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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Palm versus Pocket PC: Which is better? By Rick Broida, Special to ZDNet February 26, 2004 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/coolgear/pdas/soa/Palm-versus-Pocket-PC-Which-is-better-/0,139023392,139116317,00.htm
 Palm is the reigning champ of PDA OSs, but Windows Mobile 2003 is gaining ground fast. Which PDA operating system packs the biggest punch?
Microsoft may rule the desktop world, but in the battle for handheld supremacy, it's still anybody's game. Found in handhelds from PalmOne, Sony, and other manufacturers, the Palm operating system has held a market-share advantage since the beginning, but Windows Mobile 2003 (née Pocket PC) is no longer just nipping at its heels; it's nipping away at its sales, as well. But if you put the Palm OS in the ring with Windows Mobile, which PDA operating system would survive the bout? Is one notably stronger than the other? To find out, we booked eight rounds of PDA pugilism, pitting Palm OS 5.2.1 against fast-rising challenger Microsoft Windows Mobile 2003 in categories such as ease of use, Office compatibility, and multimedia features. For the most part, we left the hardware outside the ring, as features such as battery life and processor speed vary widely from model to model across both platforms. The operating systems threw some seriously powerful jabs, and the winner may surprise you.
Get up and running fast
And we agree. Neither OS is particularly difficult to master, but there's no question the Windows Mobile learning curve is steeper. That's ironic, given Microsoft's attempt to make it familiar to Windows users, right down to the Start button. But Windows doesn't work as well shoehorned into a PDA, as it often requires extra effort to accomplish simple tasks. Take launching programs, for example. The Palm OS places all program icons on its main applications screen, with each little more than a tap away. Windows Mobile requires you to hit the Start button, just like in desktop Windows, and tap Programs. Only then can you look for the application you're after. Want to return from a subfolder to the main Programs window? You have to tap a tiny OK icon in the corner of the screen. Want to get from there to the main Today screen? This time, you tap an X in the same corner. If this sounds confusing and unintuitive, it is.
Input your info effortlessly
With writing, disparities emerge. The Palm OS has long relied on Graffiti, a handwriting-recognition system primarily based on standard block characters. But with the release of Palm OS 5.2 came Graffiti 2.0, based on a more natural character set. For newcomers, it's a breeze to learn, but it's a major hassle for Graffiti veterans because it's so different from the old system. Windows Mobile offers not one, not two, but three handwriting-recognition options. The first, Block Recognizer, is a letter-perfect clone of the original Graffiti, making for an easy transition from the Palm OS camp. The second, Letter Recognizer, is based on Communication Intelligence's Jot, which also was the basis for Graffiti 2.0. Finally, there's Transcriber, which allows you to write anywhere on the screen (rather than in a designated input area) and in cursive, no less. Transcriber works remarkably well, as long as you write fairly legibly. The Windows Mobile keyboard, Block Recognizer, and Letter Recognizer are all virtual input areas, meaning they appear and disappear as needed. Most Palm OS PDAs come with a permanent Graffiti area that reduces screen real estate. But recent higher-end models, such as the PalmOne Tungsten T3 and the Sony CLIE PEG-NX80V/G, have virtual input areas, just like Windows Mobile. Nonetheless, you still get only one handwriting option instead of three, so Windows Mobile indisputably wins the round.
Manage contacts, calendar, and to-do lists
Windows Mobile is the better contact manager, offering a lot more data fields than the Palm OS and an easier method of searching large lists. Tapping address-book-like tabs brings you to names starting with those letters. Even if you have a thousand contacts, you usually can find the one you're looking for with just two or three taps. The Palm OS employs a Find field in which you write one or more letters of the name you're after; it drills further into the list with each letter. This can be just as fast and efficient for sifting through massive contact databases--assuming Graffiti accurately recognises your input. As for calendars, the two contenders are about even. You can set alarms for appointments; view your calendar by day, week, month, or year; and create events that recur automatically at a set interval, such as weekly meetings or your spouse's birthday. The Palm OS offers a superior to-do list, if only because it organises everything more logically. At a glance, you can see each task's priority, category, due date, and status. Windows Mobile provides the same basic features, but it's awkward in both look and operation. It's worth noting that all Windows Mobile devices let you record voice memos--a core function of the OS--while only some Palm OS models do.
