Pocket pals: thanks to personal digital assistants, you can take it all with you - Buyers Guide

Entrepreneur, Jan, 1996 by Jill Amadio

Don't have time to get organized? Time management theories sound wonderful, but they don't always work for mobile small-business owners who barely have time to grab their files before dashing out the door to handle sales calls and appointments. Being on the go usually means leaving your office-with all its neatly arranged files and electronic equipment-behind.

Or does it?

While laptops, cellular phones and other portables are slimmer than ever, they still weigh more than you might want to carry. Even that snazzy leather-bound daily organizer seems to get heavier and heavier as the day goes on. All you really need on the road are your files, a schedule planner, a notepad, a calculator, your address book, a reminder list, a travel itinerary . . . still sounds like a lot of stuff, doesn't it? Not if you can pack it all into a single electronic device.

Small electronic handheld organizers, also known as personal information managers (PIMs), have been around for years. But manufacturers recently went one step further and created personal digital asssistants (PDAs), which have greater capabilities than PIMs. Texas Instruments, for example, now offers a sophisticated new product called the PS-6800. Its optional docking-station add-on kit allows you to hook this organizer up to your computer so you can download data. While Texas Instruments refers to the PS-6800 as a personal organizer, this new feature takes it into PDA territory.

Several PDAs are powerful minicomputers that not only perform all your organizing duties but also have fax and e-mail capabilities and allow you to network with your computer. Some PDAs have slots for PCMCIA cards for extra memory or file backup.

The newest PDAs are pen-based devices with a message-pad screen. They allow you to create notes and drawings on screen, then they read your scribbles and translate them into neatly typed text. An add-on keyboard is generally an option with pen-based PDAs. Some PDAs can also be used as pagers.

Shopping List

When shopping for a PDA, Kevin Cheek, hardware product manager for Apple Computer in Cupertino, California, recommends asking yourself the following questions:

* How many functions must your PDA fulfill? If you use only a Rolodex and an appointment calendar while on the road, you won't need a highly sophisticated, costly device with e-mail capabilities. On the other hand, if you usually need a substantial amount of data, look for a PDA with lots of memory.

* How careful are you with your equipment? Should your PDA come equipped with a protective lid?

* How lightweight must your PDA be?

* Does your PDA need to communicate with your desktop computer?

* How well and how fast does your PDA need to recognize handwriting?

* Do you need wireless communication capability?

* Do you need a "password" function for confidentiality?

Bear in mind, as with any electronic equipment, manufacturer's list prices and street prices are often very different. For instance, Sharp's OZ-6500 has a manufacturer's list price of $499, but one computer superstore sells it for $269.

Latest Models

To get you started on your research, here's a rundown of the most popular PDAs on the market:

* Apple: The MessagePad 120 with a Newton 2.0 operating system is an organizer, minicomputer, and electronic notepad you write on with a special telescoping pen. This latest version has more features than its predecessor, including a date book, more storage, a fax-send feature, fax-receive onto the message-pad screen so you can read it, e-mail exchange through the Internet, and a vastly improved handwriting recognition function.

The $699 MessagePad 120 includes a telephone log, calendar and calculator, plus daily, weekly and monthly planners. Its Rolodex is presented in business-card format. It also includes Pocket Quicken software, which puts information about your cash, checking, savings and credit-card accounts at your fingertips.

You can hook the MessagePad 120 up to most bubble-jet and laser printers via an optional accessory, back up data onto your office desktop for safekeeping, and send messages to someone's pager. An optional add-on notebook-sized keyboard costs $89.

* Casio: While most people associate Casio with low-end pocket calculators and organizers, Casio's Z-7000 is a $599 pen-based PDA that is able to translate handwriting into text. The Z-7000 also organizes your date book, to-do lists, addresses and notes. It calculates; communicates with American Online (with the help of your modem); and has a dictionary, spelling checker, clock and reference sources. This PDA will also manage your expense reports and balance and summarize your bank accounts.

One of the Z-7000's strengths is its variety of accessories, such as the Z-125 PalmConnect, at $129, which links to your PC for data entry, transfer and backup.

* Motorola: This company is a relative newcomer to the PDA market, but its products, the Marco and Envoy, are becoming extremely popular. Both models have infrared receivers and rotating antennas for wireless communication. You can also send, receive and fax information through Motorola's integrated wireless modems. However, you must subscribe to RadioMail and ARDIS, the wireless data services through which the Marco and Envoy PDAs communicate.