October 1998

Price: $399

RATINGS (0-5)
Installation: 5
Documentation: 4
Features: 4.5
Operational Testing: 4.5
GUI: 4.5
Overall: A-

Compared to Windows CE devices and a slew of other handhelds, 3Com's latest PDA offering - the Palm III - is the best PDA available for those who don't want their organizer to cost more than a mortgage payment. It fits in your shirt pocket, its standard feature set is rich enough for most users, and its learning curve is manageable. Increasing the Palm's basic appointment book/mail client/note taker functionality is particularly easy for the budget-conscious, as low-cost modems and hordes of aftermarket commercial and shareware applications are readily available. Despite our longer than usual Room For Improvement list, the six-ounce Palm III is a definite Editors' Choice award winner.

INSTALLATION
Low-end CE devices are the Palm's biggest competitors and using them is easy because most everyone already knows Windows. Still, CE devices can be difficult to configure. This is not an issue with the Palm III, where setup means inserting two AAA batteries, attaching the cradle unit to a PC's COM port, and installing the HotSync software on your own PC or on a network.

We must warn you that unlike other software, when the HotSync installation wizard says to make sure no other programs are running during its installation, it means it! Even with the just Windows Explorer and a virus protection program running, our copy of HotSync wouldn't install properly until we exited everything, for real. We shut down the PC, plugged in the cradle, and rebooted. This time, installing HotSync worked fine. Setup involves assigning your Palm III a unit name, and choosing a handful of basic options such as sound, list or icon menus, etc. (Installing software on the Palm III is covered below in the Operational Testing/HotSync section.)

DOCUMENTATION
"We will condense. We will condense. We will condense." Palm technical writers need to chant this mantra several hundred times, as the Palm III comes with about a dozen separate pieces of documentation (including one peculiar document that's nothing but a blank 5" by 8" white sheet with the code "SF545S" printed on one side). The more useful of the documents include a "read me first" pamphlet, two copies of the wallet-sized quick reference card, quick reference stickers to attach to the Palm unit itself, an applications guide, a basic handbook, an accessories catalog, and a listing of technical support phone numbers categorized by nation. We see no reason why the majority of these guides can't be combined into just one book.

Still, the basic handbook and the applications handbook are of excellent quality: a plethora of screen shots and diagrams, simple explanations, and comprehensive indexes are included. Another interesting Palm document is the Developer's Cookbook, which is easy reading for technical users and provides insight into the Palm's design and functionality.

FEATURES AND OPERATIONAL TESTING
A complete examination of Palm III's features would require fifty pages. Highlights include a synchronization utility for coordinating Palm records with PC records, an ergonomic stylus, 3Com's proprietary "Graffiti" handwriting recognition tool, a screen-based keyboard as an alternative to Graffiti, a backlit display, a removable top cover, and an infrared port for beaming data between Palm units. Meanwhile, the Palm's "OS 3.0" includes an address book, calculator, date book, expense reporter, mail client, memo pad, to do list, and basic security features. The Palm Desktop software acts as the PC version of the Palm's applications, and is a boon for users that perform frequent synchronizations, because the process is faster and more efficient than synchronizations with other Windows programs.

With the HotSync feature, Palm users can exchange and update data with other Palm units using a modem, or with their own PC using the Palm's hardware cradle. PC software is included, and Macintosh software is optional. Users also pick which synchronization features they want to enable - any combination of transferring mail, appointments, memos, contacts, expense reports, and system options.

Installing Software With HotSync
HotSync is also the tool for installing software on the Palm unit. By selecting the Palm install tool on your base PC, you can then place applications (in the form of .PRC files) into a given directory on the computer's hard drive. During your next HotSync, any files in that directory automatically transfer to the Palm unit. Some programs also need to be activated - you'll need to check with each program's own documentation.

After the PC-to-Palm transfer, most software is ready to go. A few programs require you to also install select utilities, and some require configuration of as many settings and options as their desktop brethern. Keep in mind that like software for your computer, Palm applications come on floppy disks, CDs, and as downloadable .ZIP files from Web sites like www.palmpilotzone.com (one of our favorites). Uninstalling software is even easier: From the main interface, choose the Menu button from the lower left of the Palm screen, and then choose Delete from the Applications pull-down menu. Choose the program to delete, press the on-screen Delete button once more and, finally, choose Yes. The process may sound convoluted, but we promise that it's actually quite simple.

Entering Data
As mentioned above, the keyboard and Graffiti tablets are the primary means of entering text. To use the keyboard, tap the "ABC" or "123" icons on the bottom corners of the tablet. To use Graffiti, draw the character on the tablet, using the left side for text and the right side for numbers. We recommend using the included stylus, although other implements work, too (your fingertip or a pen with the cap on, but never a pencil). All characters must be drawn using the Palm's proprietary handwriting alphabet, which takes some effort to learn. Palm advises drawing the characters large to improve accuracy. The keyboard option is obviously more accurate, but it makes entering text a much slower process.

Aftermarket companies make larger external keyboards for the Palm - the ultimate solution would be graffiti that recognizes the user's own handwriting instead of the Palm characters, or perhaps a speech-to-text solution. Either way would add to the cost of the unit, and most likely decrease its speed even further. Graffiti is okay for memos and other short items, but it's best to save long documents for a real word processor, and then use HotSync to transfer them.

