VisorCentral.com - Palm Compatibilities (or Incompatibilities)

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VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Visor & Deluxe (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)
-- Palm Compatibilities (or Incompatibilities) (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=7643)

Posted by Arker on 08-25-2000 01:43 AM:

I gotta tell you, buying my IVDx was one of the best purchases I've made in a long time. Every day I find one or two more things to use it for. Some are things that maybe a PDA isn't nessecary for but they ALL are made more fun or convienient by this little machine. The productivity apps available like Datebk4 are priceless. I've tried many different paper organizers in the past and have had exactly the same number of them collecting dust on a shelf after being filled with scribbles and liquid paper. Not very functional at all. From now on I will never be without some type of PDA.

My biggest gripe about this thing is (and I'm sure this has been beaten to death) the lack of decent compatibility with desktop applications. I don't know if this is a limitation of the Palm OS or what because I'm not a programmer. I'm sure the fact that I'm a PDA newbie doesn't help either. Sure there are conveluded solutions like a viewer with a conduit but no editing capabilities or vice versa. Or there are converters for the desktop to convert from Word format to Palm format and back again for example (although once converted I don't know how to transfer the file from one device to the other and back again after editing).

Is this a disadvantage of the PalmOS? I never researched this aspect of the devices available on the market but I cant imagine WinCE not naturally synching with the office Suite. I guess I just mistakenly assumed these functions would be a given. Did I choose the wrong OS? I chose this one over others based on price, speed, power consumption, and the availability of "thousands" of third party applications for it. Had I known about the lack of desktop compatibility I may have reconsidered.

Why did YOU guys choose the PalmOS over others? We've discussed the reasons why we've chosen Visors over Palms, but I haven't seen any debates about handheld OSes yet.

I don't want to leave the impression that I feel negatively about my purchase. I love this thing and eventually I'm sure I'll find good or at least bearable workarounds for the compatibility issues stated above as many of you have. The lack of complete solutions just caught me by suprise.

Cheers,
Arker.

Posted by yucca on 08-25-2000 08:11 AM:

Hmmm. Where to start . . . There have been many lengthy discussions re: OS superiority here at VC, but they take place in Off Topic. Search there on any variation of PocketPC, PPC, etc., and you should find what you are looking for.

Re: your more specific complaints - - Palm OS devices do a fine job of syncing with dekstop PIM applications (e.g. Outlook). They do so because the Palm OS was designed for exactly this purpose, and desktop connectivity for this particular function is critical for the device to meet its objective. Not only is the Visor's Outlook sync software more than good enough, but there are third party solutions for those that need more.

While many of us use our Visors with the other members of the Microsoft Office suite, supporting these functions on the Visor (or any Palm OS device) was never a design goal. The OS lacks the native display capabilities to do real word processing (not that someone won't find a way to do it); and, in part, this is why two-way syncing with Word is so poor. OTOH, there are several fine spreadsheet apps for the Visor, and they sync well with Excel.

Jeff Hawkins thinks the Palm OS is superior because it is not a pocket-sized desktop PC; and, for many reasons, his judgement seems to be right for the majority of users, at least for now. One clear difference between a Palm OS device and any PPC device is that the PPC attempts to be Windows in your pocket. That it costs twice as much to come close to achieving this feat is at least a part of the reason why the PPC has not been more successful.

[Edited by yucca on 08-25-2000 at 03:16 AM]

Posted by nurcombe on 08-25-2000 08:18 AM:

quote:
Originally posted by Arker
My biggest gripe about this thing is (and I'm sure this has been beaten to death) the lack of decent compatibility with desktop applications. I don't know if this is a limitation of the Palm OS or what because I'm not a programmer.

Most applications with a desktop equivalent integrate exceedingly well with the desktop. For example, the main applications I use are:
Quicksheet, which has both a desk top application and an in built synchronisation feature with MS Excel
Project@hand, a desktop program provides full integration with MS Project 98 & 2000
MultiMail Pro, use a conduit to pick up e-mail from my Outlook 2000 profile. Although admittedly I cannot get it to carry across the attachments as it says it should, but I also have 'attachments to go' which take the attachments from the native Palm mail app, and transfers these across.

quote:
Originally posted by Arker
Sure there are conveluded solutions like a viewer with a conduit but no editing capabilities or vice versa. Or there are converters for the desktop to convert from Word format to Palm format and back again for example

Here you've got me. This is my biggest gripe with the available text editors, none of them allowing character by character formatting. Also there is definitely no way you can edit word format documents, keep any of formatting, and transfer it to the desktop, without getting into the hassle of starting and finishing a word with '_' or '*', to italicise or bold the word respectively, using the auto format function of MS Word, or inserting HTML tags and, again, performing a manual conversion at the desktop.

quote:
Originally posted by Arker
Is this a disadvantage of the PalmOS?

