Pocket PC Gets a Face-Lift

Microsoft doesn't try to fix what isn't broken in the first upgrade.

Yardena Arar, PCWorld.com

Microsoft today announced the first revision of its Pocket PC operating system for personal digital assistants, which has been steadily gaining ground on market-leading rival Palm since its April 2000 launch.

By Microsoft's own admission, the upgrade--dubbed Pocket PC 2002--is more evolutionary than revolutionary. It includes a slew of tweaks intended to address user complaints, increase the usefulness of PDAs for mobile communications, and make them more attractive to corporate buyers.

The improved software ships this fall on new models from Casio, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, and Symbol Technologies.

On the user front, Pocket PC 2002 adds two new text input options to the old software keyboard and letter recognizer: Block Recognizer accepts Palm-style Graffiti, and Transcriber recognizes cursive script (but doesn't get everything right and is difficult to correct). The opening Today screen--an at-a-glance view of your appointments, to-dos, and in-box--can be personalized by applying skins or even a favorite photo.

Improved Outlook

Business users with lots of contacts will appreciate the ability to view them in Pocket Outlook sorted by company as well as last name, something you can't do with a Palm address book. New on-screen buttons in the calendar make switching views--from daily to weekly, monthly, annually, or by text entries--quick and easy.

Some of Pocket PC 2002's best features relate to e-mail. Setting up POP3 or IMAP4 accounts is easier than ever, and the device will automatically retrieve messages from several accounts when cradled on a PC connected to the Internet.

Similarly, Pocket PC 2002 supports pass-through Web browsing and instant messaging via MSN Messenger. (The Internet features are available, as before, over a direct connection via a wireless or wired network adapter.) Pocket Internet Explorer can now recognize either HTML or WAP content.

If you use Outlook 2002 (a free copy comes with the Pocket PC 2002 desktop software), you can mirror your desktop folders on your PDA, which is useful if you get and sort lots of e-mail. Pocket Outlook also has a spelling checker, as does Pocket Word.

Windows Media Player for Pocket PC now supports streaming audio and video, and you can customize it with skins. If you want to play tunes while doing other Pocket PC tasks, you can unmap the device's hardware buttons so they revert to their non-Media Player functions.

A newly streamlined Microsoft Reader supports several levels of copy protection, up to and including Microsoft's Digital Rights Management 5 protocol, increasingly used in commercial e-books you can download from Amazon.com and other online booksellers.

Enterprise Friendly

Corporate IT types will appreciate innovations such as support for strong passwords and virtual private networks, as well as a built-in Windows Terminal Services client for remote access to a Windows 2000 server.

But these features aren't accessible via the cradle--you'll need direct network access via an add-on module. Pocket PC 2002 devices store the OS in Flash ROM, so you can upgrade as required; among current Pocket PCs, only the Compaq IPaq has the OS in flash (and therefore can be upgraded to Pocket PC 2002).

HP's Jornada 565, also announced Thursday, packages the new OS in the sleekest, lightest (6.1 ounces) Pocket PC to date, with 32MB of RAM and 32MB of ROM (in which the OS and several HP applications reside). The brilliant, 16-bit color TFT screen is on a par with the best we've seen.

But you pay for these goodies: $599 for the Jornada 565, or $649 for the Jornada 648 with 64MB of RAM.

Which PDA to Buy?

Analyst Stacey Wu of Mobile Insights says a Pocket PC 2002 such as the Jornada 565 will be particularly useful--and better than the Palm competition--for the truly mobile professional who can afford to pay $600 and up (especially if wireless network access is involved) to stay well-connected on a device with a magnificent display.

If you've invested in a Pocket PC in the last year or so, don't worry: Pocket PC 2002 shouldn't prompt major upgrade envy.

If money is no object but connectivity isn't that important either, Wu suggests considering one of the new Sony Clies, which offer the best color display available on a Palm, as well as good MP3 playback and photo display apps. But if all you want in a PDA is quick access to your contacts and calendar, and the ability to scrawl a couple of notes, save yourself a couple of hundred bucks and stick with an entry-level Palm or Handspring.