A great alternative to the Palm OS (Philips Nino 300)

Member Name: PWilliams

Product:	Philips Nino 300
Date:	22/10/00 (869 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Value, Looks, Usability

Disadvantages: Heavy, Greyscale, Not as much RAM as its rivals

Having owned both a Windows CE first-generation handheld device and a second-generation handheld device, I always suffered from what I called "Palm envy". Not that I was dis-satisfied with my handhelds, they did exactly what I needed them to do. But the allure of the Palm Pilot was strong and I felt myself giving in to its popularity. But then the new Windows CE palm devices came out and I was immediately drawn to one of them - the Philips Nino.

The Nino is an attention grabber. It's shell, a metallic brushed-steel, is more than the typical boxed shell you see on the other palm-size devices. It's a little larger than other CE palm units, but you'll hardly notice. It's curved figure fits snuggly in the hand, and the controls found on the sides of the Nino allow you full control with a single hand. The right side of the unit houses 4 "quick start" keys that by default launch the voice recorder, calendar, contacts, and inbox applications (but can be configured to launch other applications) and a contrast dial. The left side has a scrolling rocker bar, an action button, and an exit button. Both side's buttons are surrounded by a rubber grip that feels great in your hand. The power button, two indicator lights (one lights when charging, the other when communicating), and a speaker and microphone are located on the front of the unit. Speaking of the microphone, Philips includes voice command recognition software that allows for basic hands-free operation for such things as bringing up contact information. On the top of the Nino you will find the slot for the stylus, a slot for CompactFlash cards and an infrared eye for syncing with a notebook or desktop with an IR device and for transferring contact info to other CE devices

The Nino comes with the standard set of applications found on other CE palm devices, and a few that aren't. The primary Pocket Outlook applications (calendar, contacts, and inbox) provide
the same basic functionality as Outlook does on the desktop. The Pocket Outlook applications also provide easy synchronization with their desktop counterpart. Just slide the Nino into its sleek, oval docking station connected to a PC via a serial cable, install CE Services on your PC, and you're all set. For handwriting recognition, the Nino uses Jot. Jot provides a writing area on the lower third of the screen where you can write non-cursive letters to be converted to text. There's also a Notetaker that functions as a digital inkpad. In addition, Philips provides Smart's Pocket Commander (mentioned earlier), Smart's Handwriting recognition software Smartwriter, an expense tracking program and a Tegic T9 keyboard. The T9 software keyboard uses a layout similar to a telephone keypad and, as a user taps the keys, tries to guess what word is being entered.

The Nino comes in three models - the £199 300, the £250 312 and the $299 320. The 300 includes 4MB of memory while the 312/320 come with 8MB. The 320 also comes with a click-on modem. All three come with a NiMH battery pack, a nice touch given that a typical set of alkalines will only give you about 10 hours of use.

The only complaint I had about the Nino was that its display wasn't as clear as I would have liked and I found myself using the Nino's excellent backlight more often than not. It's 4" diagonal, 240 x 320, 4 scale monotone, FSTN liquid crystal display is smallish but useable none the less.

If you're looking for a palm device and prefer Windows CE to the Palm OS, the Nino is certainly one of the very best of the Windows CE devices and definitively gives the Palm some tough competition. Needless to say, now that I've got my Nino I no longer suffer from "Palm envy". This time it's the Palm users turn to catch a little "Nino envy".

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