PDA accessories come of age

PDA accessories come of age<@VM>PDA accessories can page, photograph, even help if you're lost

• Jun 06, 2001

Powerful new devices can turn your note taker into a serious computer

BY DAVID ESSEX | SPECIAL TO GCN

Personal digital assistants, those pocket-size computers exemplified by the ubiquitous Palm, long ago stopped being merely glorified contact managers.

Armed with several megabytes of RAM, powerful processors and often color screens, PDAs now perform tasks that once required a notebook or desktop PC.

Handspring Inc.'s VisorPhone brings digital cellular communications to its PDA. It's priced at $299.

Few things do more to bolster a basic PDA than a well-chosen accessory, such as a communications link or alternative input device that makes the little machine reach into more places or perform more useful and specialized tasks.

Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas, for example, will soon add wireless LAN cards to Palm devices from Palm Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. This will let maintenance crews check parts availability by accessing a database remotely from an aircraft, rather than walking to a distant PC 'or talking on the squawk box,' said John Inkley, Palm's manager of federal sales in Vienna, Va.

Elsewhere, staff members of the Bureau of Land Management have since 1998 taken Palms on-site to federal lands to enter environmental observations and perform calculations measuring the land's ability to sustain wildlife. Previously, observations written on paper had to be manually entered into computers, a time-consuming task that risked data loss. Now BLM is augmenting the devices with Global Positioning System receivers that automatically add location data, Inkley said. In another example, a California state agency uses Palms outfitted with Kodak PalmPix digital cameras to document fire code violations.

Though stylus-based PDAs and their QWERTY-keyboard cousins, usually called handhelds, have a long and storied history, there are today three major PDA platforms that define compatibility for accessories and application software. They are the popular Palm platform; devices running Microsoft PocketPC and its similar predecessor, Windows CE; and the up-and-coming Handspring Visor from Handspring Inc.


Ways to accessorize

Hundreds of companies make accessories; most are small companies, and none dominate the market. Accessories range from such things as styluses and cases to storage-boosting memory cards and miniature hard drives, and connectors that simplify PC linkups.

The Lowdown

' What is it? PDA accessories are many things, but they all add functionality to your palm-size or handheld device. ' What are the compatibility concerns? They are more than just what operating system it runs on. You need to be sure that the hardware fits together. Check to see if an accessory is listed as being for your device. ' What about wireless connectivity? When buying a wireless WAN device, be mindful of the price, feature limitations and coverage area of the network service. They vary widely. ' Will an accessory affect a PDA's performance? An accessory's power source might affect the battery life of your PDA. Many devices are significant power drains; some can only be recharged with separate AC adapters. ' Must-know info? Think long and hard about real needs, and avoid gadget-itis. Checking e-mail, for example, is cheaper and nearly as convenient when done nightly from a sub-$100 land-line modem than hourly from a $500 wireless device with monthly network fees, weak signals and spotty coverage.

But the real advantages of PDA accessories for agencies have been in the realm of communications, especially wireless. Dozens of companies make devices that let PDAs communicate over two-way paging and cellular phone networks, as well as on more specialized networks and the Cellular Digital Packet Data system. Some integrate tightly with and attach directly to the PDA itself, while other, often cheaper, devices connect via a cable tied to a small memory card in the PDA.

The most important buying consideration, besides a device's purpose, is hardware compatibility. The operating systems a device can run on is only part of the puzzle'it says nothing about whether the physical connections fit together.

'I know people who have bought the accessories for a certain PDA'say, the Handspring Visor'and thought they would work because they run under the Palm OS, but they didn't,' said Ken Smiley, senior industry analyst at Giga Information Group Inc. in Cambridge, Mass.

The surest way to determine compatibility, Smiley and others said, is to check that your exact PDA model, or at least the model series, is listed for the accessory.

Another common 'gotcha,' Smiley said, is thinking that PC Cards for notebooks and desktop computers will work in a PDA's PC Card slot. Low power-consuming devices such as 56-Kbps modems will, but power-hogging wireless and other devices likely will not.

Other accessory connectors include cables that attach to the PDA's serial port, the somewhat bulky sleds that run the length and width of some Palm and PocketPC models'some provide the power for the otherwise incompatible PC Cards'and infrared ports.

Only the infrared ports are compatible across platforms, but you can sometimes buy attachments that function as adapters. But even if the shoe fits, you can't wear it without the right driver software to ensure OS compatibility.

Standards proceed

Two communication standards are changing the way PDAs and accessories communicate with each other and with the rest of the world. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11b standard for wireless LANs is catching on in hospitals and other organizations with intensive data-entry and display needs that can be confined to a small area.

And the short-distance wireless networking standard, Bluetooth, promises to make cables obsolete while serving as a LAN alternative, but products are only now trickling out.

PDAs aren't yet the Everyman computer that their proponents sometimes claim. With little time to test an HP Jornada 520 from Hewlett-Packard Co. with a Targus Inc. Stowaway Keyboard and Novatel Wireless Inc. Minstrel wireless modem, I struggled for hours just to get the Jornada synched up with a PC so I could load the special software. A consumer electronics device shouldn't need this much tech support.

