IPaq offers more than just basic PDA functionalities

IPaq offers more than just basic PDA functionalities

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): Here is another product that sold like our
Kijang vans right after it was introduced: the Compaq iPaq
PocketPC. It is a personal digital assistant (PDA) based on the
Microsoft Windows PocketPC operating system. It is clear that
Compaq was successful in executing the concept of PDA when it
designed this iPaq. There are a lot of things to like about this
gadget.

Incidentally, in most cases, the demo unit I receive for
reviewing purposes is one that has been tested and circulated
from one reviewer to another. It makes sense, because review
units are not cheap, rejected units. In some cases, the notebooks
that I test drive cost more than my car. However, when the review
unit of iPaq PocketPC arrived, courtesy of PT Compaq Indonesia, I
was in for a big surprise. It was still in its original
packaging. I had to open it to check the contents against the
loan form.

The iPaq is a tad larger than my IBM WorkPad c3, which is
actually a Palm V. Unlike the WorkPad, the iPaq H3000 has a lush,
stainless steel-like casing. The downside is that it can be
rather slippery on a sweaty palm. Luckily, it also comes with a
black fiberglass jacket that Compaq calls a "basic style pack". I
used this jacket during the review out of fear that the unit
would slip out of my hand and crash on the floor. It also feels a
little heavier than the WorkPad. It comes with 32 MB of static
memory.

The cradle also takes more space than the WorkPad's, although
it is actually the stylish legs that make it larger. The good
thing is that the power adapter can be directly connected to the
iPaq. This is a nice feature that I wish had also been available
on the WorkPad. I would not have to carry the cradle when I
travel if all I need to do is recharge the battery.

Another important difference is that the iPaq has a color
display. The display resolution is 240 x 320, and it can produce
thousands of colors. The text and lines are crisp and the colors
are brilliant. The backlighting can be set according to your
preference. We can also set the device to automatically adjust
the brightness level of its display according to the ambient
light. The iPaq once again reminded me that life is more
beautiful in color.

Hey, do not laugh at what I have just said. When Color
Graphics Adapter (CGA) was first introduced in the early 1980s, a
lot of PC users -- myself included -- had terrible headaches all
the time because of the low resolution, which made the text
difficult to read. It was only when the Video Graphics Array
(VGA) color display arrived that people began to accept color on
their screens. So when it comes to computer display, color has
not always been the greatest thing.

To take out the spring-locked stylus, we have to press a small
button on top of the unit. It will pop out, and we can pull it
out of its storage. The box contains a spare stylus.

Applications

The iPaq PocketPC is connected to the PC through the USB. If
your PC does not have a USB port, do not worry. You can buy the
optional serial cradle or the serial sync cable that will connect
the unit directly to the PC without using a cradle. The software
that I had to install on the PC side was Microsoft ActiveSync.
Each time the iPaq was put on the cradle, the synchronization of
the data took place automatically.

What is available on iPaq PocketPC H3630? It has all the
standard applications that you would expect from a decent PDA,
including a calendar, a tasks list, a contacts list, a notepad
and a calculator. However, as it uses the Microsoft PocketPC, we
should not be surprised that it comes with Pocket Word, Pocket
Excel, Internet Explorer and Inbox. There is also Microsoft Money
to let you keep track of your expenses during business trips. Oh,
I almost forgot. Solitaire is also included.

Copying a Word 2000 file from my desktop PC to the iPaq
involved a file conversion. It is understandable, as the Pocket
Word program has to be as small as possible and therefore cannot
support all the features that the Desktop Word 2000 offers. The
process is a little bit tedious, however. I had to load Windows
Explorer, find the Word file that I wanted to transfer to iPaq,
click with the right mouse button and click again on copy. Then I
had to go to ActiveSync, click on the explore button to get to
the folder in iPaq where I wanted to save the file. I thought I
would save it in the personal folder on iPaq, so I clicked on the
icon with the right mouse button and clicked again on paste.
ActiveSync did warn me that some features might be lost during
the conversion.

I have not seen or heard of a foldable keyboard for the iPaq
yet. My guess is that it is also in the pipeline, given the
tremendous popularity foldable keyboards have among Palm users.
Compaq is planning to sell a variety of expansion packs for the
iPaq, including the ones that will connect it to your LAN or the
Internet. There are also expansion packs that can add storage
space using Compact Flash.

Nifty features

The iPaq lets us choose between two different sizes of an on-
screen keyboard. Needless to say, I preferred the slightly larger
one. Strangely, I could not find the button for Caps lock. That
would make it harder to type in abbreviations such as CGA and
VGA. On the other hand, the automatic word completion feature can
help ease the chore of inputting text, although it takes some
getting used to. You scribble two letters, and PocketPC will
suggest a word. Of course, it may not be the one that you have in
mind, but sometimes it works. In Microsoft Money, for example,
when I scribbled "lu" in the Account Name field, PocketPC offers
the word "lunch". When I tapped on the word, it was immediately
entered into the field.

Among the greatest features that I like is Microsoft Reader.
This application, which also uses Microsoft technology called
ClearType, will display pages of an electronic book. Two books
were included as samples, one of them was Hans Christian
Andersen's Two Fairy Tales. The picture viewer lets us download
image files. PVSplash plays downloaded video files and Media
Player allows us to play audio files, including MP3 files. The
speaker is very tiny, and you should use headphones if you want
to use it as an MP3 player. For MP3 aficionados, Compaq offers
iPaq Personal Audio Player, the PA-1.

We can also record conversations with iPaq. The button,
unfortunately, did not give me sufficient feedback when I pressed
it. I would not know whether I was recording or not if I had not
looked at the screen. Compaq needs to redesign the button to make
iPaq a good recording device. On the software side, however, I
was very surprised to see that I could adjust the quality of
recording -- from the highest quality of 44 KHz to the lowest. A
lower quality means a smaller file size.

The iPaq is certainly packed with features. It is not for you
if what you want is just basic PDA functionalities. However, it
does offer many features that are not available on my WorkPad,
for example. Scribbling notes is easier with iPaq, and we do not
have to learn the Graffiti shorthand. The iPaq includes decent
handwriting recognition capability.

The iPaq PocketPC uses a lithium polymer battery, which is
inside the unit. However, its battery life was not as long as I
had expected. I set the brightness at its highest level, and that
might have been the cause.

Compaq seems to be expanding out of selling servers and PCs.
It is marketing its own version of research in Motion's
BlackBerry pagers, which can also send and receive email
messages, the iPaq W1000 and iPaq H1100. It has also been co-
developing an iPaq Home Internet Appliance with Microsoft. We can
expect more great and stylish non-PC products from this company
in the near future. (zatni@cbn.net.id)