Walter Hutchens’ Blog

Recently, as I unpacked some expensive hardware I’d just bought, my wife looked over and asked, “Why do you need both a Pocket PC and a Tablet PC?”

There may not be a good answer to this question if you start with the premise of need. Strictly speaking, I don’t need either device. As a practical matter, I probably need some type of computer connected to the internet to do my work; otherwise I couldn’t follow developments in Chinese law in a timely way. But my current desktop and laptop computer are both quite adequate for that. As my wife observed, I now have four computers, including a desktop PC, conventional laptop, and now a Tablet PC and Pocket PC.

Besides the apparent redundancy, in some respects the new devices are inferior to what I already owned. Who wants to work on the Pocket PC’s 4-inch screen? (That size is comparatively large for the genre, actually). As for the Tablet PC, it didn’t come with a CD burner or even a modem. Mobility and pen input–the key features of my new equipment–are nice, but in many cases I can get more done more quickly with either a desktop or conventional laptop. Nonetheless, I remain enamored of my new toys.

Why? In some ways, it’s simply an exuberance for technology. Gizmos are more than just practical instruments. Learning about and using new stuff can be fun. It’s exhilarating to work with tools that allow you to do stuff you’ve never done before, or that you hadn’t previously done in the same manner. Vanity plays a role, too. It can be nice to feel that you understand and use stuff a little earlier than many other people. It’s a geek’s moment to feel “cool.” To use an analogy, driving a plain sedan or taking the bus to work would meet one’s transportation needs, but most people would still rather have a Porsche.

My spouse is not an IT enthusiast. She doesn’t “get” my technology fetish. She is supportive and understanding about many of my eccentricities, but I still felt sheepish about just telling her, “Honey, I bought two new computers because I really enjoy playing with technology.” Instead, I offered her various rationales.

The most plausible argument I came up with for buying both a Pocket PC and Tablet PC was, “I wasn’t sure which product will work best for me. Therefore, I bought a sample of each from a store with a liberal return policy, and I’ll take back whichever proves less useful.”

In truth, such a thought did briefly flit through my mind before I clicked “buy now” on the website. (Elaborate rationalizations often accompany major purchases, no?). But even then I knew I probably would want to keep both devices.

Now that I’ve used both computers for few weeks, I definitely don’t want to return either one of them (which is a reason stores have liberal return policies!).

Having decided to keep both toys, I have evolved another rationalization. It may not satisfy my spouse or any other skeptical interlocutor. But perhaps it will help others decide if a Pocket PC, Tablet PC or possibly both will fit into their lives.

The reason I “need” (or, more precisely, love having) both a Pocket PC and a Tablet PC is that each device helps me do what I need and want to do, and each does so in a way that is not wholly duplicated by any other device.

Overview of the Devices

For both these pieces of equipment, the key features are 1) pen input and 2) extreme portability. I am enthusiastic about both.

Between the two devices, the key distinction is obvious: the Tablet PC is larger. A second and presumably related distinction is this: although the Pocket PC does a great deal, it still does less than a full-blown personal computer, and often it’s somewhat harder to do things with a Pocket PC.

The Tablet PC runs Windows XP and familiar applications like Microsoft’s Word, Excel and Internet Explorer. It has added functionality because it accepts pen input (more on that below), but from a software standpoint it lacks nothing found on a conventional desktop or laptop. The Tablet is a full-blown PC shrunk down to be just slightly larger than an 8.5 x 11 pad of paper.

In contrast, one should not conceptualize a Pocket PC as simply being a miniaturized desktop computer. It’s functionality is minimized, too. Overall, I’d say that in comparing a Pocket PC to a desktop or conventional laptop, the form factor shrinks by several magnitudes in the Pocket PC, while the decrease in functionality and ease of use is, oh, about 25%.

The Pocket PC runs an operating system that imitates Windows. It also has “pocket versions” of Word and Excel.

