I want to gey my wife a handheld for Christmas, but I’m not sure which oprating system will suit her needs. She’s a nurse practitioner and she’ll need to download various medical programs into it. I looked on CNET to get an idea which would be better for her, but I didn’t find it very helpful. Any suggestions?
PalmOS is the more widely supported program, but PocketPC is more powerful and syncs better with Windows. I say she should check with her hospital and see if it has any preference. You’ll regret buying a Palm when her hospital only has PocketPC apps.
I’m not so knowledgable in the PPC area, but for Palms, a Sony Clie is definately the way to go.
Okay, input from the Better Half, who has had several different pocket PCs, and who currently has a Sony Clie, which he loves.
I’m using “pocket PC” = “handheld”, not a specific kind. I’m not up on the differences in tech jargon, sorry.
Is your wife tech savvy? In my experience people who have a tough time with computers find the PalmOS easier to use.
Since this will be a matter of opinon, I’ll move this thread to IMHO.
Not that it’ll be out anything near christmas, but just in case anybody here wants to upgrade. I’ve been drooling over this device for ages.
My sister has a color Palm and I have a Pocket PC. I used Palms for years but got this as a gift. It is great - especially once you add Pocket Informant which uses a different datebook full of icons and different veiws. These 3rd party apps are available for Palm, as well.
Just over Thanksgiving, I looked at my sister’s new color Palm. One thing I noticed is that my screen is very bright in low light compared to hers - the colors were just so much more sharp on my Pocket PC (Ipaq Compaq).
Tibs.
This should be the determining factor. Find out what software she needs or wants, and find out which PDA they run on. Last I checked there are more software available for the Palm than Pocket PCs, but that doesn’t mean the one you need is available on the Palm.
If you know of some specific reason why a Pocket PC/WinCE device is required to fulfill your wife’s needs, then get one. Otherwise, a Palm device is by far the better choice. Smaller, easier to use, far better battery life, far far more software choices, and at least as many hardware choices.
Regardless of which you choose, there are literally thousands of applications available for both platforms. If I had to speculate, I would say the software selection for Palm is a bit better, since its been around longer. I don’t know about medical apps, though.
I have used a Palm-compatible device for a few years now. Primarily, it serves as a replacement for my day planner. Currently, I’m carrying a Sony Clie (16 MB with monochrome backlit display, high resolution).
Last month I bought my fiance a Toshiba e335 PocketPC unit (Because that’s what she requested). I’ve tinkered with it extensively over the past month, so I think I have a pretty good feel for the strengths and weaknesses of both platforms.
The Toshiba PocketPC has a fast processor and a ton of RAM. The reason for this is because the PocketPC 2002 operating system is incredibly processor/memory hungry. Of my S.O.'s 64 Megs, over half of it is comsumed by the operating system right out of the box. Yikes!
All Pocket PC devices are color with very nice, vibrant displays. Using their fast processors they can play MP3 files, play video, and junk that your desktop computer can do (although typically not as well, YMMV). That color display drains the battery fairly quickly; expect only 4-6 hours of heavy use before recharging is necessary. It’s not a big deal if you recharge every night, but if you go on a trip with it, you must bring your charger or risk losing all your data.
Most Palm devices have black & white displays and lower resolution compared to Pocket PC devices. The slower processors will not allow for MP3 playback. But on the upside, Palms are typically smaller and fit better in a pocket. I typically get 2 weeks of battery life between charges with heavy use. You can get some newer Palm devices (like the Tungstun) that have high-res color displays and fast processors, but they are typically more expensive than their Pocket PC counterparts, and they will have shorter battery life than the non-color Palm models.
But what it really comes down to for me is easy of use. The Palm OS is extremely intuitive. The OS was built from the ground up to be fast, efficient, and consistent. It does its job and stays out of your way so you can do what you need to do.
PocketPC’s OS attempts to be a minature version of Windows, including a file sytem and browser, multitasking, and a score of other PC centric ideas. In a nutshell, it doesn’t work. Navigation is clunky and very UN-intuitive.
My fiance was wow’ed by some of the PocketPC features like handwriting recognition. But while she’s struggling with trying to make the OS stop confusing her b’s and l’s, I’m flying along using Palm’s graffiti entry. It’s the little things you cannot appreciate until you use both devices. But trust me, Palm does everything much more elegantly, and it doesn’t bludgen you with option upon option. It just gets out of your way.
Anyone want to suggest a device for me? Here are my requirements:
- Synch well with MS Outlook
- Easily edit MS Word documents
- Easily enter text into above-mentioned MS Word docs.
- Low cost
I imagine for 1 and 2 a PocketPC is the better choice, and maybe for 3 as well. I’ve seen some have novel entry methods lately, like mini keyboards and such. Anyone have any war stories?
Also, anyone ever try to enter a lot of text with PocketWord? What’s that like?
My Compaq Ipac Pocket PC uses the exact same graffiti entry system as Palm. It is just one method of entering text.
Synchs with Outlook and has MS Word on it.
Tibs.
Tib, you mean it has MS Pocket Word on it, right? It doesn’t actually have full MS Word, does it?
Revtim, Yes, Pocket Word. 
Thanks. How do you like the graffiti entry system? Could you see say, writing fiction on it?
No way. Graffiti is easy enough to learn and use, but I never use it for more than minor entries. If you plan on doing serious writing on your pda, you should get a foldable keyboard.
Thanks again Tib.
Some PDAs now have built-in mini keyboards, like the HandSpring Treo 90
http://www.handspring.com/products/treo90/index.jhtml
but it’s PALM OS.
Anybody know of any PocketPC handheld with mini-keyboards? I really like this form-factor, but I think I’m leaning towards PocketPC at this point.
Actually, has anybody worked on MS Word docs in PALM OS? I know it’s possible, and maybe it’s nearly as good as PocketPC.
The built in Palm Hotsync software allows you to sync with Palm’s Desktop software, or MS Outlook software, including email. I never liked Outlook, so I’ve never used the Outlook synchronization, and can’t tell you much about it, other than it appears to work.
Here’s an article that compares editing MS Office Documents on a Palm using the bundled Documents to Go with editing the same documents on an iPaq using Pocket Word and Pocket Excel. They claim it actually works better on the Palm:
http://www.brighthand.com/article/Office_comparison
I’ve used Documents to Go for years, through multiple revisions, and it just keeps getting better. In addition to reading, editing and creating new Word and Excel documents, it allows you to view and edit Powerpoint presentations. Here’s a link to a features list:
http://www.dataviz.com/products/documentstogo/dxtg_revhist.html
Revtim, I completely agree with cainxinth about the getting a keyboard if you plan on doing any major writing with your handheld.
I wouldn’t even use a mini-keyboard that was built into the handheld. I can have a little keyboard screen pop up and tap on the letters to type but that isn’t nearly as fast and easy as actually typing. A fold out keyboard would be, in my opinion, much faster for text entry. Further, the handheld screen might be bigger if it doesn’t have to use space on a keyboard.
Tibs.