• HandWatch

• $10

• Zips and Unzips
• Easy to use

• Only Unzips to device RAM

Design:
Cost/benefit:
Coolness:
Overall:

Getting Zipped
Zipping files already in your handheld's main memory is as easy as selecting a few tick boxes. Once you have decided which files to compress, hit the Zip button and a dialogue box pops up offering a choice of two compression levels and for a name for the archive. The compression levels are straight forward: either zero compression or about 60% of original size.

This size reduction was born out in tests; 5.2 MB of files on my Clié were archived into a 2.8 MB Zip file. This Zipping operation did take several minutes however, and cannot be interrupted.

Only files in device memory can be archived; files on your memory card are unavailable.

Getting Unzipped
The Unzip operation is as straight forward as zipping. You can Unzip files created by HandZipper, or install other Zip files directly to your memory card.

Here, however, is HandZipper's main limitation; Files can only be unzipped to the handheld's main memory, they can't be unzipped onto the memory card. HandZipper recognizes files which aren't standard Palm file types and, although it tells you they are there, it doesn't let you do anything with them.

Adding Zip files to your memory card is straightforward; On your PC simply drag the file into the Palm install tool and it will install onto your memory card at HotSync. Software can be downloaded in Zip format, copied onto a memory card and then unzipped and installed into device memory, although the unzip operation can take some time.

Uses & Limitations
The main use I can see for HandZipper is as a back-up utility. It lacks many features of other back-up software, although it does offer excellent compression, and a archive format that can be directly uncompressed on a desktop machine.

A second possible use is for the maximization of memory card space. Infrequently used software or files can be zipped to almost half their original size and stored on the memory card. For applications that use large files such as Acrobat or Teal Movie this is a definite advantage. However, HandZipper also disappoints in this area because it can only unzip into device memory, limiting the user to a file no larger than free RAM.

It is also worth mentioning here that some Palm Applications create filenames that are illegal on desktop machines, PowerRun for example uses "**", which cannot be unzipped under windows.

Conclusion
HandZipper is easy to use and stable. In the future, when Palm e-mail applications can receive attachments and save them to external memory, or perhaps when HandZipper can unzip a wider range of files straight onto a memory card HandZipper will become invaluable. At the moment, however, it feels a bit like a solution waiting for a problem.