Round Two: Built-in Applications
(the Palm OS vs. Pocket PC)

Naturally, a PDA without applications is not worth owning. And both devices have a number similar built-in applications that make a head-to-head comparison easy. 

The Calendar applications are fairly similar in functionality. The Palm Pilot's date book application offers a much clearer week and month view, while the Pocket PC delivers an agenda view and a today screen that provide slimmed-down and information-packed views respectively. Bottom line, the preferred calendar functionality can only be decided by the end user, so we abstain from a vote on this category.

The phone book application comparison is much more one-sided. With more than twice as many total fields, three times as many E-mail/Phone fields and the "home", "work" and "other" addresses where the Pilot only offers a single option, the address book on the Pocket PC really puts Palm Pilot to shame. Furthermore, the redesigned interface for the Pocket PC's Contacts application has an uncluttered and well-designed contact list screen that is far superior to that of the Palm Pilot.  

The mail and expense tracking applications on the Pocket PC are a clear display of Microsoft's competitive advantage. Using a pocket-sized version of Outlook, the Pocket PC has the ability to open Excel, HTML and Word documents just by tapping on the e-mail attachment icon. And, Pocket Money not only tracks all of your financial accounts but also your stock portfolio and works well as a stand-alone financial application. This functionality is unequalled in any device we've ever seen and almost an unfair comparison to the mail and expense applications on the Pilot.  

The memo pad and to do lists on both devices are nearly identical. The only difference in memo pad functionality is the Pocket PCs support for drawing, voice and handwriting input (including delayed recognition, for when you really have to write something quickly, but want to convert it to text later). In the to do list application, Palm offers 5 priority levels where the Pocket PC only has low, medium and high priority. The Pocket PC also has the ability to set start dates on tasks, so they don't show up on your Active list until a later date and supports recurring tasks and an alarm reminder. This extra functionality gets the Pocket PC the advantage in the memo and to do list categories.  

Finally, the security features on the Palm Pilot far outdistance the Pocket PC's nearly blatant ignorance of the need for a secure handheld. While both devices have power-on passwords, the Palm Pilot offers forgotten password retrieval and has private records for any application. 

Published: 6/1/00