Are palmtops lapping up the competition? Less is more when, away from the office, you need to keep up to date and in touch. By Adam Tinworth
It is no surprise that, with many palmtops now packing a power punch equivalent to desktop PCs of five years ago, people are seeing them as laptop replacements.
“The palmtop could replace the PC in the property industry,” declares Trevor Silver of Akeler. It’s a dramatic statement, but not an implausible one, based on the sheer enthusiasm most users show for their palmtops, or PDAs – personal digital assistants – as they’re also known.
“They’re essential – mainly as a personal organiser, but in future with a link-up to a mobile phone for internet access, downloading or sending e-mails while out of the office,” says Mike Ayton of CB Hillier Parker. “They will avoid the need to carry a laptop around for some people, I suggest.”
There are several varieties of palmtop. Psion’s machines were once the most popular in the UK, but, in recent years, machines based on the Palm operating system, including ones made by Palm itself and other manufacturers including Handspring, have stolen the lead among the general public.
The same is true of the surveying profession, with over 60% of users in an EG survey choosing the Palm platform. Microsoft’s own entrant to the market, PocketPC, is emerging as a significant player, too.
In most cases, the users buy their own devices, but in some companies it is not clear who will pay. At DTZ, for example, some people had theirs paid for, while others had to shell out for themselves.
Most people seem to think the money paid is well spent: prices range from around £100 to several hundred pounds.
“It’s a very useful tool. I’m now able to carry a lot of accessible information when out of the office. Games are great as well!” says Jason Smith at Allsop & Co. Given that most PDAs are personally owned, those games cannot be stripped off the machine by the IT department, as usually happens with desktop PCs.
But there are problems, not least the handwriting systems associated with some models. “Graffiti [the handwriting recognition system PalmOS machines use] can be slow when trying to take notes quickly, say for meetings,” says Tanya Willcocks of King Sturge.
However, most users see their PDA as a valuable resource for an increasingly mobile workforce. “For myself, it’s a personal tool, like a PC, laptop and mobile phone,” says Stephen Richardson of Weatherall Green & Smith. “I would like to see a fully functional London street map – I did use a program called CityKey, but it has since folded. I have tried to use AvantGo, but the channels won’t sync because of the settings on the WG&S server. I would like to see more people with a Palm in the industry, because I could then exchange my business card by beaming!”
Some think his pleas have already been answered. “The business card function is very useful and very evident at MIPIM where most of the delegates had Palm,” says Giles Sequeira of DTZ. “It certainly replaced business cards.”
DTZ’s Paul Brown always likes to have information to hand when on site, as well as the ability to sign off tasks for electronic management systems for buildings.
“Access to information when away from the office and use for inspection reports etc which can be automatically uploaded on return is useful,” says John Flexen of King Sturge. “Updates from a source of real estate data would also be useful.”
“So far as I’m concerned, my Palm is probably my most essential piece of equipment,” says Roger Chubb of Hartnell Taylor Cook. “I expect it to be fully integrated with my mobile phone for internet purposes this year and I anticipate using property industry software such as valuation programmes in the future.”
The ability to access the internet and e-mail on PDAs is something that gets many users excited. Being able to send and receive e-mails easily would increase their usefulness, suggests Psion Revo user Mark Tillson of Edward Symmons. Some Palms and PocketPCs already have that ability and the convergence between mobile phones and PDAs is widely expected to be a major trend in the next few years.
“A palmtop is essential for anyone who regularly travels and who uses Outlook as their PC-based system. Once you have one you find it is irreplaceable,” says Nick Compton of CB Hillier Parker.
“We should be able to eliminate the need to have a separate mobile phone later this year when products such as RIM’s Blackberry and Ubinetics PalmV phone clip come on to the market.”
There are some dissenting voices: “As a personal management tool I think it is crucial – for software applications I think a laptop PC is more relevant,” says Jeremy Green at Lambert Smith Hampton.
“As with all items of IT, its usefulness is determined by software which is not widely advertised,” says Steve McDonald of Drivers Jonas. “The usefulness of current models is questionable, but in the future I would expect improvements.”
Still, the overwhelming majority of users surveyed find them an invaluable tool.
“Palmtops are a convenient, compact way of transporting your entire desk around with you,” says Paul Weston of Gazeley Properties.
BOXTEXT: Not a single respondent to our survey reported using specialist property software on their devices. Yet such software does exist – and is in use.
For example, GVA Software’s Real Survey software is designed to aid on-site inspections. A piece of software running on a pocket PC can be used as part of the site inspection, and then synchronised with the desktop package back at the office.
Citex Building Surveyors uses palmtop computers with some custom software on some of its projects. The software is designed for each project, but generally involves data collection.
“We are a very mobile industry and increasingly becoming more dependent on IT solutions,” says Martin Pickard at Citex. “The palm technology brings the two together perfectly. There is much more that can be done.”
Even Egi, Estates Gazette’s own online service, is available on Palm devices, through the AvantGo service, which downloads the main news from the internet when you connect your handheld to your computer.
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Hand-held computer usage |
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Palm is the property fraternity’s clear favourite |
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Source: Estates Gazette |
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Who paid for your handheld? |
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Few companies see handhelds as essential tools |
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Source: Estates Gazette |
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Main uses of palmtops |
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Most people still use PDAs as personal organisers |
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Source: Estates Gazette |
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How useful is your palmtop? |
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The majority of PDA users find them very useful |
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Source: Estates Gazette |
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Weblinks |
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Palm: http://www.palm.com/uk/ Handspring: http://www.handspring.co.uk Psion: http://www.psion.co.uk PocketPC: http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/ AvantGo!: http://www.avantgo.co.uk |
