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H/PC Pro: An OverviewThe next step in Windows CE handhelds Rancho Cordova, CA, Nov 98-- Just to put the cards on the table right up front: the H/PC Pro is not a new computer or a new operating system. Instead, it is a combination of enhancements and additions to the Windows CE operating environment that supports many new hardware and software features. As a result, Windows CE for handheld devices works better in almost every respect, and the additional hardware support means that there is a greater variety and selection of Windows CE computers than ever. There is a lot to like, and there are some great new H/PC devices, but before we get into details, please commit the following to memory, no matter how odd it may sound: "H/PC Pro consists of version 2.2 of the Windows CE services on the PC, version 2.11 of the Windows CE operating system, and version 3.0 of the Pocket Office application suite." Groan. Yes, it would have been so much nicer had Microsoft simply called the whole thing something catchy like "Windows CE 99." The H/PC Pro platform, which had been code named "Jupiter," is Microsofts response to customer requests for larger screens, better email and server synchronization, on-device document conversion, better web browsing, better management tools, and the addition of a database. In addition there are a myriad of tweaks and enhancements that make H/PC Pro—introduced on October 8, 1998—a much more pleasant operating environment. While many of the H/PC Pro enhancements and additions are under the hood, there are some very visible changes in the hardware and some significant improvements in the applications. The biggest and most immediately noticeable change is that Windows CE now supports a full 640 x 480 VGA, or even an 800 x 600 SVGA screen! Depending on your needs in a handheld, the difference this makes is incredible; its as if a blindfold had been removed. The 640 x 240 format predominant in the second generation of H/PC devices was certainly an improvement over the initial 480 x 240, but it was still nowhere near a substitute for the standard VGA screen that we all know and love. Granted, the VGA and SVGA screen format takes a lot more real estate and many users may continue to prefer the space efficient "traditional" H/PC screen format, but—alas—seeing CE run on a "real" screen makes it all worth it. The second major change is that the H/PC Pros suite of pocket office applications now includes Pocket Access, a surprisingly powerful and useful application even when used in standalone mode. Perhaps the best way to understand the difference between the H/PC and the new H/PC Pro is to look at the difference between Microsoft Office and Microsoft Office Pro. Office Pro adds the Access database and a bunch of utilities and power tools. That said, lets take a detailed tour through through all the changes and differences. Control panels Pocket Access Fields can be in one of nine formats (text (up to 255 characters), integer, date/time, boolean, float, memo, small integer, binary, or OLE object). Once determined, fields cannot be changed. Fields can be indexed and sorted. There are also icons for sorting and filtering of data. There are a number of ways to locate and organize data in Pocket Access, using the Find, Sort, and Filter commands. For searches including more than one field, you can create a SQL (Structured Query Language) query. A special SQL view lets you create new SQL procedures, or use one of the last 15 procedures that were run. Pocket Access also converts find, sort, and filter commands into SQL statements that you can use. SQL procedures can be saved. There are some limitations when synchronizing with a desktop database. Images and OLE objects cant be interpreted by Pocket Access. Table names are limited to 31 characters. Longer ones are truncated. Access system tables cannot be synchronized. And tables larger than 64KB will be truncated when synchronized. Similarly, there are some limitations when synchronizing indices. Anything created on the mobile device synchronizes fine back up to the desktop. However, for databases created on the desktop, only four indices will be synchronized, and there are a number of other limitations that may or may not be important to your application. Be sure to carefully read this section before synchronizing to a mobile device. As for viewing data, there is the Datasheet View, the Design View, and the SQL View. In datasheet view, you can see data one record as at a time as a form, or in tabular view, or both combined. At first sight, Pocket Access seems to be a more complete subset of the desktop version than are Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, and certainly Pocket PowerPoint. The Tools menu now has an Insert Symbol selection which brings up a 32 x 8 grid of symbols similar to the Apple Keycaps function. Symbols can be viewed in any font installed, and in a large number of different subsets starting with the basic Latin-1; going to Latin Extended for just about any foreign language character; to mathematical operators, box drawings and block elements, geometric shapes, and dingbats; to exotic ones such as Gurmukhi, Oriya, and Tamil. The availability of these characters no doubt adds a lot of flexibility to Pocket Word and makes internationalization easier. Pocket Word Help has been rearranged and some topics have been added. Perhaps most importantly, Pocket Word documents can now be saved in several additional formats: Unicode Text (.txt); Word 97 and Word 6.0/95, both as documents and templates; and as Inkwriter/Note Taker files (.pwi). At first sight, Tasks and Contacts havent changed much. The filter on Category tool has been moved to the Filter pulldown menu. In both applications, InkWriter has now much more functionality. There is now a Typing, Writing, and Drawing view. A Format menu has been added where you can select font properties, as well as pen weight, line color, and fill color. Under Tools, you can select capitalization of the first character of a sentence, smoothing of handwriting input, scrolling at the last line, and starting new notes in Write view. Those familiar with the old aha! InkWriter will recognize almost that entire application here. InkWriter now also shows up as a separate application in the Accessories menu. |
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