I recently applied the test to three Internet appliances, a new class of gizmo that PC makers are bringing into stores this holiday season. These devices let users send and receive e-mail and surf the Web. That’s basically it–no word processing or game playing, since they don’t feature hard drives or disk drives. The devices all go for about $500, give or take different rebates for buying monthly Net access. I looked at three: 3Com’s Audrey, the MSN Companion by Compaq and the Gateway Connected TouchPad With Instant AOL. They all aced the first part of the test. Pull them out of the box, plug ’em in and you’re on the Web. Unfortunately, none entirely clears the simplicity bar. The category shows promise but has some growing up to do.
I road-tested the Audrey first. 3Com’s appliance is the coolest-looking of the pack. The cream-colored unit sports an angular shape, with a translucent plastic stylus sticking up from the top like a dilithium crystal in “Star Trek.” Unlike its rivals, which lock users into the MSN or AOL online services, Audrey can be configured to work with almost any access provider. It also lets you plug in a Palm-Pilot and synchronize your calendar and contact info (a nice feature for tech sophisticates).
But Audrey’s fatal defect is the small, lightweight wireless keyboard. In shrinking it to a size that users might consider unobtrusive in their kitchen or living room, Audrey’s designers have inadvertently frustrated all attempts to hit important buttons, such as the period. 3Com argues that more users will opt to scrawl e-mail right on the screen anyway, but that doesn’t help with surfing the Web or writing e-mails that are actually legible. On the plus side, Audrey is the only device that’s light enough to hold in your lap.
Perhaps the most disappointing device of the lot is the Gateway/AOL TouchPad. Like Audrey, the unit is stylish, with a faux-metallic look that will integrate perfectly into stainless-steel kitchens everywhere. And as with the Audrey, you navigate by touching the screen with your fingers, or by using a flimsy plastic stylus that’s inexplicably hidden underneath the screen. There’s also easy access to AIM, AOL’s popular instant-messaging service.
I found the TouchPad difficult to use. As part of its customized service for these new devices, AOL has added large icons for categories like e-mail, shopping, news and weather. When you click on these topic areas, you encounter regular AOL content as it would appear on your PC. On the tiny 10-inch screen, though, it looks small. I can just imagine my grandmom wrecking her eyesight with the thing. Even when you leave AOL to surf the Web, the browser is framed on the screen by large icons, making Web content appear extra-small. Gateway says AOL is working on creating more content for smaller screens, but it seems to me that AOL’s design just doesn’t work on this device.
That leaves the MSN Companion. Compaq produces two versions, with a standard cathode-ray-tube monitor and a nicer flat-panel screen. On the Bernice Test this device scored the highest. Sure, unlike its rivals it has no touch screen, and, predictably for a Microsoft product, the “activity keys” on the keyboard lead right to Microsoft content: for instance, the button with the dollar sign takes you to the MSN Money Web page. But while the screen is the same size as the TouchPad’s, the content doesn’t appear as tiny. And a central thumb pad on the well-designed keyboard makes for easy navigation.
On the other hand, the MSN Companion doesn’t read the sound and video files encoded in the popular RealPlayer formats of Microsoft competitor Real.com. This wouldn’t bother Bernice, but for someone who wants to send audio birthday greetings over e-mail, it could be an issue. Also, the unit does not run some popular file types on the Web, such as large Java applications. This is a problem common to all the Internet appliances, and it blocks users from accessing online games like bridge, which is definitely a Bernice priority.
Finally, one very nice touch of the MSN Companion: you can designate a picture to be displayed when it’s turned off, transforming the device into a digital picture frame. Perfect for a photo of the grandkids.