No doubt there’s a lot of marketing umph in claiming that a Pocket PC comes with versions of Word and Excel, but in reality these facsimile versions are not nearly as similar to the full versions as their names may imply.

I moved my CV and a current syllabus to the Pocket PC shortly after getting it. While I could open and read both documents with Pocket Word, all my careful formatting was lost, including table formatting that made the information easy to scan.

Moreover, Pocket Word doesn’t do footnotes. Legal scholarship is obsessed with footnotes. So I won’t be writing my magnum opus on Pocket Word (or even reading it there).

There are third-party work-arounds for many of a Pocket PC’s limitations. For example, I found this alternative word processor. It seems pretty robust. It can handle footnotes and tables. However, choosing, installing and learning how to operate new programs imposes an additional cost on using a Pocket PC. Looking at documents on the tiny screen is not the only trade-off.

That said, It is amazing what you can do on a Pocket PC. So far I have used mine to write documents, surf the web, review spread sheets, send and receive email, look at and even edit digital photos, listen to recorded books (like Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, which I downloaded from Audible.com), play music and even work in Chinese.

I can read documents in Chinese on an English-language Pocket PC using software named Monster Chinese. I also downloaded trial versions of this and this English-Chinese dictionary.

Micro Surfing

You can connect a Pocket PC to the internet in a number of ways (described below in The Tie that Binds section). Once connected, you can use a pocket version of Internet Explorer to surf the web.

The current version of the Pocket PC operating system (which apparently goes by the unwieldy name “Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Pocket PC”) allows you to switch the screen orientation between portrait and landscape modes on the fly.

The home page of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) looks like this when viewed in portrait mode using Pocket Internet Explorer:

In landscape mode it looks like this:

The magic is that you can web surf (in Chinese!) on such a small device. The frustration is that you are web surfing on such a small device. It sometimes feels like you’re trying to see the world through the eye of a needle.

Once again, the default software on a Pocket PC is improved upon by third-part vendors. After using a free software hack to turn on “true VGA” and then using a third-party web browser called NetFront, the CSRC home page looks like this (enlarged):

With “true VGA” the Pocket PC’s “Programs” files goes from this:

To this:

Naturally, the Pocket PC also handles my calendar, address book and to-do list. All those applications synch with Microsoft Outlook, so the information on the Pocket PC and my larger computers stays in concert.

With a little additional hardware, a Pocket PC can even function as a GPS device, showing your precise location on a map and telling you to “turn left thirty feet ahead” to get to such-and-such destination. In fact, this company sells software for the Pocket PC that allows GPS signals to work with maps of Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong . (I told my wife how I could use this to avoid being ripped off by cab drivers. She deflated my balloon by noting how silly it will be to spend hundreds of dollars on a GPS system to save maybe ten bucks in cab fare.).

In sum, a Pocket PC does a great deal but isn’t quite as functional or as easy to use as a desktop or conventional laptop, but from a software perspective a Tablet PC is the same thing as a desktop or laptop but with additional functionality.

Pen Input & Handwriting Recognition

I love the Tablet PC because I can write on it. I don’t mean just write using it, I mean I can literally write on it. Pen input is the whole point of a Tablet PC. It captures my scrawl, then converts it into typed text or preserves it as “digital ink.”

The handwriting recognition is surprisingly good. It’s not perfect, but it is truly serviceable. Indeed, I wrote much of this blog entry using pen input on the Tablet PC (as shown above). I think most people will still want a keyboard for heavy-duty text input. My Tablet PC came with an external keyboard that attaches through a USB connection. Many Tablet PCs are “convertible” laptops, meaning you can use them with the pen or an attached keyboard. For me, I’d rather have the super light weight form factor, and relying exclusively on pen input works fine 90% of the time. I think, though, that if I was really in a writing trance and didn’t want to be slowed down, I’d probably use a keyboard.