PDAs are personal, digital and of some assistance, but they aren't always PDQ. Information technology departments should be prepared to devote significant time to setting them up, but the productivity gains to users could make the effort worthwhile.

David Essex is a free-lance technology writer based in Antrim, N.H.

Company	Product	Type	PDAs supported	Connector	Requires own battery/ recharger*	Price
Clarinet Systems Inc. Milpitas, Calif. 408-468-0400 www.clarinetsys.com	EthIR LAN	Infrared Ethernet LAN connection	IBM Workpad, Palm with Palm OS 3.3 and later, Palm VII with OS 3.2, PocketPC devices, Win CE and Psion EPOC handhelds, others	Built-in infrared port	No (wall plug)	$249 up
Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, N.Y. 800-235-6325 www.kodak.com	Palmpix	Digital camera	IBM Workpad; Palm m100, m105, m500, m505, III series, V, Vx, VII; TRGpro	Palm docking connector	Yes; nonrechargeable AAA batteries; rechargeable optional	$99
Enfora Inc. Plano, Texas 972-633-4400 www.enfora.com	PocketSpider CF+ CDPD Modem	Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) wireless data modem	Palm, PocketPC, Win CE 3.0 devices with Type I or II slot	Type I, II Compact-Flash	Yes	$349
Glenayre Electronics Inc. Charlotte, N.C. 704-553-0038 www.glenayre.com	Activelink Wireless Messaging Module	Two-way messaging on ReFLEX paging network	All Handspring Visor models	Visor Springboard	Yes, nonrechargeable AAA batteries	$179
Handspring Inc. Mountain View, Calif. 650-230-5000 www.handspring.com	VisorPhone	Global System for Mobile Communications digital cellular phone	Handspring Visor	Visor Springboard	Yes	$299
iBIZ Technology Corp. Phoenix 623-492-9200 www.ibizcorp.com	KeySync Keyboard	Full-size, nonfolding keyboard	Palm, Pocket PC, Win CE	Standard cradle or serial cradle cable	Yes, nonrechargeable AAA batteries	$69
Ideo Product Design Palo Alto, Calif. 650-289-3400 www.ideo.com	Eyemodule	Digital camera	All Handspring Visor models	Visor Springboard	No	$129
	Eyemodule2 (VGA)	Digital camera	All Handspring Visor models	Visor Springboard	No	$199
Magellan Corp. Santa Clara, Calif. 408-615-5100 www.magellangps.com	GPS Companion	Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver	All Handspring Visor models, Palm V series	Palm docking connector or Visor Springboard	Yes, nonrechargeable AAA batteries	$149
Novatel Wireless Inc. San Diego 888-888-9231 www.novatelwireless.com	Minstrel III	CDPD wireless data modem	Palm III, IIIe, IIIx	Palm docking connector	Yes	$369
	Minstrel S	CDPD wireless data modem	Handspring Visor	Visor Springboard	Yes	$369
	Minstrel V	CDPD wireless data modem	Palm V, Vx	Palm docking connector	Yes	$369
	Minstrel 540	CDPD wireless data modem	HP Jornada 540	Jornada docking connector	Yes	$369
Rand McNally & Co. Skokie, Ill. 800-333-0136 www.randmcnally.com	StreetFinder GPS for the Palm III	GPS receiver	Palm III, IIIe, IIIx, IIIxe	Palm docking connector	Yes, nonrechargeable AAA batteries	$59
	StreetFinder GPS for Palm IIIc & VII Handhelds	GPS receiver	Palm IIIc & VII	Palm docking connector	No; nonrechargeable battery and AC adapter included	$199
Sierra Wireless Inc. Richmond, British Columbia 604-231-1100 www.sierrawireless.com	Air Card 300 for Handhelds	CDPD wireless data modem	PocketPC, Win CE 2.11 and 3.0 handhelds	Type II PC Card	No	$399
	Air Card 400 Ricochet Modem	Two-way data communication over Wireless Web-Connect Ricochet service	PocketPC	Type II PC Card	No	$399
Socket Communication Inc. Newark, Calif. 510-744-2700 www.socket.com	Ethernet PocketPak	RJ-45 Ethernet LAN connection	PocketPCs	Type I Compact-Flash	No	$129
Targus Inc. Anaheim, Calif. 877-482-7487 www.targus.com	Stowaway Keyboard	Full-size collapsible keyboard	Compaq iPAQ 3600 series, Handspring Visor, HP Jornada 540 series	PDA docking port	No; special adapter allows PDA to recharge	$99
	Total Recall Digital Voice Recorder	Digital Voice Recorder	All Handspring Visor models	Visor Springboard	No; nonrechargeable AAA batteries allow optional standalone operation	$99
TeleType Co. Inc. Boston 888-835-3897 www.teletype.com	WorldNavigator	GPS receiver	Win CE 2.0 and higher, PocketPC	Type II PC Card via PDA jacket attachment	No	$499
TravRoute Princeton, N.J. 888-872-8768 www.travroute.com	Pocket CoPilot	GPS receiver	Casio Cassiopeia E-105, E-115, E-125; Compaq Aero 1500, 2100, iPAQ 3100 and 3600 series; HP Jornada 540, 545, 547, 548	Serial	Yes	$299
* May require purchase of separately priced attachments