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Thread ID: 53718	2005-01-25 08:45:00	Palm, Tablet or Pocket PC	mofbr256 (6989)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
317901	2005-01-25 08:45:00	I'm looking for some advice on what device best suites and serves my needs. I want something very portable, to be taken out and about, it is for work, and i need to make a lot of entries into a spreadsheet, words and numbers. Compatability with excel is in this case is probably essential. i know the palm os systems use the graffiti writting system, the simplier the better because i do want multiple people to use the system, i don't know what systems other OS's use, so can anyone fill me in on the best recognition system? A tablet may be more useful for screen size as the spreadsheet will have a lot of columns, but i don't know where to start with tablets, I have looked at one device, the tungsten T3 which i can switch to widescreen mode to see more columns and has excel support, it also says i can write directly on to the screen, If anyone has any suggestions on models that might be practical please suggest them, my biggest sticking point is i can't find anywhere that has a full range of these devices, so finding models of these devices that might suite is daunting, Any help is much appreciated, Bryan	mofbr256 (6989)
317902	2005-01-25 09:10:00	I have a Toshiba Pocket PC and a PalmOne Treo 600. Both will handle Excel. The PalmOne has a full (but very small) keyboard, and would be by far superior to using grafitti with Excel. I am experienced with Grafitti, having had a Palm Pilot Pro, a Palm IIIe, a Palm Vx, a Palm m500 as well as the Treo and Toshiba. Basically I would recommend none for data entry into Excel. Use a tablet PC by all means but a PDA is too small for reliable use.	godfather (25)
317903	2005-01-25 20:22:00	Basically I agree with godfather. I too have a Treo 600 and have used heaps of other PalmOS devices. I strongly recommend PalmOS, but must point out that I have never used any of the Windoze based PDAs so have no grounds for comparison with that platform. I have stayed with PalmOS (with one minor and short lived excursion into SymbianOS, never to be repeated) for several reasons: 1. I started out with PalmOS so there is a habit thing there... 2. PalmOS devices are usually cheaper. 3. PalmOS works very well, and does everything I want in a PDA in a simple, elegant way. 4. Research (sorry I cannot quote sources) demonstrated that PalmOS add on software works more efficiently with data prepared in Windows applications such as Word or Excel than Pocket PCs. Don't know why, apparently it just does. I personally use QuickOffice which is very fast and effective. 5. Finally, I know it is pathetic, but I basically try to do anything I can do to stop putting more money into the hands of the price gouging and grasping Gates et al. Whilst the Treo (now superceded by the Treo 650) does have a keyboard, you can also use graffiti by installing a free application called Graffiti Anywhere. I use the Treo for most of my travelling requirements such as cellphone, SMS, diary, contacts, and checking email. I also carry on it some Word documents that I need to refer to in meetings etc. However, I think it is too small and fiddly for doing much original work (eg in Excel). The Treo 600 cannot do landscape like the Tungsten (not sure about the Treo 650), and that would be a big consideration with using it for multiple columns. I also have a Fujitsu Centrino Lifebook with a 10.6 inch screen that is very small and light. I use that for any complicated work because it has a decent sized keyboard. It is also a back up PC for me, daily synchronising with my desktop. I have seen a Tablet that is about the same size as my Fujitsu, and in laptops there is also a Sony Vaio with comparable specs to my Fujitsu (the Fujitsu is hard to obtain in NZ whereas even Harvey NoMates has the Sony Vaio). Personally, if you can afford it, I would go for a combination - neither one on their own is completely adequate for my uses. Finally, you may find some useful hardware reviews of the handhelds on http://www.infosync.no/ John	John H (8)
317904	2005-01-25 21:40:00	Thanks for the help guys, our experience is greatly valued, i've now looked briefly at two tablets, an HP tc1100, and a toshibe M200, i just have one question on them, a few of the staff who may need to use it are not super fast on a keyboard, and they curently record all our data by pen and paper and then go back to the office to enter it into the spreadsheets, huge waste of time, when writing directly on to the screen of these tablets, how well do they recognise hand writing? and what sort of recognition system to they use? Bryan	mofbr256 (6989)
317905	2005-01-25 21:48:00	Sorry I cannot answer your question, but for what it is worth, it didn't take long to learn the graffiti system used by PalmOS. Writing and recognition of numbers is usually dead easy. It is the change of case (you know, the Shift key thingie...) and getting numbers instead of letters that takes a bit of getting used to. However, writing in the graffiti style becomes intuitive after a short while - I realised that when there was trouble over patents and Palm had to change their graffiti system - it took quite a while to "unlearn" what had become a natural way of writing. Have a look at h18000.www1.hp.com and www.notebookreview.com If you are buying a few for work, why not ask a retailer (or manufacturer) if they would lend you a tablet for a trial period?	John H (8)
