Hewlett Packard has been king of the handheld hill for years. Their original "Palmtop

PCs" (the 95LX, 100LX and 200LX) are no longer being manufactured, but are still in use by a large number of very satisfied people. (In fact, one of the things Thaddeus Computing, publisher of Pocket PC magazine, does is repair and sell refurbished 100/200LX Palmtop PCs.) This tradition of happy palmtop users may be one of the reasons why HP succeeded in the small, Windows CE Handheld PC business, while everyone else dropped out.

HP pretty much owned this niche over a year ago when they released the Jornada 680 Handheld PC Pro, quickly followed by the Jornada 690 (a 680 with 32 Mb of RAM memory, both the 680 and 690 are still being sold by HP). Since then things have been pretty quiet for Handheld PCs. That is, until a few weeks ago. On September 7, 2000 Microsoft announced its update of the Handheld PC Pro, the Handheld PC 2000 series computer. On the same day, Hewlett Packard released its new H/PC 2000, the Jornada 720.

Faster, longer battery life and more

The case of HP Jornada 720 is a little darker than its predecessor, the Jornada 680. In fact, it's almost identical in appearance, size and weight. But as with all good things, it's what's inside that counts. The HP Jornada 720 is noticeably faster than its predecessors, thanks to its 206 MHz StrongARM processor (up from the Jornada 690's 133 MHz SH3). The StrongARM is designed by Intel to conserve power, consequently the 720 gets about 10% better battery life than it's predecessor. HP estimates that at 9 hours, but that's an average use estimate. HP promotes a special power management feature that lets you stay connect to the Web for extended periods of time. I did notice a checkbox in the Power Properties screen of the Systems applet that lets you automatically turn off the screen when playing music or connecting to the Internet or a PC. However good these improvements are, you'll probably get less than HP's estimates, especially if you use the stereo headphones jack to listen to music on the newly included Microsoft Media Player.

Another improvement to the hardware that speeds things up considerably is USB connectivity. You don't get a USB cable in the Jornada 720 box, but you can buy one from HP that lets you connect to your desktop PC via a fast USB connection. HP in-cludes the USB cable and another serial cable with its optional Docking Cradle ($35). But since the 720 already ships with a Docking Cradle and serial cable, it would make more sense to sell the USB cable independently.

Another major hardware improvement is the re-design of the PC and CompactFlash Card slots. The Jornada 680/690 and a very clever, but awkward piggy-back arrangement for these two slots. The CF slot was actually stored inside the PC Card slot. If you have both a PC Card and CF Card inserted into the 680/690, the CF Card bulged out the bottom. Like I said, it was clever but awkward.

The Jornada 720 has two separate card slots. The larger Type II PC Card slot on the left edge of the 720, and the smaller Type II CF Card slot in the right-hand corner of the bottom of the unit. (See Screen 1: Note that the backup coin-cell battery is visible under the CF Card slot.). Actually, the Jornada 720 has an additional Smart Card slot on the left edge, above the PC Card slot. A Smart Card is identical in size and feel to a credit card, but stores information on a chip embedded in the card. It can hold a variety of information, including secure information, user identification, e-money and more. By including a Smart Card slot, HP makes the Jornada 720 and attractive platform for enterprise users.

Screen 1: HP moved the CompactFlash slot from its awkward positioning on the Jornada 680/690 to the right-hand corner of the bottom of the unit on the Jornada 720.

HP's built a 2D graphics accelerator into the screen, and the screen refreshes are certainly faster than the 680/690. But I can't tell how much of that is the faster CPU. Interestingly, the 720's screen looks brighter than the 680's when the two are placed side by side and set to the same brightness and contrast levels.

Like I said earlier, most of the rest is identical to the Jornada 680/690. That means that you should be able to swap accessories and spare batteries between the two.

New software from Microsoft

The Jornada 720 is the first of a new batch of Windows Powered Handheld PC 2000s, the next evolutionary step from the Handheld PC Pro. The article on page xx describes what it means to be a Handheld PC 2000 computer. You still have all the built-in applications found on the H/PC Pro, including Pocket Outlook (Calendar, Tasks, Contacts, Inbox); Pocket Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access); InkWriter; Voice Recorder; Solitaire; and various setup utilities. To this, Handheld PC 2000 adds the update Windows CE 3.0 operating system and three new built-in applications: Microsoft Media Player (for listening to MPF or MP3 music); Internet Explorer for Handheld PC 2000 (an enhanced version of Pocket Internet Explorer that can display animated GIFs, and supports XML/XSL and DHTML) and Terminal Server Client (which lets H/PC 2000 users remotely access desktop applications). Screen images of MS Media Player and Internet Explorer are on page xx. A more thorough description of the Microsoft software built into the Handheld PC 2000 is at (www.microsoft.com/mobile/hpc/features/default.asp).

