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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Handhelds With Colour Displays September 16, 2001 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/coolgear/pdas/soa/Handhelds-With-Colour-Displays/0,139023392,120209502,00.htm
A colour display can brighten up your handheld, whether you're looking at one with a Pocket PC or Palm OS. You'll be able to work outdoors on some and share vivid photos with friends on others. From an adequate 4,096-colour LCD to brilliant 16-bit colour screens, everyone from Casio to Handspring to Palm is moving away from grey-scale. We give you the scoop on what you need to know to choose a handheld with a colour display. THIS ROUNDUP:6 Handhelds With Colour Displays.
Casio Cassiopeia EM-500
After enduring complaints about the heft of its otherwise stellar Cassiopeia E-115, Casio came up with a slimmer and sleeker design for its latest model, the Casio Cassiopeia EM-500. The new size and reduced weight (218 grams) make the Cassiopeia EM-500 easy to fit into a shirt or jacket pocket, yet it feels solid in your hand. The chief drawback to the Cassiopeia EM-500 is that it ships with only 16MB of memory, a curious choice for a "multimedia Pocket PC" (the Compaq iPAQ H3650 offers twice the memory at the same price). And though the MultiMedia Card slot lets you augment the storage, you can't add plug-in accessories such as modems that are based on CompactFlash. You can choose among five colours of rubberised plastic, but you had better not tire of your colour choice because, unlike with the new Palm m100 that lets you choose from five optional snap-on colours, you're stuck with that one colour. Three hotkey buttons on the front panel provide quick access to the most-used applications, contacts, and calendar, and to the main application menu. The only real design drawback of the Cassiopeia EM-500, as well as the Cassiopeia E-115, is the lack of a hard-shell case to cover the delicate screen, although the included nylon slipcase will protect it from most scratches. The Cassiopeia EM-500 is Casio's first PDA to employ MMC, SanDisk's MultiMedia Card format. The advantage of MMC is that it offers postage stamp-sized storage in capacities from 8MB to 64MB at about the same price as CompactFlash or Smart Media. The disadvantage is that MMC is strictly for storage, so you can't add CompactFlash-based accessories. The emerging SD (Secure Digital) card standard, which is based on MMC, should support different kinds of accessories, but it is not clear whether the Cassiopeia EM-500 will be able to use SD cards. Since it is impossible to add a CF modem, browsing the Web or checking email in real time is impossible -- you must connect the Cassiopeia EM-500 to your PC and synchronise to read email and Web content offline. Another option is a compact serial port cable that will allow the Cassiopeia EM-500 to connect to certain mobile phones (Qualcomm and Samsung are two of the first vendors with phones that support this feature). For those downtimes between meetings, the Cassiopeia EM-500 comes with Windows Media Player for listening to MP3 files. And the bundled CSI Mobile Video Converter lets you convert MPEG-1, AVI, and QuickTime files to a format that you can view on the Cassiopeia EM-500. Casio wisely chose to use the Cassiopeia E-115's excellent colour screen on the Cassiopeia EM-500. This TFT screen displays 65,536 colours and looks great both indoors and out, though like most PDA screens it fades in direct sunlight. Images were crisp and clear with good colour saturation all around, and downloaded movies looked great on the little screen. The built-in speaker is a bit tinny and distorted at higher volumes, but that's to be expected from such a small unit. When you plug in a set of headphones, however, the device sounds as good as any stand-alone MP3 player on the market today. Casio has finally gotten with the 21st century and ditched the pokey serial port connection in favour of USB. This addition, combined with the upgraded Microsoft ActiveSync 3.1, has helped make downloading and syncing email and PIM data faster and easier than before. Transferring MP3s and photos to the Cassiopeia EM-500 was quick and easy, and every transfer succeeded without fail via a simple drag-and-drop interface. The Cassiopeia EM-500 also packs a slightly faster processor than its portly predecessor, clocking in at 150MHz as opposed to 132MHz. But with only 16MB RAM, the device has barely enough to store all the necessary applications for basic work - you won't have room for an album's