Orange Palms

A couple of months ago I discovered that the PalmPilot is very much better at handling email than I had at first assumed, to the extent that I am now quite content to go away for a week with just the Pilot as my only email machine. As it is also the smallest complete PDA, I decided to experiment to see if I could use it for fully portable email in the UK.

Because the Pilot is so small, it can't take PC Card modems, but has to use an extension box that connects to the serial port at the bottom of the Pilot. Carrying a Pilot Modem and a short length of telephone cable is reasonably convenient, although it means that all the equipment required overflows my pockets and takes up space in a briefcase. But what I needed to do was something rather different: carry the equipment required to use the PalmPilot for wireless communications. A Belgian company, Option International, has recently introduced a GSM adaptor for the PalmPilot, called the Snap-On. This uses the same case as the Pilot Modem, with a special adaptor cable to connect to the mobile phone of your choice. Option claim a wider range of supported phone models than most GSM adaptors, but I chose to use it with one of the commonest modern phones, the Nokia 8110. I use this in its Orange variant, the nk502, which Option claim works with the Snap-On.

Snap-On snaps on

If you have a mobile phone, then the odds are that it isn't enabled for data calls, which is what you will need to use with the Snap-On. Trying to make a connection before this is enabled will result in an error message when dialling, but it might not be entirely obvious what the problem is. Once Orange have enabled your phone for data calls, they will give you two new numbers, one for fax and the other for data; these are for incoming calls to your phone. It isn't a good idea to lose these numbers, but you won't need them to read your email. Orange will also send you an update to your SIM; this requires your to switch off and switch back on again the phone. After that you are ready to make data calls.

The Pilot sees the Snap-On as just another modem; most of the plain modem choices in Prefs will work well. Make sure that you set the speed to something greater than 9,600 bps, which is the effective data rate of GSM calls, and that you select either hardware flow control or automatic flow control. If you already have a connection script set up for your ISP, then no changes will be required.

One catch is the modem setup string. It isn't mentioned in the manual, but I found that the line would drop in a couple of seconds after connecting. Given that data calls are charged at a minute minimum, even if the call disconnects in the first three seconds (unlike voice calls), this could be annoying. Changing the setup string to AT&F\n0 was enough to correct this. no is in the manual, in the commands summary appendix, but there is no reason to suppose that it might be necessary for Orange.

Once past this little problem, it should take out 7 to 10 seconds to make a connection to your ISP (I was using Demon's Orange PoP). Email downloads using TGPostman, which I have mentioned before, were quick. One disadvantage of TGPostman is that it always reads all of the emails in your POP mailbox, even if they have been read before, so can be considerably slower with a large mailbox than a commercial mail downloader. Even though data connections are only 9,600, I was pleased with the apparent speed; it felt like a much faster connection.

One worry with mobile phones is the cost of calls. Depending on the charging plan they have you on, it may easily cost anywhere from 9p to 18p per minute (or much worse, if you have one of the "Don't Call" plans!). Calling Demon's Orange PoP will cost between 9p and 12.5p per minute; however, calling a "normal" 0845 number from an Orange phone will cost only 5p off-peak, or 10p peak per minute, so don't assume that a special Orange PoP is any cheaper.

The PalmPilot/Snap-On combination is a good wireless email solution, although it has one box (Pilot, Snap-On and mobile phone) more than a PDA with GSM PC Card, the total amount carried around is still low.

Snap-On also comes with a free copy of HandPhone, from Smartcode Software, which allows you to compose SMS messages on the Pilot, and send and receive them through your mobile phone.

Words and design by:
Paul Lynch
Last updated: March 11, 1998