The thought of being off the grid for 14 days, not having a cyberspace to disappear into as I meet my Aryan-in-laws, and the frustration inherent in a hellish upgrade, all conspired to undermine my admittedly poor impulse control. So, on the way to the airport, I buy the U.S. Robotics PalmPilot (pro version) from one store, the Pilot modem from another, all in less time than it took Borders to come up with a bagel and a copy of Family Linen by Lee Smith.

The Pilot's got a great rep among the digerati, so it's not like I was tossing all caution to the wind. A guy I work with had given me a guided tour. We took a quick jog through the PIM (Personal Information Management) functions which looked like a tightly knit suite of schedule, address book, to-do, memo and calculator applications. He's going around selling strangers on how cool the thing is. Last time I saw this kind of unpaid evangelism, a Mac was on the altar. His enthusiasm tickled my fancy.

Linda's driving, I'm tearing open boxes all the way to the airport. I'll just need tech and docs on this trip. The Pilot is... cute, it feels so right, it fits in my shirt pocket. It's got Graffiti built in (remember that handwriting recognition program that saved Newton from terminal embarrassment?). I slap the batteries in, it comes alive. Happy geek und frau scream down the runway, hurtling towards Munich.

With my RSI troubles, Pilot's ergonomics are of particular interest to me. After the first long writing session, it was the hand that held the Pilot that ached. Tried propping it up, not holding it at all. After a while, as I got used to the unit, my grip relaxed and the pain receded. It rests comfortably, but I definitely would not want to write this review on it. Working Graffiti this much does take some getting used to. Tips? Write large. Don't look. After a while, it starts to feel almost normal. (Maybe too normal - I sometimes find myself writing paper notes in Graffiti's simplified character set.)

The Newton weighs in at less than 6 ounces. Battery consumption is radically modest, with two AAAs lasting my whole first month. Other niceties that I came to appreciate:

• Automatic case shift after a period.
• Hot shift between apps (i.e. switching from one to another while both are open).
• The PalmPilot knows what it's supposed to do and does it well. It doesn't overreach itself like some other PDAs I could name.
• Text editing nicities: Cut, Copy, Paste, Undo, Home, End
• The size is actually small enough to make the thing truly portable.

What I don't like:

• I hate writing long hand! I'll always yearn for a keyboard.
• On-screen text is too small for old farts to read.
• Backlight seems to be a necessity, but it's weak in the daylight.
• Lack of Mac parity - the expenses and mail apps don't HotSync.
• Lack of an email application straight out of the box.

Let me expand on that last point. I scored the unit, with modem, on the way out of the country. The back box headline leads with "The pocket-size PalmPilot Professional has 1 MB of memory and e-mail functions to keep you thoroughly organized." I bet I'm not unique in my frustrated discovery that the unit was not ready to send or receive email straight out of the box. If you're not HotSyncing with your email-endowed Wintel box, you need more 'ware. This Wintel orientation leads to mucho frustration as I try to advance my quest for mobile email. The MacPac connection kit is needed to load the missing communication software: damn thing's back-ordered, no matter where I look. Just another sad story of my platform of choice shrinking day-by-day.

First week goes by and the Pilot's with me all the time. Showed it to cousin-in-law's geek husband tonight, stirring at least mild technolust. It helped me a lot in Cannes today - notepad, phonebook. Calculator comes in handy a lot more than I thought it would, so does the alarm. I live by to-do lists and the implementation is exceptionally clean, like most things Pilot.

Coming home: on my return flight, there's more than 50% battery power left, and even without solving my email problems, the Pilot stayed in my pocket every day of the trip. This is significant to me; I'm very particular about what I carry on my person. To add something to my armament of gear is no small matter.

I'm as compulsive about what I carry as I am about everything else I do. Something about the Pilot keeps saying, "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and, dog gonnit, people like me -- so take me along, big fella." My Pilot speaks and I obey.

- Peter Sugarman [11/24/97]