I have been considering buying a new personal digital assistant (PDA) and have narrowed down my choices to the new Windows CE Casio reviewed in Technology Post some time ago, the Pilot you're forever writing about and the latest Sharp Zaurus. I'm not going to ask you which one you'd pick (I read this column regularly and know what your choice will be). However, are there any other choices? JEREMY WOODS Quarry Bay You're right. My choice would be obvious. You're also more or less right with your shortlist of possible PDAs.
One omission: Hewlett-Packard's latest addition to its LX series of palmtop computers. The latest in this line runs Windows CE and will connect to your desktop in much the same way. It comes with the usual Windows CE applications such as Pocket Word and Pocket Excel.
Just because I like the feel of the Pilot, don't think I don't like the Windows CE devices. When I tested the Casio machine last year, I particularly liked the built-in Excel and Word. The size of the machine and its screen proved to be a discomfort, and its limited memory was a major stumbling block to putting some big spreadsheets on it.
If you end up seriously considering the Pilot, hold off on your purchase for a month or so. The new Palm Pilots launched in the United States last week should be available in Hong Kong by then. These are just like the old Pilots, but are back-lit, have more memory and come with many more features.
For example, the lesser of the two new Palm Pilots, the Personal version, has 512K of memory, which is what the Pilot 5000 has today. The Professional version comes with 1 MB, and even has an e-mail client built in.
I have not used the latest Sharp Zaurus so I won't comment on it.