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Subject: Re: What is the Bottom Line on Handhelds?

Author: Christophe Theron

Date: 12:05:12 09/13/03

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On September 13, 2003 at 13:32:51, Alastair Scott wrote:

>On September 13, 2003 at 09:05:27, Bob Durrett wrote:
>
>>
>>There has been much discussion here about handhelds.
>>
>>Would someone please summarize "the bottom line" on this topic?  Has this forum
>>reached a consensus on which handheld and chess software is best?
>>
>>What about the latest and greatest Dell handheld?  Palm?  Whatever?
>>
>>I have been toying with the idea of having something to assist me while reading
>>hardcopy chess books away from home.  The idea is to load [before leaving home]
>>the games being discussed in the hardcopy book from a large database and then
>>experiment with different ideas against the computer while away from home.
>>[Playing my own chess games against the computer does not interest me at all.]
>>Obviously, at home there is no need for a handheld.
>
>1. There is no consensus, fortunately, because the two principal platforms are
>so different.
>
>2. For your use a handheld is a bad idea because the screen is much too small
>for viewing and choosing from text. Despite all the desperate attempts at
>marketing it, email on a mobile phone or handheld is almost unusable for the
>same reason.



That is YOUR opinion.

A handheld is very useable for playing chess and even for reading and writing
emails.

A mobile phone screen is too small, yes, and this is why I believe the
convergence between handhelds and phones should not result in a phone with the
features of a handheld, but should result in a handheld equipped with a phone.
Because a handheld's screen is big enough.

Or this convergence should simply not happen: I have both a phone and a
handheld, I can use the phone as the modem for my handheld (by Bluetooth), and
this works very well.

Anyway, chess on a handheld is a very pleasant experience.


    Christophe




>I would get hold of a second-hand laptop instead.
>
>Alastair



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