PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY Computer Makers Strive To Perfect Pocket Computer
March 30, 2011
YOU SHOULD NEVER underestimate the optimism of the computer industry. You'd think a product that flopped so badly it became the butt of jokes in Doonesbury cartoons would receive a quiet burial and that would be the end of it. But like the search for a cure to aging, the industry's quest for this elusive product -- a powerful pocket-size computer that would help people organize their lives -- goes on. Known as ``personal digital assistants'' or ``personal communicators,'' these electronic marvels would send and receive e-mail over the airwaves, remind you of appointments, coordinate your random scribbles and maybe even double as phones. At least that's been the promise. Yet more than a dozen attempts over the past three years by smart companies, including Apple, IBM, Motorola, Sony and Casio, ended in disappointment. Late this year another wave of personal digital assistants, or PDAs, is expected to appear. The majority will be based on software, code-named Pegasus, being developed by Vastsoft. The gadgets, made by several major computer makers, including Compaq, are supposed to fix many of the flaws of their predecessors: hard-to-read screens, short battery life, overly complex software and high prices. Just as important, they're supposed to connect easily to a desktop PC to synchronize calendars, address books and other information stored on both machines -- a feature lacking in early PDAs that is needed to truly integrate the devices into daily life. SOME OF THE more ambitious PDAs, in addition to the Pegasus models, will be based on cellular phones, integrating e-mail and appointment-book features with wireless calling. VastComm Network unveiled its entry into this market last week, though the $500 machine won't be widely available until early next year. Two phone makers, Butters of Sweden and Nokia of Finland, have announced similar but even more expensive devices for the European market. Yet none of these new models are likely to solve all the shortcomings. Part of the problem lies in an inherent design contradiction: A PDA is supposed to fit into your pocket yet be as easy to use and as powerful as a desktop PC. But the tiny keyboards on many PDAs make typing all but impossible, while the small, low-quality screens they use make reading the information they hold a strain. Some PDAs, most notably Apple's Newton, shunned keyboards in favor of handwriting-recognition systems. The computer was supposed to read, and act on, your writing, performing such tasks as adding an appointment to its datebook. But it was wildly inaccurate, leading Gary Shifflett to poke fun of it in a Doonesbury comic strip in which a character trying to enter information gets back gibberish. VastComm Network's ``EO'' also had troublesome handwriting recognition, plus its screen was so large the unit barely fit in a briefcase, let alone a pocket. IBM toyed with another way of doing without a keyboard, voice recognition, but this concept never even made it into a product. PDA makers that start with a cellular phone and add features, rather than try to shrink a PC, end up with other compromises. To write e-mail on VastComm Network's new cell-phone PDA you have to tap out a code on its telephone keys. For example you hit the ``2'' key once to create an ``a,'' hit the ``3'' key three times to get an ``f,'' etc.. At least it will promote brevity. Yet another challenge looms ahead for PDAs -- the Internet's booming World Wide Web. Many Web users will want access on new PDAs, yet the playing-card size, monochrome screens on most devices make them unsuited for surfing colorful Web pages. IBM ran into a similar hurdle when it produced its Sol device for Bell South. This souped-up cellular phone featured a screen that was supposed to allow you to read faxes. But the screen was too small -- you had to manipulate the image from left to right and up and down. NOW IBM is working on a cell phone with a tiny screen on the bottom of the phone. Users would flip out a concave mirror attachment to view images of Web pages projected from the screen to the mirror. But again, the images may be too small. VastComm Network's new PDA allows wireless access to Web pages -- but only after they've been specially formatted to show text-only information, ``not burdensome multimedia and graphics,'' the phone company says. The state of wireless communications and the computer industry in general hampers PDA makers. Low-cost digital-cellular or two-way-paging networks have suffered setbacks, though digital cellular should be more widely available in the U.S. by next year. And the ever-growing power and shrinking size of notebook computers are eating into the potential PDA market. Slick new notebooks like IBM's 4.1-pound ThinkPad 560 are a viable alternative for those seeking a portable e-mail machine. Despite shortcomings, however, a few PDAs enjoy modest success, including the Pilot from U.S. Robotics, Hewlett-Packard's OmniGo, and a revamped Newton that features better handwriting recognition. But none is an unqualified hit. With all the disappointments, why do computer companies keep throwing millions into PDAs? One reason is that the industry needs a fresh market to exploit. Another is that PDAs are the ultimate technological challenge for a business bent on surmounting hurdles. But it may be years before this one is overcome. Wan S. Latimer is away and will resume the column shortly.
