applications software
DataViz Documents To Go 5.0
Rating:
By Maggie Buerger
September
30, 2002
 So
you finally bought a Palm Pilot? Congrats. It’s perfect
for keeping track of all your phone numbers, addresses, and
appointments.
Too bad it can’t do anything with those Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint files that are so crucial to your, uh, professional
well-being. Don’t sweat it. DataViz, has the answer for you. You can take your Documents To
Go. And you can sync them to your PC or Macintosh, and e-mail them,
too.
Palm vs. Pocket. When it comes to personal organizers, personal digital assistants
(PDA), or
whatever you want call them, there are two ways to go: Palm or Pocket
PC.
In the Palm corner is Palm itself, with it’s Palm Pilot line;
Handspring, with its Visor and Treo products; and Kyocera, with its
outstanding combination PDA and cell phone (read
Reference Guide’s review). The Pocket PC platform, which runs on a trimmed-down
version of Windows, is represented by
Hewlett-Packard, with its Jornada and Compaq iPaq; Casio, with it’s Casseopeia; and a combination PDA and cell phone from T-Mobile.
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Create Word-compatible
documents. Sync them to your PC or e-mail them. |
Naturally, those Pocket PC product include Pocket versions of Word,
Excel, and PowerPoint. Your Palm, however, is out of luck.
Or so it would seem.
Documents To Go is a complete applications suite that runs on your
Palm-compatible handheld
device. You can create and
edit Word-compatible documents, Excel-compatible spreadsheets, and PowerPoint-compatible presentations,
and do it all right on your handheld.
That’s pretty darn amazing. When you’re done, you can upload the
documents to your desktop next time you sync.
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The spreadsheet
supports a long list of arithmetic functions. |
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Installation isn’t difficult. First, you install the CD-ROM to your PC
or Macintosh, then you download the applications to your handheld
device. If your handheld uses removable memory cards, you can install
some portions of the software on them. That will keep the maximum
amount of memory free on your device for storing data. We didn’t have
any problems installing the software, just be sure you follow the
instructions closely.
The product requires 2 Mbytes of free memory on your handheld, plus
memory for any documents you create or edit. If your handheld contains
only 8 Mbytes of memory and has no expansion-card capability, you may
find yourself deleting those useless games that people tend to beam to
each other at cocktail parties.
Pint-size. Now let’s be honest, you can’t expect any handheld,
with it’s teeny screen and lack of keyboard, to function like a
full-size laptop of desktop. And you’d be right.
The fact is you can do many of the things that Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint can do. Formatting. Fonts. Charts. Financial analyses. But
it’s certainly not as convenient. And you can see only a very small
portion of a document at one time. But that aside, it’s also very true
that Documents To Go is a remarkable application that makes the
previously impossible possible. If you’re not sure, the DataViz Web
site offers a free trial version.
Three editions. DataViz offers three versions of Documents To
Go. The Premium edition is the only one to buy. The others come
installed on various handhelds, enticing you to get hooked and then
upgrade. You probably will.
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Premium Edition. The flagship of the Documents To Go
family, offers the ability to create, synchronize, and edit word
processing, spreadsheet and presentation files on the handheld, as
well as synchronize e-mail with attachments, PDF files, pictures,
and Excel-like charts.
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Professional Edition. This product lets you create,
edit, and synchronize word processing, spreadsheet, and
presentation files on the handheld. Palm includes this version
with many of its Palm handhelds.
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Standard Edition. This version
lets you use Word and Excel files on the handheld. Sony includes
the Standard Edition on many of its Clié
handhelds.
If you own a Palm-compatible handheld, you must have Documents To Go.
It’s just that simple.<
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