The Omnisky wireless modem presents a Palm VII type of wireless solution for the Palm V family of PDAs. The question is which is the more practical, or what are the benefits of one over the other. The cost factor is easily definable because the Palm VII is retailed at about $449 everywhere with monthly charges ranging from $9.95 per month for 50K of usage to $44.95 a Month for unlimited usage on the Bellsouth network. The Omnisky solution is the cost of the Palm V or VX product which could be up to $449 plus the cost of the wireless Minstrel modem at $299 and a promise of usage charges of under $50 per month for unlimited CDPD service by AT&T. Depending on where you live and where you travel one coverage may be better than the other. Neither is perfect. Both seem to be aimed around the major metropolitan areas across the US. I will now give you my personal view about each device.

The Palm VII is a wonderfully packaged device that was introduced to allow the utilization of wirelessly getting and sending email along with the utilization of what is called Web Clipping applications that can query the Web for text based information. (Not to be confused with Surfing or Browsing because it does not keep a constant connection it just connects requests and disconnects) this make the use limited for its Internet applications.

	PQA Palm VII App

The installation and activation of this unit is remarkable. I have never before experienced such an easy installation and activation process that works the first time you use it flawlessly. You enter you credit card information of where to be billed and choose a user name and magically you are connected and using the applets and sending and receiving email wirelessly.

The major complaint I have with this device is that its wireless applications are segregated from the normal Palm apps and does not integrate with the options that would be useful when synchronizing with outlook or whatever package you choose to hotsync with.

Another thing I was not prepared for was the scratchability of the Palm VII screen. With normal usage the screen will eventually scratch and will become an instant irritant. Palm will not warranty the problem and if you want it fixed the cost for any problem not warranted is $100.00. This proves to be a little irritating since you probably just paid $450.00 dollars for the device. Also Palm stated that the same technology is used on the Palm VII as on the Palm V. Put them side by side and you will answer this question easily. Also the Palm V series screen does not scratch as easily that is also obvious.

	Omnisky App Launcher

People who purchased the sleek, slim Palm V and Vx did so for a multitude of reasons. Screen quality was much better, the ability to charge the lithium ion battery once every few weeks was also attractive. Now when Palm V owners looked at the Palm VII and its ability to wirelessly do email and check things like weather, stocks etc. this made the Palm V owners envious.

Enter Omnisky to appease Palm V owners by giving them Palm VII like features in a wireless modem package no more obtrusive than the current phone modem offered by 3Com today. What Omnisky brought extra to the table was a better integration of the on board applications with the wireless, modem and therefore more compatibility with applications like Outlook. The ability to utilize vcard, vcal, and to load PQA files wirelessly makes the system much more robust than currently offered 3Com Palm V and VX configurations. Email notification on pop 3 accounts is a great feature, (the red light on the modem indicates there is unread mail waiting for you in your pop3 inbox). This solution is a bit pricey but so is the Palm V and VX. If you want to do things like stock checking and email retrieval on the road and have the ability to do it wirelessly this solution is for you. Pros and cons are listed below, but for my money the Omnisky solution on the AT&T digital network is the one I will go with today. I am sure however Palm will not sit on its laurels and will come to market with a new and better Palm VII device and then we will have to rethink this issue again.

Missed a column? Find just the one you are looking for in our back issues collection.

Have an idea for a great Column? Use our Column Submission and tell us about it. Who knows, you may see your suggestion on the  pdaJD.com  home page.