• The Nino does have socketable ROM -- this bodes well for future upgrades
  
• The Nino does not have a "flip-cover" -- not that attaches to the unit anyway
  
• SmARTwriter is the Nino's HWR system, not Jot (which is the other PalmPCs' bundle)
  
• The Nino appears to be the only currently planned PalmPC with the Tegic T9 keyboard

For instance, it seems that SmARTwriter is indeed the handriting recognition engine included with the Nino. SmARTwriter provides a quite natural feel in that you can write anywhere on the screen, across the page or with letters jumbled on top of one another. I've not had hands on experience with this engine, but as I've mentioned before, I do hear very positive things. The issue of whether or not the Nino is going to have a flip-cover to protect the screen is not quite resolved...the new link to a photo of the back of the unit does not appear to be connected just yet--I'm sure we'll be able to get at it on the next day or so. It is also of note that in following up on the article I've quoted below from Handheld PC magazine, I did confirm that the Nino seen at CES indeed posessed a flip-cover. We shall see once and for all very shortly I believe.

Just thought I'd make everyone aware of their new page (click image below to get there). Actually... perhaps you viewed their new page before you linked over to mine. :-) Cheers!

Another comment that came as a surprise to me was the article's mention of the Nino as "a sleek and stylish device, with a flip-cover to protect the screen". In all my research into the Nino, I've never seen a picture or read a spec that indicated that it has a cover of any sort attached to the case. Granted, I've never seen a photo of the back of the unit, which may be where this cover is hiding, but it seems as though I would have seen some indication of this feature. If anyone has any info that confirms this, please e-mail me. The lack of a flip-cover is what I would perhaps consider to be the Nino's largest fault. I will dig and see what I can find on this and on the character recognition issue.

Everyone should run out and pick up a copy of this great new magazine. There is a section in this issue that lists software that is already slated to be released for the PalmPC in particular, showing a nice array of packages waiting in the wings. Not to spoil everyone's fun in reading the mag for themselves, I will only mention two packages that I find of particular interest. CalliGrapher v5.0, the handwriting recognition package popular on the HPC's (not a character-by-character system such as Jot but a word-based system), is to be released. For those who care, Paragraph, the same people who created CalliGrapher developed the cursive recognition used on the Newton MessagePad 2000 (excellent recognition). I tested a much earlier version on a Velo 1 last summer and was quite impressed. The other item I find of particular inerest is a $24 upgrade to the PalmPC's built-in Jot character recognition system that allows text to be entered across the entire screen, rather than just in the soft input panel. This should allow Jot to function in a fashion more similar to its implementation on traditional HPC's. This does not look like any modification to the recognition engine, but simply adding versatility to the actual manner in which one inputs characters.

The moral of this newsblurt is this -- go buy the magazine. Cheers.

It has been rather clearly stated that the chracter-based recognition system bundled with the Nino is CIC's Jot package. I prefer Jot (I had it installed on the Velo 1 I used to own) to Graffiti (I used it on a PalmPilot I used to own and have it on my Newton MP2100) because it is not a unistroke method of input (though you can set an option that lets you basically enter text exactly as it is entered in Graffiti). It accepts text input character by character, but written more naturally, as one would normally write.

I am aware that there are pictures of the Nino (taken at CES) which show its character-input palette to look exactly like the one on the PalmPilot, strongly indicating that the Nino comes budnled with Graffiti. It can be seen, however, in looking at the emulated PalmPC that comes with the Platfrom SDK for the PalmPC from Microsoft (check my 2/2/98 entry in the News Archives section for a screenshot), that the character-input palette is currently very different from the one in the pictures at CES (taken a while before the beta Platform SDK for PalmPC was released). This could mean several things. Possibly Graffiti was thrown together and put on the PalmPC as a "quick fix" to get some character recognition online for the show. This would be slightly odd as Jot already exists for the H/PC flavor of WinCE 2.0, and seemingly would take extremely little coding to do the port--perhaps contract issues were unresolved. It also could mean that a very-Graffiti-looking character-input palette was chosen as a front-end to Jot, but this too seems odd as it could seemingly raise legal issues. One could speculate on and on, I suppose. The skinny of the situation is this--I have heard absolutely nothing at all about Graffiti being licensed for use on any PalmPC, and I have heard that bundling of Jot from CIC is a done deal.

I just wanted to share what I know about the situation with everyone to help clear up any misconceptions that the review mentioned below might have caused. I think it is widely conceived that Graffiti is synonymous with "character recognition," which it isn't. (Similar to the often innapropriate interchange of "Xerox" and "photocopy".) One should also not confuse the character-recognition system with the Tegic T9 keyboard either, which is a different input method alltogether. Not sure how clearly my above ramblings are, but I hope they help. (Entered hastily...I'm off to the beach!)

I feel that the Nino is the PalmPC of choice for many reasons. Here are some issues that come to mind in comparing the Nino to the Freestyle in particular:

- The Everex is the smallest PalmPC currently scheduled for release--small is good. But if you take a ruler and a piece of paper and draw the HxW dimensions of the Nino and of the Everex inside of it, you'll see that there is not a large difference here--not enough of a difference to matter to me. Both are pocketable.

- There is the issue of speed to consider. The Freestyle is running NEC's take on the MIPS R4000 processor core at 54MHz while the Nino is using Philips' own TwoChipPic+ with a MIPS R3000 processor core at 75MHz (the same CPU at the same clockspeed used in the Philips Velo 500 which, as mentioned here a few news-items back, is the fastest WinCE 2.0 HPC out there). Clearly the Nino is the faster device.

- There's also the issue of the LCD display. The Nino is the only PalmPC out there with a 16-grey-level LCD display--all other PalmPC's have 4-grey-level displays. This makes a significant difference in graphics quality which matters greatly to me as I like to carry digital photos with me on my PDA (my Newton's currently loaded with 16-shade photos).

- Another matter is the modem. The Nino has a built in softmodem that requires the attachment of a breakout box with an RJ-11 jack that adds 1" in length to the device (a necessity making it easier to deploy the Nino in foreign markets that require other phone connectors). The Freestyle requires that you set it in its docking cradle to use the modem. This hinders the Freestyle's feesability as a portable communications device significantly in my reckoning. The Freestyle's cradle contains its modem (I believe--I do not think it is using a softmodem, though I may be wrong), the RJ-11 jack, and batteries to power it.

- The cradle-modem's batteries are made necessary in part due to the fact that the Freestyle is powered by AAA's (while the Nino uses more powerful and longlasting AA's).

- The Freestyle's vibrating alarm. Well, that is pretty slick. What can I say?

- There are those who have mentioned that the Freestyle is slated for release ~1 month before the Nino (late April vs. late May). I do not consider this to be a particularly important factor.

- Another item that I consider to be relevant is Philips' success as a manufacturer of WinCE devices. The Velo 1 was clearly the best first generation WinCE machine, it's subtle nicities giving its users much more functionality than was available from other vendors. What has Everex produced along these lines? I understand that they made a small run of PC's a while back, but as far as I can see, they've mainly been in the modem business over the years. I personally have more faith in Philips as a company and feel they are the ones whome I wish to purchase from.

- The last issue I'll address here is the device itself--it's appearance. The Nino is far and away the "sleekest" looking PalmPC out there. It's stylish, like the Velo 1 and Velo 500 before it. I respect Philips' efforts in making this so.