Review by Jing Garcia
Palm or PocketPc? It's a question that I've always encountered among many acquaintances, similar to that
age-old question other people would similarly ask: "should I buy a Mac or a PC?"
The battle between the Mac and the PC has been going on for twenty years now, and part of the populace
is still stuck with the dilemma on which one they should buy as their everyday desktop computer. Today,
the same scenario preoccupies the thoughts of would be gadget buyers on what kind of Personal Digital
Assistant should rightfully be placed inside their pockets.
Although the bulky and unsuccessful Apple Newton was the very first electronic FiloFax to be considered as
a full-pledged PDA, it was the Palm Pilot from U.S. Robotics that actually made the PDA a household name
back in the early 90's.
From then on, the Palm brand and its proprietary operating system had the market leadership advantage
only because it was the first to capture a greater share of that market; that still holds true to this very day.
It's a market share that Microsoft's shrewdness in business simply couldn't ignore, thus the development of its
initial entry in ultra portable handheld computing under the name Windows CE a few years before the turn of the
millennium.
Today, PDA's running on the Palm OS is still the number one choice, though Microsoft's very own PDA
operating system now dubbed as PocketPC (the latest incarnation from the CE line) is not far behind either.
Palm's newest version, the OS 5.0, is running under the company's latest and grandest PDA model to date,
the Tungsten, which incidentally comes in three variations. Let me mention too, that Sony's high-end Clie
models like the NX70v and NZ90 are also integrated with the same OS 5.0.
On the other hand, the PocketPC is backed by models provided by big name companies like HP, Casio, Asus,
and Toshiba just to name a few. The sheer numbers of company brands (see table) and OEM's under different
names will let you see the wide acceptance of the PocketPC.
The two platforms basically deliver all the needed functions one should expect from a PDA efficiently, including
many additional features that one can actually do without. An effective Personal Information Manager which
includes contacts, calendar, tasks and to-do list is the centerpiece of the two battling OS.
When the early PocketPC came out, specifically the Compaq (now HP) iPAQ for instance, the poor little device
was deemed expensive and even criticized to contain too much power for a handheld tech toy. Fantastic as it
may be, it was also damned for the fact that it had Windows running in its silicon veins. Yet the entry of the
iPAQ started to change the whole battleground scenario within the PDA arena.
Palm, unmoved at first by Microsoft's pervasive intrusions, took advantage of this peculiar situation by pushing
sleek and inexpensive models induced with a smoothly stable (but rather slow) OS and plenty of third party software
applications that continued to click with the regular PDA users. However, the success of PocketPC, - particularly in the
corporate arena - eventually proved to be a bane for Palm Inc., which took over the business from U.S.Robotics by the
late 90's.
It saw the companies' market share in the PDA pie graph dwindle rapidly in the past couple of years almost to the
point of bankruptcy. Ultimately, it was the Sony Clie's successful venture in the Palm world that helped the Palm OS
maintain a considerable position in the numbers game, and in return greatly affected the struggling hardware and
software company to remain in business.
The PocketPC, on its part, gained a proper momentum and turned out to be what everyone wanted. Except for the
price, of course. Running on a fast 200MHz or 400MHz Strong-ARM processor with large, sharp and crisp LCD
screen plus multimedia functionality, it has become the PDA of choice for many corporations and techie-consumers
alike. The compatibility factor with Microsoft Office applications and the familiar Windows-like GUI made it easier
for the PocketPC to penetrate the enterprise world and the adventurous, average Windows-PC user.
But with the advent of the Tungsten, Palm clearly reestablished itself again as the true PDA to beat in the widely
contested PDA arena. Powered with the latest OS a powerful ARM-processor this time, the Tungsten battles head to
head with everything any PocketPc has to offer, including multimedia, wireless connectivity, and even mobile
telephony in some models and brands such as the Tungsten W and Handspring Treo.
Still the question remain:. which one should it be? Consider this: When you're hanging out in a coffee shop and
most of your friends around you start exchanging notes, games, and applications via infrared on their PDA's and you
can't join the fun for the sole reason that you got an incompatible platform, then definitely you're on the wrong side
of the fence. You may have the best and most expensive PDA in town, but like the saying goes- it's lonely on top.