worth of songs or a feature-length movie. Compare this with the iPAQ H3650, which has a processor with a faster clock speed (206MHz) and twice the memory for the same price. Nevertheless, the Cassiopeia EM-500 delivered satisfactory performance, taking only a moment to open a lengthy Excel spreadsheet or Word document. The battery, a lithium-ion pack, is good for over eight hours of steady usage, and it can be charged directly from the unit using the separate wall jack (since a serial port/charger cradle is no longer provided). Listening to MP3 music or watching movies cuts battery time roughly in half, so use the multimedia capabilities sparingly. It seems like the enclosed watch battery would make for a suitable backup power source, but it's only good for keeping the time and date correct between battery charges, not for saving important data. Make sure you back up early and often. Ultimately, the Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 is caught somewhere between two extremes. On the one hand, if you really use a PDA for looking up phone numbers and keeping track of appointments, you'll be better off with a simpler and less expensive Palm-based organiser. On the other hand, if you really want to take advantage of the multimedia features of the Pocket PC platform, you'll probably be better off with a device that comes with 32MB of memory and supports CompactFlash. Casio Cassiopeia EM-500
Compaq iPAQ H3650 Pocket PC
Of all the PDA devices out there, including both those from Palm and Pocket PC, none can match Compaq's iPAQ H3650 Pocket PC when it comes to audio and video. With its eye-catching and innovative design, a media player capable of playing MP3s and video, colour TFT display, and powerful Pocket PC applications, the iPAQ Pocket PC sets the standard. It also covers the basics well, with all the tools you need to keep track of your appointments, notes, and contacts. Microsoft's powerful handheld platform has found its hardware match in the Compaq iPAQ H3650 Pocket PC. The iPAQ Pocket PC's fast (206MHz) Intel StrongARM processor and 32MB of RAM are enough to satisfy even resource-hungry Microsoft and make this PDA a premium tool for not only the daily tasks of appointment making and note taking, but also for listening to music, viewing pictures from a digital camera or the Web, and audio dictation. The iPAQ Pocket PC is meant to be a glamorous device, and it successfully puts Compaq far ahead of the competition in the "ooh-ahh" category. The iPAQ Pocket PC is wonderfully sleek, though slightly heavier than most Palms, and its 4,096-colour LCD has both a higher resolution and more colour bit depth than the Palm IIIc. Its colour bit depth isn't as good as that of the Casio Cassiopeia E-125 and EM-500, but the screen resolution is the same, and the iPAQ Pocket PC's stronger processor and sexy design leave Casio in the dust. The iPAQ Pocket PC's shiny chrome enclosure is tapered slightly for ergonomic purposes and has four one-touch buttons for accessing commonly used applications, as well as a hot-button for voice recording just like old analog handheld dictation cassette recorders. Yet, the most striking feature of the iPAQ Pocket PC is the speaker at the unit's bottom centre, which doubles as a five-way navigation button for quick movement around the screen (particularly useful for game playing). The speaker itself is, of course, small and therefore rather thin for playing any serious music, but it's the best you'll find in a handheld. Compaq argues what makes the iPAQ Pocket PC so unique is its expansion capabilities. Surprisingly, then, it has neither a built-in modem nor an expansion card slot. Instead, Compaq has designed the iPAQ Pocket PC to accommodate plastic sleeves -- or Expansion Packs, as Compaq calls them -- that slide over its back and two sides and add either a PC card slot or a CompactFlash card slot. With that flexibility, the iPAQ Pocket PC can use a variety of connectivity tools such as wireless modems, wireless networking cards (IEEE standard 802.11b), or CompactFlash modems. On the other hand, Compaq's Expansion Packs are additional pieces to carry or lose. If you only need a modem, you can just leave the sleeve on the system all the time, which only increases the unit's overall size slightly. For both a PC card slot and a CompactFlash slot, however, you need to own both sleeves -- with one or both rattling around your bag or briefcase. Ultimately, since these Expansion Packs offer you the choice of connectivity, the trade-off is likely worth it. On a slower processor, like that found in the