The Jornada 720 is a different type of device than the IPAQ or Palm O/S devices.It is bigger, heavier and has a better screen (because of it's size), although it is not as bright.The software included with teh Jornada seem to be more "full featured" than the IPAQ.It also supports storage cards like the IPAQ.It has a "built-in" PCMCIA slot.It also supports one memory card and the PCMCIA card at the same time, without adding anything to the size of the basic device.It also has a built in 56K modem.But, for some reason, I could not get my 2GB PCMCIA hard drive to work.It has a large battery and you can get, as an option, a battery that is good for three times as long as the standard one, which is supposed to last all day.
The Jornada has a built in keyboard, which while complete, is not quite as easy to use as the external, full size foldup keyboard that I have for the IPAQ.The obvious thing might be the size of my fingers, so I thought my daughter Katie could give us some idea if it was easy for her.
Katie wrote:
"You have to be a bit more careful when you type because you're constantly hitting the wrong keys.You try to search for the right letter, but its a little farther over on a regular keyboard.It's not impossible, and it does get a little easier after you get a little more used to it.Luckily, this version of Pocket Word has spellcheck."
I had the feeling that if you spend a little time, it would work fine, better than graffiti and poking around with the stylus.But, after writing almost a page, I moved back to the PC.
For this exercise, I used MapPoint 2002 on the Jornada, and like I did with the IPAQ, I created the maps on the PC, then downloaded them to the PDA.
I already had Baskin Robbins points in Excel for San Diego.Map Point imports them without a problem, in fact, it is almost too easy.Note the map quality that is standard with MapPoint.
So here are my Baskin Robbins points for San Diego.Note I have attributes, too.
MapPoint lets us see the attributes on the point files and on the PC we can also draw territories.However, these are not features, just graphics.(Figure 1)
FIGURE 1
MapPoint lets the user see the attributes on the point files, and, on the PC, we can also draw territories.However, these are not features, just graphics.(Figure 2)
FIGURE 2
When I saved this MapPoint file and moved it to the Jornada, this is what I got.(Figure 3)
FIGURE 3
I discovered that you can screen capture the map from MapPoint on the PDA and then paste into Pocket Word.There does not seem to be a Pocket Paint.
You will have to look closely to see the points where the Baskins Robbins are, as there isn't any way to make the map pins bigger.
This is when I zoomed in and clicked on the map pin for our Baskin Robbins.Notice while I now have attributes, they are in an abbreviated form compared to what we had on the PC.(Figure 4)
FIGURE 4
This is zoomed a little closer.(Figure 5)
FIGURE 5
The maps are just super! The quality and the digitizing of the streets are very nice - notice the smooth curves of the streets just above our Lat/Long info on the Poway Baskin.
While we can see some attributes on our points, we can not create territories.
You can put your own data points into the map easily using standard Office products.MapPoint also creates routes and includes data on restaurants, hotels and other businesses.This is one of those products that leaves you impressed, yet wanting more.
Next time I talk about some of the things I would like to use these devices for and a project that I have in the works.