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If you don’t have a
hand-held information appliance yet, you may want to wait just a little
longer.
The newest versions
of what used to he called personal digital assistants are more like personal
entertainment units — but we’ll need a better acronym than PEU, since this
equipment is anything but stinky.
While most handheld
data devices have been seen as organizers that help with productivity and
efficiency, the new breed blurs the distinction between work and play.
You’ll love these devices. But depending on how you use them, your boss may
not be so captivated. Some research shows college students learned better if
they took regular breaks to do something else for five minutes or so roughly
once an hour. That excuse might come in handy, especially when you’re
initially exploring what this equipment can do. And it can do a lot.
The hand-held
computer business introduces new models every six months or so. But few have
made as much of an impression on consumers as the very first Palm Pilot did
in 1996. (Apple had tried rolling out a similar idea, the Newton, a few
years earlier, but it frustrated consumers and mainly generated stories in
the media — and the comic strip Doonesbury — about how maddening it was to
use.) In 1999, Palm offered the Palm V. Its main advantages were better
looks and a smaller size. But advances since then haven’t done much to spark
consumer desire. Colour screens, better power management and other features
haven’t made much difference, either. In two years, the number of hand-held
device models has risen to 106 from 67.
Now, manufacturers
are taking advantage of new Palm software that lets hand held instruments do
more. But they’re not aiming that new power at traditional business or
productivity objectives. Instead, entertainment is their focus.
Sony calls its
awkwardly named Clié PEGNX70V a “personal entertainment hand-held.” For a
$1,000 (beginning in November), you get a built-in keyboard, digital camera
and rotating screen. The NX70V can record and play digital music files, too;
you can listen to your MP3s on your address book and calendar, so to speak.
You can also use it to take both still pictures and video, and view them,
too. Finally, you can also access the Internet, provided you opt for the
unit’s wireless local area network card. It uses the WiFi 802.11b protocol,
which means portability and connectivity, but not the truly wireless
movement afforded by cellular Internet access, however.
Take the digital
camera out of the device, and you get the Clie NX60V, likely to retail for
around $650.
Sony Canada’s Clié
product manager, Samuel Yip, says Sony set out to take full advantage of the
equity it already has as a company that makes entertainment equipment, and
use the Palm operating system to deliver it. Palm’s OS 5 operating system
uses less power and can do more with it, making it possible to take
advantage of colour screens and applications that had once demanded too much
processing and battery power — such as pictures, music and video. Sony
believes consumers seeking to upgrade should be able to transfer their
accumulated personal information — presumably already stored on Palm-powered
devices — to the new Sony units.
Also targeted:
consumers who have never owned a hand-held device. It’s hoped the new
features will be enough of an inducement that they won’t be able to hold out
any longer. “We want to expand the market by incorporating different and
interesting functions that might attract non-hand-held customers,” said Sony
product manager Ty Takayanagi.
Part of that drive
is the company’s Vaio PCG-NV100 notebook computer. Its unique slot allows
the user to swap a number of peripheral devices in and out of the machine.
The most notable, probably, is the sub-woofer speaker unit, aimed at adding
more powerful audio to a computer that comes with a built-in DVD player.
Your boss might not
like you studying cinematic gems instead of a spreadsheet. But you could
always argue that what you’re learning in terms of plot and pacing will make
your next PowerPoint presentation something the audience will never forget.
Similarly powerful
devices are on the horizon from other manufacturers, but it’s less clear
when — or if — they’ll be launched here. South Korean electronics company
Samsung, for example, sells something in that country called the Nexio. It
has a 5-inch screen instead of the smaller (3-inch or 3.5inch) displays on
many other hand-helds, with better than twice the resolution. Samsung
maintains the Nexio “approximates a desktop viewing experience.”
But at a retail
price hovering well north of $1,000, consumers might expect — or demand —
that it do more.
An American firm
called BSquare is developing a Web-accessing wireless device called the Maui
that it says it will likely licence to other manufacturers. The Maui
includes a retractable keyboard, and could appear early in 2003, selling for
around $950.
Danger, Inc. — also
based in California — makes a wireless e-mail and Web device called the
Hiptop. It too developed the device, licensing its hardware and software to
other companies. The companies who’ve bought licenses in the Hiptop’s case
are cellular phone outfits that aim to offer consumers other ways to use
their services beyond merely chatting wire-free.
Right now, the only
consumers who can get the Hiptop are those signed up with wireless provider
T-Mobile, which is marketing the device as Sidekick and selling it for $249
US.
People at Danger
Inc. confirm they are talking to a number of Canadian firms about the Hiptop,
but said they couldn’t identify which companies, nor could they speculate on
when the device might be available here.
Finally, if you’re
looking for something less expensive, Palm’s OS 5 has also made it possible
to offer what pricier Palm-powered units costing $400 and more used to for a
lot less money. Palm itself is rolling out a basic version of its device
called the Zire for $99US. Microsoft and ViewSonic are collaborating on the
V35, a Pocket PC selling for about $400, set to appear at retail by
November.
