Mobile Computing: Rent Movies for Your Notebook

Handhelds

Hands On: PDA Maps

Using interactive maps on a PDA is often a direct route to frustration. Case in point: DeLorme's XMap Handheld Street Atlas USA Edition (list price: $40) for Palm OS and Pocket PC devices. The software promises address-to-address routing directly on a handheld, but several key addresses I tried to get directions to--including PC World's San Francisco office--were nowhere to be found. The software's interface makes routing cumbersome, too. To create a route, for instance, you have to tap the locations on a map. Typing in specific addresses would be easier and more precise.

For my money, Vindigo 2.0 (annual subscription fee: $25) is still the best PDA mapping tool. In addition to supplying up-to-date movie and restaurant reviews and other listings for your selected cities, Vindigo 2.0 displays theater and restaurant locations on a scrollable, zoomable map and provides directions, too. For instance, after selecting your current location as the default, you can read a restaurant review, then click the Go tab to get directions. The directions aren't always the most efficient, and they're geared more for walkers than drivers, but they're usually accurate and helpful.

News: Upcoming 2.5G BlackBerry

A new version of Research In Motion's BlackBerry will be the first designed for CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) networks. The BlackBerry 6750 provides access to e-mail, messaging, a dual-band phone, a Web browser, and organizer applications and is essentially a 2.5G device capable of handing data transfers up to 1.44 kilobits per second. The latest "CrackBerry" (the handheld device's nickname, due to its addictive qualities) is expected to be offered in the United States by Verizon Wireless in the first quarter of 2003.

News: Pocket PC Memory Lapse

ViewSonic was recently taken to task by users for initially advertising that its Pocket PC V35 handheld had 64MB of memory when only 36.45MB is actually available. The other 27.55MB--about 43 percent of the device's memory--is used by the operating system, the company says. ViewSonic has updated its product literature to clarify.

A check of Pocket PC specifications listed on the Web sites of Dell Computer Hewlett-Packard, and Toshiba found that none of the rival Pocket PC makers listed the amount of RAM used by the operating system. When asked, a Toshiba spokesperson said about 7MB of RAM is used by the operating system when the Pocket PC is in use.