The Story So Far . . .
My amateur adventures into the world of computing began with a nondescript Tandy with a floppy drive which was last seen about 1989 disappearing through a window in the arms of a thief.
This was replaced by several 'cat's whisker' Amstrad PCW's with Locoscript and floppy disks and some time later along came adventures with PC's, early laptops and Windows 3.1.
A long honeymoon with Psion.
But it was a Psion 3a that won my heart and affections. I was captivated the sheer ability of this little computer to do so much on just 2 AA batteries. Then when I discovered a shareware programme called READCIS which somehow managed to log-on to my CompuServe via a snail speed modem and any old phone line we became inseparable companions.
The height of achievement was attained a Ghana bush village when to the saucer-eyed astonishment of the elders, communication was established with the UK through the single copper cable to Accra which in turn connected to the one single modem owned by the national CompuServe agent. To this day the event is said to be recalled in fireside story-telling.
The marketing promises of the Psion 5 brought about the early retirement of the 3a, and indeed the keyboard and the Messaging Suite software brought a great improvement, sadly let down by the murky screen. Later on I upgraded to the one of the 5MX models which did everything so very well and so very quickly and reliably . . . but that screen was little improved and hard on the eyes. The 3a just sat there in the corner shining its data out as clear as crystal but no match for the sending and receiving speed of the 5MX.
With the addition of the freeware Macro 5 software that enabled me to enter pre-written standard text and I found that with a 5MX, modem or mobile phone I could easily cope with a river of e-mails from wherever I happened to be in the world.
That is until my Psion PC Card Holder with a 28K or 34K Psion Gold Card broke. Until then connecting and communicating had never been an issue. I replaced the card holder with a Pegasus II 56K modem for the same price and this was faster and almost as reliable until some months later it too failed.
To be fair the suppliers replaced it under warranty with another slightly later model, and then another - neither of which remotely approached the reliability of the first - so a refund was sent to me which I used to buy a Psion Infra-Red modem, said to be perfectly compatible and the very latest thing.
What a disaster, what a frustration and what a disappointment. The failed connections and dropped lines seemed to be endless and only made worse by the fact that when the combination did work, my, how well it zipped along. Only the infra-red connection to my Ericsson SH888 mobile phone worked faultlessly but at a mere 9,600 kbs instead of 56,000.
Anyway, Psion wanted £1 a minute for unhelpful support whilst the suppliers, Widget, said they had similar problems with their own similar modems in the office. It was replaced without question under guarantee, soft and hard resets were done on the Psion almost daily, and then BT and crows were blamed for a bad line until the provision of a new BT pole and cable eventually brought all official reasons to nought, and another refund was made.
The Psion and I fell out of love forever and a divorce took place through the small-ads of the local paper. Nevertheless the latest 16mb Revo brought back fond memories of the old 3a and only the unexpected gift of a second-hand Compaq Aero ( A what I asked?) prevented another journey down the well-trodden path to Dixons.
Psion people develop an inbuilt prejudice against anything to do with Windows CE and after years of reading the forum discussions I was no different, not that I had ever seen or tried a Windows CE machine but of course it couldn't be as good as a Psion. Everyone knows that.
Or could it ?
The Compaq Aero 8000 HPC Pro
The Aero 8000 HPC Pro was a year old and incompatible with a local dealer's normal stock so he kindly gave it to me knowing that I travel a lot and use mobile communications.
Deeply suspicious of such a Windows CE package I nevertheless explored it and experimented with everything I could find only to discover that it not only did everything I wanted, but it also did it better and quicker than the Psion and what is more I had a 10 inch brilliant colour screen in front of my eyes. It was like PDA heaven had come down to earth.
The review on the Foxpop CE website can tell the rest of the story far better than I can, the only downside for me being the insensitivity of the finger-pad mouse which I soon overcame by learning the equivalent key strokes, and the larger size of the machine which couldn't be hid in a pocket away from the eyes of airport and street thieves.
Had it not been for the opportunity to test drive a Compaq Ipaq Pocket PC the Aero would have been in my briefcase for ever.
WAP ? WAP Not !
In between times I had tried the WAP facility to send and receive e-mails via a mobile phone. Much was promised but in reality little to nothing was actually practical and probably the least said the better. Don't waste your money, wait instead for the 3G generation and even then see and try the new models for yourself to see if they approach the marketing hype.