SpeedStep technology, a 15 inch active-matrix screen, 128Mb of SDRAM, a 18 Gigabyte ATA hard drive, a modular 6X DVD-ROM drive, an ATI Mobility P graphics board with 8Mb of RAM on-board, TV-Out port, two USB and one LAN ports. With a carrying case, Windows 2000 Professional and Microsoft Office 2000SE, you’ll pay $2,999. Quantex can be contacted at 877-671-2202 or www.quantex.com. You can also shop on-line at shop@mobile.quantex.com.
Hewlett-Packard Co. (Santa Clara, CA) will be coming out with a version of their JetSend technology that will let Palms and PocketPCs communicate with each other. JetSend will give these devices the ability to swap data. The latest version of JetSend (2.0) lets PocketPC users swap files with different Windows CE devices and to print from any HP printer that is infrared capable. You will be able to download JetSend 2.0 at www.jetsend.com for free until July 18th. After the 18th, it will cost $19.95. HP can be reached at www.hp.com.
Check out Cyberlegs by Nomadic Solutions. This portable desk weighs only 20 ounces and fits all notebook computers. The aluminum tripod can be used anywhere. At $70, including carrying case, it sounds good. Nomadic Solutions can be contacted at 505-334-3204 or www.cyberlegs.net.
There’s been a lot of hype lately about Microsoft’s PocketPC. Everyone who writes about mobile computing has had something to say about PocketPC. They all talk about PocketPC being competition for the Palm and that maybe the Palm has reached its zenith. Not in this life! Of course, that’s my opinion. None of the PocketPC devices that I have seen so far will replace my Palm IIIx. First of all, I’m not sure whose pocket Microsoft and Company are claiming their devices will fit in, they don’t fit in mine.
The Palm (III that is) is simple, elegant and fits in my pocket. I personally choose to wear it on my belt, but that’s a matter of individual preference. I would love to have a device that is the size and weight of the Palm that has a spreadsheet, a database and a word processor on it. Actually, I can have most of these on my Palm, not to mention Pocket Quicken.
There is so much software available for the Palm that I don’t have enough time to download it all, much less try it out.
I don’t believe that PocketPC (which is still Windows CE as far as I’m concerned) will ever top the Palm. Palm Computing can be reached at 800-881-7256 or www.palm.com.
Chuck Horowitz is a HAL-PC member and can be reached at 713-739-4893 or chuckh@hal-pc.org.
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