I believe one of the ingredients to Zen of Palm is “simplicity in learning.” Things need to be simple. You cannot make a device so complicated that the user needs an extended learning period, or a “thick” manual to figure things out. My first Palm OS device Pilot 1000 was definitely simple. I didn’t even read a manual to figure out how to use the device. Well, I did peek at how to use the Graffiti for a few minutes, but that’s about it. So, I think the original Pilot passed this test.

Another ingredients is “simplicity in use.” I don’t care how technologically fancy or sophisticated the device is. I just want to the device to work and do things that I want quickly. The Pilot 1000 was simply that. It did what it was supposed to do extremely well. The four basic applications (Datebook, Addressbook, To-do, and Memo) worked as advertised. They were simple and fast to use. The instant on and instant entry on the Pilot 1000 was a far cry from what I was used to in my desktop PC. In fact, I think most people use their PDA’s differently than their desktop PC’s. Most of the time, the PDA is used to enter/access/retrieve short information quickly and conveniently. However, that’s not how I use my PC. In fact, my desktop PC was not designed with that functionality in mind. I believe this is one of the major shortcomings of any PDA device that tries to mimic the desktop PC

In fact, although we have had pundits who criticized the Palm devices and touted the technological superiority of WinCE devices, I still maintain that most of the time (i.e., 80% of the time), we don’t need all that sophistication in what we do with our PDA day in and day out. I recently tracked my own usage with my Palm, and I came very close to meeting the 80% rule (there were several applications that were used 80% of the time–4 basic applications occupied the big chunk of that block). So, keeping the core functionality easy to use and reliable, the Pilot 1000 definitely met this design philosophy.

The third and final ingredients in Zen of Palm is “portability.” What good is a handheld device or a personal digital assistant, if you don’t or can’t carry the device with you all the time. Sure, we can put a bigger device in our briefcase and carry it that way, but how often do you carry your briefcase while at work, or when you are out doing errands or entertaining. So, you need to keep the device small (not too small as to compromise the usability mind you) so that it is not cumbersome when carrying it. Needless to say, the Pilot 1000 was the first device I owned that I could carry in my shirt or pants’ pocket without feeling uncomfortable or being conscious about the bulge in my pocket.

So, there you have it. This is what I mean when I say Zen of Palm.

Palm has gone through a lot of changes in the past 7 years. The first Palm OS device, the Pilot 1000, had a low-resolution monochrome screen (160x160), a Motorola chip (8MHz), and believe or not 128K of RAM. When comparing that device to my current device T3 that has a high-resolution extended 16-bit color screen (320x480), an Intel X-scale ARM processor (400MHz), believe or not 64MB of RAM, and an expansion slot, you realize that’s a huge change in seven years.

Next week, I will examine, the progression of Palm OS devices (focusing on the latest devices) and whether Zen of Palm has survived the transition to more sophisticated Palm OS devices.