When I'm away from the office, I carry along my Personal Analog Assistant (PAA), a notebook and ballpoint pen.
But now that I've worked some with the HP iPAQ h5100 Pocket PC, that may change. Just look at the comparison.
My PAA has about 100 paper pages in each notebook. It offers the ability to write things down. More than that, it's shaped so that it goes into my back pocket. And...
Well, that's all there is. But the Pocket PC offers just a few more capabilities than that. It has an Intel Xscale processor running at 400 MHz, 64 MB of RAM and 32 MB of ROM (other models offer more memory) and a 3.8-in. TFT LCD display. It has lots of software: office applications, like Pocket Word and Excel, calendar, email, contacts, and more. So I can use Pocket Word, for example, to jot down notes for future perusal. Or I could use that application to take down notes of a meeting that I have. I do it now with my PAA. But with the Pocket PC and Pocket Word, I can take the notes, then just sync them with my PC once I get back to the office, and presto, there are the notes I need to write a story based on the interview. And I don't need to learn a script to take the notes, as I would with competing Palm devices: There's a helpful keyboard that appears in the display when note taking is appropriate. I bet I could get to be as fast with that virtual keyboard as I could with the script.
While I'm at it, I can sync the calendar, so the next time I'm away from the office I will know what my schedule is. Organization experts (those nags who tell you how to get organized) say you should have only one schedule. With the Pocket PC, that's simple, because you can enter appointments either on the tiny guy or the desktop and then sync the two.
And did I mention that the h5100 is Bluetooth-enabled? No? Well, it is, and that it gives instant connectivity (along with a Bluetooth-enabled phone) to the Internet or to any specialized info service that might be set up with the other Bluetooth device. The next version up, the h5550, offers 802.11b capability along with Bluetooth.
Oh, there is one other comparison. My PAA costs about $20 for ten books. The iPAQ Pocket PC h5100 goes for a little bit more: $549 at two online retailers.
