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<br />Three basic types
<br /> Handhelds have come a long way
<br />since Apple unveiled the Newton
<br />Message Pad in 1993. You'll find more
<br />than two dozen models on the market
<br />today. (You may want to take a look at
<br />www.onmagazine.com, the May 2001
<br />"Consumer Reports" or one of
<br />Dyszel's books for detailed, clear
<br />comparisons.)
<br /> The basic types fall int° three
<br /> categories.
<br /> The first is from Palm Inc. of Santa
<br /> Clara, California, a spin-off of 3Com.
<br /> Since the Palm Pilot debut in 1996,
<br /> Palm has introduced nearly a dozen
<br /> other models, including a few different
<br /> Palm IIs, a couple of Palm Vs and two
<br /> Palm Viis. Last August it introduced
<br /> the ml00, its entry-level model that
<br /> costs about $150.
<br /> In additi°n there are at least five
<br /> palm-size devices that aren't made by
<br /> Palm bUt have licensed the operating
<br /> system. One of these comes from
<br /> Handspring Inc., a Mountainview,'
<br /> California, company co-founded in
<br />
<br /> 'lt's easy to get
<br />an application written."
<br />
<br />-- Bill Dyszel, author
<br />
<br />1998 by two former employees of
<br />Palm. In this category are several
<br />Handspring Visor models, the IBM
<br />WorkPad c3 and a Sony PDA.
<br /> While Palm dominates the market
<br />with just less than two-thirds of the
<br />market share, the Visor sold impres-
<br />sively after it was introduced a year ago
<br />and has seized nearly a third of the
<br />market to take second place.
<br /> The third type has a Microsoft OS.
<br /> These include the Hewlett-Packard
<br /> Jomada 548, the Casio EM-500 and the
<br /> Compaq iPaq H3650. Microsoft is try-
<br /> ing to catch up with these Pocket PCs,
<br /> which have flashy colors and graphics
<br /> that are far superior to Palm. They
<br /> com~ with built-in MP3 players and
<br /> can handle more multi-media digital
<br /> music and short, color videos -- but
<br /> the units are a little bulkier and more
<br /> expensive. Yet, Microsoft is banking
<br />
<br />on the fact that Pocket PC's OS will
<br />draw in people who are familiar with
<br />Windows, and it is bundling scaled-
<br />down versions of popular programs as
<br />Word and Excel, according to "ON
<br />Magazine," a supplement to "TIME."
<br />With all its bells and whistles, however,
<br />it still lacks a built-in wireless modem.
<br /> The Palm VII ($449) already has
<br /> one built in; add-ons are available for
<br /> $200 to $300 for the Handspring Visor
<br /> and Palm V. Visor's optional wireless
<br /> modem is a plug-in module; Palm V
<br /> has sled-type modem that slides in.
<br /> Modems are available from major
<br /> manufacturers as Novatel, Sierra
<br /> Wireless, Enfora Inc. (formerly
<br /> Nextcell) and Omni Sky. Basic mod-
<br /> els like the Palm ml00 don't have
<br /> this capability, however. So far, the
<br /> best pocket PCs can do is offer wire-
<br /> less connectivity via a separate cell
<br /> phone.
<br />
<br /> A growing contingent
<br /> Law enforcement officers are
<br /> indeed delving into use of palm-
<br /> sized, devices. According to the lat-
<br /> est RFPs (Requests for Proposals)
<br /> he's seen, the devices used by police
<br /> agencies are "pretty much off-the-
<br /> shelf," says Mike Zirkle, with the
<br /> Mobile and Wireless Division of
<br /> Analysts International, a large consult-
<br /> ing firm that provides analysis of
<br /> mobile devices across several markets.
<br /> Zirkle says he's seen standard PDAs
<br /> used to successfully collect revenues on
<br /> outstanding tickets in New Jersey and
<br /> to generate traffic citations in Iowa.
<br /> Probably the best way to describe law
<br /> enforcement PDA usage is this: There
<br /> is a small, but growing, contingent.
<br /> If you're assessing whether or not to
<br /> use the technology, there are numerous
<br /> considerations before jumping in.
<br /> Software is probably No. 1. The popu-
<br /> larity of Palm devices has spawned
<br /> thousands of third-party applications.
<br /> There is about 9,000 programs avail-
<br /> able off the shelf for Palm devices
<br /> (including clones) and 1,000 for
<br /> Pocket PCs, according to Dyszel.
<br /> Despite this proliferation, there real-
<br /> ly aren't any off-the-shelf programs
<br /> that suit the specific uses of police
<br />
<br />agencies, in Zirkle's opinion. Agencies
<br />are requesting mostly custom applica-
<br />tions with their, police procurement
<br />plans, he says.
<br /> But that seems not to be a huge --
<br />or costly -- stumbling block. "It's easy
<br />to get an application written for a spe-
<br />cific use like law enforcement," Dyszel
<br />notes. At last count, according to Palm,
<br />there were 80,000 application develop-
<br />ers working on soRware for the Palm.
<br />Dyszel adds that there is an enormous
<br />number of registered developers for all
<br />the products, probably upward of
<br />
<br />Next to this Handspring Visor Platinum
<br />is the Stowaway Portable Keyboard from
<br />Think Outside Inc.
<br />(www,thinkoutside.com).
<br />
<br />100,000.
<br /> Some departments have written their
<br />own programs, depending on the com-
<br />plexity of the application and the skill
<br />set in the department. It is a completely
<br />different paradigm using a 160x160-
<br />pixel screen that's about 2 1/2 inches
<br />by 2/12 inches. Most agencies use out-
<br />side integrators, according to Zirkle.
<br /> As for memory and storage capacity,
<br /> it's not a limiting factor either. PDAs
<br /> start at 2 to 8 MB of RAM, but you can
<br /> add up to 64 MB, depending on the
<br /> model. You can even get a custom
<br /> micro drive from HandEra Inc. of Des
<br /> Moines, Iowa. This drive takes
<br /> CompactFlash cards. You can store up
<br /> to 1,000 MB of data on a disk the size
<br /> of a quarter, Dyszel says.
<br /> Another important consideration is
<br /> durability. Will these devices pass the
<br /> rigors of fieldwork? While none so far
<br /> are mggedized, notes Dyszel, some are
<br />July 2001 · Law Enforcement Technology 109
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