Went Retro Today
By Brian Keener , Copyright 2001
 Version 1.00  Revised 3/28/2001

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Went Retro Today

I came across my old Palm IIIx w`ile cleaning out the closet last weekend, and thought I'd go "retro" and give it a shot. I only made it through today. 

A few things I noticed right away, that really hadn't struck me when I  first made the switch to Pocket PC. One was the convenience...  Using the integrated cover (IE, no case) it was much easier to jump up  from   my desk and grab the Palm, whereas with my IPAQ, Casio, or @migo, I had to root around for the case, make sure it's centered on the velcro, etc. A   small complaint, but there none-the-less. I'm sure if I could get a syncable case for the @migo it'd help some...

The IIIx is so light and small... It doesn't feel like I have anything in my pocket at all... Which, according to many in this group, would be perfectly true. :-)

I STILL can't stand the backlight and screen on the IIIx.

Believe it or not, reading e-books on the IIIx was much more satisfactory than on the @migo or Ipaq. Much quicker to CREATE the books using  Isiloweb.   Drag, drop, click. That's it. None of this "metadata" or "table of  contents" crap for the Palm. Sure, it's a much smaller screen/less resolution/etc., but still. Not to mention that even after a reset   Isilo/etc keeps your current book and place. I'm writing an app to   duplicate some of Isiloweb's functionality right now, using MAKEDOC8.EXE   from Memoware, which will create files in a Mobipocket-compatible format.

I REALLY missed the Notepad app on the PocketPC's...  Memopad is really limited. I use the "rich ink" Notes all the time. 

I also missed playing "Ultima V" and "Moraff's Revenge" on Pocketdos in  the odd moment as well.

Hard to sync Word docs and Excel spreadsheets to Palm. Also hard to whip out a quick app in eVB for the Palm.

It also annoyed me to not be able to just pick up my device at the end of the day and head home. I had to hit the SYNC button on the cradle, wait for a few minutes while it downloaded my AvantGo channels, synced with  Outlook, updated my TV listings and my movie listings... Not convenient.  SO, I guess that's it. I wanted to try it for a full week, but a day is  all   I could take...

I'm sure someone, somewhere, is working on a Palm emulator for the Pocket PC, and the Ipaq/@migo should be PERFECTLY capable of running it just fine.  If  it can run Quake at 15fps, SNES and TG16 at nearly full speed, the Palm  should be quite fast... I would really get a kick out of being able to use all those Palm apps on my Pocket PC. 

But most importantly... I couldn't get my CEbeans on the Palm.  

Discuss Pocket PCs at Pocket PC FAQ Forums.

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