The Pendulum
Features
Thursday, November 20, 2003 »Page 15
Pocket PC and the Palm OS make Elite’s holiday gift list
44
Technology continues to improve our world through faster and more
efficient toys. Think about adding these two gadgets to your holiday
wish list... Personal Digital Assistants and the Palm OS.
99
Laura Cunningham
Columnist
Look around you. What do
you see? You
have been
carrying a
bulky plan
ner, with
notes flying
from all ends, while others have
a organized to-do lists, address
books and their calendars in
portable (and stylish) personal
digital assistants (PDAs) that fit
in a purse or pocket.
Others are going to the gym
with portable CD players, hop
ing to catch some good tunes
while breaking a sweat. Instead,
the CD skips every time you
take a step and you have to stop
and switch the CD because
you're bored of the beat after 30
minutes.
Technology continues to
improve our world through
faster and more efficient toys.
Think about adding these two
gadgets to your holiday wish
list.
Personal Digital
Assistants (PDAS). At one
time, these personal handheld
computers were only capable of
basic organization with calen
dars and to-do lists, but now
they have been upgraded to
connect to the Internet, down
load photographs and edit Word
documents all in the palm of
your hand.
If all you need is that calen
dar and to-do list then the Palm
OS is perfect for you. For those
wanting a little more power out
of their compact machines, the
Pocket PCs offer Internet and
editing software.
There arc two mainstream
PDAs, the Palm OS (Palm,
Sony and Handspring) and
Pocket PC (HP, Toshiba, Dell
and ViewSonic). Deciding on
which one to purchase is based
on your needs.
Price. Palm OS devices
run from $99 to $800, and
Pocket PCs range from $200 to
$800. The price differential
exists because the Pocket PC
has additional multimedia capa
bilities and increased memory.
Capabilities, while all
PDAs handle contacts, calen
dars and to-do lists on equal
levels,
other fea
tures are
available.
Pocket PCs
integrate
Microsoft
Word and .Excel with a program
called Pocket Office. This
allows the user to edit existing
desktop files that are down
loaded from the desktop to the
handheld. While the advanced
features of the Microsoft Office
programs are not available on
the Pocket PC, you are able to
work on your files even when
you are not at your computer.
The Palm OS uses
Documents to Go Professional,
a popular Office suite usually
bundled with advanced Palm
OS purchases, and offers
advanced features that support
PowerPoint and chart capabili
ties in Excel.
Size and Weight.
Many people are looking to
replace their bulky planners
with a small, unobtrusive fit-in-
your-pocket PDA. The Palm
m500, m505 and m515 are slim
and light. The iPAQ 1910 is
currently the thinnest and light
est Pocket PC. Generally,
Pocket PCs are larger than the
Palm OS devices, but that’s
slowly changing.
Battery Life. The Paim
os runs on a set of AAA batter
ies that will last up to one
month. Some Palm OS devices
can use rechargeable batteries
that will last up to a week and
will recharge in about an hour.
Pocket PCs have rechargeable
lithium batteries, lasting
approximately 3 hours of solid
“on” time. The rechargeable
batteries arc great for the envi
ronment and save money.
RAM. The amount of
ram listed refers to the
amount of storage memory
available for any programs and
data you choose to install on
your PDA. Pocket PC devices
actually share RAM between
storage and operating memory.
which means some of the RAM
is dedicated to the brain power
required to run program (think
of it as sharing RAM between
your computer and hard drive).
Because the Pocket PC pro
grams share storage and operat
ing memory in RAM, they need
more memory. On average.
Pocket PC PDAs run on 32-64
MB of RAM. On the other
hand, if you are using a Palm
OS, 8-16 MB of RAM is aver
age.
MP3 Players, in 1998,
Diamond Multimedia released
the Diamond Rio PMP300, the
first MP3 player, marking the,
beginning of one of the most
controversial technology toys.
The Recording Industry
Association of America instant
ly took a stance against the
company and product.
As the popularity of Napster
and other mainstream online
file sharing sites prospered, the
RIAA legally attacked the
copyright infringement viola
tions with law suits.
Claiming that file sharing
has resulted in millions of dol
lars in lost revenue for the
record labels and artists, the
RIAA recently made their cam
paign clear when 261 “everyday
computer users” were sued for
using such services as Grokster,
KaZaa and Morpheus.
While concerns about file
sharing should definitely be
considered, don’t scratch the
MP3 player off your wish list
just yet. There are many ways
to legally get the latest music.
With the end of Napster and
the slow decline of other illegal
file-swapping Internet sites,
new download services have
emerged to sell songs legally.
Now that you have your
favorite tunes downloaded, it’s
fo’’ a MP3 player. Portable
P3 players allow users to
store hundreds of songs. A 32
MB player will store approxi
mately one album of music.
To get your perfect musical
companion, check out the two
options - hard drive and flash
memory players.
Hard Drive-based
Players. The main advan
tage of a hard drive-based play
er is the massive storage space
available for your music files.
For example, the average 64MB
flash memory player offers
approximately an hour’s worth
of tunes, while the hard disk
holds hundreds of hours.
The high memory also
allows faster downloading and
transferring of music to the
portable system.
Top Rated Products by PC
Magazine’s Nov. 11, 2003
issue:
The Apple iPod ($499 at
www.apple.com/ipod) is lighter
and thinner than most hard
drive players and uses FireWire
for file transfers (a USB 2.0
cradle ’can be purchased and
used for $39) for the 30 GB ,
model. The rechargeable batter
ies provide nine hours of play.
The Creative Labs Nomad
Jukebox Jen NX ($300 at
www.nomadworld.com) offers
30 GB of storage with a 14 hour
battery life. Music is trans
ferred to the device through a
USB cord.
Flash Memory. The
original MP3 players used tiny
static-flash memory players.
These players can typically
store approximately an album
worth of songs, and music can
be easily added and erased from
the player.
Top Rated Products by PC
Magazine’s November 11, 2003
issue; The Creative Lab Nomad
Mu Vo NX ($150 at
www.nomadworld.com)
includes a music player, voice
recorder and 128MB of storage
into the size of a key chain.
The Rio Cali ($200 at
www.rioaudio.com) stores 256
MB of music, offers great bat
tery life, and has athletic fea
tures such as an FM tuner, stop
watch and button-locking
options.
Start that holiday shopping
early and keep the wish lists
flowing. For information on
other technology gadgets, check
out next week’s article on DVD
players and recorders.
Contact Laura Cunningham at
pendulum@elon.edu or 278-7247.
Elite’s
Stocking
Stuffers...
Pocket PC ~ priced at $99-
800 that features the
ablity to double as an MP3 movie special model,
includes the Sony Clic SJ33 and others.
Palm OS~ priced at $200-800, features
Microsoft word. Excel and PowerPoint, allows
easy handheld downloading.