.KEYWORD powerviewer
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Take PowerPoint presentations on-the-go with powerViewer
.OTHER
.SUMMARY Microsoft’s PowerPoint software has become an essential business tool, allowing users in all fields to create attractive, content-rich presentations for viewing by co-workers, clients, staff, etc. There are several PowerPoint viewing products on the market today that permit you to view and manipulate PowerPoint presentations from your Palm handheld. Jeffrey Greer reviews the latest offering, powerViewer 2000 from ibrite.
.AUTHOR Jeffrey Greer
Microsoft’s PowerPoint software has become an essential business tool, allowing users in all fields to create attractive, content-rich presentations for viewing by co-workers, clients, staff, etc. Making those presentations mobile would offer even greater advantages. Well, now you can take your PowerPoint presentations on the road with you, right in your pocket.
There are several PowerPoint viewing products on the market today that permit you to view, and in some instances manipulate, PowerPoint presentations from your Palm handheld. The latest offering is powerViewer 2000 from ibrite, at http://www.ibrite.com. It enables you to download PowerPoint presentations from Office 97 or Office 2000 and display them on your handheld. You can also "beam" your presentation via IR (infrared) to another Palm OS handheld computer so that the recipient can view the presentation on his or her Palm OS device. The current release is version "D," and several enhancements are planned that, once implemented, will make the product even more robust.
.H1 Installation
The powerViewer software runs within Microsoft’s PowerPoint 2000 and PowerPoint 97 on a PC running Windows 95, 98, 2000, or Windows NT. The vendor recommends at least 96MB of RAM and at least a 266 Mhz processor or better. I used an AMD 380 Mhz with 128MB of RAM.
Installation of the product was very straightforward, and once installed, the application can be accessed through PowerPoint. There will be a powerViewer icon on the PowerPoint toolbar, as seen in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A An ibrite icon will appear on your PowerPoint toolbar.
The application can also be accessed through your Windows Start menu, as shown in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B You can also access powerViewer via the Start menu.
.H1 Creating a powerViewer presentation
Once you launch the powerViewer 2000 application, it’ll bring up a dialogue box asking you to choose a PowerPoint presentation to be converted to a handheld presentation, as shown in Figure C.
.FIGPAIR C You’ll be asked to select a PowerPoint file.
Once the presentation has been converted to a Palm database, the presentation will be sent to your handheld, along with the viewer software, during your next HotSync. The four-slide presentation I sent to my Palm IIIc took up 131K of memory. The application itself takes up another 386K of memory; so if memory is at a premium on your handheld, take this into consideration before downloading powerViewer.
.H1 Using the application
Once loaded, you launch the application from your Palm handheld and select the presentation you wish to view. The slides themselves are difficult to read if you have used a font that’s smaller than 18 points. Overall, it does a decent job of reproducing the slides on both color and non-color Palm computers. To view the slide full screen on your Palm handheld, simply tap the slide, and it will enlarge. Then, using your stylus, you can drag the image to view the desired section of the slide. Tap the screen again, and the slide reduces to fit the screen, as shown in Figure D.
.FIG D Your presentation will shrink to fit the screen, but it might be hard to read.
There’s also a memo option so that you can make notes regarding the presentation.
.H1 Beaming a presentation
The powerViewer program allows you to beam a presentation to another user. However, if the user doesn’t have powerViewer, you’ll need to "beam" them the application first and then beam them the presentation. Because of the size of the application and the size of each presentation, this takes a while. I recommend putting both devices on a table or desk because your hands and arms will get tired. Once the data is received, the user will be able to view the presentation on his or her Palm handheld. However, the user won’t be able to upload the presentation back into PowerPoint.
.H1 Shortcomings
The application itself is interesting, but because of the limited resolution of a Palm handheld screen, presentations are difficult to view without zooming in on each slide. I wasn’t able to try the software on a Palm m500 or Palm m505, however. For users with limited space on their handhelds, the size of the application and the presentations is a concern. Also, there’s no way to convert a presentation on the handheld back into PowerPoint (a feature that would make the product more robust).
.H1 Overall
The product itself shows promise. Given the limitations mentioned above I have reservations about spending $39.95 for the product. That said, being able to carry full-color (or even black and white) presentations around in your pocket is a powerful business advantage when sudden opportunities arise.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on powerViewer 2000 from ibrite, visit http://www.ibrite.com.
For more information about Palm computers, visit http://www.palm.com.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Jeffrey Greer is a Technical Consultant/Program Manager for MassMutual Financial Services in Springfield, MA. He has also been a Palm consultant for four years and specializes in finding existing Palm solutions that can enhance and streamline existing business processes for customers.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee6f621
