Hold on to your seats! Psion has released a new handheld called the Series 5mx, based on Symbian's new revision 5 of their EPOC operating system. The Series 5mx builds on the current Series 5/EPOC platform and has been in the works now for two years. There are some questions regarding why it took so long. Maybe we can at least partly answer those questions by looking in depth at the 5mx.
So much has happened recently with Psion, Symbian, and partners that it isn't possible to cover everything in this issue. Keep an eye out here for more exciting news and reviews. Before we get started, I thought it would be beneficial to put my own wish list on the table. As a seasoned Psion user, I have my wish list of things that I was personally hoping to see in this next generation machine. I suspect that many of you Psion users have the same items on your list. If you're not a Psion user, possibly the 5mx has just what you need to get into the game, or switch camps.

My short wish list
1 Faster processor - Many software applications would benefit from a faster processor
2 Brighter screen - I have always thought the tradeoff between power and backlighting on the Psion could have been more slanted towards the screen
3 Case that doesn't peel
4 Web browser with frames
5 Outlining capabilities in Word
6 Built-in modem
7 More memory

Now let's see what we'll get by upgrading to the 5mx.

Processor
To start out with, the 5mx is powered by the ARM 710T RISC processor running at 36MHz, as opposed to the Series 5 which runs at 18MHz. While this looks like a 100% gain, which is great, this doesn't tell the whole story. In the case of Symbian's DBMS (Database engine), they claim speed improvements of up to 1000%. Programs that use DBMS (such as Notepad) will benefit from some giant speed improvements. For example, re-opening a file using a SQL query took four seconds on the Series 5, and one second on the 5mx. Another test that I ran was to see how long it took to start up a program. The program I tested took 22 seconds to completely start up and draw the screen on the Series 5 and eleven seconds on the 5mx. This is a very noticeable usability increase. Nobody likes waiting for programs to start. Of course on the 5mx with 16MB of RAM, there is less and less reason to ever shut your programs down.

Internal memory
The RAM is increased to 16MB, whereas the Series 5 has 8MB. This means that you can keep a huge number of applications running all the time.

Storage
The Series 5mx storage device is Compact Flash. This hasn't changed. It is notable that Psion chose Compact Flash when they designed the Series 5. This turned out to be the right decision. Digital cameras have helped to drive Compact Flash prices down, and handheld users are benefiting greatly from this. I recently purchased a 96MB Flash for around US$200.

Display
The Series 5mx display has16 shades of gray in a 640 x 240 pixels backlit, touch sensitive screen with multiple zoom levels and an active screen area of 5.25" x 2.0".

Let's talk about the screen. When I first opened the 5mx demo machine that I received from Psion, I turned on the backlight with my fingers crossed. I don't know if this is an unfair pet peeve of mine, but I don't think so. I want to see a bright, clear screen without a lot of reflection. I got less than I had hoped for. The screen is marginally brighter, if at all. It is definitely sharper, which does make it a bit easier to read. The lack of real improvement to the screen brightness was a real surprise to me. I guess it just says that the tradeoffs I would like to make aren't popular at Psion. I should mention that all of the built-in applications are actually colorized so that when a color screen comes along, there is no reason to look for an upgrade from Symbian. Symbian has a new emulator for Windows 98/NT that shows all of the applications running with color. It seems that a color screen is not far away. A color screen would certainly add a lot to the 5mx, albeit with the loss of some battery life.

Keyboard
The famous Psion laptop-style expanding keyboard hasn't changed. Application one-touch icons are along the top of the keys as always. The color of the keys is now black instead of the gray keys on the Series 5. Some buttons have changed. The Contacts icon replaces Data, the Email icon replaces Time, and the Jotter icon replaces Sketch. These other applications are still on the machine, but show up when pressing the Extras button.

Case
It seems trivial, but the plastic case on the original Series 5 has a rubberized material on it, and it has never been reliable for me. It obviously doesn't affect how the machine works, but how it looks. I'm happy to say that Psion seems to have fixed this by using a silver-gray plastic that has a nice finish, but no covering, so that there is nothing to peel.

