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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Upgrade blues and the physics of product reviews
In this month's edition of Letters to the Editor, one reader questions whether a handheld can indeed replace a laptop, and another reader offers a critical analysis of a past product review, putting what some might consider too much thought into the relative buoyancy of handheld organizers and lunch meat.
Upgrade frustrations
This letter was written in response to the article, "Can a handheld replace a laptop?" originally written by Jeff Carlson for PalmPower magazine and reworked by Steve Niles for the July 2000 issue of Pocket PC Life. The article can be found at http://www.pocketpclife.com/issues/issue200007/cereplace001.html.
Thank you for sending me by email features from your interesting new magazine. Please keep sending them!
I refer in particular to Jeff Carlson's recent article, "Can a handheld replace a laptop?" I asked myself this question back in January and decided, "Yes," but you may like to hear of my experiences.
I purchased an Aero 1520 (running Windows CE 2.1) in April and found it indeed can do all the tasks asked of it. It can send and receive emails, plus attachments that can be opened and read, send faxes, connect to the Internet, etc. To do this, I had to purchase some fax software (bFax Express) and install a software modem (TDK Global Pulse) to connect to my Nokia GSM phone. I also added Calligrapher handwriting recognition software and a PDF reader.
I have since upgraded this Aero to a Pocket PC, and you may be interested to hear that it is now less versatile as a result. The big problem is with ActiveSync 3.1 for Pocket PC. Whereas before I could send and receive emails either from the desktop or from the Aero (using ActiveSync 3.0 to transfer the files), I now find that it is impossible to transfer files from the default ActiveSync email account to one with connectivity to the mobile phone. This means that it is no longer possible to receive emails on my desktop, synchronize them onto my Aero, and reply to them remotely on the Aero at a later date. The "connect" box is grayed out in the ActiveSync account. It is not possible to transfer manually any of the emails from the ActiveSync account to those from which I can connect by phone. The Compaq help-line personnel have also tried and found no way of doing this. What was Microsoft thinking to introduce such a serious limitation? Surely I can't be the only person who has a tendency to spend a few precious moments in the office, grab my emails from the desktop computer onto my handheld and run for the airport?
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