.KEYWORD trg
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE What do you know, it’s the TRGpro!
.OTHER
.AUTHOR S. Fred Green a.k.a. Fredlet
.SUMMARY Contributing editor S. Fred Green (a.k.a. Fredlet) came back from PalmSource with the toy she won, a pre-production model of the brand-spanking-new TRGpro from TRG. Read her review, and find out what makes this product special.
I came back from PalmSource with the new toy I won, a pre-production model of the TRGpro from TRG, which is supposed to be shipping sometime this month (just in time for the holidays). If you’d like to see a picture of my beaming face, visit http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199911/palmsource001.html. I called my mom to give her the good news. Our conversation went something like this:
.Q Mom
"I think you should give it to me."
.A Me
"Pardon?"
.Q Mom
"I was in labor with you for 25 hours…"
.A Me
"No you weren’t, you told me all about it last Thanksgiving!"
.Q Mom
"…and in gratitude to your poor old mother…"
.A Me
"Mom, you aren’t old."
.Q Mom
"… I think you should give me your TRGpro."
.A Me
"No way. You used this argument last year when you wanted that new jacket that I bought."
.Q Mom
"Nuh uh."
.A Me
"Yuh huh."
.Q Mom
"Nuh uh."
This continued on for a little while… Mom and I have rather strange conversations.
Well, she hasn’t gotten her hands on it yet, but I have yielded before to the force of her guilt, so I’d better write this review quickly.
.H1 What is the TRGpro?
The TRGpro is basically the Palm IIIx in a slightly different dinner jacket. Well, that and it has this swank little port in the back for CompactFlash cards, which you can see in Figure A. Need 340MB of space on your TRGpro to store all those chapters of The Complete Works of Shakespeare as Retold by Joe Bob Briggs?
No problem.
.FIGPAIR A Here’s a look at the TRGpro with a CompactFlash card.
.H1 What are the specs?
The base unit (without any extra cards) has 8MB of storage, 2MB Flash Memory, Palm OS 3.3, enhanced sound capability, and three built-in applications (FlashPro, CFpro, and CFBackup) to manage your applications in Flash Memory. I know that I have 24,000 addresses, 10 years of appointments, 6,000 to-do items, 6,000 memos, and 800 email messages — not to mention all my games. Oh, alright… I only have 20, 073 addresses. Picky, picky, picky.
Hardware details include the Palm IIIx screen with the 160×160 resolution and the reverse backlighting (with the option to go back to the original, of course) and the newer Motorola DragonBall EZ. Strangely enough, I didn’t take this little puppy apart the minute I got home. TRG’s FAQ states that it’s based on the Palm IIIx so I assumed that it has matching innards, too. One obvious benefit that the TRGpro has over the Palm IIIx is that the CompactFlash cards are the method of upgrade. I don’t really see an easy method of upgrade for the Palm IIIx.
.H1 Flash Memory
They’ve stored these built-in applications in the Flash Memory. When you use the FlashPro software to store applications, they are retained even if you completely lose power on your unit. That can be a very handy thing when you’re as easily distracted by shiny things as I am. I have only done it once, but losing all my databases to my applications that weren’t completely backed up was a big pain. You can read more about the FlashPro software in the May issue of PalmPower at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199905/flashpro001.html.
.H1 CompactFlash slot
Aside from all the basics (which are pretty spiffy) the thing that really catches my attention is the CompactFlash slot, shown in Figure B. Extra storage is easily added, modems are tiny and convenient. You can find out what CompactFlash cards are compatible at http://www.trgpro.com/support/cf_compatible.html.
.FIG B The CompactFlash slot in the TRGpro holds CompactFlash cards and modems.
.H1 Bar code reader compatibility
If I wanted to put a bar code reader in my TRGpro, I could. Look at Figure C to see how the TRGpro looks with the barcode scanner. I have no idea what I would scan. I wonder if my cat would notice if I took a purple crayon and drew lines on her. I could do a cat scan! I just know I’m going to get lots of mail over that particular joke.
.FIG C You can hook up a bar code scanner to the TRGpro.
.H1 Making life easier with CFpro
Using CFpro to manage the applications and data on your TRGpro is fairly straightforward and it’s a pretty good way of managing storage on the fly without running a lengthy backup, locally or over modem. Simply store your less frequently used applications and databases on the card. You can either let them reside on the card when you remove the card from the slot or, since the TRGpro uses the standard file system, you can use a CompactFlash reader in your Windows machine to read the card. There are PCMCIA adapters for reading CompactFlash cards in your computer, so I will assume cross-platform compatibility. Macs can read Windows file formats easily but, never having tested it, this is strictly an assumption on my part.
CFpro will reformat a card, move items back and forth from your TRGpro to the card, and even play WAV files off of the card. This is where the enhanced audio capabilities come in handy. I did ask TRG about their plans for Ethernet cards but, since they’re still under development, they really didn’t have much to tell me.
Because the TRGpro runs on the Palm OS, the Palm Desktop (which is cross platform) is used for synchronization. Therefore, as far as synchronization goes, Mac users won’t be missing any standard usability.
.PAGE
.H1 Conclusion
TRG did a nice job on this handheld device. I really like the standard card usage, since there’s nothing worse than adopting a format and having that format fall by the wayside. I can think of five very fine formats just off the top of my head that didn’t quite take hold and the early adopters were left with a lot of limited-use equipment.
As usual, I put my Mac-ness first and will take off some brownie points for not having everything available for Mac as well as Windows. But I love the CompactFlash slot and the Palm IIIx form factor with its accompanying goodies (screen, backlighting, sound, etc.). This gets four fennecs on the fredlet fennec meter, with a few more whiskers added back on when they become truly cross-platform and more Mac friendly.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
If you’d like to see a picture of my beaming face after winning my TRGpro, visit http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199911/palmsource001.html.
You can read more about the FlashPro software in the May issue of PalmPower at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199905/flashpro001.html.
You can find out what CompactFlash cards are compatible with your TRGpro at http://www.trgpro.com/support/cf_compatible.html.
You can find out more about the TRGpro at http://www.trgpro.com/.
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.BIO
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6daf6
