Written when I first got a PalmPilot Pro in '97.
The idea is simple: A PDA that fits into your pocket and is easily synchtonized with your desktop (or laptop) computer. It also allows you to add many versatile programs to make the PalmPilot itself more versatile. turn it into a tip calculator, golf scorecard, etc.
The stuff in the red and yellow box
In the box is the PalmPilot, the cradle, a PC CD-ROM, an adapter to go from 9-pin to 25-pin and pre-installed batteries. The PP Pro comes with two manuals - one covers the PP Personal, and the second one "makes up the difference," dealing with TCP/IP and Mail, etc...stuff only on the Pro model. This system is an advantage for USR, not really for the user, but I don't really need the manual, it's no biggie, just a little more space my the shelf.
When all laid out, my Mac-colored eyes saw a package that was not made with Mac in mind. A CD that only works in PC's, and a flyer for the MacPac1 (which includes a smaill serial adapter for the cradle), an extra $14.95. These days, hybrid Mac/PCs CD's are everywhere and if I needed floppies instead of a CD,some companies send them for free. When I got the MacPac (most were out of it), it would not install on my PB 520c. After trying every diagnostic trick I know (and some that USR knew), it still wouldn't get past Disk 3 when it told me that an error had occurred and installation was cancelled. (It's bad enough I don't know what the problem is, but apparently neither does the installer.) It worked fine on my Performa (which is where I download the files, so trucking a disk up and down the stairs gets annoying). However, my PowerBook is very low on the food chain.
Physically, the PalmPilot is tiny. It measures 4.7" x 3.2" x .7." in size, The whole thing about being able to fit into your pocket is only good if you don't have the space to carry something the size of a Newton with all of its accesories. A bigger screen would make reading long documents easier, but the thing fits into a Pocket-T from The Gap. You don't need even an external keyboard. Even with the matching PalmPilot Modem, the whole thing isstill smaller than a Newton.You can't beat its portability.
I had plenty of practice using the PalmPilot. I would always look for it in stores and would play with for a little while. The input is very innovative, called Graffiti. Apple's (oops, that should be Newton, Inc.'s) Newton learns your handwriting. With Graffiti, you need to learn an alphabet which appears to be one-stroke hieroglyphics (really, just look at A,F,K, and T for starters) and a few strokes to access other characters (accents, punctuation, symbols). I find myself needing to think in capital letters, because that's what most of the Graffiti strokes are based on (except H)
It's a little hard to get used to (and a hard habit to kick2), but USR provides lots of support: In the box, you get a reference card and a reference sticker to stick onto the memory cover There are 2 stickers - 1 with basic letters, 1 with the less used, but you can only use one sticker at a time unless you're creative and careful. In the PalmPilot, you can use a built-in Grafitti reference or an on-screen keyboard. The keyboard is accessible from the corners of the writing area. There also a shortcuts list that you can customize to make "jf" turn into "Josh Forman"
Frankly, the recognition is not as good as I hoped for, at least not for me: someone famous for bad handwriting. I constantly made huge errors, sometimes deleting characters instead of writing new ones. However, I ordered "WriteRight" Screen Enhancements from the Concept Kitchen. They claim to improve handwriting recognition, prevent screen scratches, make the screen feel more like paper, and reduce glare. In my experience, true, true, true, and not really. Using WPM, my accuracy is near perfect, if it wasn't actually perfect. Some of my errors are still there.
A wide variety of applications are included: Address, Calc, Date Book, Expense Giraffe, HotSync, Mail, Memo Pad, Memory, Preferences, Security, and To Do List. Most are pretty easy to see what they do. Giraffe is a game that lets you practice using Grafitti.
After installing the software, here's the most important of what you find on your computer:
The Desktop application is a replica of the Address, DateBook, Memo and ToDo applications on your PalmPilot. This is where you might put in entries if you didn't have your PalmPilot or just didn't want to deal with making major changes on the PalmPilot.
Getting stuff between the the big grey box and the little grey box.
Once you get the Desktop software installed, HotSynching can't be simpler. I was finally able to install the Desktop software on my PowerBook and I was, for the most part, happy with the results.
On the Performa, Synching worked fine. On my laptop, I constantly had "fatal errors." Every time this happens, I have to restart if I want to use that particular port (ahhh, the joys of having one port). The problem seemed to stem from disk fragmentation (when files are broken into different physical locations on the disk). Optimizing fixed it. Backing up and installing takes no more than a minute or two.
That doesn't cover installing new files to the PalmPilot. If you want to add files and programs to the PalmPilot, you need a desktop computer. It isn't self-supporting. (There is however a web browser that can download PalmPilot files - TG Wingman). But installing files is very simple and it's even simpler using a third-party installer "SimpleInst" for Mac. With the "first-party" installer, you open it, select the file you want to install (through the usual file dialog) and click "Install" (to confirm). You can continue to choose more files by repeating those steps. With the third-party application, you can drag and drop multiple files at once.
ToDo and Memo have such simple functions they don't need review. Address has 5 spaces for phone numbers/e-mail with eight choices for their labels (work,home, fax, mobile, etc) and also had 4 custom fields. It is linked with the mail program (and also with HandStamp Pro) so when writing e-mail, you can "lookup" a person in the address book and automatically insert their e-mail address. The built-in PIM applications can be replaced by third-party enhancements like
Bottom Line: B+++++ In my experience, the Mac support is way behind PC support (mainly the $15 charge). It is a lot more buggy. Other than that, the out-of-the-box PalmPilot has some shortcomings without some enhancements/ compensations, but once those are taken care of, it's a great machine to use without really cracking the manual!!
More technical information may be available from the PalmPilot's web site. www.usr.com/palm
See my PalmPilot pages for listing of the different resources and software for PalmPilot users.
1 By the way, for those who wonder what is meant by "MacPac does not currently support Mail and Expense features," it simply means that those two applications can't be HotSynched into the Desktop application for editing on the desktop computer. I don't use either (replacing them respectively with HandStamp Pro and QMate - which syncs with Quicken), so again, no biggie.
2Because of using the PalmPilot so much, my handwriting had suffered a little bit. Plus, a regular pen/pencil feels very thick.