Hi to all,
Sorry that I'm always behind reading through NewtonTalk, I have been the
thread "Switching to Palm" with interest. I think than any one who would
objectively examine the matter of question will have to conclude that there
are no grounds for a fair comparison between the Newton and the Palm. The
Newton was meant to be a stand alone fully functional computer, Palm never
made that claim nor attempted to implement it. Any one whose only concern is
to have a cool digital organizer should get a Palm, the Newton is an over
kill for that function alone.
However, the only platform that can compare to a Newton are the Psion (which
many tend to forget that they exist) and the WinCE devices. These platforms
claims to be a stand alone computers, hence the comparison to the Newton is
fair.
On that front I would say that the main deciding factor here is the
preference for data input technique. My brother shares Steve's philosophy
"computers have keyboards" and he loves to use the keyboard as the fastest
data entry technique. He skipped the Newton and went for a Psion. He admits
that the hardware quality leaves lots to be desired and the case paint keeps
chipping off, but he is very happy with its computing abilities. The WinCE
has the same capabilities but I would recommend the Psion unless you must
have a color screen.
One more thing, I would not at all consider the palm sized WinCE devices. I
tried a Casio 100, it is quite a challenge to perform productive work on
such a small screen, in fact impossible in my book.
If you want hand writing then the Newton is the hands down winner, but if
you are a keyboard guy then go for a WinCE or a Psion.
Also, some one (forgive me for not recalling the name) wrote:
"I disagree with the WinCE hardware appraisal...the Casio E-105 has a 113
MHz
processor on it (seemed fast when I demoed it), and I think a 133 MHz model
is available from another manufacturer. It's taken a while, but the
Palm-Sized PC hardware is getting close to Messagepad capability. When they
break the 150 MHz mark, I'll have to consider switching. GUI problems aside,
a WinCE device is much closer in function to a Newton than a Palm OS device
is. The one thing that that platform seems to be lacking is the Newton OS's
tightly integrated handwriting recognition. And with the color screens and
MP3, WinCE has actually shot past the Newton OS in several ways."
I beg to disagree with the above, I tried the WinCE Casio at a relail shop,
it looked fine (if you ignore the Jot thing and the small screen), I
seriously considered buying, but then I tried another Casio of a friend of
mine. That later one had tons of apps on it, this must have affected teh
system heap as the machine was almost unworkable. The thing crashed twice in
an hour and the screen redraws were to slow often showing residuals and
overlaps of other windows and applications. I would say that the WinCE is
still far behind.
I will only switch to a PDA with better hand writing abilities, descent
screen size, 2 PC card slots ( I'm not going to be taking out my memory card
to put in a modem card, it is catch 22 if you see what I mean), and a at
least a 200 Mhz processsor.
AND WOULD SOME ONE PLEASE COME UP WITH THE LOUSY MP3 PLAYER (not that it is
needed) THAT WE MAY TAKE AWAY THE ONLY ADVANTAGE THE WINCE CROWD ENJOY.
Khaled Tewfik,
Saudi Arabia
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