Compaq Aero 1550 or Casio Cassiopeia, Pocket PC can be a bit of a drag. However, there's none of that with the iPAQ Pocket PC. The handwriting recognition is good, and Pocket PC's system is much more natural than Palm's Graffiti. The downside to the iPAQ Pocket PC's lovely colour screen and its fast processor is that battery life is shorter. Compaq uses an innovative lithium-polymer battery that molds to the shape of the unit's interior. The result is a rated 12 hours between charges. However, you can expect that number to drop if you begin utilizing all of the unit's multimedia capabilities. Compared to Palm-based organisers, the iPAQ Pocket PC is hardly a bargain, but it is the only Pocket PC-based handheld that offers 32MB RAM for AU$1,245. Add to this the fact that the Compaq iPAQ H3650 Pocket PC offers the coolest design, the fastest processors, and loads of features, and this is clearly the Pocket PC to beat. Compaq iPAQ H3650
Handspring Visor Prism
With a dazzling colour display, faster processor, and rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the Visor Prism leaps past the Palm IIIc for colour Palm OS-based handhelds. The Prism outperforms all Palms and previous Visor incarnations while continuing the Handspring tradition of stylish design. Unfortunately, the display tops out at 160-by-160 pixels, and colour adds weight to both the unit and its price. But if you want a Palm-based colour handheld, the Prism is recommended. Like the citizens of Pleasantville, the Palm players have been dragged gradually from a grey world out into the light by competition from Pocket PC. The latest example, the Handspring Visor Prism, successfully marries the popular Palm OS and simple, highly usable Visor design with a brilliant colour display. The Visor Prism isn't the first the handheld based on the Palm OS to incorporate colour. The Palm IIIc, which was introduced back in February, got those honours. But it turned out to be a dubious distinction: The Palm IIIc's 256-colour display paled in comparison to Windows CE- and, more recently, Pocket PC-based devices. The Visor Prism more ambitiously supports up to 65,536 colours, matching the colour depth of the Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 and E-125 (and surpassing that of Pocket PCs from Compaq and HP). But before you get too excited, keep in mind that that the Visor Prism -- like all devices based on the Palm OS -- is restricted to a resolution of 160 by 160 pixels, compared to 240 by 320 pixels for Pocket PCs. As a result, the Visor Prism's adjustable backlit display appears grainier, though it is still far better than that of the Palm IIIc. On our test device, Handspring also included several applications for viewing images and video and a selection of games to give us a better idea of the performance of the colour display. Though it doesn't match that of Pocket PCs, it still a big step forward from the grey-scale display on most Palm-based devices, and it makes the user experience much more enjoyable. In fact, once you get used to it, it's annoying when you run an application that doesn't support colour. In another first for Handspring, the Visor Prism includes a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that is rated for 2 weeks of normal usage (6 hours continuous usage), according to the company. Like all Visors, it includes a USB cradle and works out of the box with Microsoft Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Apple Mac OS. (Windows 95 and NT users will need to purchase an optional serial interface.) To squeeze colour into a Palm-based handheld, Handspring had to slightly increase the size and weight of the device. It's 4.8 x 3.0 x 0.8 inches and weighs 6.9 ounces, but it still feels quite comfortable in your hand and the cobalt blue case looks absolutely great. Like the Visor Platinum, the Visor Prism includes the fastest processor (33MHz Motorola Dragonball VZ) of any Palm-based handheld. The closest competition from Palm currently maxes out at 20MHz. On our tests using Quartus's Benchmark 2.0, the Visor Prism was on par with the Visor Platinum -- 41 percent faster than a Visor Deluxe and 82 percent faster than a Palm IIIc. The Visor Prism includes 8MB memory, which Handspring claims is sufficient for 12,000 addresses, 10 years of appointments, 6,000 to do items, 6,000 memos, and 400 email messages. In addition to the latest version of the Palm OS (3.5.2H), the Visor Prism includes all of the standard Palm applications as well as Date Book+ (which includes floating appointments, integrated to-dos, and a journal), scientific and business calculators, and a world clock for frequent fliers. The Visor Prism also supports infrared data synchronisation -- a feature of Palm OS 3.5 and later. By Visor standards, the Prism carries a pretty hefty price tag. Still, if you want a Palm-based device with colour, the Visor Prism is the current best choice hands-down. Handspring Visor Prism
