My good friend Brian Dipert makes what appears to be a compelling set of arguments about the advantages of the Pocket PC platform relative to the Palm OS. Indeed, users who want to do the myriad things Brian describes may prefer a Pocket PC. I believe the majority of PDA users, however, want a device that handles a contact database, a calendar, and a few other productivity and entertainment functions. And that's why Palm-based devices still top the sales charts.

Personally, I still look back as much as forward when it comes to PDAs. I miss my original Palm Pro and the ultimate flexibility of AAA battery power. I always kept a pair of replacement cells in my laptop case, and they were far smaller and lighter than any AC/DC power brick. Still, I've come to love my Palm V, with its thinner design and improved display. And the rechargeable battery works better than I expected; I've gone on two-week trips without a recharge.

You see, power is the key to all the different devices we might carry today. I must carry a cell-phone charger and a power brick for my notebook. Rather than expanding what I might do with a PDA, I'll accept the fact that for me, much of what Brian described will require my notebook. I'd prefer to eliminate the PDA power brick, and even the PDA itself via integration with the cell phone (we'll examine this trend in detail in this space in our May issue).

I'll challenge Brian on a couple of applications he argues make sense on a PDA. First let's consider ebooks. For me, even the best PDA display today comes up way short as a platform for reading a book. Moreover, the ebook application drains batteries in a hurry. I'm warming to ebooks (see "Book cents"), but a PDA is simply no match for an ebook reader, such as the one RCA offers.

Digital music, on the other hand, should be doable on a PDA—or a cell phone for that matter. However, the Pocket PC's design trend isn't a good match for a digital music player. Intel and Microsoft are pushing faster processors to the PDA user. I agree that some applications need more CPU power, but that horsepower should be offered on a scalable basis, both in terms of price and power consumption. Even if I choose to buy a highly powered unit, my battery usage should remain low unless I'm using that power.

My point is that the Pocket PC's RISC CPU, in a battery-powered device, isn't a very efficient digital music player. A DSP is much better—just look at the host of low-cost music players that run on disposable batteries. Now, Brian reports much longer battery life running digital audio on his Pocket PC than most accounts I've heard. I know, however, that a PDA with a tightly integrated DSP could offer far better performance. And guess what? Cell phones rely on DSPs. It's just that Microsoft doesn't have a way to make money on or support a DSP as a programmable resource in a PDA.

Lest I leave you thinking that I've found the perfect PDA, let me assure you that the Pocket PC isn't without warts. For me, it's the best balancing act of cost versus capability at the moment. But Microsoft and its partners have plenty of improvements they could make that'd tempt me to upgrade in the future. Or, Palm and its partners could tempt me to switch teams.

First let's talk about the much-debated LCD. A 16-bit color screen might be gorgeous to look at, but it's also expensive and power-hungry. Why, after all, do you think Compaq is coming out with a black-and-white iPAQ? Now that I have a color PDA, I'd find it difficult to go back to a monochrome unit. But, since I'm not doing much Web-surfing or still/video image viewing, I must admit that the only application I use that really takes advantage of the color display is Pocket Universe, an astronomy program.

As far as color screens go, the Casio's isn't the best. Direct light washes it out; unlike the iPAQ, it's nearly impossible to read in sunlight. Then again, Compaq is said to be coming out with a lower-cost color version of iPAQ using a different screen technology.

Now let's talk about price. At $500, the E-125 isn't exactly cheap; you'll need deep pockets (and a tolerant spouse) to justify one. The similarly featured, but slightly slimmer, Casio EM-500, which interfaces to MultiMediaCards, is about $100 cheaper than the E-125 but can't leverage the diversity of low-cost CompactFlash peripherals. If all you need is basic contacts, to-do list, calendar, and memo functions, and a black-and-white screen is sufficient, a cheaper Palm OS-based device will suit you fine. But buy a few peripherals and you'll end up spending as much or more for your PDA package as a Pocket PC gives you out of the box.

The size of Pocket PC devices is also prodigious. At 9 ounces, 0.75 inches thick, 3.25 inches wide, and 5.125 inches long, the E-125 and its Pocket PC brethren aren't exactly comfortable shirt-pocket devices, though they fit nicely in a coat pocket. Their size and weight do compare favorably against most Palm devices though.

What about battery life? I can continuously listen to digital audio files stored on the MicroDrive, at moderate volumes and with the display backlight extinguished, for around 4 hours on a freshly charged battery. Putting the tunes on a flash card roughly doubles my battery life. If all I'm doing is occasionally accessing contacts and calendar functions, I can stretch battery life to multiple days.

Yeah, this might not match the weeks between battery replacements that users of some slow, monochrome, and therefore low-power Palm units report. You do pay a price for a well-lit color screen, lots of DRAM, and a fast CPU. But I already plug my cell phone in for a recharge each night, and the E-125 represents just one more small AC adapter I need to bring along on trips. Then again, I'm used to taking out my contact lenses every night, too. I do wish, though, that Casio could have found a way to use industry-standard rechargeable AA batteries in the E-125, versus a proprietary battery pack. For that reason, I've continued to use my old Compaq C140 (see the sidebar, "To all the handhelds I've loved before,") for journal writing during long backpacking trips.