New built-in and add-on software from Hewlett-Packard

One of HP's traditional strengths is the suite of add-on applications it includes with its Windows Powered devices. The Jornada 720 comes with the following built-in applications developed by HP for its Jornada series: HP backup, dialup, quick pad, viewer, hot keys, security, and settings (power, display and memory properties). These are the same applications found on the HP Jornada 680 and 690 Handheld PC Pros. They make configuring the 720 and setting up Internet Service Provider and email accounts much easier. I particularly like HP quick pad, which lets you quickly enter random information for later "through-put" to Calendar, Contacts, Tasks or Pocket Word or InBox. A more complete description of these built-in HP applications can be found on page 12 of the July/August 1999 issue (www.pocketpcmag.com/july99/Jornada.htm).

Found on the earlier Jornada 680/690, but missing on the 720 is HP macro, a built-in macro utility that let you automate a sequence of keystrokes. I have mixed feelings about this decision. I feel that decent macro capability would add a lot of functionality to Handheld PCs. The need to automate keystrokes is particularly important on devices with small keyboards (like the Jornada 720) or no keyboards (like any of the Pocket PCs). However, the truth is that I never used the 680's macro capability, except when I was testing it for an article. HP macro probably disappeared because it was rarely used.

New to the Jornada 720 is HP security and HP ChaiVM 4.1.2 (English language only).

HP security is a nifty little utility that lets you set up a system-wide password for the 720. It has an interesting "Reminder" feature that will let you get by the password protection if you forget your password. Reminder deals with the problem the way some Web sites do. You enter a question and answer into the Reminder configuration screen prior to activating this feature. If you attempt to turn on your Jornada 720 and forget the password, Reminder will ask you the question. If you get the answer right, the Jornada lets you enter a new password and lets you in. I entered "Mother's maiden name" as the question and "davies" as the answer. I purposefully flubbed my password and got the following screen (see Screen 2). I typed in "davies" (without the quotation marks) and the HP security let me enter a new password. Note that password, as well as the Reminder question and answer are case sensitive.

Screen 2: HP security lets you password protect your Jornada 720. Its Reminder feature helps you (and you only) get by the protection if you forget the password (screen capture by DeveloperOne's ScreenSnap 4.0).

HP ChaiVM 4.1.2 is the other new HP application. HP ChaiVM is a "Java virtual machine" compatible with version 1.1.8 of the Java specifications. Java is a technology that lets programs and applications to be written in one language (Java) and run on any computer equipped with a "Java virtual machine" written for the computer. ChaiVM is the Java virtual machine for the HP Jornada Pocket and Handheld PCs.

HP includes three Java applications with ChaiVM, the game Tic-Tac-Toe (shown in Screen 3), a simple tips calculator, and an applet that displays the character set. You can also enable ChaiVM as a plug-in in Internet Explorer, although Java applets designed to be displayed on a desktop PC's full VGA screen may not appear the same on the Jornada's 1/2-VGA screen.

Screen 3: HP ChaiVM is a "Java virtual machine" designed for HP Jornada Handheld and Pocket PCs. It lets you run Java applets on the Jornada, like the simple game of Tic-Tac-Toe shown here (screen capture by DeveloperOne's ScreenSnap 4.0).

The Java applets that ship with the Jornada 720 are not all that impressive, but ChaiVM's potential is. The whole idea behind Java was to be able to write one program that worked on all platforms. ChaiVM could make a whole world of Java applications available to Jornada Handheld and Pocket PCs.

HP ChaiVM is designed for devices with limited storage space and operating memory, like the Jornada Handheld and Pocket PCs. But it's still pretty large for a Windows CE program. According to HP it needs 16 Mb of program memory to run. This makes it unsuitable for Jornadas with 16 Mb of program memory. For more on HP ChaiVM, visit the HP Chai Web site (www.chai.hp.com/jornada/index.html).

Hewlett Packard also includes Yahoo!® Messenger with the Jornada 720, to let you send instant messages to online friends and check news, stock prices, and more. They also include a setup application for the Aironet Wireless LAN Adapter card. Finally, they include Landware's OmniSolve financial calculator (as they have with all of their Jornada Handheld PCs).

HP Jornada 720 Users can download the following user-installable applications from HP's Jornada Web site (www.hp.com/jornada/solutions): IntraNet Solutions Quick View Plus® lets you view e-mail software attachments or documents in multiple formats, with embedded tables, and selected graphic formats. (English language only). MusicMatch® Jukebox lets you record, organize, and play digital music.

HP Handheld PCs still alive and kicking

The bad news first: HP will not be offering an upgrade chip for their Jornada 680/690 users. However, they will offer user-installable versions of their add-on applications to their existing Jornada users. I hope that also means that downloadable versions of Microsoft Media Player will be available, but that question was not answered as I went to press.

Another thing to be aware of is that much of the Handheld PC shareware and freeware out there is written for MIPS or SH3 processors, not the StrongARM processor. I imagine that will change with the success of the Jornada 720 ­ I do think it will be well received by the enterprise and end-users. I expect the most popular commercial programs to be available for the Jornada 720 relatively soon.

There was a movie filmed here in Iowa, called Field of Dreams. In it, ghostly voices encouraged Kevin Costner's character to "go the distance." The Jornada 720 Handheld PC 2000 is proof that HP has heard those same voices all these years