The World Wide Web In Your Handheld
PRODUCTS:
AvantGo Enterprise Interactive, Palm VII
By Simon Hayes
Many talented people are working feverishly on accessing Web or enterprise content on a Palm device. If you threw a rock into a room of technology analysts, you'd injure someone who could tell you how we'll soon all have access to handheld, high-bandwidth devices connected to the network 24/7. Handhelds, they say, will deliver media-rich content and messages to our eager senses any time we want, from anywhere in the world.
That's great, but if you're exploring equipment options for an enterprise or IS hand-held roll-out, you want to know what can be done today, not tomorrow. In this review we'll look at two of the most attractive alternatives for finding and viewing Web content wirelessly: a palmtop device using a wireless modem with
AvantGo, and the new Palm VII device from Palm Computing.
It should be noted that AvantGo can be used on a number of devices, including the Palm handhelds. Whereas AvantGo originally required users to synchronize their devices to receive fresh Web content, the latest version lets users retrieve content wirelessly, provided there's a wireless modem connected to the device. From here on, I'll refer to this system of device, software, and modem simply as AvantGo. Alternatively, the Palm VII comes with its own software and built-in method of accessing a wireless network.
