Richard Nelsson Spending It
During the Eighties a bulging Filofax was the symbol of the successful and upwardly mobile; for the Nineties the “must have” is an electronic organiser.
But these “personal digital assistants” (PDAs) are much more than just hi-tech versions of their leather-bound antecedents. The latest models have not only the capacity to store thousands of names and addresses, but also word- processing and spreadsheet facilities. They can connect to the Internet via a cellphone and many are designed to integrate with office or home computer systems.
The name most associated with the electronic organiser is Psion, a British company whose first model came out in 1984. It is now the world’s biggest hand-held computer manufacturer.
Its Series 3c model runs on a Windows- like operating system, EPOC, and has a range of office functions and a telephone auto-dialler and voice recorder. Information can be beamed to printers and other Psions via an infra- red transmitter.
The Hewlett Packard (HP) 360LX and 620LX run on Windows CE, a version of Windows 95, and have an infra-red communications system and a PC/Macintosh connection cable. The HP620LX has a colour screen and the fastest modem technology available. Among its features are bFAX Pro, for sending and receiving faxes, and bFind, a universal search facility.
The Sharp HC-4100’s Camera Card will allow you to turn your PDA into a digital camera. Sharp also produces more basic machines such as the ZQ650 which can be linked to a personal computer. Remember, at the cheaper end of the market you won’t be able to upgrade.
The company 3Com gets rid of the keyboard. Its PalmPilot Professional and PalmIII are operated by a stylus on the screen using an easy-to-learn language of letters and numbers known as “graffiti”.
The next generation of PDAs will likely be combined with a mobile phone. One on the market is the Nokia 9000i Communicator. This allows you to send and receive faxes and e-mails, store phone numbers and type on the note pad. It can be used for normal telephone conversations, too. In South Africa, the new Nokia 9110 is expected to be on the market in December.
If all you want is a simple method to store numbers and addresses, there are cheaper organisers such as the Casio CSS 5750. But many of the cheaper models do not have a back-up facility. This can prove fatal if you allow the batteries to run low – and nothing pleases a Filofax traditionalist more than hearing of PDA users losing all their information.