From: Mike Detlefsen (mdetlefsen_at_mac.com)
Date: Sat Oct 02 2004 - 22:34:57 PDT
On Saturday, October 2, 2004, at 11:29 PM, Tony Kan wrote:
> I for one would be interested in reading an even-handed review from
> those
> Newtoneers with more than one type of PDA.
OK. I don't know about even-handed, but here goes:
>
> I hear that Palm has shifted to Graffiti v2.0. Is that much of an
> improvement over v1.0?
Yes. Graffiti 2 is orders of magnitude better at letter recognition
than version 1 was. You don't have to learn any shorthand stuff, just
write the letters as you normally would. Of course, it's still
letter-by-letter recognition, not word recognition, as the Newton has.
With a third-party extension, you can even write anywhere on the screen
while it draws the letter under the stylus. The Newt wins here, still.
>
> On the Tungsten T3, everyone I know seems to be purchasing Treo
> 600-type
> devices rather than no-phone PDAs. Did you look into that?
I got a Palm Tungsten E. Price, color screen, and connectivity were the
criteria. I have a phone and a camera that I like very much. Plus, I
don't care much for these multiple function things.
Even though I use a Newt 2000U for a number of things, I got the Palm
because of it's small size, gorgeous color screen, and easy sync with
desktop and database programs. The database programs on the Palm are
much nicer than the ones on the Newt. Oddly enough, it's much easier to
read ebooks on the Palm, even though the screen is much smaller. It's
high-contrast black letters on white background, which makes all the
difference in the world.
The battery life on the Palm is ludicrously short. With a new battery
pack, I can go almost two weeks on a charge with the Newt. I'm lucky to
get two days on the Palm (color screen, backlight always on). They are
about the same speed processor, according to my memory. You can't
change the battery on the Palm without taking it apart, which voids the
warranty. I'm not thrilled about this.
I also use the Newt as an alarm clock, it's easier to set than anything
else I've found. It has a nice, healthy volume that will wake me even
if I'm wearing ear plugs. The Palm has this little anemic speaker
that's doing good to make a little squeak.
I gotta admit, the Palm has an advantage in software availability, as
you'd expect since the Newton has been out of production for so many
years (what is it now, 7 years?). I just got the 2005 Leonard Maltin
Movie guide as a Palm app, and it's much nicer than having to use a
1700 page book with teeny print. Fully cross-indexed, too. I love it!
This app ain't ever going to make it to the Newt.
The Newt wins on email and internet browsing. It's pretty easy to so
this on the Newt, whereas I'm not even sure how this can be done with
the Tungsten E as shipped (athough I think Mark Space makes something
that allows you to do this). It's highly unlikely the TE will ever get
Airport or Ethernet. Bluetooth is rumored to be coming, but I'll
believe it when I see it. The Newt wins here also.
The Newt is fun to use. The Palm is sort of indifferent. It's not bad,
but it's not fun. I had a Palm m125 for several years before I got my
TE. I disliked it intensely. Poor screen, poor contrast, poor stylus
sensitivity towards the edges of the screen, remove the batteries and
you've got 30 seconds to put new ones in before it loses all of it's
info. Plus, I lost count of the number of times I knocked it against
something and the batteries popped out. Bah.
It pains me that I can't use the Newt for everything. Unfortunately,
one has to go where the apps are. I own an MP120, MP2000U, and an
MP2100. I recently gave my other MP2000 to my brother, who loves it and
has become addicted.
Mike
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