Xircom's (bought from Franklin) REX is a credit-card sized device that you can download Outlook information into. Except for newer, more expensive models, the REX has no way to input data in the field. There is one model that attaches to the smallest Motorola cell phone, the StarTAC. REXs start at $80, but for whatever reason they're not very popular.  They do have nice contrasty screens.

Cell phones, of course, are everywhere - they outnumber palmtops by a long shot. Some models are beginning to offer email and limited web access. All the palmtop platforms are being incorporated into cell phones.  Since cell phones are essentially given away, why would anyone buy palmtops?  However, you hold a cell phone to your ear - how do you write something down that the other party is telling you?

Digital voice recorders are great for recording thoughts you have while driving, or for doctors dictating to secretaries. Some come with automatic voice-to-text software that runs on your desktop. However, they're relatively expensive at $70+, and this feature will be absorbed by palmtops - as will MP3 player capability that plays CD-quality music downloaded from the net.

A hardware-less alternative to palmtops is to rely on accessing Outlook via the web from anywhere, or on similar web-based PIM services.  Anyday.com, recently purchased by Palm Inc., provides normal PIM functions and synchronization with PalmOSes.  Qrio.com receives faxes and voice mail and places them in your mailbox along with email; you can send to faxes and voice mail too (imagine combining this with a palmtop).

Not discussed here are sub-$100 devices like Casio organizers or Sharp Wizards that have been around for a while.  Products like these tend to be proprietary designs and lack the technology or popularity of the devices we have been discussing.  One palmtop from the past (they just stopped production), HP's 200LX, deserves special mention - a rock solid performer that dates back as far as 1987 - but it is aimed at nerds, not the general public.

Future devices

What does the future hold?  A do-everything palmtop (PIM, cell phone, two-way pager, digital voice recorder, maybe GPS, etc.) is likely.  A problem is the human-machine interface: how do you make it small (read cute, easy to carry) AND easy to use (big screen, keyboard, handwriting recognition)?

Wireless service will make data and the world available anywhere.  Short-range wireless could provide a map to the vendor floor at a conference.  The only limit to the possibilities is imagination.  Some buzzwords are Blackberry, Bluetooth, and RIM.  Microsoft has a page discussing some of the technologies.

Although you can get by with very little palmtop memory today, there will be reasons for new palmtops with more memory. Adobe and Microsoft are pushing "ebook" standards (ePaper and Microsoft Reader, respectively), for example, so you can download a book and read it on your palmtop.  See Audible, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Contentville, or the University of Virginia for ebook titles.  The Palm download sites have an amazing amount of medical manuals and programs available today.  Maybe we won't buy paper books or music CDs anymore.

Web access will improve (it is in an infant stage now).  Technologies for scaling the web down to palmtop size include WAP and web clipping.

From another angle, think about today's desktops: they're too complicated, when they get confused they are relatively difficult to reload, and they are rarely backed-up.  Part of the computer industry is working on a post-PC solution - what comes after Windows and Macintosh?  A "web terminal" would have a flat screen display, a keyboard/mouse, and a high-speed connection to the Internet (the campus net, or broadband (ADSL, cable, or satellite) from home.  It would have no local hard disk; applications would be downloaded (rented) from ASPs (Application Service Providers) on the net when needed.  There would be nothing to upgrade, nothing to break, nothing to age - a 10 yr old web terminal would be just as useful as a new one. The rub is "Where is my personal data stored?". It could be stored on a "file server" on the net - but do you trust someone out there with your personal data?  It sounds Big Brother-ish. So, maybe there would be a memory slot into which you plug a small memory device with all your information (including your medical record, perhaps). You could plug it into any web terminal in the world and have your full environment. Now, say there was a small screen and input feature on the memory device, for limited viewing on the road. That's a palmtop, isn't it? Actually, a desktop and sync cable with a palmtop is not that far off.

Today you can go to a vet and have a very small electronic device inserted into your pet. Then when your pet gets lost, you borrow a receiver from the vet and track it down. Imagine all of us having such an insert. You wouldn't have to carry keys - as you approach a door it could sense who you are and unlock itself if you allowed in.  Again there are Big Brother concerns.

Future palmtops will recognize speech (and speak to you?).  Perhaps we'll have glasses with heads-up displays - you'll be walking down the sidewalk and the name of the person approaching you appears (or the fact that he's a felon!). It won't be long before devices on the net outnumber people - your smart house will want to tell you when the heat fails, or you'll want to shut the shades.  Perhaps, with digital signatures, we can really leave paper behind, and even vote online :) .

A good place to see unusual palm-sized devices is www.the-gadgeteer.com.