HP Jornada 545
Hewlett-Packard's base Pocket PC model, the HP Jornada 545, earns points for its sleek, rugged design and competitive price. But with just 16MB of memory, the Jornada 545 simply doesn't have the overhead to handle the Pocket PC OS, especially its multimedia applications such as digital audio, and like the Jornada 548, its display only supports 12-bit colour. The entry-level device in Hewlett-Packard's Jornada 540 series, the HP Jornada 545 is the only Pocket PC-based handheld that ships with 16MB RAM, which severely limits the amount of free storage. That is the only design flaw in an otherwise excellent handheld. Perfectly sized and balanced, the Jornada 545 rests comfortably in hands large and small. Its brushed-charcoal aluminum case, which is protected by a removable flip-cover and surrounded by a band of black rubber that helps to prevent accidental slips and spills, feels like it could take any beating you could dish out. HP has long stood behind Microsoft's attempts to produce a worthy handheld OS, and for the first time Microsoft gets it right with Pocket PC. A full-colour miniaturisation of Windows 98, Pocket PC comes preloaded with such handy features as Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, and Pocket Money. The drag-and-drop interface, complete with pop-up Start menu, will be immediately familiar to anyone who's used a PC in the past five years. The ActiveSync software that comes with all Pocket PCs lets you synchronise contacts, appointments, and email between Microsoft Outlook on the desktop and the Jornada 545. Because of the limited memory, opening large documents with these applications takes forever since the Jornada 545 has to constantly juggle blocks of active memory to find free space. That also means there is little room left over to install any additional applications beyond the standard Pocket PC ones. But that hasn't stopped Microsoft and HP from including plenty of extras. The bundled CD-ROM also has an image viewer, MP3 player, golf game, Yahoo! Messenger, and half a dozen other handy utilities that you can load on your Jornada 545 or desktop PC. Most are quite useful, especially the MP3 player, although the 16MB of RAM onboard doesn't really leave any room for big MP3 files, so you'll have to invest in a CompactFlash card to increase the amount of storage. The tiny built-in speaker is really only good for making that familiar, annoying ding when you've done something wrong; if you want CD quality sound, you'll want to use the headphones HP thoughtfully included in the package. In fact, there's not a lot that HP didn't include with the Jornada 545. The AC adapter, while a bit cumbersome with its three separate pieces, is a universal adapter capable of running off 110v or 220v AC, eliminating yet another wall adapter those international travellers need to carry. The desk cradle connects both the data cable to your mother PC and the power adapter all in one cord. (Oddly, our test unit came with a pokey serial cable cradle, not the zippy USB connection promised on the side of the box. HP says a USB cradle is standard equipment on the entire Jornada 540 series.) In addition to the charger and cradle, HP also includes a portable data cable. Unlike similar products from Casio, the Jornada 540 series ships with a clearly written and informative Quick Start Guide. Its diagrams clearly explain the functions of the four hotkey buttons at the base of the screen (all of which are reprogrammable), as well as the proper care and feeding of the nonremovable battery, a lithium ion unit rated for up to eight hours of use. We put the Jornada 545 through its paces and consistently got four to five hours of hard use, but this included frequent MP3 playback that eats up battery power. A red record button on the left side of the unit is perfectly placed for thumb activation while you dictate short messages into the Jornada 545's memory (keep them short because each one is treated like a high-quality MP3 and will therefore eat up storage space in no time). A lighted button on top of the Jornada 545 glows red while the unit's charging and green when it's finished and will flash to remind you about upcoming appointments. A scroll wheel under the record