Power
Two AA alkaline batteries are used, and a CR2032 Lithium-Ion battery for backup. Psion claims one month of usage, but this doesn't mean anything since everyone uses his or her handheld differently. I get roughly 13 hours with the backlight on at all times. Others get at least twice this amount using the backlight only in the evening. The good news is that the 5mx seems to draw less power than the Series 5. The battery monitor of the Series 5 shows a draw of 143mA, while that on the 5mx shows 100mA. I'll report more on this in future issues.

Communications
The Series 5mx RS232 Fast Serial Port interfaces with the desktop and other devices at up to 115 Kbps. And there's an IrDA compliant infrared port for printing and file transfers between machines.

Physical size
The Series 5mx is 6.7" x 3.5" x .9" and weighs 12.5 oz with batteries.

Audio
The Series 5mx has a microphone for digital sound recording and external record, stop/play, and rewind buttons.

Built-in modem?
This didn't happen, and I'm not sure why. It's quite possible that Psion thought the addition of email synchronization would eliminate the need for most users to actually connect the Psion to the Internet. This may actually be true for many. However, this doesn't seem to make much sense if they really want to tout the 5mx as something Symbian calls a Communicator. For those of you that are new to the Psion, this doesn't mean there is no way to connect. The current solution is a PC Card adapter and PC Card modem. I use this and it works fine. It's just another device to carry. Also, the ARM processor can run a software modem, from what I've heard. If they didn't have room for a hardware modem, I can't understand why they didn't go the soft-modem route. I know it would hog all of the processor, but who cares? I'll try to find out for future articles what the reasoning was behind this.

Applications
The software on the Psion has always been the driving force behind the machine. While Psion seems to lag behind the crowd when it comes to hardware (for instance, there's no color screen or built-in modem), they can't be beat when it comes to software. Since software is what makes a computer, assuming that it has met the minimum hardware requirements, the Series 5 is compelling for users that really want to do something with their handheld computers. Let's take a look at the main applications and see what's changed on the 5mx.

Starting with the Internet apps, there are very important changes to the email application and the web browser. The web browser finally supports frames, cookies, and authentication for sites that need a password. The ability to support frames was one of the big advantages that Windows CE had over Psion. Psion fell behind with their browser by not coming out with an update to support frames. Frames are a must on the Web these days. On this wish list item Symbian and Psion have come through with shining colors. Not only does the 5mx support frames, but it also comes with a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). For those that think this is trivial, it is anything but. To do this, Symbian partnered with Sun Microsystems a couple of years ago to write the JVM for the EPOC platform. This was a win-win for both Symbian, and partners, and Sun. With Symbian's future looking bright, EPOC will put Java on millions upon millions of mobile phones. (More on Java later in the review).

The email application itself didn't need a lot of changes, but the changes that it did get are right on the mark. Email now supports multiple email accounts, which is helpful for users with more than one ISP. The faxing capabilities now include customizable templates. Email comes with five templates and it is very easy to create new templates right from the Email application. The major change to Email is the ability to synchronize your email with MS Outlook and Lotus CCMail. I did give this a try with MS Outlook and I had no problems. The synchronization process was fast and easy. Even attachments are synchronized. A menu item in Outlook called "Psion synchronization" shows up so that you never need to go into PsiWin to synchronize your Agenda, Contacts, and Email messages with Outlook. The importance of the synchronization process from an organizational point of view can't be overstated. It means that users can write all of their email messages when they have time on the 5mx, and never worry about hooking the 5mx to the Internet. Just connect to the desktop and let it send your email. This, in my opinion, makes the email application useful for those that would have never used it before. I'm thinking of the users that are always in the office, or at home. If one is always near the desktop there isn't that much need for an email application on the 5mx. However, now that same user can write his/her email while watching TV at home, or during lunch.

The word processor on the 5mx has a couple of new features that are answers to user requests. They've added unlimited templates and an outline view. The templates are something most everyone can use. Build a standard letter document and just use it each time you start a new letter. The 5mx comes with four built-in templates that you can use. With the new outline feature, just use the style sheets to mark headings and sections, and the outliner will build a special view that lets you jump to any place in the document more easily. The Series 5 already had the best word processor on any handheld, and with these new features, it's hard to beat. It is amazing that Symbian/Psion would have a better word processor on their handheld than Microsoft does in Windows CE.