One solution for Graffiti problems is a company called TealPoint. Two of their programs are invaluable, and in our opinion should be included with every Palm unit sold. The first is TealEcho, which responds like an Etch-a-Sketch to every Graffiti character drawn, and the second is TealScript, which lets you create secondary and tertiary choices for how each character is drawn. TealEcho users get real-time, visual feedback for every character, which is a huge benefit for Palm beginners still learning the Graffiti alphabet. TealScript is great for those of us with terrible or cryptic handwriting, because it essentially lets you create multiple styles of Graffiti. TealScript even has a distortion option, good for making Graffiti characters (your own or the Palm defaults) more complimentary for left-handed users. There are multiple profiles available, so in theory, the number of Graffiti styles is limited only by your Palm's memory. (Memory, by the way, is currently available from third parties up to an additional 10 MB of RAM - try www.trgnet.com).

Additional Features
Other Palm features include:

• Three basic fonts.
• Room for approximately 6,000 addresses, 3,000 appointments, 1,500 to-do items, 1,500 memos, and 200 e-mail messages (in any proportion).
• A Find function.
• Optional software links for ACT!, GoldMine, Lotus, Outlook, and others.
• Compatibility with Eudora, CC:Mail, Exchange, Outlook, and Windows Messaging.
• Drag and drop links to Word and Excel.

Like Windows, the Palm OS duplicates some common features found in most programs, but adapts others to its small form factor. Where you might expect a greyed-out menu item on another OS, for example, you'll see no item at all on the Palm. The thinking is that greyed-out items are temporarily unavailable anyway, so why waste desktop space for them? With a screen that's barely bigger than 2.25 inches square, these adaptations make sense.

There are also differences in the way you make selections. Some of the menu bar items are actually pull-down menus, but you can't tell which ones expand just by looking at them. Some programs work fine using a fingertip instead of the stylus, but for most programs, items are too close together for this method to work properly. Your finger will probably smudge the display anyway - use the sticky side of clear adhesive tape to erase the smudge marks. Finally, in addition to the Teal software mentioned above, we also suggest using a program like PilotExplorer (www.evolutionary.net), which is the Palm equivalent of a file manager.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
Shareware is the (inexpensive) answer to most of the Palm III's woes. We wanted the ability to customize Graffiti so it would understand our handwriting; we wanted a file manager; we wanted a Web browser; we wanted cooler games; we wanted a full-fledged e-mail and fax client. Shareware and even some freeware does all of this, and Palm hardware and software accessories have become such a hot industry that there are now multiple publications and dozens of Web sites devoted to the topic.

We'd like to see improvements in a few other areas. A handy feature would be a redesigned case top that folds to the back of the unit. As is, the Palm's top portion folds up, but not over, leaving it vulnerable to breaking and awkward for holding in the palm of your hand. In the upright position, the case's redeeming quality is that it blocks light and shadows. A true fold-over cover with multiple "stay" positions would be ideal. Actually, the entire case could use strengthening - one good drop could render the $550 unit (a realistic price with a modem, plus tax) a useless hunk of plastic. Adding a heavily padded case to protect the Palm from a drop, and a thin metal plate on the back of the Palm's case so users could engrave contact information into the unit, would also be welcome features.

Finally, we'd insist that future versions have concise documentation, a redesign of the desktop organizer software (which looks and feels more like a mid-1980s version of Windows Sidekick), as well as more alternatives for every Graffiti character, which might reduce the need for Graffiti customization software.

CONCLUSION
One of the biggest tests of a consumer product's usefulness is whether reviewers would buy one, and therefore whether a reseller should stock one. The answer for the Palm III is yes. While we expected that there would be plenty of areas needing improvement, it seems that 3Com's developers are one step ahead of us. The latest industry buzz is about an upcoming Palm release allegedly code-named Razor - but no one from Palm has officially confirmed this rumor.

If you're an end user who needs a Palm unit now, or are a reseller or MIS thinking of selling or purchasing Palms to supplement your enterprise communciations solutions, then the Palm III clearly beats Windows CE devices in cost and functionality.

Palm-sized computers have moved beyond their original functionality as PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), and they’re increasingly being used in the workplace as an extension of companies’ communications systems.

John Dvorak will discuss the impact of small form factor devices during his keynote speech at CTI™ EXPO Fall ’98 in San Jose, California. Dvorak, who is well known for his columns in mass market computer and data networking publications, will speak on "The Third Age of Computing." The address will focus on the future of PCs, including the movement to palm-based computers and IP telephony. One important point John will discuss is that as form factors shrink and we eventually embrace palm-based size as standard, we can look forward to computers that only reboot when we decide to turn them off — not when they decide to crash. Dvorak will be speaking at CTI™ EXPO Fall ’98 in the San Jose Convention Center, December 2, 1998, at 9:45 a.m.

While Dvorak’s observations on palm-based computing can be seen right now, Tom Keating, our executive technology editor, explores his vision of a universal communicator in this month’s CC: column. This futuristic universal communicator, which may resemble a device such as today’s Palm III, would include your cellular phone, pager, e-mail, voice mail, one-number follow me, fax, and Internet capabilities in a single device. Now that’s a good thing in a small package.