Connected and Organised with Palm
Dave
Yessirree, Mike: While PocketPC goes after those half dozen road warriors and gizmo geeks who update their Web sites, play DOOM and groove to MP3s as they board the shuttle to New York, Palm will have to content itself with satisfying the zillion busy folks who need to stay organised and connected -- and prefer doing it with a simple, elegant device that meets their needs.
Fact is, I don't need to do all those things on my PDA. And I definitely don't want to pay a premium for hardware, software and batteries just in case the urge strikes me once a year to edit images while I'm stuck in traffic.
Nine times out of 10, when powering on my Palm, I launch one of four built-in apps: Address Book, Datebook, To-Do and Memo Pad. And here at ZDNet's Palm Downloads, I've found cool ways to enhance these basics. Address+ is loaded with contact management options essential for any business user. ZipCode+ 1.4 is a timesaving companion tool. (For Palm OS 3.5, try Address Book Plus.)
For Datebook: DateMate organises recurring events and PopUpFreeTime lets you create and check appointments without quitting your current app. MemoPlus adds drawings, alarms and templates to MemoPad. ToDo PLUS does much the same for To-Do List.
Then I've made my organiser even greater than the sum of these productivity parts -- with Actioneer or Action Names. These two meta-tools make all my information accessible in the most flexible and intuitive ways.
Three more gems I'll never remove from my digital companion: DiddleBug (scribble sticky notes with alarms), TealGlance (see everything at a glance) and Desktop to Go (synchronise with Outlook).
Bored by these pathetic basics, Mike?
I agree: Staying connected is more fun than staying organised. For Palm VII and other wireless-equipped handhelds, Palm Query Applications (PQAs) are the ticket to most anything online: Anywhere, anytime, I can: place a bid, go shopping, call a cab, book a flight, check a fact, even find the nearest public restroom.
And with or without a wireless connection, any Palm user can select from hundreds of information sources, updated daily, with AvantGo. Or enjoy all the bells and whistles of One-Touch Mail. Send and receive AOL mail. Print to any printer. Browse the Web. Chat with ICQ and Yahoo buddies.
And here's a terrific reason to go wireless: A PQA e-mail client called ThinAir handles POP and IMAP protocols, hooks into ICQ, Hotmail and Yahoo mail services, and even reads newsgroups.
By now, I bet you're itching to show me more bizarre applications for the Pocket PC: Turn your Pocket PC into a cash register! Tune up to concert pitch!
It really does not matter which device one chooses to use. They both provide the basic functionality needed from a PDA. If one wants to spend the extra cash, the Pocket PC does offer more power and it does run a version of Windows (yikes!), but the palm is cheaper and fufills more than all the needs of the normal user. The only real reason that the Pocket PCs are dosing as well as they are is the Monopoly known as Microsoft. If they ran a proprietary OS like the Palm does, no one would pay the price for them. For the user who is money wise and wishes to use the real industry standards and not the unilateral dominating standards of Microsoft, the palm is the choice. The Pocket PC is for the user who does not mind endorsing an oppressive company in order to get a few more whistles and bells that few others are cmopatable with anyways.
Gothmog, lord of balrogs, high capitan of Angband, was come...