From: MLINDROOS@finabo.abo.fi (Marcus Lindroos INF)
Subject: CallForDiscussion: A*BETTER* HP95LX?
Organization: Abo Akademi University, Finland
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 09:12:36 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.23

I really like my 95LX, it is an excellent product and truly deserves
all praise it has received from the computer press. It is
undoubtedly the best palmtop currently on the market and looks
like a sure hit that should make HP and Lotus lots of money.
Still, there are some things I would see changed. 
---
While some people might argue that the keyboard is the 95LX's
weakest spot, I am actually more upset about the display. Oh, oh,
oh . . . *WHY* didn't Hewlett-Packard opt for 320 pixels per row
instead of just 240?! The screen would have to be just 33% wider
to make room for it and, at 150mm (6 in.), the display would
still have fit inside the unit. For a PC compatible, 80
characters per line is essential. In fact, all HP95LX
applications but the Filer and the HP Calculator are affected by
the lack of horizontal space. Lotus 
1-2-3 can be frustrating to use even on an 80-column desktop
machine, trying to get an overview of your 1-2-3 spreadsheets on
the 95LX feels like reading a book with a magnifying glass glued
to your eye. The Memo utility is also handicapped by it, it is
frustrating to be unable to tell how the text is going to look on
paper with only a few paragraphs are visible at a time. Same goes
for the Comm program, ever tried to scroll through an 80-column-
wide text file using it? Even the Phonebook and the Scheduler
(for long entries) could use a wider display.  If there is some
sort of limit on the total screen area you can fit inside a
palmtop computer (for budgetary or technical reasons), decrease
the vertical resolution instead. A 150x36mm (5.9x1.4 in.), 320-
by-96 pixels screen could effortlessly display 80x8 characters
using a CGA-style character matrix 4 pixels wide and 12 pixels
tall. 80x12 characters also would be possible, though not exactly
pleasant to read. Even the present 6-by-8 pixels, 40-by-16
character format would have been as convenient to use, currently
the work area is usually no larger than 40x12 characters because
of the menu bars and function key descriptions at the top and
bottom of the screen. The 40x12 area would still be in effect,
with the menus relegated to the surplus 80-by-96 pixel area at
the left margin of the screen. And all this is necessary only if
it is impossible to widen the display without "tweaking" it in
the process, which I doubt given the modest increase (40mm) we
are talking about here. Again, a larger screen the next time
please!
---
This is what the HP96LX mk.II should be like, if it ever is
built;

1.A LARGER CLAMSHELL:
--------------------
At 16x8.5cm the 95LX is extremely convenient. I always carry it
with me in a small bag or pocket, writing notes and memos as I
go. The small size also means I can hold it comfortably with two
hands and write using my thumbs only and still reach all keys.
The drawback is the tiny keyboard and display. Therefore, HP
would be well advised to make the next model just a tiny bit
larger. At 17.5x9.5cm (6.9x3.75 in.) the Sharp Wizard is very
much the optimal size as far as ergonomical design is concerned.
Just small enough to fit inside most pockets, yet large enough
for a decent keyboard. If we enlarge the HP95LX by 1.5x1cm, there
will be ample room for a larger screen as well. It would be great
to have a slightly slimmer unit at the same time. The 95LX is a bit
too bulky for my liking.

2.A BETTER KEYBOARD:
-------------------
There is not much room for improvement on a machine this small.
Still, a slightly larger unit would make it possible to replace 
the tiny 95LX QWERTY keys (four rows in all) with an Atari
Portfolio-style enlargened rubber keyboard. Hardly a drastic
improvement, mind you, but still a lot better than the two-finger
hunt-and-peck typing style demanded by the 95LX. I've tried the
Portfolio and find it much better for rapid typing and note-
taking than HP's machine. There's no need to replace the entire
keyboard, however. 
The numerical keypad and the top two rows of keys on the 95LX
(=function-, application- and special keys) are OK as they are.
Rapid data entry is no problem as long as you are not using your
palmtop as a word processor.
Another good thing with having a slightly larger clamshell is
that there would be room for five or six additional keys as well.
On top of my list: three or four extra keys with brackets
and punctuation symbols (in the US) or accented letters (in
foreign countries), separate INSERT and DELETE keys and an
enlarged PAGE UP/PAGE DOWN keypad. All in all, even a WordPerfect
ROM card might be useful on a model with a keyboard this good.

3.MORE RAM MEMORY:
-----------------
1Mb is a decent compromise between performance and price here.
Additional ROM & RAM cards would take care of computer processing
needs beyond that.

4.A LARGER DISPLAY:
------------------
A 160x70mm screen (6.3x2.8 in.) would be the ultimate achievement
as we could fit a 320x200 CGA display inside, but space
requirements and cost probably preclude it. But, a 15x6.2cm
(5.9x2.45 in.) display should be well within the limits of what
is affordable. This translates into a 320x168 pixel area, leaving
a border about 1/2 in. wide between the edge of the display and
the clamshell. While it probably would be too expensive, I 
would love to have some modest graphics potential, like four
grayscales to play with instead of the current monochrome
display. At the very least, I want a widened 95LX display
(150*48mm) - hardly too much asked with the extra space
available. 