I can synchronize my Pocket PC's clock, calendar, contacts, tasks, email inbox, IE Favorites, Notes, AvantGo channels, and any files I choose via both Ethernet (wired and wireless) and USB connections. The USB client built into the E-125 isn't as fast as a full-blown USB host, but it's quicker than the serial port. I can also, via Ethernet, back up the E-125 to the PC. But most times, backup attempts via USB freeze partway through. Newsgroup postings from other users indicate I'm not the only one with this problem. Until Casio and Microsoft figure out what's going on, I'm instead doing local backups to my MicroDrive.

Speaking of Ethernet, I've already mentioned that I can use a TCP/IP connection both to sync with a PC on the LAN and to access the Internet. What I can't do, at least currently, is access the shared drives and folders of other computers on my LAN. Microsoft developed a network client for Windows CE 2.0 that I ran with great success on my C140. But similar capabilities aren't yet available for CE 3.0, the OS in Pocket PC devices.

Since ActiveSync lets each Pocket PC sync with up to two different computers, I'd hoped to be able to set it up to interface not only with my desktop PC but also with my notebook while on the road. The notebook doesn't have a built-in USB interface, so I've got a Belkin Busport Mobile PC-Card-to-USB adapter. Unfortunately, ActiveSync doesn't see the E-125 on the end of the USB cable. Again, newsgroup postings from other frustrated users suggest that Microsoft's got more work to do to make USB support ubiquitous.

If I use a serial connection, I can successfully establish a partnership between the E-125 and the notebook, but then I run into another problem. Before I hit the road, I always move my Outlook database files from the desktop to the notebook, then move them back when I return home. But even if I've completed a successful sync just prior to the desktop-to-notebook move, a subsequent sync with the notebook results in unacceptable redundant and deleted entries.

As for the user interface, with the Pocket PC, Microsoft has shelved the Windows 9x look for a cleaner, more straightforward design. Generally speaking, I'm OK with the transition, although as a power user, I'm reminded of the angst I felt with the transition from Windows 3.1 to 95, which buried many previously accessible configuration tweaks. The strangest part of the Pocket PC GUI is that, with rare exceptions, the programs don't give you an exit option. Microsoft intends for the operating system to handle all memory management, shutting down background programs as needed to conserve resources. Call me stubborn, but I use BSQUARE's bTask program to do the shutdown myself.

Finally, as I hinted in the main article, the handwriting-recognition program, Transcriber, can't seem to figure out my scribbling. Admittedly, as a child my mom told me that my poor handwriting suggested I was destined to be a doctor. And it's only gotten worse as I spend more time on a computer keyboard. I've tried adjusting the accuracy-vs-speed and other settings, but with little success so far. Transcriber works great for my wife, implying that the problem is the user, not the program. That's OK; I can still tap on the pop-up virtual keyboard faster than I could chicken-peck the real keyboard on my old C140.

My history with handheld computing devices goes way back to my freshman year at Purdue, when I bought a Hewlett-Packard 15C scientific calculator as a survival tactic. That marvel of power stinginess, which I continue to use on a near-daily basis, has lasted more than 15 years on a single set of batteries. With it, I conquered two semesters of chemistry, four semesters of physics, five semesters of calculus, and four years of electrical engineering classes. And I continue to use it to survive my bank-account-balancing and tax-completion rituals.

When I chose the glamorous life of a technical editor over my work as an engineer at Intel, I picked up an HP 200LX, an equally amazing piece of technology (not surprisingly, designed by Hewlett Packard's calculator division, which also created the HP 15C). This clamshell-shaped device with a miniscule keyboard was, in essence, a shrunk-down PC-XT, able to run pretty much any DOS application that could squeeze in its CGA-resolution screen. I spent several happy years reading ASCII ebooks on Vertical Reader, emailing with NetTamer, writing articles with DOS versions of WordPerfect and XyWrite, synchronizing calendar and contacts with my PC, and searching the stars with SkyGlobe. Thaddeus Computing even provided a memory boost and a way to overclock the device (speed up its processor).

Alas, advancing technology eventually left me behind. HP moved to Windows CE, and the company decided to end-of-life its DOS handheld line. The file-transfer software I'd been using wouldn't run under Windows 95. My personal information manager needed upgrading or replacement, yet Puma Technologies was dropping the HP LX line from its list of PDAs supported by Intellisync. It was time for a hardware upgrade.

Let's see: my employer dictates that I run a Microsoft operating system (Windows 9x), a Microsoft personal information manager (Outlook), and a Microsoft application suite (Office). At the time, Palm's synchronization capability wasn't stellar, and I needed something more robust than a simple electronic organizer. So, via a for-sale post on an Internet newsgroup, I picked up a used 4-Mbyte Compaq C140 Handheld PC running Windows CE 1.0, which I quickly upgraded to CE 2.0. I also bought my wife a 2-Mbyte Compaq C120 off eBay.

In many respects, the Handheld PC was a notable step up from the HP200LX, with a bigger, clearer screen, faster CPU and pen-activated GUI interface. But in other aspects, it was a step backwards, specifically in the breadth of available applications. Plus, as time went on and my archived contacts broke the four-digit barrier (with appointments and to-do items not far behind), navigating through the database decelerated to glacial speeds. That's what prompted my upgrade to the Casio device I'm using now.