Finders keepers
Both Mike Holmes and Jim Hare responded saying they'd like to see a spell check built into the operating system, rather than having to download and install third-party software to provide that functionality. Mike also wanted to see font options (like bold, italic, and underline) available in Date Book, Address Book, To Do List, and Memo Pad, and he had an interesting suggestion for the Find function. He suggested the addition of a "view next occurrence" function. Currently, he explained, if you choose one of the "found" entries and it's not the one you're looking for, you must start over with the search to try a different "found" entry. He also suggested filters on the Find command (e.g., searching for an entry in Date Book no earlier than or later than a certain date).

Carlos Trumer, Ed Thompson, and Diego Benedetto also have an issue with the Find option. They'd like it to indicate all the matching words found in a particular document. For example, if there are two Visa numbers in the same extra-long note, the Find option will find just one of the two. As a European, Diego also says that he'd buy a Palm VII equivalent the day it's available if it integrated with GSM cellular and GPRS and tri-band.

The ultimate handheld
Meanwhile, Chuck Bryant says he'll upgrade from his Palm IIIxe as soon as he sees a handheld that includes all the features on his wish list. A number of these features already exist, but no single handheld has all of the following:

• High-resolution color screen that's viewable in any lighting conditions;

• Virtual Graffiti area that can be pulled down or hidden;

• True handwriting recognition;

• Voice recording of appointments and notes;

• Ability to set different alarm sounds for different types of appointments;

• Easier way to schedule recurring To Do items, with an easy way to mark them off so they don't appear until a certain date before they're due again;

• Ability to use expansion memory as real system memory, not just as a storage or swap area;

Finally, Chuck wants it to be easier to upgrade the OS. He doesn't have to buy a new computer every time Microsoft releases a new OS, so why, he asks, should he buy a new PDA every time Palm does?

Improving Date Book
Linda Hurst says her earliest PDA, which came from Texas Instruments, featured a rolling to do list that appeared on the calendar. This avoided the problem of having to use two applications or a third party program. She says it would be nice to have this on her Palm OS handheld as she currently ends up putting to do items in as a zero duration calendar item. However, this doesn't roll forward if she doesn't do the task, so the items sometimes get lost.