Using the MyPalm Portal on the road
As if all this weren't enough, you can access some of these features on the road. The MyPalm portal is available as a Web clipping application for the Palm VII, Palm VIIx, and other Palm handhelds using the Mobile Internet Kit. The MyPalm portal includes access to traditional portal content, such as news, finance, and other portals-replacing individual Web clipping applications in the process-as well as access to select MyPalm content including Events, Free Time Viewer, and MyInfo. You can also download other Web clipping applications, purchase products from Palm, and check your email.

The home page of the MyPalm portal is an interesting mix of links to built-in applications like iMessenger and the Date Book, third-party content such as news and other portal content, and true MyPalm content. Disappointingly, a great deal of the content isn't as well-optimized for Palm handhelds as it ought to be; many of the pages include the obligatory two exclamation points indicating a page that's a large download. While not a grave failing, it's annoying, especially given that the wireless portal is from Palm, and so many third-party developers have successfully produced good Web clipping applications while keeping pages brief.

For example, Figure E shows the MyPalm Portal's Events screen. This corresponds to the desktop page I discussed earlier.

FIGURE E

This is what the MyPalm Event screen looks like on a Palm handheld.

It works well, letting me search for an event over a range of dates into the future. Figure F shows a sample search result, giving me both show times and theaters for a movie I'd like to watch in my area.

FIGURE F

You can access movie show times and theaters.

Once I get the information I want, I can easily download a desired show time directly to my calendar.

The MyPalm wireless Free Time Viewer works in a similar fashion, as you can see in Figure G.

FIGURE G

The MyPalm Free Time viewer helps you to locate free time.

You enter a desired chunk of free time (say, for a meeting), select people from the list of those with whom you've arranged to share free time schedules, and then you can see whether or not you'll be able to meet with those people.

Despite the convenience of these features, these three screen shots all demonstrate simple, yet key, flaws in Palm's user interface design. First, the pages are just too big. In fact, the entire Web clipping application portal is too big in my opinion, consuming a hefty 120K, which is too much space for many first-generation Palm VII users trying to fit all their applications into a 2MB device. If you're watching your wireless consumption--either using the Palm.net service or via your cellular phone--you may find you can't get much use from the portal. Second, the pages often require you to scroll to reach critical interface controls, simply because the MyPalm banner consumes so much space across the top of the display. While these features are useful, they lack the elegance and simplicity of many third-party Web clipping applications and the elegance of the built-in Palm applications themselves, making the portal feel clunky and awkward to use.