What's the difference between a palmtop and a handheld?

[Sylvia Steiger]

I'm really curious about this. I want something I can stick in the
pocket of a lab coat, which should I be looking at?

[Lynne]

Here are three sites that I found to be extremely helpful for me. You
can find reviews from users as well as "professional" reviewers. And
product specifications.

http://www.pdagroove.com/
http://zdnet.com.
http://www.pdabuzz.com/Reviews/cgi-bin/indexgen.cgi

I did a lot of online research and features comparison before finally
deciding on a VISOR, which I just received this week (one week after
placing my order, so all those delivery horror stories may finally be
behind Handspring). Happy research! Lynne

[Sylvia Steiger]

Thanks, Anne. I've since found one article that defines a handheld as
one with a built-in keyboard. I've also purchased a Velo that looks
like it will meet my data-retrieval and data-input needs.

--
Sylvia Steiger RN SFNP BS
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/SylviaRN
remove "xnx" from address to reply

[L. Anne Browne]

In article <388651...@canada.com>,
Sylvia Steiger <Sylvi...@canada.com> wrote:

>I'm really curious about this. I want something I can stick in the
>pocket of a lab coat, which should I be looking at?

Do you want the unit to do any "work" or just
to look like you are with technology???

It used to be that one first defined what one
wanted to do with the technology that determined
which technology to acquire.

E.g. if you want to be able to enter some data you
would probably want a handheld...which has a keyboard
if you just want to be able to pull up electronic
calendar and retrieve e-mail than a PDA (palmtop)
should do the job.

[Fringe Ryder]

I wouldn't define it that way. The Palmtop Paper was (is) dedicated to the
HP 95/x00 LX series, which have keyboards. The IBM PC110 Palmtop also has
a keyboard.

In my opinion, a Palmtop is a function-built device, either to run
Windows/DOS or the PIM (e.g. PalmPilot). A "HandHeld" is a
Microsoft-defined term (HandHeld PC, or HPC), which has the main goal of
expanding Microsoft's influence. It has no particular function, but may do
lots of functions decently.

Thus, in my opinion...

HP200LX, PalmPilot, Psion 5, and PC110 are all palmtops. Sony C1
PictureBook and the original Libretto come close.

WinCE machines are HPCs.

If I need a small, easy-to-use machine that does everything, I'll get an
HPC. But usually I have big machines that do everything well. I get a
small machine for a specific purpose, and I want it to do that purpose
better than a wince machine.

I've played with a lot of the above, and use two to three palmtops
regularly. If I had to use a single machine for everything, I'd have to
settle on an HPC.

Sylvia Steiger <Sylvi...@canada.com> sez:
>Thanks, Anne. I've since found one article that defines a handheld as
>one with a built-in keyboard. I've also purchased a Velo that looks
>like it will meet my data-retrieval and data-input needs.

- EMail must delete "delete" embedded in domain