May 25, 2004 10:20 PM
The eternal question: Palm versus Pocket PC in the Medical Setting

I do not know how many times I get asked this question every week. Not that it is irrelevant, on the contrary. There are new users of PDAs everyday, and in the medical environment, people are sometimes not really atracted to spend a lot of time doing this research or learning how to use the device. They just want to know which platform (and often which model) to get.

I was reading some Medical School websites. It is becoming the norm to have medical students own PDAs as a requirement. Some institutions already have infrared printers for prescriptions, for example. So the clear trend is to have more and more medical personel using handhelds.

Given the vast array of software available today for both platforms, I would say that this should NOT be the only factor when you decide which way to go. The Palm OS platform still continues to have more titles available, however allmost all the popular packages are available for both platforms.

Also, portability is always a big factor. Again, Palm OS still has the most compact ones. Take a look at the Tungsten series. On the other hand, the small iPaq series is also conveniently small.

For me, the biggest determinant is still how you feel using each operating system. One thing that is very nice with the Palm OS is how fast they work. They may not have all the bells and whistles and eyecandy of the Pocket PCs, but, they are very fast and finish the job. I personally switched to Pocket PC a year ago mostly for the multimedia and visual capabilities of the platform. Honestly, I do not think it makes a big difference overall. Later this year, Palm OS version 6 will be launched. The current version (5.2) is already very good, and for most people will be enough for daily use. A big problem with the Pocket PC platform is their desktop connectivity (syncing) software. It is very slow and full of bugs. I hope they fix it in the (near) future.

In terms of price the market has responded, and the price of the Pocket PC devices is a lot better from, say 1 year ago. Still, the high-end deviced for both platforms cost about US$500-600, if not more with all the options. Try to stay away from those super-expensive models, unless you absolutely need a feature only available in one of those. The most bang for the buck will be found in the 200-300 market. Today you can get for example a Dell X30 with both WiFi and Bluetooth within that price range. Try to get a model with WiFi (wireless networking), since several hospitals and clinics are adopting the standard. In terms of RAM, for PalmOS the standard is 32 Mb, for Pocket PC I would go with 64 Mb.

Ultimately, the decision is obviously yours. My personal opinion is that the Palm OS is more efficient and has a better record with medical applications.

Posted by leo at May 25, 2004 10:20 PM

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