Author: Chris Kantack
Date: 15:30:02 12/06/03
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On December 06, 2003 at 14:43:42, Steven Edwards wrote: >Some thoughts on handheld LCD chess computers: > >1. There are at least three companies making dedicated LCD handheld chess >computers: Excalibur, Novag, and Saitek. If one of the brands is reviewed, the >other two should also be referenced. A lot of people have asked me why my website is "Excalibur-heavy". I have a very simple reason: Novag and Saitek don't send me anything. I once wrote to them, explaining them about my site, offering to review their stuff, but no replies. > >2. I have yet to see an LCD touch screen in a dedicated unit that is anywhere >close to the quality seen in the average color LCD general purpose handheld. >Specifically, the legibility of the special purpose, B/W multi-segment chess man >elements seen in dedicated units pales in comparison with even the least >expensive 160 x 160 pixel displays, color or grayscale, seen on any Palm OS >device. I generally agree with you on this. There have been some recent incremental improvements with newer Touch Chess units from Excalibur but your general PDA screen will "outshine" all the dedicated handhelds. Then again, my Excaliburs will run for years on a single set of batteries. > >3. A grayscale Palm OS handheld can be had for US$80 with plenty of storage for >multiple chess playing programs and also with a processor fast enough to easily >beat nearly anyone at casual time controls. True. And Talking LCD Chess can be had for $22 and do the same thing. (Though it is certainly nowhere nearly as strong as ChessGenius or Chess Tiger.) But it still will beat 85% of all chess players. For anyone rated over say 1600 USCF Elo, I say go the PDA or PocketPC route. You'll want the extra strength offered by ChessGenius or Chess Tiger. But many people, (including myself unfortunately) find more than enough challenge in the lower cost dedicated handhelds. Thanks for your comments. Chris Kantack http://home.earthlink.net/~kantack/lcdchess/home.htm
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