Connect to the PC and sync flawlessly
As you might expect, Windows Mobile synchronises exclusively with Microsoft Outlook. Indeed, its core apps were designed as mobile extensions of Outlook's calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes modules. As a result, more of Outlook's data fields are copied during synchronisation than with the Palm OS. Pocket PCs absorb both home and work addresses, for instance, while Palm OS devices limit you to just one address per contact. At least, that was the case before Palm OS 5.2.1, which arrived shortly before press time in models such as the Tungsten E and T3. The Palm Contacts app (formerly Address Book) now supports three separate addresses instead of just one. But Windows Mobile still supports more Outlook fields, such as Assistant, Birthday, and Spouse. Palm OS PDAs offer two desktop-synchronisation options. Thanks to a third-party utility bundled with most models, you can synchronise with Outlook. If you don't use Outlook, you can opt for Palm Desktop, a robust information manager that's far more novice-friendly. The latest version includes a photo module for easily copying digital pictures to your PDA. Windows Mobile may have an edge when it comes to Windows PCs, but Microsoft offers zero support for Macintosh systems. All PalmOne models--even the AU$199 Zire 21--ship with a Mac version of Palm Desktop, so they're ready to roll, right out of the box. To synchronise a Pocket PC with a Mac, you need additional software.
Send and receive messages
As you might expect, Windows Mobile's email client supports synchronisation with Outlook only. That's not a bad thing--unless you use Outlook Express, Microsoft Exchange, or Lotus Notes on your PC. In contrast, Palm VersaMail 2.5 supports those and other apps, including Outlook. Pocket Outlook and VersaMail aren't limited to email via synchronisation, as both programs can use any available wireless connection (such as Bluetooth, GPRS, or Wi-Fi) for direct access to POP3 and SMTP servers. VersaMail goes a step further, with support for Web mail accounts such as Yahoo Mail. Both clients can download file attachments, and both allow you to tap HTML links to view Web pages in a browser. As for the clients themselves, Pocket Outlook has a rudimentary look and feel, much like Windows Mobile's Pocket Word and Pocket Excel, but it's functional enough so that few users will need to seek third-party alternatives. VersaMail offers a lot more features, including filters and automatic message retrieval, and it's more intuitive (though marginally so) than Pocket Outlook. It's important to note, however, that VersaMail isn't part of the Palm OS but rather a Palm-built application that's bundled with most PalmOne models. If you want to add it to, say, a Sony CLIE, you'll have to fork over US$34.99.
Take your Office files with you
On the surface, Pocket PC would appear to have the edge when it comes to Microsoft Office compatibility. After all, Microsoft built the Windows Mobile OS and outfitted it with Pocket Word and Pocket Excel. But these apps are mere wisps of their desktop counterparts, and files lose their formatting when copied between PDA and PC. In addition, you have to drag a file into the Sync folder yourself for it to automatically update every time you work on your PC. While the Palm OS offers no out-of-box support for Office files, many of the latest models, such as the Tungsten E, come bundled with a compelling third-party solution. DataViz's Documents To Go enables you to view and edit desktop documents on your PDA without converting them first to a PDA-specific format, and the latest version offers native support for Word and Excel. You also can view Word and Excel documents received as e-mail attachments--a major plus for wireless-PDA users. Best of all, Documents To Go provides seamless synchronisation between Palm OS and Windows, so any changes are updated automatically, which is the way it should be. Still, because Palm OS doesn't provide additional support for Office files with all of its models (Documents To Go Standard Edition costs US$29.95 as a standalone application), there's no clear winner here.
Entertain your audio and video options
Until the arrival of OS 5, Palm users mostly were stuck with slow processors, low-resolution screens, and Apple II-quality audio. (A few high-end Sony CLIE models changed all that before OS 5 arrived but did so with proprietary tweaks to the operating system.) Now Palm OS supports the same Intel XScale processors used in Pocket PCs, as well as 320x320-pixel (and higher) screens and MP3 playback courtesy of RealOne Mobile Player. In short, Palm OS has caught up with--and, in cases such as screen resolution, surpassed--Windows Mobile. Yet not all Palm OS handhelds take advantage of these newly supported capabilities. The Zire 21, though it runs Palm OS 5.2.1, has only a low-resolution grayscale screen and rudimentary audio capabilities. Even the Sony CLIE PEG-TJ25, US$218 at launch, did not have digital audio. All Pocket PCs, on the other hand, feature the same core capabilities they've had for years and now carry faster processors to boot. In fact, several third-party Windows Mobile media players enable you to view native MPEG movie files, no conversion required. At press time, Palm OS users enjoyed no such privilege.
Get the most add-on apps
And the winner is... Any PDA you buy today is guaranteed to be powerful, practical, and more capable than a mid-'90s desktop system. In many respects, the playing field is level, regardless of which platform you choose.  Palm OS blocks a formidable challenge from Windows Mobile. That said, while Windows Mobile 2003 is the superior operating system when it comes to data entry and multimedia, Palm OS 5 offers easier operation, more third-party software, better desktop compatibility, and a stronger e-mail application (even if it's not standard to the OS). As for Microsoft Office compatibility and core applications, the two operating systems are evenly matched. In the end, the Palm OS PDA is the champ for now. But we're keeping an eye out for Windows Mobile 2004. Maybe a rematch next year?
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