Payday 12 December 2000

Pic of the day: "Without me, you are nothing" - the pocket PC.

Pocket PC 2000

This is the first in a projected series of three entries about the pocket PC and the way it will change our society beyond recognition. OK, perhaps not beyond recognition. It is essentially more of the same. The next entry will be sooo gray; but this one is blue, not because I feel blue but because it is my color code for fun and games.

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My pocket PC is a Cassiopeia E-125 from Casio. It runs the Pocket PC operating system from Microsoft. I chose this over the more popular Palm system because MS' operating system includes an e-book reader which is already broadly supported. That way my pocket PC doubles as an e-book, a main selling point for me.

My history with computers go back more than twenty years. The first computer I used, at trade high school, was an Alpha LSI with 64 kilobytes of RAM and a floppy disk. It was a rack of equipment about my own weight, and that did not include the input/output units. My Cassiopeia has 32 megabytes of RAM, or ca 500 times as much. It includes a high resolution color touch screen. (You can buy a keyboard to it, but that sort of negates the whole "pocket" thing. So for now I use a stylus or for quick control just a fingernail.)

The Pocket PC operating system is similar to Windows 95. In fact, its previous version was called Windows CE. It includes pocket versions of Word and Excel, as well as Explorer, Outlook, and Microsoft Media Player. The connection software translates between these formats and the full-size ones, allowing you to synchronize your pocket PC to a full size PC. If you just happen to use Outlook, you can read and answer your e-mail on the road, then send it when you get home. All very easily and painlessly. You can also work with your Word documents, but fair warning: There is no way a pocket PC can show the document realistically. The screen is just too small. So don't plan on using it for the final layout.

Oh, yes. I guess I should explain the whole synchronizing thing. You see, with the Cassiopeia E-125 there is a "cradle" where you can put it at home. It recharges the batteries, but also lets you connect to your PC with a USB connector. (This means you must have a computer with USB port, or the Cassiopeia is severely handicapped.) The computer detects when I connect the Cassiopeia, and starts to synchronize by itself. There is also an extension of the Explorer, that lets you drag files from the Pocket PC to the regular PC, or the other way around.

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I've had this thing since before my trip to the west coast. So, what do I actually use it for? Well, truth to tell, mainly reading. I've downloaded various free e-books from University of Virginia. The supply of commercially available e-books so far is meagre, contrary to my expectations. Then again, this may seem like a long time for me, but e-books are pretty new and may still take off in a big way soon. And anyway, there are still lots of books with expired copyright waiting to join the ranks of the free. :)

So what else, besides reading books on the bus? Well, I use it as a notebook. I jot down ideas and inspirations for my journal. You have noticed how inspired it seems, yes? OK, but anyway, it beats using old cash register receipts to make my notes.

When too far away from my ordinary PC, I have actually written part of my entries on this critter. It recognizes handwriting, but in the long run I have settled on using the on-screen micro keyboard. It's a picture of a QWERTY keyboard on the lower part of the screen, and I touch the corresponding letter with my stylus to write. Literally touch-typing, but not quite the way we usually mean. It's not all that fast, but it beats memorizing several paragraphs of text.

I don't really much need a day planner, living a highly non-executive life. I do occasionally use these features though, to remind me of some task: Getting my train tickets, transferring money on payday (which just happens to be today!) and the times of departure when I'm travelling. Stuff like that.

For the upcoming Christmas trip, I ordered the train tickets over the Internet and got a reservation number back. Then today I went to the railway station, called up the reservation number on my pocket PC for the desk clerk, and paid with my card. Wow, did I feel all important and businesslike! Oh, I'm sooo techy!

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And then there's the music. Yes, the little critter doubles as an MP3 player. The loudspeaker is tinny, as can be expected. But imagine my surprise the first time I plugged a headphone in. The sound quality was quite good! It sure beats the Walkman, to put it mildly. I've upped some of my favorite melodic trance music to the Cassiopeia, to play when I'm out walking. (Of course, there has been quite a hiatus in this lately, since I got that huge deformed bleeding zit in my ear, right where I used to put the ear plug. Ack.)

So, is this little gadget worth the big price tag? No way! You can't really justify it on economic grounds. You may save a few bucks if you can download an e-book instead of buying in your bookstore, but never in a lifetime will you be able to recoup the money spent on it. And while you can't download the text from a small paper notebook, it is very much cheaper. Unless computers is your great love interest, or you are obscenely rich (or can fool your employer into buying you one) the price just ain't right.

That said, I adore the little critter and carry it with me wherever I go. Well, not in the shower. But whenever I go out. And this is just the start. The pocket computer in 2010 will be something else. Processing power to the people! But that's another story.