NEC MobilePro 770 & 800 H/PC Pros!

They're stylish and thin. It's very easy to type on their almost full-size keyboards. And one of them has a very large screen. I'm talking about NEC's new "notebook killers" ­ the MobilePro 770 and MobilePro 800 Handheld PC Pros.

NEC was one of the first manufacturers to buy into "bigger is better" with their Windows CE 2.0 Handheld PC, the MobilePro 750c. The idea was that the keyboards on the smaller Handheld PCs were just too small to type on easily. Users, especially corporate users, were accustomed to notebook computers and wanted touch-typeable keyboards and color screens. NEC must have made the right decision with the 750c. All of the new H/PC Pros announced so far have large keyboards and color screens.

The same, but different

The NEC MobilePro 770 and 800 have a lot of common features, and a couple of very different characteristics. Both devices are built around a fast 131MHz MIPS processor ­ applications open and close quickly. Both devices come with 24 MB of upgradeable ROM and 32 MB of RAM. The 800 can be further upgraded to 48 MB RAM. Both devices have a Type II PC Card slot, a Type II CompactFlash+ slot, a VGA-out port, serial port, IrDA port and a jack for the built-in 56 kbps modem. The 800 has an additional USB port. Both devices come with a built-in microphone for recording voice memos, and a combo earphone/ microphone jack. At 2.56 lbs, the MobilePro 800 is þ of a pound heavier than the 770.

The units have some significant hardware differences. Although both units are capable of displaying 65K of colors, the MobilePro 800 is the larger unit, with a full-size 9.4" diagonal screen capable of displaying 800x600 or 640x480 pixels. If you are going to use your H/PC to browse the Web, this is a wonderful screen to do it on. The MobilePro 770's screen is a smaller 1/2 VGA 8.1" diagonal color screen displaying 640x240 pixels.

Both units are equipped with built-in rechargeable backup batteries. The main batteries are rechargeable lithium-ion battery packs. The MobilePro 800 gets about 8 hours of use on a fully-charged battery. The 770, with the smaller screen, gets about 10. One nice 770 option is a battery adapter tray that lets you replace the rechargeable battery pack with four AA batteries. They won't power the 770 very long so you won't want to do this on a regular basis. But it's very handy if you run out of power in out-of-the-way places. Unfortunately, this does not work with the 800.

Both MobilePros come with the following accessories: AC power adapter, serial connectivity cable, RJ-11 phone cable, VGA-out cable, manuals, a CD ROM with Windows CE Services (for synchronization and connectivity with a desktop PC) and a CD ROM with bonus software. In addition, the following accessories can be purchased for the Mobile Pro: AC power adapter; PC synchronization cable; lithium-ion battery pack; RAM memory upgrade module; stylus pen pack; carrying case; docking cradle.

Both MobilePros have the Windows CE 2.11 operating system, the same set of Pocket applications and utilities, and the same set of add-on programs.

A hands-on look

As I mentioned, performance was snappy on both units. I opened and closed applications, loaded large and small documents, and only once noticed a slowdown when I was loading a large database into Pocket Access.

The screen on the 770 is a little easier to see, but both are quite readable. Backlighting powers off on its own, and comes back on automatically when you start typing or tap the screen. The touchscreen on the 770 seemed a little more sensitive than the 800. I had to press down a little harder on the 800 and re-tap occasionally, until I got used to it.