Although the unit can't actually Web surf, what the Palm VII can do is pretty amazing. To retrieve Web-based information, the Palm VII uses programs known as Palm Query Applications or PQAs, shown in Figure D.

FIGURE D

You can download a whole bunch of PQAs to your Palm VII, but many already come installed into the Palm.Net category.

On a Palm VII, the HTML-based form resides on your own machine, rather than on the Internet. You enter your request off-line and then connect to Palm.Net and get the information you need and sign off. If you need to follow a link or sub-menu, you click on a link and are connected to Palm.Net again. Because the PQA resides on your machine and not on the Internet, the actual amount of information which needs to be transmitted each time is fairly small. Sending a query and getting an answer seemed to happen fairly quickly, although it usually took longer than the ten second figure which Palm gives as an average, even when at 100% signal strength.

The Palm VII comes with 22 PQAs and more are downloadable from the usual sources. 3Com promises that hundreds of content providers are already signed up and working on providing content and e-commerce PQAs in the very near future.

Today, owners of a Palm VII can already do the following:

• Use MoviePhone to check when a film is playing or even to order tickets;

• Check stocks on E*TRADE;

• Catch up on the news from ABC, USA Today or even the venerable Wall Street Journal;

• Find an ATM (Automatic Teller Machine);

• Check sports scores on ESPN;

• Ascertain whether a flight has been delayed using Travelocity or OAG;

• Help you find your way with MapQuest, as shown in Figure E;

FIGURE E

Enter your "from" location and your "to" location and once you click Directions, MapQuest will return a path you can follow.

Here are a few more things you can do with your Palm VII's PQAs:

• Order tickets through Ticketron;

• Translate short paragraphs to and from English and five other languages using the GO network translator;

• Get customized traffic reports using Etak Traffic, as shown in Figure F.

FIGURE F

Want to know which routes to avoid? Let Etak tell you.

Most of these and more are included pre-loaded or on the accompanying CD ROM.

Almost email
The Palm VII calls its email application iMessenger, shown in Figure G. You can receive email messages from anyone, anywhere. To save money, only the first part of the message is transmitted. If the message is longer than 500 characters, you tap on the more button to get the rest of it. The catch with using iMessenger is that you can only receive mail sent to Palm.Net -- you cannot check your regular email account unless you set up forwarding with your ISP -- and messages you send from your Palm VII will have the Reply-To address of your Palm.Net account.