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TECHNOLOGY
- May 2002 by Ed Ford Scaling Down I’ve been innundated recently with information about the benefits of hand-held computers. Several young associates – who particularly like the Palm handhelds – keep telling me how these PDA (personal digital assistant) devices will better manage my life, streamline my tasks and provide control for my schedule of activities. My usual response is “Thanks, but no thanks. My planner does the same thing and requires no batteries.” A new Palm product promotional piece, however, recently caught my attention. The i705, the promo claimed, would enable me to stay on top of business away from my desk with wireless access to e-mail and the Web. I was informed that I could access my personal and corporate e-mail accounts all from the handheld and could send and receive with confidence as a result of the corporate-grade, end-to-end security provided. E-mail would continuously download throughout the day and the i705 would alert me when a new message was available. I could select alarms or a flashing light for notification, which would occur even if the unit was turned off. Through a wireless Web connection, I could access more than 600 “lean, mean wireless-ready Web sites” or surf any Web site of my choice. All this, I was told, was contained in a package that’s 3x4x.6 inches in size and weighs less than six ounces. Also, the handheld features 8MB memory, a rechargable battery and does-not have the battery drain of a color screen. The i705 has only a monochrome screen, something that’s apparently a no-no where some customers are concerned. The basic cost of the unit is $449. Then, there’s a one-time set-up fee of $9.99 for a service plan, which ranges from $19.99 to $39.99 per month. The lesser cost is for a plan that covers usage of 100KB per month (an average monthly use apparently is 80KB). Each additional kilobyte over 100KB is 20 cents. If you pay a higher monthly service fee ($34.99 or $39.99) for an “Executive Plan,” there’s no limit on kilobyte usage. What are the other costs? Through the palm.com listing of accessories, I found several that seemed promising:
These accessories – totaling $228.85 – are ones that would seem to meet my on-the-road needs. Added to the basic cost ($449), set-up service fee ($9.99) and the minimum service plan ($19.99 per month), the final cost is $707.83. Something else caught my eye on the palm.com promo. “Leave your laptop behind,” was a statement in boldface. With some bonus software – DataViz Documents to Go – I could “create, edit and view Word and Excel documents as well as view PowerPoint files...” In keeping with my reputation as a Doubting Thomas where product claims are concerned, I visited my local OfficeMax outlet to take a closer look at the i705. Charles asked if he could help me and I asked him how knowledgeable he was about the Palm handheld products. “Pretty good,” he responded. It turned out he was much better than that, providing informative answers to a barrage of questions I asked during the next 15 minutes. Charles gave the i705 a good rating, relating that Palm’s claims for the product were not necessarily overblown. He emphasized that handheld computers were the wave of the future and were going to get better and better as the competition increased. In fact, he showed me several other handhelds, such as a Hewlett Packard model and the Pocket PC by Microsoft. One immediate advantage of the HP Jornada, he pointed out, was its memory – 64MB of RAM as compared to eight for the Palm i705. Some other handhelds had 16MB. He also pointed out that the handhelds were “‘syncable’...you can download from another PC” and that “I should be able to access my home PC” with the i705. “What about Palm’s suggestion to go i705 and ditch the laptop?” I asked. “Not yet,” Charles cautioned. “That may be three to five years away.” Charles believes the handhelds – in time – could very well replace laptops, but that “most people still will have their desktops at home.” My conclusions? I’m not as doubting as I was. I like the Palm i705, but wish it had more built-in memory. That notwithstanding, its versatility and portability make it a good product for business people on the go. I also believe I
got straight advice from Charles. So, don’t ditch your laptop.
As Charles says, handhelds are on the way, but may not be the total
portable answer just yet. Ed Ford is a
staff writer for The Lane Report
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Copyright 1996-2002, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content
is copyright 2002, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