button allows fast scanning of long documents or address lists. Aside from the memory, the biggest disappointment with the Jornada 545 is the TFT colour screen, which only supports 12-bit colour (4,096 colours), not the 16-bit colour (65,536 colours) originally advertised. HP recognised the goof early on and has graciously offered to provide refunds to any dissatisfied customers. We found the screen a bit streaky but otherwise fine, and snapshots display clearly enough to show off baby pictures to coworkers. In this age of cheap RAM and huge MP3 files, it seems pointless to us to even produce a handheld capable of playing portable music with less than 32MB of memory. Yet HP mysteriously continues to push the Jornada 545 right alongside its better-endowed brother, the Jornada 548. In our opinion, the extra cost for the additional 16MB is money well spent for even the most casual user, so if you like the design of the Jornada 540 series, opt for the Jornada 548 instead. HP Jornada 545
HP Jornada 548
The latest in a long and successful line of handhelds from Hewlett-Packard, the HP Jornada 548 is slim, rugged, easy to use, and comes loaded with dozens of useful features. About the only thing lacking in our review unit (aside from six free hours each day to simply get lost in the wealth of software stored within) was a 16-bit colour display. Perfectly sized and balanced, the Jornada 548 rests comfortably in hands both large and small. Its brushed-charcoal aluminum case, which is surrounded by a band of black rubber that helps prevent accidental slips and spills, feels as if it could take any beating. The flip-cover that protects the unit's display is removable so that it can make way for CompactFlash cards, such as a 56K modem or networking card. HP has long stood behind Microsoft's attempts to produce a worthy handheld OS, and for the first time, Microsoft gets it right with Pocket PC. A full-colour miniaturisation of Windows 98, Pocket PC comes preloaded with such handy features as Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, and Pocket Money. The drag-and-drop interface, complete with pop-up start menu, will be immediately familiar to anyone who's used a PC in the past five years. The ActiveSync software that comes with all Pocket PCs lets you synchronise contacts, appointments, and email between Microsoft Outlook on the desktop and the Jornada 548. But wait, there's more! In addition to all the work-related applications, the included CD-ROM has an image viewer, MP3 player, golf game, Yahoo! Messenger, and half a dozen other handy utilities that you can load on your Jornada 548 or desktop PC. Most are quite useful, especially the MP3 player, although the 32MB of RAM onboard can get filled rather quickly, so a CompactFlash card to increase the amount of storage is definitely in order. The tiny, built-in speaker is really only good for making that familiar, annoying ding when you've done something wrong; if you want CD-quality sound, you'll want to use the headphones, which HP thoughtfully included in the package. In fact, there's not a lot that HP didn't include with the Jornada 548. The AC adapter, while a bit cumbersome with its three separate pieces, is a universal adapter capable of running off 110v or 220v AC, eliminating yet another wall adapter those international travellers need to carry. The desk cradle connects both the data cable to your mother PC and the power adapter all in one cord. (Oddly, our test unit came with a pokey serial cable cradle, not the zippy USB connection promised on the side of the box. HP says a USB cradle is standard equipment on the entire Jornada 540 series.) In addition to the charger and cradle, HP includes a portable data cable. Unlike similar products from Casio, the Jornada ships with a clearly written and informative QuickStart Guide. Its diagrams clearly explain the functions of the four hotkey buttons at the base of the screen (all of which are reprogrammable), as well as the proper care and feeding of the unremovable battery, a lithium- ion unit rated for up to eight hours of use. We put the Jornada through its paces and consistently got four to five hours of hard use, but this included frequent MP3 playback that ate up battery power. A red record button on the left side of the unit provides easy access for your thumb to maneuver. While you dictate short messages into the Jornada 548's memory (keep them short because each one is treated like a high-quality MP3 and will therefore eat up storage space in no time). A lighted button on top of the Jornada glows red while charging and green