New applications
Psion has included two new applications in the ROM: Contacts and Jotter. The addition of Contacts is interesting in that it is more than just a simple stand-alone application. It represents a move to a centralized contacts manager that is accessible from other applications, which is something that Psion should have done years ago. The one built-in application that already makes use of the new Contacts application is the email program. Instead of having to build your own list of contacts in the email program, you just access the one central contacts manager.

The next new addition is called Jotter. Jotter is a simple note-taking program that long-time Psion users will be familiar with, since it was also present on the Psion Series 3c. Jotter is not going to fill any big gaps since it does mostly what can already be done in the Agenda todo list. It does add the ability to draw notes, but it forces you to go into sketch to do the drawing.

Java
We knew that Java was coming down the pike since Symbian announced it two years ago. What is interesting is how right they were about this one. Java support is key to many corporate users, whether they realize it or not yet, and it will become more important as time goes on. Corporations are using Java more and more since it is a way of providing a single application front end to all of the company's back end data. There are no doubt many users out there that will not see the benefit to having Java support unless they are trying to view some web pages that require Java support. I recently read a review myself that approached the Java issue by asking what all of the excitement was about. It doesn't take that much imagination to see the wide reaching effect of having Java support on a mobile device as small as a Series 5mx or a Smart phone. Java is quickly becoming the key tool for enabling the Web with corporate company content. All the user needs is a web browser with frames, tables, forms, cookies, authentication, and Java. I'm still not sure that it means there will be fewer laptops sold, but Java support does eliminate the show stopper for many corporate users that want to use a palmtop on the road instead of a laptop.

If you're not sure how Java works, here's a brief explanation. Java is an interpreted programming language that requires something called a runtime environment, better known as the Java Virtual Machine, or JVM. The JVM runs the Java program, written once, on almost any hardware platform, such as Windows, Sun Solaris, Macintosh, and now EPOC. The JVM is the tough part that must be written specifically for each platform. This is what allows Java code to run on multiple platforms. The JVM handles any hardware or OS specific tasks that are specific to the platform.

What kind of Java support does the 5mx give you? I'll be doing a feature review of the Java support in future issues. Here are the basics: Symbian wrote their own Java Virtual Machine, based on Sun Microsystems' JDK 1.1.4, which enables almost any Java program or applet to run on the 5mx. Psion does not provide a Java development environment (JDE), because there is no need to. Users can use MS Visual J++, JBuilder, or any other Java development environment. For you Java buffs, AWT and SWING components are supported, although Symbian recommends using AWT since it has lower memory requirements than SWING. Of course things such as screen size and available memory are issues that need to be recognized when building Java applets that need to be EPOC compatible. As always with Java, it is not necessary to write any native EPOC code when writing Java. Applets and stand-alone programs can be written in pure Java without any specific knowledge of other EPOC programming languages or API's.

Conclusion
Symbian and Psion did knock out most of the items on my wish list: faster processor, better case, frames in the web browser, more memory, and outlining in Word. They surprised me with the email synchronization, templates in Word, and the Contacts program. I do have questions regarding the lack of a built-in modem and the less than wonderful improvements to the screen. These omissions wouldn't stop me from getting a 5mx though, since the software is so strong. Why did it take so long? It seems that Psion was waiting for the next generation of EPOC before building a new machine. Clearly the additions of the Java JVM and improvements to the web/email suite took some time. I would hope that Psion would never again wait two years for an upgrade. It's too long with palmtops, and users start to wonder if the company is going to stay in business. With color obviously in the cards some time in the near future, I don't think this will be an issue. Current EPOC users will love the 5mx improvements, and those of you on the sidelines should get rid of those little pieces of paper in your pocket and try the 5mx.

– Mark Esposito

Processor	ARM 710T/36 MHz
OS	Psion EPOC32
Memory	16MB RAM and 6MB Mask ROM
Display	5.25 x 2.0" 640 x 160 pixel backlit touchscreen
Digitizer	Pressure-sensitive panel
Storage	Internal RAM
Size	6.7 x 3.5 x 0.9 inches
Weight	0.78 pounds (including battery pack)
Power	Two AA, AC/DC ("one month typical life")
Interface	RS232, IrDA, audio
Options	Modem, PC Card adapter, email, web, cell phone connection
Price	US$549
Contact	Psion 508-371-0310 www.psion.com