When The HP Palmtop Paper first came out six years ago the focus was on the palmtop itself, its potential for organizing and computing. Over the years, the HP palmtop has evolved into an even more powerful stand-alone device. However, glancing through the contents of this issue, it's obvious that the HP palmtop has become much more social - now the palmtop's ability to communicate with other devices is of major importance.
For example, check out the New Products section. You'll see upgrade descriptions of two fax programs and two online access applications. In this issue's featured story, Ray Kump discusses how he uses one of those access programs, www/LX, to read The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times each morning on his palmtop.
A number of large companies regularly make use of the palmtop's mobility and ability to collect and transfer data. For example, read about a Hong Kong brewery and a plastic's manufacturer to see how data is collected and how data is transferred using the palmtop. In another article, Tom Boyle describes how he combines a number of gizmo's to transfer data between the popular Iomega Zip drive and his palmtop's flash card.
As an outward expression of the palmtop facilitating communications, Linda Worthington describes a palmtop get-together. Twenty-nine HP Palmtop Paper subscribers and CompuServe users gathered in New York's Bear Mountain to share tips, tricks and good fun.
In this issue Ed Keefe represents the old school of stand-alone palmtop usage. In his entertaining column Ed demonstrates a number of creative and useful Lotus techniques as he describes how to generate poetry writing on the palmtop.
Finally, the introduction of the Windows CE-based HP 320LX palmtop PC has caused quite a stir in the HP palmtop user community. Reminiscent of the Mac verses PC debates, you'll read about the merits and demerits of HP's new palmtop offering from a number of users. Hopefully, these letters, pro and con, will provide you with more information on whether or not you want to switch to a Windows CE device.
Some of our staff is now using Windows CE devices and liking them. For the foreseeable future I will stay with my 200LX. Its built-in database, its ability to run DOS applications, its CompuServe access capability, its built-in 1-2-3 and HPCalc keep me from switching. However, there is a lot to like about the HP 320LX, including wide screen, battery-preserving backlighting, larger keyboard, and Windows 95 data compatibility and synchronicity.
Unless you are sure that you will never switch from an HP 200LX, I encourage you to send for our premier issue of Handheld PC Magazine (see inside back cover or order card). Since we anticipate a larger advertising and subscription base than The HP Palmtop Paper, we have been able to move to four-color throughout, and expanded pages. If you like the style and philosophy of The HP Palmtop Paper, you will appreciate Handheld PC Magazine. The premier issue is filled with product descriptions, profiles, reviews, tips and tricks, and Website reviews. You can also check out our Website at www.palmtoppaper.com for details about the issue and an electronic version of some of the articles.