5.INCLUDE SEVERAL GRAPHIC MODES IN THE SETUP:
--------------------------------------------
With a 320x168 screen, you could choose between an 80x14
character display (4x12 matrix), an HP95LX emulation 40x21 mode
(6x8 matrix), a condensed 80x21 character mode (4x8 matrix) or
even 80x24 columns, although the characters would be extremely
small and blocky (4x7 pixels). While the 80x14 mode sounds like
the best option, all of these options might come in handy
depending on the application you are running (in 80x24 mode, the
Calendar program could display twelve months at a time!).

6.DROP LOTUS 1-2-3:
------------------
This should be done to save costs after upgrading the keyboard
and the display. Frankly, I don't need Lotus 1-2-3 for anything
but to calculate soccer league tables every now and then! The
reason I bought the HP95LX was because of its portability, the
built-in memo editor and organizer software and because it is
compatible with my desktop machine. I am sure many buyers are not
business executives, yet everyone has to pay for the spreadsheet
software. A better way would be to include Lotus as an optional
ROM card (see below).

---
Summary:
The basic unit would be a slightly larger souped-up 1Mb 95LX with
improved keyboard and display,  upgraded built-in organizer
software but minus the Lotus 1-2-3 system. All this would cost
about as much as the current model. The buyer chooses what
additional RAM cards or ROM software he or she needs according to
need. As a computer science student mainly using my HP for note
taking, I would rather leave out Lotus 1-2-3 and instead buy a
RAM card to store larger files. Having application software
customized for HP palmtops available on ROM cards would be vital
as many programs won't work with the nonstandard display. Some
suggestions:

1) SYMPHONY: This version of Lotus 1-2-3 with built-in word
processing, a database organizer and communications software was
great for doing miscellaneous tasks on low-end PCs in the late
1980s. Having it (or Microsoft's Works) on ROM would be great.
2) WORDPERFECT: A basic, no frills, no thrills-version of the
word processing giant (a souped-up WP4.2 capable of writing and
reading WP5.1 files perhaps?) would come in handy during those
long bus rides. A slightly better, Portfolio-style keyboard would
be enough, especially if HP would sell a full-size, lightweight
and inexpensive "work while at home" desktop keyboard capable of
using the infrared port for wireless transfer (the IR port would
have to be moved to the front of the unit to make room for the
ROM card slot). WYSIWYG would be possible using the 80x24 mode.
3) BORLAND C/PASCAL CARD: Imagine doing programming jobs whenever
and wherever you like! No bulky, heavy laptops to drag around.
You just reach for the pocket, two keystrokes and you are away.
There should be enough room on a single card for an assembler,
debugger, profiler and a C and Pascal compiler. Whether the 8086-
based HP palmtop would be fast enough is an entirely different
matter, but at least the keyboard and display (save for non-
existent standard graphics support for the HP screen) would not
be the bottleneck they are on the 95LX.
4) MATHCAD/DERIVE: This would be a boon to frustrated college
students everywhere. Derive is available already, MathCad must be
rewritten for the HP's graphics card and really needs more than a
240x128 monographic screen to be effective. Both would be
extremely useful on an HP with improved display. Including some
sort of "calendar" with all kinds of physics/ mathematical
constants and tables would be a valuable addition. Actually,
Derive does work on the 1Mb 95LX although it would be better if
it was specially designed for the machine.
5) ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE: an HP palmtop equipped with an
enlarged screen and improved graphics (four grayscales) would be
a great games machine! I would love to have games like Tetris,
Chessmaster, Windows-style card games and arcade games like Super
Mario Bros. While program availability should not be a problem as
soon as third-party vendors start writing software for the HP, I
feel Hewlett Packard should produce a cheap card with old 
entertainment programs. Another less expensive possibility would
be to release the programs on diskette including updated graphics
drivers both for the HP and also for desktop machines (VGA etc.).
You simply install the software on whichever machine you want -
as long as you do not violate any copyright laws of course:-).
6) PALMTOP-SPECIFIC APPLICATIONS: Anything that would come in
handy while "on the move" is a potential palmtop task. The HP95LX
already comes equipped with an organizer and a phone book, and a
card-based thesaurus is an option. Other potential software
includes translators and reference books. An HP version of PC
GLOBE would be fun, although an improved display is essential.
The possibilities are endless.
----------------------------
The HP95LX was a landmark in palmtop computing. A new, improved
yet equally inexpensive model could revolutionize MS-DOS
computing like no other model has done since IBM launched the XT
a decade ago. We are waiting anxiously for HP's next move . . .
 

MARCU$