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Review
Palm VII Wireless Organizer
By Andy Walker, Cyberwalker
Media Syndicate
When the
Palm Pilot debuted in 1996, the ingenious little pen-driven
handheld computer seemed to be missing one vital feature: an
antenna.
Almost four years later, the Palm VII is the first palm-top
device in the line to include an antenna and it gives the little
computer the connectivity it so desperately needs.
Using the BellSouth Mobitex network, the Palm VII is connected
wirelessly to the Internet and e-mail in 240 urban centers across
the United States. It will debut in Canada using the Rogers
Cantel Mobitex network, according to 3Com officials, before
June of 2000.
Road warriors who want desktop computer-like connectivity in
the palm of their hands will be sorely disappointed, however.
The Palm VII is connected to the Internet, but in a gimpy kind
of way. The Mobitex network, which was developed for hydro and
telephone company dispatchers, dribbles along at a humble 9600
Kbps.
E-mail on the Palm VII arrives in 3K chunks, so forget sending
vast tomes across the Palm.net network unless you want to invest
in one of the third-party software applications that support
unlimited e-mail size.
Another drawback: you get yet another e-mail address, along
the lines of yourname@palm.com, although the third party e-mail
applications for the Palm VII allow connectivity to standard
POP3 or IMAP 4 e-mail servers.
Web content is also a disappointment, if you're expecting full
Web pages. Web technology on the Palm VII comes via downloadable
applets called PQAs, or Palm Query Applications.
A PQA is a little program that can be downloaded onto the Palm
VII for specific information retrieval.
Palm VII promoters like to show off the Starbucks coffee store
locator PQA. In this little applet, you fill you location address,
tap a submit button, and the Palm VII downloads the nearest
address of a Starbucks coffee store location.
If you're not sure where you are, you can ask the applet to
figure it out for you. The Palm VII talks to transmission towers
and each transmission tower has a postal code. The nearest Starbucks
location is calculated based on the tower that the device is
talking to.
There are hundreds of PQAs available for the Palm VII and (note
to Canadians) Web developers are building PQAs for Canadian
users in time for their Palm VII rollout next year.
Despite these shortcomings, the Palm VII is a nifty device.
If you think a computer is no fun without a modem or hardwire
Internet connection, the new connectivity on the Palm VII may
change your mind.
The e-mail is competent, the PQA Web info is useful and, if
you're a sucker for punishment, you can surf the Web wirelessly
on the 9600 Kbps connection through a special PQA, which grabs
text content from any Web page on the Internet.
This all comes at a price. The base unit costs about $499 US.
Wireless Web and e-mail usage is charged by the Kilobits, received
or sent. Pricing plans range from $9.99 US for 50 Kb/month to
300 Kb/month for $24.99 US.
The average Palm VII user consumes about 120 Kb/month, according
to 3Com, and are suited to the immediate plan of 150 Kb/month
for $19.99 US.
The key attraction is that the Palm VII is a one-of-a-kind unit
that helps any on-the-go user stay in touch with the world without
being tethered by wires, at an affordable price. Other competitors
are sure to develop better and faster solutions, but the Palm
VII has grabbed the lead for now because it fulfills the promises
of wireless connectivity in your palm.
Reviewer's Rating: 4 / 5 .
Comment: Does what it says it will do. A first in affordable
palm-top wireless connectivity.
Price: US $199 / Not available in Canada
Where to Buy:
PC Mall
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