The notebook
computer is evolving . . . again. Of course the devices change constantly —
more memory, faster chips, bigger screens. But this change is more
fundamental. For years, the notebook aimed to be a portable version of the
desktop, only with a screen attached.
But the new
notebooks take their cue from another device: the handheld organizer.
They’re called tablet PCs, and their screens function much like the screens
on handheld personal organizers.
Users can write
directly on the screen, keeping notes and drawing with a specially designed
tool that uses digital “ink.” The machine is supposed to recognize users’
handwriting, too, making it possible — theoretically — to convert
handwriting to standard text without having to type it a second time. That
feature is still a work in progress, say those who’ve used the device.
It’s no worse that
the existing handwriting recognition technology at work in devices such as
Palm’s, but it doesn’t represent a big advance in the software’s capability,
either. And it doesn’t improve itself, either — it doesn’t “learn” a user’s
handwriting idiosyncrasies with time.
Microsoft’s own
people at the TechXNY show last summer were working to downplay the
handwriting recognition function — an indication that even the product’s
developer knows that learning to read your writing isn’t its most impressive
achievement.
The machine can
also respond to voice commands, too, so perhaps there’s an alternative to
having to correct mistakes the machine’s handwriting recognition software
introduces. That said, the tablet PC is meant to increase the versatility
that notebooks offer. The main reason for anybody to use such a device is
portability. The tablet PC can be docked with a desk unit to make it behave
like a standard desktop. The tablet can serve as the screen on a standard
notebook base with the added ability to swivel, making it easier to share
what you’re working on.
But it’s the final
operating configuration that marks the biggest difference: the tablet/screen
can fold flat onto the keyboard, covering the keys and making the tablet’s
screen like a pad on a clipboard.
The one true
unknown when the tablet PC makes its retail debut in November: consumer
reaction. With a recession still running and many consumers probably more
interested in getting more immediately appreciable bang for their computing
purchasing buck, the tablet may well be a niche product — at least initially
— that needs to convince consumers they can’t do without it.
Even as computers
proliferate in people’s homes — they cost less and they’re more powerful —
their connections to the Internet are getting faster, too. Broadband
connections are proliferating rapidly in Canada. Maybe it’s because we stay
inside during the winter and rely on a fast Internet connection to make the
winter go by more quickly. But even as the number of broadband connections
grows, the speed of linkage between computers hasn’t always kept up. Many
people have one PC that’s online and others that aren’t — a notebook, say,
that can only be connected when the desktop isn’t being used.
A home network can
solve that problem. But until recently, a home network meant running a lot
of cable and fixed outlets that anchored even the notebook — supposed to be
portable, remember? — within a cable’s reach of a network connection. And
the complexity of setting up and configuring the software to run that
network was another barrier for anybody who didn’t have the financial
resources to keep a network service and maintenance technician on call 24
hours a day.
The wireless
protocol known as 802.11b or Wi-Fi is changing that. Now, its possible to
set up wireless home networks. But even though users don’t have to tear the
walls open to run cable, there’s still the baffling software to grapple
with.
Microsoft doesn’t
want to pass up the wireless home networking business. It can approach its
competitors on price. But hardware is a fixed cost, hard to undersell.
Instead, Microsoft has cannily chosen to compete on the software front.
“Microsoft’s
Broadband networking proves ‘easy networking’ is not an oxymoron,” said
Chris Wolfe, marketing manager for Microsoft Canada. “These products will
significantly improve the setup experience for anyone who wants to install a
wireless network.”
The company’s Web
site (http://wwwmicrosoft.com/hardware/broadbandnetworking/) walks curious
consumers through a step-by-step process to determine what they’ll probably
need to network a particular location or set of machines. Armed with a
custom list of hardware, you can go to a dealer for what you need or get it
online.
Microsoft calls the
central piece of equipment in its home networking package, the MN-500, a
base station. In fact, the MN-500 is a box that serves as a router, wireless
access point, four-port Ethernet hub, and a firewall. Connect your cable or
DSL modem to the base station, then connect your desktop to the base station
using either a standard Ethernet cable or wirelessly with a USB adapter.
Before you attach
anything, the MN500 setup wizard takes you through the steps required to
prepare your system and configure the network. The setup automatically
detects ISP settings and translates networking terms into plain English. For
example, rather than asking for a Service Set ID, the setup suggests that
you give your network a name and provides an example (HomeOffice).
The setup also
simplifies security. Many people are unaware that most wireless networks are
open books.
But configuring
security settings to close the network to interlopers can be so complicated
that many users skip them. Many gateway units leave basic security measures
off unless users turn them on, in order to avoid tech-support headaches.
Not so the Microsoft
system. It prompts users to change the network’s name, but also the password
for the base station so that only authorized users can get to it. Second,
the program leaves 128-bit encryption on and generates a key that all
computers need to work with the network. Without that step, anyone with an
802.11b card could park near your home or office and use your Internet
connection, but have remote access to every machine on the network.
When you’re finished
with the initial setup wizard, you can put all of the network settings on an
included floppy disk and use that to automatically configure every other
networked PC in your house or office.
A wireless network
also means you won’t need extra printers, since the fixed desktop, for
example, can also provide printer access to the notebook. |
