The segmentation of the Windows CE platform continues. Handheld PCs are generally growing in size and acquiring more and more of the functionality of notebook, while the pen-driven Palm PCs become as small as is possible while still retaining screen legibility. Just as Jeff Hawkins predicted in an interview with Pen Computing some time ago, Windwows CE handhelds are growing.

A perfect example is the new Phenom Ultra from LG Electronics. Measuring an imposing 9.9 x 5.0 inches at a thickness of over an inch, the unit weighs 1.78 pounds, more than some of the bona fide Windows 95 computers we’ve seen lately. The Ultra’s screen is bigger than anything we expected to see in a Windows CE device, and positively huge by handheld PC standards. It measures 8.1 inches diagonal and is a full 7.5 inches wide. It still displays the now almost HPC standard 640 x 240 pixels, which means you can think of the Ultra’s screen as one horizontal half of a conventional 9.5-inch notebook screen.

Largest keyboard on any HPC

Here are the facts: The keyboard is fully 90% as large as a standard size keyboard, and there is a total of 74 keys—eight of which are application shortcuts, and two user-definable function keys. Contrast and brightness are also controlled via keyboard. The keys are relatively flat, as in many notebooks, but offer good tactile feedback; most touch typists will be able to use it without a problem. This is finally a handheld PC keyboard that is large enough for real work. (For those familiar with the Newton MessagePad 2100’s optional keyboard, the Ultra’s is almost identical in size and feel—a compliment for sure.)

Business users rejoyce

Which means that it is completely and totally adequate for wordprocessing and many spreadsheet tasks. For mobile wordprocessing tasks, the Phenom Ultra is, in fact, almost ideal. Even though it is not a small device by any means, its footprint is less than half that of a standard notebook while the keyboard is just 10% smaller. The Phenom Ultra will fit in many places where a regular notebook will not, which means that you’ll end up having a computer with a serious keyboard at your disposal in situations where you previously did not.

Excel is almost as functional, though the unusual half-VGA format feels more unusual here than in wordprocessing. In default mode you can only see nine rows of data, which means you have to scroll up and down much more often than in Excel on a notebook or desktop PC. Fortunately, Pocket Excel lets you zoom in and out and there is also a full-screen mode which, on the Phenom Ultra, means a lot of screen.

Those who frequently make presentations will love Pocket PowerPoint. You can’t actually create presentations in Pocket PowerPoint; you create them on your desktop or notebook computer, then convert the file by simply dragging it to the HPC in the HPC Explorer application. Once downloaded, the Ultra’s screen is actually perfectly suited for a PowerPoint presentation. Since the Ultra has a VGA-out port, you can simply connect it to an LCD projector and start the show. The slides on the Ultra’s screen are small, but they leave ample room for you to see your speaker notes. In "full screen" mode you can even draw live annotations onto the slides (one little glitch is that ink only appears at the end of a stroke, and not as you draw).

Successor of an old classic?

We’ve described another one of the “giant” HPCs, the NEC MobilePro 700, as the spiritual successor of the old Radio Shack/ Tandy 100, and the same applies to the Ultra. The old Tandy was just a basic slate with a great keyboard and a legible screen that showed everything you needed to see. Journalists loved it. And journalists will love the Ultra. Even in large 14 point Times Roman text you can still see a full 80 characters per line.

A communicator

In terms of communication, the Ultra is well-equipped. Its internal 28.8kbps modem is accessible via standard RJ-11 jack on the right side of the Ultra, right next to the PC Card slot. The internal CompactFlash slot opens towards the front of the unit where there are also two control lights and the voice recorder button (press to record, let go to stop). On the left side are the serial/VGA-out port and the AC/DC connector. The IR port is on the back, facing away from the user. The bottom provides access to a replaceable ROM/RAM board under a screw-protected cover.

Not quite optimized for pen

A word about the pen interface. At Pen Computing Magazine we are, of course, very much pro-pen and applaud any manufacturer who’s smart enough to integrate this terrific interface tool into a device. That said, you should know that clamshell computers, even handheld ones, are hardly perfect candidates for a pen interface. The pivot-mounted screen provides an annoying spring every time you tap it with the pen, writing or drawing on the screen is difficult because you must avoid touching the keyboard, and the screen doesn’t flip over so you can’t use the unit as a pen slate. The design of the Ultra, with its screen hinge at the very edge of the unit, also makes it less balanced and much more prone to tipping over.

At what cost all this power comes?

As you might expect, all the power of the Phenom Ultra comes at a cost. Not so much in terms of the price which is somewhere under US$1,000, but in terms of battery. There’s simply no way you can drive a large, bright color screen and a fast RISC processor on two AA batteries.

LG Electronics knows that, and as a result the Ultra has a 7.2 Volt, 1400mAh Li-Ion battery pack as its exclusive power source for mobile operation. It doesn’t run on standard alkaline batteries at all, and they don’t fit into its battery compartment. The emergence of the Ultra may well spell the end of standard AA batteries for handheld PCs. They were barely adequate in the first generation of CE handhelds, and they certainly can’t provide satisfactory battery life in a HPC with a large color screen.
Equipped with this powerful battery, LG claims a battery life of ten hours for the Ultra. In our continuous use test, we drained the battery from 90% to 40% in about 4.5 hours which would indicate nine hours of continuous use, but at 35% remaining battery life, the (pre-production) unit shut itself off.

A whole new class of machines

Though they are both handheld PCs running the same version of Windows CE, there is a huge difference between a standard size device such as the Velo 500 and the Casio A-20, and a large size device with a color screen such as the Phenom Ultra. While the smaller units feel like, well, palmtop PCs, the Ultra feels much closer to a standard notebook. This is partially due to the terrific color screen, but mostly because the Ultra is large enough to be used just like a regular PC, but without the bulk. If you need complete mobility without giving up a “real” keyboard and a great screen, the LG Phenom Ultra is very, very close to ideal.

We suspect that the LG Phenom Ultra is a harbinger of things mobile to come, a trendsetter in the emerging class of ever more functional and mature Windows CE notebooks. As such, it may represent the cutting edge in handheld PCs for only a short time. If you do a lot of typing, buy it anyway. You won’t regret it.

-Conrad H. Blickenstorfer