PDA/Mobile OS and PIM
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As you may know, I am a longtime Palm OS user. There was a break in
2007-2009 (I think) between the moment when I sold my Palm Vx and
bought my first the Palm III (possibly I got the III in 2008, I'm not
sure).
I sold the Vx because if wasn't in well condition (screen, battery) and
because the PIM applications for the Maemo OS on my Nokie Internet
Tablet have became usable. I simply didn't thought that carrying of 2
devices with very similar role is feasible. And the Nokia 770 was more
versatile because in that time its WWW browser was almost on par with
desktop WWW browsers. It also awllowed me to relatively easily write C
programs on the go (I never have managed to write any usefull C code on
any Palm). The Maemo is less or more a standard Linux with X11, after
all.
The Palm III (it was IIIx) I got because I wished to have a device
which is easy to use and which has replaceable battery (after the first
one I have got a lot of other models). Step by step, I have started to
use the Palm III on daily basis.
In meantime, I used several other mobile operating systems: the
Maemo (on Nokias 770, N800, N810), the Windows CE (on an early
ViewSonic tablet) a MS-DOS on HP Handhelds, PSION operating systems (on
Series 3 and 5 devices), Symbian (thought on phones only), OpenMoko
distributions (including a SHR, a QtMoko), the OpenWRT on the Ben
NanoNote, the iOS (on the iPhone 3GS) and the Android 4.x-7.x (on many
devices: nVidia and Ainol tablets, a Galaxy Mini phone, the Gemini
PDA). And of course the Web OS (on a HP Touchpad). I am not sure it the
software on the PSION Organiser II can be called the Operating System,
but I have been using this, too.
There can be many uses of of mobile and handheld devices but I want
only discuss the Personal Information Management (PIM) use. So a
calendar/date book, contacts list management and to do.
Some devices were not designed for such use (the Nokia 770, some of HP
LX machines or the Psion Organiser II) but were adapted later. Use of
the Organiser II (especially models with two-line LCD) as a calendar is
a pain. No repeating reminders (the later IIs are not much better), no
ToDo. The address book is simpler. One should use a standard database
fucntions for it (then Save and Find functions). It might look crude
but it is very functional, almost genial.
The Psion Series 3 and 5 are much, much better. I never liked look of
their calendar but all things (the addressbook and to do aplication)
are practical and fucntional.
When I got my HP 200LX the I was surprised how good their calendar is.
There is also an excellent day overview (it's automatically displayed
when one opens the device for a first time of a day). I even used one
of the for my work, until the hardware died.
Well, Nokia tablets. The 770 was shipped just with a WWW browser
(excellent for its time and for a pocket device), a text editor, a
calculator and a little more. No calendar, no nothing. There was great
stuff adapted by the PimLico company (much later I learned that they
also made Palm stuff) which made the device usable. I was bought by
calendar's colors and by possibility ti sync the calendar on-line (just
with the Google and with issues, if I'm not mistaken).
The later N8?0 tablets repeated such approach but the third-party
synchronisation was much better.
The Ben NanoNote came almost in bare-metal configuration (the most
complex application installed wat the Vim) but shortly after its
introduction many CLI things became available (a todo.sh, the Reminder,
the Abook and meny more - I also ported some bits to the device).
Nothing was slick or attractive but the whole thing was functional and
very UNIX-ish. Synchronisation? With the scp or the rsync (some people
probably used the git for that) via USB-Ethernet. One was able to use
the same tool that he or she used on its Unix/Linux/BSD desktop. The
only limits were defined by Ben's tiny screen (no 80x25 here - if was
possible but barely readable).
Well, the mainstream stuff. I used the iPhone 3G for some time as my
main (actually the only) phone. I got it when it wal already few years
old. I tried also other functions, but: music? must have iTunes!
calender? we synchronise which this calendar but not with the other!
navigation? why you need that? apps? the device is already unsupported
by most of them? (the best thing was that I was able to buy some apps,
they even installed but they fail because of compatibility issues). App
are of course only available in the proprietary store so older (and
compatible) versions are simply unavailable. OK, I carried my NanoNote
with the phone to be able to do most of things. When I replaced the
iPhone with an Nokia phone of similar age (E51 or E52 or something like
that) the things became much better. A navigation that worked, a PIM
which were usable (at least locally), a music which was imported from
computer. I even didn't need to install any other apps. An it has a
normal, backlighted hardware phone keyboard. Unfortunately, it broke
after few years of intensive use. I got another, it also broke. It
seems that the PIM was out of scope when the iPhone (and its basic
software) was designed. It has been improving in time, but still...
The Android? It loads games well (I still have been using the nVidia
Shield Tablet, it is great for games) but it repeats all iOS problems.
It is a bit more configurable, but it is also less consistent and it is
ugly. The common problem of then (and of most of similar systems from
2008 upwards) is their optimisation for touch use (big buttons, lot of
empty space and so). In short: the bigger screen, the higher screen
resolution and much higher demand for computing power all mean than
less amount of useful information can be shown on the screen. Just
compare how much data can by displayed by the old Palm DB program and
by its modern competitors!
In other hand, the Palm came relatively late (the Psion Series 3 and HL
LX were lready years old and matured) and it was primarily designed for
PIM tasks. The Datebook is usable even in the OS 1.0 (it actually
didn't improved much in newer devices - but its a proof of its good
design rather that of inability of developers). It's fast, simple, easy
to use but it offer all functionality that 99% of PDA users need. There
are even better offering for the rest, of course. The same applies to
other software pieces (the To Do, the Memopad).
My personal experience is that it is faster and easier to use these
Palm's programs that anything other (even the Web OS applications are
much worse). The applications are often small but also easy to
understand and use and most things can be done with few stylus clicks.
The Graffiti is strange at first but it allowed devices to be tiny and
it is not hard.
Other's experience might be different. But it's my point of view.
P.S. I didn't mentioned my experience the OpenMoko phones for a reason.
They are exciting devices, but somewhat unfortunate. And they never
became usable phones or PDA's. There were many reasons for that. One of
them was design of their hardware. A device without stylus was somewhat
visionary in its time (the iPhone was not a thing when the OpenMoko
concept was publicly presented) but it failed in details: a phone
without stylus but with tradition pressure touchscreen with absurdly
raised edge is very hard to use.... And there were hardware bugs which
ruined its battery life and voice quality... Even the GTA04 didn't
solved most of them.