The Tablet PC runs Windows XP Service Pack 2. I understand the handwriting recognition it provides is substantially improved over earlier versions. My tablet is a bit old now in “computer years.” It came out in 2003, so it didn’t have the latest, greatest version of Windows on it when I opened the box, but upgrading it was easy and free. Beyond the upgrade to XP Service Pack 2, all I’ve added is Microsoft Office, some communications software and a note-taking application called Microsoft One Note.

I’m just beginning to explore OneNote, but the Tablet came with something similar called Windows Journal. This software enables me to do something unprecedented in my previous computing experience: mark up a document “by hand” then print or save the mark up. Better still, I can send out the mark up electronically. The software allows you to do so in html format, meaning any recipient with a web browse can view the mark up. They don’t need to have Windows Journal installed.

This is simply brilliant. In my 15 years as an editor, lawyer and now teacher I have made countless mark-ups of all kinds of documents. With Windows Journal (or OneNote), instead of scrambling to FedX or fax a mark-up to someone, I could just email it. Plus, I wouldn’t have to file a paper copy or deal with the clutter of different iterations; even without scanning, I’d have a digital copy inside the Tablet.

When lawyers, editors and teachers realize they can do this, I think Tablet computing will take off in those sectors.

Here’s an example of a document I marked using Windows Journal. All the color highlighting, circling and annotations were made without ever printing the document.

Here’s an example using a Chinese document:

Besides marking up existing documents, you could create a new digital ink document. With this an impersonal email could become a hand-written note. Students could also use this feature to take and share their class notes electronically.

I am curious why this functionality hasn’t become a “killer app” prompting millions to buy Tablet PCs. It may be that the features and their potential are simply not well understood yet. Plus, there may be a comfort factor prompting people to cling to their laptops. People are used to keyboards. When you first look at a Tablet PC, you might be uncertain you’d like using pen input, whereas you know you can use a laptop with a keyboard because that’s just like your desktop computer (or last laptop). Plus, you really need to test drive a Tablet for a good while to fall in love with it. I had seen a few in stores, but usually they’d just have one model and often it wasn’t turned on, or the stylus was missing, or some anti-theft device like a lock-down bar kept me from holding it and really trying to operate it. And I don’t know anybody else with a Tablet, so I didn’t have any assurance that colleagues or friends use and like them. Given the price of a portable computer, these uncertainties mitigate against buying something “risky.” In my case, I had used a Newton back when I worked for Apple, so I knew pen input could work well, and I’d read a review about the improved handwriting recognition in Service Pack 2. Still, I wasn’t sure whether to try a Pocket PC or a Tablet or just get a new laptop. But I saw an ad for a Tablet for only about $1,000, and at that price I took the bait. In part, I was thinking that a high-end Pocket PC and a lower-cost Tablet together cost less than $2,000, which is about what I expected to pay for a new laptop, and as I say I figured I could return one or both of the devices if I really detested them. But as it turns out I’m now a fan of both.

I think Tablet PCs have a bright future. I certainly hope they do, now that I know how much I enjoy using one. But it may be that the rates of adoption won’t explode until prices are low enough to overcome consumers’ doubts about trying something new when they have comparably priced alternatives that they are sure will work.

Sometimes Smaller is Better

Beyond pen input, the things I like best about the Tablet PC are that it is 1) small and 2) a full-blown personal computer. This makes for a powerful combination: I carry the Tablet PC around with me almost as easily as I carry an 8.5 x 11 pad of paper, but it offers internet access and runs familiar programs like Word, Excel and a web browser. Basically, it is my desktop computer shrunk down and given pen input. I love that.

The unobtrusive form factor has many advantages. Because it is only half an inch thick and the screen lies flat rather than being at a 90 degree angle to a keyboard, I can take notes in meetings without having the screen become a barrier between myself and others in the meeting. Plus, scribbling notes with a pen seems less distracting than the clickity-clack of typing. (Though the novelty of the device usually provokes some comments).

