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All current handhelds have the capability, with the right software installed, to handle a number of different document types. You can view and even create Office documents, e-mail, spreadsheets, presentations, and Web pages given the proper tools.
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Pocket PCs come packaged with a scaled-down suite of Microsoft Office applications, with affectionate names such as Pocket Word and Pocket Excel. With these applications, all Pocket PC users can view and edit Word and Excel documents straight out of the box. Whereas the Pocket versions of these popular software packages produce slightly different document formats than the desktop versions, useful features such as spell checking, searching, and rich text formatting are all available. When synchronizing Pocket documents with desktop versions, the Pocket versions of the files are automatically converted to the desktop format, reducing the hassle of manually converting between versions.
Palm-based handheld users have a number of options for editing and viewing Word or Excel documents. Although compatible office applications are not included with Palm OS, some manufacturers bundle third-party software that give the handheld this capability. Dataviz's Documents To Go is a popular Office-compatible suite allowing you to create, edit, and view Word and Excel documents with ease. The premium version of the software also provides support for PowerPoint documents. Quickoffice, WordSmith, and TinySheet are a few other applications that also provide support for Office documents.
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Although Microsoft has offered Pocket Word and Pocket Excel for Pocket PCs, it has not done the same for its popular presentation software PowerPoint. However, due to popular demand, a number of organizations have produced software for working with PowerPoint presentations. Westtek's ClearVue supports the viewing of PowerPoint files, as well as Excel and Word files, natively. If you want to also create and edit presentations, Conduit's Pocket Slides give you the capability to do so. Both support some of the advanced features of PowerPoint presentations, such as animations. You can add on a VGA adapter to your handheld to perform full-screen presentations directly from the handheld itself -- no more lugging around notebook computers many times the handheld's weight and size. For even more presentation options, Presenter, Inc.'s iPresentation Suite gives handhelds the capability of streaming presentations over the Internet from a system running the server side of the iPresentation software. You can view and present presentations from any place that has Internet access, without having to store the presentation on the handheld itself.
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Pocket Outlook is the standard e-mail application included with Pocket PCs. It offers the same capabilities as the desktop version of Outlook, allowing you to receive, compose, and send e-mail, as well as the option to send attachments. Pocket Outlook also includes the normal Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks features that are packaged with the Office version.
Of course, a number of different e-mail packages are available for Pocket PCs that one could install, and even some add-on packages that provide extended options, such as being able to manage multiple e-mail accounts. But no matter what e-mail application you choose, you will always need some kind of connectivity to use it.
You can use the default option, which is direct synchronization with your desktop system. Upon synchronizing, any e-mail you composed on the handheld is transferred to the desktop system, ready to be sent, and the Inbox on your handheld is synchronized to the Inbox on your desktop.
Perhaps the most useful option is a permanent network connection, whether via wireless Ethernet or Bluetooth, allowing you to send and receive e-mail from any location you wish. Wireless networks and Bluetooth phones are becoming much more widespread -- most airports now offer wireless access in their terminals, allowing business travelers to keep up with communications in the office at any time. If your handheld is not already 802.11 or Bluetooth capable, you can add a simple networking accessory to transform your handheld into a full wireless advice.
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With the addition of wireless Internet access, you can also very easily browse Web sites with Pocket Internet Explorer. Again, the application is similar to the desktop version of Internet Explorer -- you can browse Web sites, create Favorites, and save Web pages for offline viewing. As new versions of Pocket Internet Explorer are released, issues regarding the correct display of Web pages on Pocket PCs have been greatly resolved -- forms, tables, and even animated GIFs are supported.
Coupled with Pocket Internet Explorer, the free service offered by AvantGo allows you to download information from the Web for offline viewing. After registering for an account, select any number of the hundreds of channels offered, and whenever you synchronize your handheld, the content of the channels you have chosen are downloaded to your handheld for offline browsing. Channels cover many topics from business and news, to sports and travel - respectable organizations, such as CNN, Yahoo, and Bloomberg, provide the contents of the channels within each category. With AvantGo, you can synchronize your handheld each morning and browse the day's news and events on your way to work, with enough time left over to take a glance at your horoscope.
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