Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC h3600 Specifications download pdf (Page 35)

Micke Gunnarsson 2001-07-19

E-post: [email protected]h.se

These are questions that I can’t answer for you as a potential PDA buyer. This is a

report on the functionality of the iPAQ but I found it relevant to at least mention

something about PalmOS since it is one of the biggest competitors to PocketPC. I

think that PalmOS and PocketPC will part from one another focusing partly on

different markets. The PocketPC environment has way larger support for connectivity

in various ways, the Internet being just one of them. Palm’s greatest advantage is the

size and the simplicity to operate it.

7.1Functionality & expansion possibilities

As explained earlier there is not so much use of the iPAQ in the iSpace room.

However in a similar scenario (a meeting or conference) a device such as the iPAQ

might come in handy. If one doesn’t want to carry a heavy laptop (they are still

heavy) much of the functionality when it comes to connectivity is well provided by

the iPAQ together with some third party software. Because of the small display and

the way that input is being done there is however no possibility to bring the

functionality of the iPAQ up to the same level as a laptop. As mentioned earlier ‘The

power of the iPAQ lays in its easy access to information’.

The expansion possibilities are also great. There is as we saw a large number of

different ways to expand the capability of the iPAQ by adding more memory,

connectivity, GPS receiver /sender, and so on. The possibility to have a serial port

available by a CompactFlash adapter makes it possibly to make the iPAQ one part of

a larger system in many areas together with some special software.

Unfortunately one cannot on the iPAQ have both a CompactFlash card and a

PCMCIA card connected at the same time. It would be nice to both have a memory

expansion and a WaveLAN card working together.

7.2 Usefulness to different people

Different people may have different needs for a device such as the iPAQ. In the

following paragraphs I’ve tried to categorize users into three major types ranging

from a person not familiar with this kind of technology at all to people well

experienced with computers who might want to take the iPAQ to its limits when it

comes to usage. It gives you as a reader the possibility to identify yourself in one of

these categories and perhaps in an easier way decide if you should invest in an iPAQ.

7.2.1 An “Absolute Beginner”

My idea of an “absolute beginner” is a teenager that mostly uses computers to play

games and to surf the Internet (for info about games) or an engineer of the older

generation not to keen on using modern technology but still in need to make his

ordinary working day more efficient in an administrative way.

In the case of the “older” engineer he/she might be better of buying a Palm. The

iPAQ demands more knowledge of Windows than the Palm. That’s because the

functionality of the iPAQ is larger and there are more things that could go wrong. It is

more integrated into Windows and to operate it, one might need some experience in

the Windows environment. If one is about to use the PDA simply as an address book

and a place to keep track of ones meetings it is easier to learn how to use the Palm.

The program installed on the stationary computer to be used to synchronize the Palm

is more easy to use. The installing of new applications is in most cases easier and

done automatically.

The necessarily not-so-young gamer should choose the iPAQ. Most of the people that

have interest in computer games are familiar with Windows. It is not always easy to

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Compaq iPAQ Pocket PC h3600 Specifications Page 35

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