when finished, and it will flash to remind you about upcoming appointments. A scroll wheel under the record button allows fast scanning of long documents or address lists. The biggest disappointment with the Jornada 548 is the TFT colour screen, which supports only 12-bit colour (4,096 colours), not the 16-bit colour (65,536 colours) originally advertised. HP recognised the goof early on, and it has graciously offered to provide refunds to any dissatisfied customers. We found the screen a bit streaky but otherwise fine, and snapshots display clearly enough to show off baby pictures to coworkers. Although the colour screen isn't quite up to par with other Pocket PCs available today, the Jornada 548 offers solid performance and a complete set of handheld features in a rugged, attractive package. In all, the HP Jornada 548 is an elegant, endearing entry in the Pocket PC market. HP Jornada 548
Palm IIIc
For a long time, Palm resisted the temptation to produce a model with a colour screen in the face of an onslaught of colour devices based on Microsoft Windows CE and, now, Pocket PC. But in early 2000, Palm finally heeded the call and introduced its first colour model, the Palm IIIc. Unfortunately, the Palm IIIc's colour screen is nowhere near as crisp and clean as those offered by the Pocket PC-based devices from Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, and especially Casio. To make matters worse, there are only a few token apps that really take advantage of the colour capabilities. That said, there are some things to recommend about the Palm IIIc. The bright 256-colour screen is much more readable indoors than the grey scale models and is even fairly workable outdoors. The white background allows for a higher contrast with the text and icons on the screen. And the unit comes with the fastest processor (20MHz) in the Palm III line. Like all Palms, the Palm IIIc uses Graffiti, a handwriting-recognition alphabet, as well as an onscreen keyboard for data entry with the pen stylus. Both methods are cumbersome, especially when you have more than minimal data input. If you need to type a lot of email on the road, get one of the new collapsible keyboards, which are about the same size (when collapsed) as the Palm itself. The other way to get data to your Palm, of course, is via your computer and the HotSync cradle. Synching was fast with the Palm IIIc, except in our initial database download. A PC serial cable is included; Mac users need to buy an adapter (both serial and USB port kits are available). You can also link to common applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, ACT!, and GoldMine. Some people just use their Palm as a stand-alone device and never bother with synching, but it's a great way to take advantage of your computer keyboard for heavy data entry. The Palm IIIc also comes with AvantGo's colour Web channel software. You also get a backgammon game, Photo Viewer, and a couple of other colour doodads, but, otherwise, colour support is quite limited. For example, the main Palm applications (address book, calendar, and to-do list) don't let you colour-code records. The colour screen sure likes to eat batteries. The Palm IIIc has a much shorter battery life than that of any other Palm organiser, but it's still not as short as a Pocket PC-based device's. Instead of one to two months, the Palm IIIc lasts for one to two weeks. The Palm IIIc cradle comes with a power adapter, however, so the unit gets recharged whenever it's in the cradle. It's hard to imagine a situation in which you would need to go more than two weeks without putting your Palm in the cradle for a short spell. The Palm IIIc looks like the rest of the III line, although it's a little longer to accommodate the rechargeable battery pack. At 6.8 ounces, it's only slightly heavier than the Palm IIIe, although it's much thicker and heavier than the Palm V, which is only four ounces. The case has the same matte black finish as the IIIxe and Palm VIIx. In terms of capacity, the Palm IIIc's 8MB of memory holds all the appointments, to-do list items, addresses, and notes you could possibly want. To fill it up, you need to have a ton of email, colour photos, or add-on applications such as Web surfing software, games, financial programs, and so on. Colour junkies and heavy AvantGo users will appreciate the Palm IIIc, but if you're just looking for a premium Palm, consider the Palm Vx, Palm VIIx, or even the Sony CLIE first - at least until more Palm apps take advantage of the colour screen. Palm IIIc
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