317906	2005-01-25 22:07:00	You may be interested in this comment from an ex user: radio.weblogs.com Scroll down to Goodbye to the Tablet Lower down on that page it says: Hand writing recognition Hand writing recognition has improved dramatically in accuracy and is now approaching 99%+ accuracy in SW that will be available in the mainstream operating systems by mid 200 4. Hand writing recognition may seem a strange option for someone who struggles with spelling, and traditional pen and paper however there are some significant advantages: 1. The SW works for people with fairly bad handwriting. Jennifer�s writing is neat by comparison 2. The SW allows the person to write large letters, much larger than would be appropriate for pen and paper 3. The SW recognises words by comparing against a dictionary, so for a poor speller accuracy can be increased significantly 4. The SW does not require significant training 5. Correction of words that have been incorrectly recognised is a fairly natural process and presents likely words from the dictionary improving spelling 6. If the digitiser used for entering the text is a Tablet format PC, the screen is warm and will keep Jennifr�s writing hand warm. 7. Using the same Tablet PC interface it is possible to transition between voice input and handwriting input seamlessly. This is useful for example if the stylus is used for correction and voice for bulk text entry. Or the stylus used for difficult words or for maths and voice used for descriptions. 8. Maths SW is also available to automatically calculate the answers of maths problems 9. Handwriting can be captured without conversion to text. Or can be converted to text later if required I think there are other links on that site that may be useful - I didn't take the time to do a proper squizz but there is one with lots of useful info about choosing to use a tablet: steves.businessblog.com	John H (8)
317907	2005-01-26 01:32:00	thanks for your help John, all very good stuff, In case anyone else is interested, i did track down a retailer in dunedin finally who has a tablet i could try, they had a m200 toshiba, excellent machine, i was very impressed. The handwritting recognition on them is excellent, even if i wrote casually as i would on paper it would pick up what i was trying to write, Overkill, yer probably, i don't need the cd writer the nvidia fx5200 the 1.6ghz processor, so the other model i have spotted but not yet found one to play with is HP's TC1100, 1ghz process, no optical drive, and not as flash graphics and a 10" screen instead of the toshiba's 12", and the HP is a bit more reasonable in price, still, the toshiba looks to be one hell of a toy.....	mofbr256 (6989)
317908	2005-01-26 01:58:00	Handwriting recognition approaching 99% sounds good . But is that good enough? I suppose keyboarding might not be 100% for most people too . ;) Data entry in the field is always a problem . If it's written on paper, entries to the computer system can be verified when inconsistencies appear . If it's direct to electronic form, how do you check? . Or do you just say to the customer: " The computer says you owe us $1000000 for the products you ordered on Friday . It must right, its handwriting recognition is 99% accurate" . " I like Palm OS . I like Graffiti --- I can't read my own handwriting, but I can draw Graffiti characters quickly and it can read them . :thumbs:	Graham L (2)
317909	2005-01-26 02:51:00	thanks for your help John , all very good stuff, Overkill, yer probably, i don't need the cd writer (...) so the other model i have spotted but not yet found one to play with is HP's TC1100, (...) no optical drive Sounds great. I did notice in a review I saw of the HPTC1100 that there was no optical drive (the review was so skimpy I didn't post the reference). How do you get software installed if that is the case? Do you have to dock it with an external drive or something? John	John H (8)
317910	2005-01-26 03:15:00	damn good point actually John, i guess it may just have to network up to a desktop to use the desktops cd drive when installing software, Interesting the accuracy was mentioned as well, i guess that could also be a major consideration, i guess you would relie on the staff writing the text and numbers into the input area, checking what they've written, then clicking to insert it to the document and glancing at that to check that was what was written. Only time would tell on that one i guess, i could see people getting lazy and errors sneaking in, but of course the same thing can happen with paper and pen being transferred later to spreadsheet, that too creates a step where errors can get in. What i have also found from all these articles which i hadn't realised yet is the HP and the Toshiba are 'convertables' so the keyboards can be disconnected as all the componentry is actually in behind the screen, making the portability even better then i thought.	mofbr256 (6989)
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