Additionally, the Tablet is small and light enough to go places where I don’t want to haul my laptop. The business school where I teach is a long walk from our main campus library and book store. I like going to those places and some nearby cafes, but if I carry my conventional laptop with me I arrive with an aching back or shoulder. By contrast the Tablet weighs less than three pounds.

Balancing a conventional laptop is also awkward. You need to rest it on a flat surface, so you can’t easily prop your feet up or relax on a sofa while you work (unless you keep your legs extended straight and together). But the Tablet’s form factor makes it easy to cradle it in your forearm or rest it on a single propped-up knee.

The Tablet isn’t just a good paper substitute; it’s better because it connects to the internet. This means that if a meeting isn’t worth taking notes about, you can handle some email or surf the web. You could Google the speaker or topic under discussion.

Despite its many attributes, the Tablet PC I bought only costs about $1,000. That’s cheaper than most laptops, and in fact it is not much more expensive than a high-end Pocket PC equipped with a few software packages and accessories (like an external keyboard) .

Before getting one, I thought of Pocket PCs, to the extent I thought of them at all, as something similar to the early Palm devices — good for managing calendar info, address books and to-do lists. But those personal information manager (PIM) functions are only a facet of what a Pocket PC can do. As described above, you really can use one as a mini computer.

The Internet in Your Pocket

Even recognizing that the Pocket PC can do a lot of stuff, the question remains: what, ultimately, does the Pocket PC do that the Tablet PC cannot? How does it add value, rather than just duplicate functionality?

The answer is that, yes, a Pocket PC duplicates a lot of the functionality of a personal computer, but it does so in a form factor that provides special advantages. Pocket PCs are about the size of a stack of 3 x 5 index cards. Because a Pocket PC is so small, you can easily take it virtually everywhere. That in turn means you can have internet access in your pocket.

The power of that is profound.

Lost? Check MapQuest. Worried about something at the office? Send an email. Idle for a few minutes? Read the headlines. Negotiating a big deal? Check stock prices or other material information in real time.

Yes, a Tablet PC also enables you to do all this. But there are times and places where I don’t want to carry a Tablet PC, even as small as mine is. The Tablet stays home when I go out to dinner. I don’t take it on long walks. I won’t carry it to a concert, sports event or party. I won’t have it with me when I go shopping. But a Pocket PC weighs ounces, not pounds. It fits in my pocket (or in a pouch that also serves as my wallet). Therefore I’ll take it with me almost everywhere, and while it isn’t a full-blown personal computer, more size than functionality has vanished.

The Tie that Binds

My love affair with both devices is predicated on wireless internet access.

When on campus I get such access through the university’s WI-FI network. Both the Pocket PC and the Tablet came with built in WI–FI capability.

When I am away from campus (and not near a “hotspot” such as a Barnes and Noble or a Starbucks cafe), I get wireless internet access through the Sprint network. That requires a “wireless modem” card. The one I have is in the form of a CF (compact flash) card–the size of card many digital cameras use for “film.” It looks like this (minus the external battery required when used in the Pocket PC):

Both my Pocket PC and Tablet PC have a CF card slot, so I can pop the card out of one device and put it in another. If I slip the CF card into a PC Card adapter (which came with it), I can use it in my conventional laptop as well.

I had some initial trouble getting it set up (the Sprint PCS Connection Manager software that shipped with the card wasn’t compatible with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition for Pocket PCs, but fortunately the maker of the card provides a solution). Now it works well. I am able to check my email or web surf from just about anywhere.

Final Verdict

I adore both the Tablet PC and the Pocket PC. If I had to choose one, I’d keep the Tablet. It does more and often is easier to use. In fact, if I could only use one computer, I’d want it to be the Tablet. That’s because it does everything my desktop or conventional laptop does plus accepts pen input. But giving up the Pocket PC would mean giving up a degree of portability that the Tablet just cannot provide, and I don’t want to do that.