[NTLK] Pocket PC review - part I (first impressions)

From: sbeesley_at_smartchat.net.au
Date: Mon Aug 27 2001 - 08:16:30 EDT


One of the first things that attracted me to the Jornada Pocket PC was the form factor - it sort of reminds me of what a baby Newt could have looked like.

I have to agree with Bill Davis' comment (in his HandEra review) that for all it's strengths the great weakness of the Newton is size. The ease with which I can just drop the Jornada into my pocket and take it anywhere has been a great "liberation". The flip cover, while not as well designed IMO as the Newt covers, is a plus. The stylus is not bad and better than the tooth picks that come with the Ipaq and most Palms, but is certainly not a patch on the Pens of any of the Newtons. In fact I find myself using the stylus from my uMP2k quite a often!

The hardware buttons on the front of the Jornada are also a great feature - particularly if you like to play games. The scroll wheel on the left side is something I always wished that the Newt had.

The screen you ask: what about the colour screen. Well I have to admit I love the colour screen. Sure it sucks power (although not as bad as could be expected) and can be barely readable in direct sunlight (which we get more than our fair share of here in Perth, Western Australia!) but still I love it. The outdoors readability issue is less of a problem on the Ipaqs (and the rumoured new HP devices) because of the screen/backlighting used.

Okay what about the negatives of the Pocket PC form factor. Well first off I would have to say that the size which makes it so pocketable does make it somewhat harder to use than the Newt. I have been using the Calligrapher HWR software on it which I find pretty much as good as the HWR on the Newt (more on that later) but it was not until I pulled out my Newt yesterday and had a bit of a play that I realised how much I missed the extra screen space for writing.

The other big disadvantage with the Jornada is the lack of two card slots - having to take out my 32meg card when I want to connect to the net is a real handicap. This seems to being addressed with new Pocket PCs from NEC and Toshiba which have a CF slot and a Mulitmedia or SD card slot as well.

Well that is about it for first impressions. Next is the operating system.

I hope this will be of interest to some on the list.

Stephen Beesley

 

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