Mobile |
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by Chuck Horowitz |
Sean Doolittle reviews the Casio, Compaq, NEC and Philips units in the February issue of PC Today. His criteria are somewhat different from those used to review notebook computers because the benchmark programs for Windows CE are non-existent. He rated the Philips Velo1 best for design and performance, although it's the most expensive of the four. He liked the built-in 19.2 Kbps modem and he excused the lack of PC Card slots because Philips sells a separate cradle that has a Type II PC Card module. I can't go along with him on this point. There are many notebook users who have PC Card modems. They don't need a built-in modem and they should not have to pay extra for a slot that is included on all of the other handhelds and most of the notebooks.
U.S. Robotics, Palm Computing Division (Mountain View, CA) has included E-Mail support, an optional modem and an expense report application in their PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). The new PalmPilot Professional has improved HotSync capabilities and Starfish Software has added HotSync capability for users of Sidekick. U.S. Robotics can be contacted at 800-881-7256 or http://www.usr.com/palm and Starfish Software can be reached at 800-370-8963.
Micron Electronics, Inc. (Nampa, ID) makes a 166 MHz notebook using the Intel 430MX Mobile PCI chip set. The unit has 48 MB of EDO RAM (expandable to 80 MB), a 12.1 inch active matrix color screen (800 X 600), a Motorola Montana 33.6 Kbps fax/modem, 256 KB of Level 2 pipeline burst cache, PCI graphics accelerator (1 MB of EDO RAM in MRX , 2 MB VRAM in XPE), "Pick-a-Point" dual pointing devices, Sound Blaster 16-bit stereo sound, built-in stereo speakers and microphone, 2 infrared ports (one front, one rear), S-video and NTSC-video capability, and two2 modular expansion bays (for an 8X CD drive, a 2.1 gig hard drive, a 3.5 inch floppy drive and a lithium-ion battery). For $4,999, the unit is loaded with Microsoft Windows 95, MS Plus, and Microsoft Office and comes with a custom nylon carrying case. The XPE models are CardBus and Zoomed video ready and have a built-in game port. Micron can be contacted at 800-219-2242.
Hewlett-Packard Company (Corvallis, OR) has produced new handheld PCs based on the Windows CE operating system. The HP300LX and the HP320LX have an 80 column backlit LCD with 640 X 240 pixel resolution, a special keyboard with more space between characters, and direct print capability through a serial port or infrared connections. The device should be available this month. Hewlett-Packard can be reached at 800-443-1254.
LEK Technologies, Inc. (Amarillo, TX) has taken Intel's 200 MHz MMX processor and incorporated it into the FutureNote MX 200 notebook. Weighing in at 7 pounds the FutureNote comes in three configurations, with the top of the line configuration ($3,950) having an 8X CD, 16-bit stereo sound, a 1.44 MB floppy drive, a 33.6 Kbps modem, a 12.1 inch TFT screen, a 2.1 gig hard drive and 40 MB of RAM (upgradable to 72 MB). The 12.1 inch screen is detachable so that you can upgrade it at some future date. LEK can be contacted at 800-284-8459.
Symantec Corporation (Cupertino, CA) has introduced a Windows CE version of their pcAnywhere. For $79 handheld PC users can access their desktop files and applications. You can overcome the limitation of Windows CE version 1.0 and send E-mail with file attachments with pcAnywhere. You can surf the Web via your desktop Web browser and LAN, at LAN speeds (providing your desktop is connected to a LAN). Symantec's pcAnywhere provides a clipboard option for transferring text between your handheld PC and your desktop PC. Wireless communication is not currently supported, but will be added later this year. Symantec can be contacted at 800-441-7234.
The Acer Group based in Taiwan has acquired the assets of Texas Instruments, Inc.'s (Dallas, TX) mobile computing business. This includes the TravelMate and Extensa notebook models. Acer will use the TravelMate and Extensa names on their notebook computers and will be able to use the Texas Instruments name for a transition period. All of Texas Instruments' mobile computing organizations will join Acer America Corporation (San Jose, CA) and will report to Ronald Chwang, CEO and President of Acer America Corporation.
Well, it's time for COMDEX again. This year Spring COMDEX is the first week in June and it's back in Atlanta. Last year the show was in Chicago and I went to PC Expo in New York instead. I will be looking at handhelds and notebooks this time with an eye toward replacing my shopworn notebook. I will take a look at what's going on with pagers and cellular phones for all you road warriors out there.
Chuck Horowitz is a HAL-PC member.
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