We review lots of products here at PC World, but typically we don't get to spend more than a few days with them--and sometimes you get a different take on a new gadget after living with it for a few months. In this column, I'll be reporting about my personal experiences with products we've formally reviewed.
First up: the Danger Hiptop. Launched in 2002, the Hiptop--a cell phone/PDA hybrid that T-Mobile markets as the Sidekick--went on to be named PC World Product of the Year for 2003. I've been using one since January 2003, and it has become indispensable to me. I love its small size, nice keyboard, and good selection of built-in software. And although the browser is rather basic, I enjoy being able to read the BBC News Web site on my long daily commute.
Paradise Lost?
But the Hiptop is far from perfect. Over the past few months, a few problems have made me wonder if I want to keep using it.
First, like most combination PDA/mobile phone devices, it presents a compromise. In this case, you get a fairly lackluster cell phone and a reasonable PDA. Using it as a phone is awkward: You can plug in a wired headset, but the device doesn't have Bluetooth capability so you can't use a wireless headset. I don't make a lot of phone calls, so this isn't a big problem for me. The Hiptop would not be suitable for heavy phone users, though.
As a PDA, it has all of the basic functions you'd expect: a calendar, a to-do list, an address book, and so on. And all of the data on your Hiptop is mirrored on a Web-based desktop interface you can access with any Web browser, so you can access your data even if you've left your Hiptop at home. But right now, there's no way to sync this data directly with your desktop personal information manager. You're limited to importing data through a Web-based desktop interface that mirrors the data on the Hiptop over the carrier's wireless network. And you can use this interface only to import data that you've exported from your PIM to a properly formatted text file. That's a hassle, to say the least.
Plus, the process works in one direction: The only way to get data such as a phone number or a new calendar entry from the Hiptop to your desktop PIM is to cut-and-paste it from the Web interface--a real problem if you're trying to get yourself organized. I'd love to be able to make an entry on my to-do list on the Hiptop and have it quickly added to my to-do list in Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes, but it just doesn't work that way. Instead, I find myself entering the item into the Hiptop and then e-mailing a note to myself to enter it into my desktop to-do list. That's a complicated way to do something that's automated on a Palm or Pocket PC PDA.
Too Little, Too Late
Danger has said that it will be providing a program to synchronize data between the Hiptop and a variety of desktop programs; and last year the company licensed syncing technology from Pumatech, producer of the popular Intellisync package. But we've yet to see sync software from Danger, a problem that severely limits the usefulness of its product.
The other difficulty is software. As my colleague Yardena Arar points out in her recent PDA Pundit column, there are hundreds of programs available for PDAs based on both the Palm and Pocket PC operating systems. But there are only a handful of programs available for the Hiptop at present, and most of these are trivial, such as a world clock and a couple of simple games. And you can't just download a program from a Web site and install it onto the Hiptop: Software has to be tested and approved by Danger and then provided to users through the company's online catalog service, a process that has put off many potential developers.
Bottom line: Danger doesn't seem to have capitalized on the initial excitement surrounding its product. By now, I would have liked to have seen at least the ability to synchronize data to my desktop and a good selection of third-party software, but these have not materialized.
I'm still a great fan of the Hiptop; I think it's cool to be able to send instant messages to friends and read news headlines while carpooling on the freeway. But with newer products like PalmOne's Treo 600, which offers all of the Hiptop's features and more, it's looking increasingly like it's time to upgrade.
Have a question or comment? Drop me a line.
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