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Buyer's Guide to: Palm-size PCs

The Pocket PC is Microsoft's latest attempt to compete with Palm
The Compaq iPAQ H3650 Pocket PC is the smallest pocket PC so far
Should you change from a Palm OS unit to the E-115?

First they were called Palm PCs, then they were called Palm-sized PCs and now they are called Pocket PCs. Regardless of the name, the new Windows Powered devices are here. Should you buy a palm-size, or pocket-size PC? If you need a basic organizer to keep track of contacts, appointments and notes etc then they are small and easy to use.

The Pocket PC is Microsoft's latest attempt to compete with Palm

The Pocket PC is Microsoft's latest attempt to compete with Palm. A revamped, renamed version of the Windows CE operating system, Pocket PC features a simplified user interface and 'pocket' versions of Word, Excel, Outlook and Internet Explorer, as well as Windows Media Player and Microsoft Reader, which displays e-books.

Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Casio and others have introduced handhelds based on the Pocket PC platform.

If you don't want to spend much money then Palm is the cheaper option as Pocket PC's range is from $500 to $600 US; a Palm IIIe is $149. Pocket PC does, however, offer a full-featured unit that can play MP3 files, send e-mail and read Word and Excel files.

The $499 Hewlett-Packard Jornada offers a colour screen, a voice recorder, serial and USB ports and an expansion slot. With Windows Media Player and a headphone jack, it doubles as an MP3 player.

The Compaq iPAQ H3650 Pocket PC is the smallest pocket PC so far

The Compaq iPAQ H3650 Pocket PC is the smallest pocket PC so far and similar in size to the Palm IIIc. You can use your iPAQ outside in full sunlight. Other color PDAs can't be used comfortably outside. Their screens basically turn black and non-viewable.

The overall system speed of the iPAQ is excellent. It is FAST. The iPAQ is the fastest Windows Powered Pocket PC device yet. All the main built-in applications pop up instantly and the larger applications such as Pocket Excel, Pocket Explorer, Pocket Word and Microsoft Reader have a very slight lag.

Should you change from a Palm OS unit to the E-115?

One of the first units available was the Casio E-115. Should you change from a Palm OS unit to the E-115? That depends on what you want to do with your PDA. If you want a multimedia PDA that can play books, music and games, the E-115 is for you. If you want a super fast PDA for basic organizer functions only then you should probably stick with a Palm OS unit. And if you need to use a PDA outdoors more than 25% of the time, you'll not be happy with the E-115 due to the visibility of the screen. But indoors it has probably the best color PDA display.

The Compaq Aero 2110 is a bit longer, wider and heavier than the HP Jornada 420. But it is also a bit thinner. The Compaq Aero has a reflective 256 color high resolution reflective TFT display. This is the same sort of display that the Gameboy Color has. It does not require a backlight but uses light shining down on to the screen to make the screen viewable. Although the Aero has good audio quality, good overall speed and good outdoor visibility it the unit is quite heavy and the screen is quite dim for indoor use.

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