Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpl-opus!hpnmdla!darrylo
From: darrylo@hpnmdla.HP.COM (Darryl Okahata)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: calculators vs computers
Message-ID: <1570009@hpnmdla.HP.COM>
Date: 30 Sep 90 03:25:55 GMT
References: <1049@helens.Stanford.EDU>
Organization: HP Network Measurements Div, Santa Rosa, CA
Lines: 44

In comp.sys.handhelds, zaphod@madnix.UUCP (Ron Bean) writes:

>    I'd like to comment on this from the opposite direction: If
> the current generation of HP's had come out with QWERTY keyboards
> and 40x8 displays, I would have bought one. I often want to jot
> down notes which, ideally, would consist of changes or additions
> to files which may be a couple of pages long, that is, just big
> enough to want a "real" editor. Obviously I'm going to transfer
> it to a bigger machine later, but the bigger machine doesn't fit
> in my pocket.

[ First of all, I'd like to say that, while I do work for HP, I do
  not work for the HP division that makes calculators.  I'm an only
  stating a personal opinion in the following.  ]

     How many people actually use small handhelds for note taking?  A
while back, I bought a Casio SF-8000, a small appointment/calendar/memo
calculator that has a "chicklet-style" QWERTY keyboard (i.e., it does
*not* have a membrane keyboard).  After using it, I've come to the
following conclusion: while it is a very nice calendar and telephone
book, touch typing on the keyboard is next to impossible, and this makes
it *VERY* difficult to take down any note in a reasonable amount of
time.  As touch typing is next to impossible, typing in a note using the
"hunt'n peck" technique is very, very frustrating.

     The above also applies to the HP-48SX; entering any significant
amount of text (e.g., "meet XXXX for YYY") is difficult.

     Let's face it: with today's technology, efficient note-taking can
only be accomplished using a full-size keyboard, and having such a
keyboard negates a fair amount of "portability".  The current batch of
"notebook PC laptops" are probably quite effective as note-takers,
although they probably lack in number-crunching (very $$$).

     The best input device for a portable memotaker/calendar/calculator
would be something that used either handwriting or speech recognition.

     -- Darryl Okahata
	UUCP: {hplabs!, hpcea!, hpfcla!} hpnmd!darrylo
	Internet: darrylo%hpnmd@hp-sde.sde.hp.com

DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion or policy of Hewlett-Packard or of the
little green men that have been following him all day.