Buyer's Guide: Palmtops

Handheld computing has taken off. Palmtop computers--also known as handhelds, personal digital assistants, or personal information managers--could soon be as ubiquitous as cell phones. In fact, 12 percent of REALTORS® already use palmtop devices, according to a 1999 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® survey. And Microsoft’s recent introduction of the Pocket PC operating system, an enhanced version of its Windows CE operating system for a new class of tools, will only help draw attention to this already surging category.

“I’d been carrying a laptop all the time, but now I have everything I need right there with me in my Palm,” says Valerie Hunter-Kelly, a residential specialist with Century 21 Alamo, Clarksville, Tenn., and user of a Palm III. “With the Palm, there’s no waiting. Information is available to me right away, and my customers are always impressed.”

Despite the many monikers used to describe palmtop products, they’re all essentially minicomputers with LCD screens that manage basic contact and scheduling information. Prices range from less than $200 to almost $1,000. The higher the price, the more the units function as a downsized laptop, limited only by the miniature screen and the keyboard.

With a palmtop, you enter or access data using either a minikeyboard or a digital pen, called a stylus. You wouldn’t want to compose lengthy reports or letters either way, but for brief messages or notes to yourself, these methods are more than adequate. Most palmtops let you synchronize and share data with your PC.

What’s next? E-mail capability promises to become standard on these tiny computers. The Palm VII and Motorola’s PageWriter 2000 already feature wireless Web access, which lets users pull limited content off the Internet and send and receive e-mail. Many other palmtop devices can download e-mail from your primary system, allowing you to review and respond, and then transmit the replies later from your PC.

Marge Pawlak, associate broker with Re/Max Enterprises, Downers Grove, Ill., relies on the Motorola PageWriter 2000 for her basic information and communications needs when she doesn’t want to carry her laptop. The card-size, two-way messaging unit unfolds to reveal an LCD screen and mini-keyboard. It sends and receives pager messages and e-mail and has enough memory to hold contact and schedule information.

“I rely on e-mail but wanted something as small as possible,” she says. “It beeps to let me know I have e-mail. I just open it up to read, respond, and send, wherever I am. I don’t even have to leave a meeting.”

In Naples, Fla., Greg Gorman, salesperson with Downing-Frye Realty Inc., has come to rely on his Palm V in ways he once relied on his laptop. “I can download information from my database, Online Agent, to my Palm and download my e-mail to review whenever it’s convenient,” he says. “Why carry a laptop when all the names and numbers I need are there in my Palm?”

Gorman is a beta tester and an adviser in the development of Supra’s new eKEY, a licensed version of the Palm V that, in addition to the Palm features, includes real estate–specific functions, such as a built-in version of Top Producer software and daily updates of lockbox and showing activity and MLS listings.

Hunter-Kelly says she never envisioned she’d be storing business cards electronically, but it’s a feature she regularly uses when traveling. “If someone else has a Palm, all we have to do is point them at each other and beam the information,” she explains.

“This just makes my job so much easier in so many ways, and when I use it in front of my clients, it says to them that I’m really on top of things.”

Palm-size computers without keypads (ranked by price)

For more information from any manufacturer, visit the company’s Web site or circle the Reader Service number for the manufacturer on the bound-in, preaddressed REALTOR® Magazine Reader Service Card and mail the card in.

This list isn’t comprehensive; NAR doesn’t evaluate or endorse these products and isn’t responsible for changes in company information.

Handheld computers with keypads (ranked by price)

For more information from any manufacturer, visit the company’s Web site or circle the Reader Service number for the manufacturer on the bound-in, preaddressed REALTOR® Magazine Reader Service Card and mail the card in.

This list isn’t comprehensive; NAR doesn’t evaluate or endorse these products and isn’t responsible for changes in company information.

What to look for in a palmtop

Less can mean more in a handheld device. As you search for the best fit, keep these features in mind:

• Styling—Make sure the palmtop’s format doesn’t interfere with your ability to make practical use of it. The major consideration is whether you require anything resembling a keyboard. Lower-end devices have touch-screen LCD keyboards. Palm and others use a stylus, but Palm just came out with a full-size fold-up keyboard as an option.
• Operating system--The most popular is Palm OS, followed by Windows CE, a special version of Windows for palmtops. The newest challenger is Pocket PC from Microsoft. These and other operating systems should interface with your PC with no problem (some even work with Macs).
• Software--Virtually all these products ship with core applications for contact and information management and scheduling. Make sure, though, that these are applications you’ll use and that the unit is compatible with the software you use on your primary system.
• Synchronization--The ability to share data back and forth between the palmtop and a laptop or desktop system is a must. Look for the data synchronization software and ports that will allow you to do the information sharing you require, simply and quickly.
• Expandability--The more versatile the system in terms of expanding or adapting to innovation, the longer it will serve you.
• Access--Web and e-mail access is now routine to the workday. A palmtop that can accommodate these requirements will ultimately prove most useful.

So far, Palm devices win with users

Despite the power of Microsoft, devices using the Palm operating system (formerly PalmPilot) have emerged as the most popular real estate solution with users and technology developers alike.

Palm Inc.’s own lineup includes three series: the Palm III,V, and VII. All share the same core information management functions that go with the Palm operating system.

The series III are entry-level models that recently introduced Palm’s first full-color screen in the Palm IIIc. Series V models are smaller and have more memory. The Palm VII boasts wireless Web and Internet access using the Palm.Net service plan (available in major markets).

A new approach to the Palm was launched last year by start-up company Handspring, founded by the PalmPilot’s original designer. Handspring’s Visor, which uses the Palm operating system, takes the concept a step further with a “Springboard” expansion port. Modules that slip into this port will add memory or functions, such as modem, cell phone, or digital camera.

The Palm platform is also winning endorsements from real estate technology providers. Prudential Real Estate provides Palm VII users with wireless access to its real estate listings, open house information, and office contact information. PREP Software’s soon-to-be-released update is compatible with the Palm, and Top Producer is already available on the Supra eKEY Palm Vx.

However, competition is heating up. If Microsoft has its way, the next generation of handhelds will run its Pocket PC operating system. Pocket PC, released this spring, significantly retools Microsoft’s influence in the palmtop category.

Handhelds running Pocket PC are slightly larger than Windows CE devices. Casio, Hewlett-Packard, and Compaq introduced Pocket PC devices in stores this spring at prices comparable to that of a Palm VII.

The shared goal of Pocket PC backers appears to be to undermine the appeal of Palm by offering extras like more memory, faster processors, and some functionality of desktop software.

The Pocket PC operating system includes special versions of familiar applications such as Internet Explorer, Word, and Excel, as well as new modules that will transform these units into wireless communicators, electronic books, or digital audio players.

Is all that enough to steal Palm’s success? Real estate practitioners and other consumers will help decide--with their wallets.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive list of the products in this category. NAR doesn’t evaluate or endorse these products and isn’t responsible for changes in product info. Prices are the vendors’ suggested retail prices and are subject to change.