Absolutely, definitely not. It is a tied-in function of the OS, allowing very tight integration with desktop products.

quote:
Originally posted by Arker
I don't want to leave the impression that I feel negatively about my purchase. I love this thing and eventually I'm sure I'll find good or at least bearable workarounds for the compatibility issues stated above as many of you have. The lack of complete solutions just caught me by surprise.

I too love my Visor, and cannot imagine life without it. And for the price, memory, battery life & functionality I am still convinced it is the best PDA on the market.

__________________
Regards,
Jim Nurcombe
[email protected]

Posted by Arker on 08-25-2000 01:14 PM:

Yes, I too use QuickSheet. I suppose it wasn't fair of me to not mention how well it works in my post up there. Although I do use this little app, it's really not practical for the handheld in most cases for me. Obviously one of it's major limitations are the size of the screen. Unfortunately to be of much use you generally need more than two columns of your spreadsheet at once. For very small, simple sheets though this product is a gem.

So what you're saying yucca is that the Palm OS doesn't meld with some desktop apps because it wasn't meant to. I suppose that makes sense. The PDA world is relatively young and maybe as the need for such integration and the capacity of the hardware continue to increase we will start to see these kinds of solutions emerge. I hope so. Likely tomorrow someone will release some bit of software seamlessly synching with MS Word but it will only work on PalmOS 3.5.... Sorry Visor users!

Ark.

Posted by yucca on 08-25-2000 07:47 PM:

quote:
The PDA world is relatively young and maybe as the need for such integration and the capacity of the hardware continue to increase we will start to see these kinds of solutions emerge. I hope so.

We are already seeing this with the PPC; and, considering form factors better suited to the Windows environment, the HPCs from the likes of Compaq ( http://www6.compaq.com/products/Thinclients/8000/ ) and HP ( http://www.hp.com/jornada/products/820/overview.html ).

Until the limited screen size issue can be addressed (Bluetooth HUDs anyone?), it is hard to see any device with the Visor's form factor truely working as a adjunct to Word or even Excel. This is what makes the HPCs interesting. You get the instant-on and sync capabilities of a Visor/PPC, with a screen that is big enough to just barely allow you to do the things you'd do on your desktop. The problem with HPCs is their cost ($800+), size, and weight. Folks take a look, and decide that they may as well get a "real" laptop . . . Yes. There are smaller HPCs (e.g. the HP Journada 680/690 - http://www.hp.com/jornada/products/680/prod_spec.html ), but you start to get back to those darn screen size limitations again!

I think that HPCs, with one or more USB ports, would do better if they were done as tablets; and I think that a Japanese company is actually trying this, but I can't find a reference just now. With the existing technology, you could probably do it in grayscale, and get the weight down to about a pound - twice that is you insisted on color; and, more importantly, get the price down to the $400 - $600 range (for grayscale). Oh, one more thing. You'd have to convince Microsoft to refresh the HPC OS a la the PPC as the HPCs are still saddled with WinCE v2 woes.

Posted by Arker on 08-25-2000 10:44 PM:

As far as Word compatibility, or and desktop word processor for that matter, I don't think screen size is an issue. The PDA can double as a great word processor even with the small screen and greyscale etc. The problem is more with formatting like bold and underlines etc as well as format conversions. I write lots of full documents and memos on my Visor that I intend to email or print or fax. The problem is first off getting onto the PC then opening it up in Word and formatting it properly.

I now have the "getting it on the PC" problem partially solved with Documents to Go. Unfortunately it cannot edit the docs so I need SmartDoc as well. Another problem is that I can't synch Documents to Go with more than one machine. Currently if I need the doc on my laptop I have to synch with my desktop then email it as an attachment to my laptop. Then open it up and format it with letterhead etc. It takes several apps to perform each step to creating a presentable document.

Anyone know a workaround for the inability to use Documents to Go on more than one PC?

Ark.

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