Finally, Push-Button PDA-to-PC Integration

Dave Andrews

Vendors of personal hand-held devices (aka personal digital assistants, or PDAs) are constantly improving the links between these small portable wonders and desktop PCs and Macs. Now Palm Computing (Los Altos, CA), a division of U.S. Robotics, has released a hand-held device that makes synchronizing with a PC ridiculously easy.

Palm's Pilot ($299, (415) 949-9560; fax (415) 949-0147) weighs 5 1/2 ounces and easily fits into a shirt pocket. It includes a docking station, called the Cradle, that sits atop your desk and connects to your PC via a serial link. The device works with complementary Pilot Desktop software (the Windows version is available now; the Mac version will ship in the fir st hal f of this year) that provides contact management, calendar, and other information management functions that you would expect to find in a basic personal information manager (PIM) program.

But what distinguishes the Pilot--and what should appeal to users who split their time between the road and the office--is the device's HotSync button. When you return to the office, you place the Pilot in the Cradle and press the HotSync button, and your new contacts and action items automatically synchronize with the desktop. In a flash, both the hand-held device and the PC are up to date. You can also HotSync the Pilot over a modem.

The Pilot runs for eight to 12 weeks (depending on use) on two AAA batteries. The 68000 processor is powerful enough to drive the built-in applications with acceptable speed, and other applications should be available this year from third-party developers. For example, Campbell Services, developer of the OnTime group-scheduling application, says it will develop s oftware for the Pilot.

Palm plans on releasing a developer's kit in the second quarter of this year: Applications will be developed on a Mac in C using Metrowerks development tools. Developers will also be able to write data links between existing applications and Pilot ROM applications using Windows tools, such as Visual C++ and Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC).

My initial concern about the Pilot, its pen interface, dissipated rapidly as I worked with Graffiti, the device's handwriting-recognition application. After a bit of practice, I found myself entering data as quickly using it as I could using other hand-held devices' small keyboards. And the excellent links to the desktop further alleviate concerns about using the pen. After all, you don't have to worry as much about entering data using a pen when you can easily transfer data you've input using a full-size keyboard.

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Palm Computing One-Button Piloting

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Links between hand-held devices and desktop PCs continue to improve. Palm Computing's Pilot lets you automatically synchronize your latest data in the hand-held unit with the latest data in your PC by simply pressing a button.