Friday, September 19, 2003

Choices

One of my first experiences with the Compaq iPaq 3765 was the Compaq Dashboard software, which I loaded before really becoming familiar with the default interface. As a result, I loaded a Dashboard theme which I couldn't figure out how to unload, and had to hard-reset the iPaq!

Apart from not finding a decent replacement for DayNotez, I kept finding useful freeware Palm programs, so I used the Clie as much as before.
Then on a trip overseas, I took the Clie (along with an evaluation copy of WorldMate, an excellent program). The only thing I really missed about the iPaq was the color screen.
I also dabbled in some programming. First for the PocketPC - embedded Visual Basic was a disaster (even though I've written a number of Client-Server Apps in Visual Basic for Windows). Palm development tools were much more mature, and there was much more of a choice. There was a a pattern here : limited choices on the PocketPC versus a myriad of choices on the Palm.

Eventually I got tired of carrying both the Clie and the iPaq.
It was one or the other, I had to choose...
I liked the iPaq's color screen, but the battery life sucked. Although this could be remedied, I still could not find a replacement for DayNotez. On top of that, there were (and still are) a lot less third-party apps for the PocketPC, and freeware apps were even more scarce.
On FreewarePalm there at a rough guess there are 4 times more
titles than FreewarePocketPC
After the iPaqs color screen, the Clies mono screen just did not cut it anymore.
So I started looking for handheld number four...

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