Installing the Mobile Internet Kit is pretty straightforward. HotSync your Palm device first and then pop in the CD ROM. A number of files will be installed to your Palm device, mainly PQAs and system files needed to enable wireless connectivity.

Preferences
One of the first things you'll notice after the Mobile Internet Kit install is a couple of new options in Preferences: Connection and Wireless. The Connection screen is shown in Figure C.

FIGURE C

You can set your available connections in the Connections screen.

You can set your available connections in the Connections screen. Be sure to use the appropriate setting for your cell phone. Not all Nokia phones sold in the US have IR, let alone IR modems!

Figure D shows the Wireless screen.

FIGURE D

Here's the Wireless screen under Preferences.

There's not much you can configure in Wireless. The proxy is used to connect to Palm.Net, as far as I can tell. The Mobile Internet Kit documentation comes in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese, but doesn't provide much information.

Applications
You get lots of applications with the Mobile Internet Kit. Most of these are PQAs, but you also get an SMS utility and email, as well as an optional WAP browser, which is not installed by default. Having been completely unimpressed with WAP browsing on my Samsung phone, I declined to install it on my Palm V.

HandPhone SMS, pictured in Figure E, lets you send short messages to people with GSM phones.

FIGURE E

HandPhone SMS sends short messages to GSM phone users.

I couldn't really test HandPhone SMS, because GSM service is not prevalent in the US, and it's just about impossible to tell who uses what carrier without asking each cell phone-toting individual I know. This will be a far more useful utility in most of the rest of the world, where GSM is the standard.

MultiMail Pro II is the email package provided in the Mobile Internet Kit. Palm recently purchased Actual Software, developers of MultiMail Pro. The opening screen, pictured in Figure F, gives you the option to send email, receive email, or both.

FIGURE F

With MultiMail Pro II, you can send and/or receive email.

See my article in the July 1998 issue of PalmPower (at http://palmpower.com/issues/issue199807/handson001.html) for information on how to set up MultiMail Pro II. Astute readers will note that this is not the most recent version of MultiMail Pro.

I tapped the receive button and found out I don't have any mail as you can see in Figure G.

FIGURE G

I don't have mail.

PQAs
I'll briefly go over some of the many PQAs that are shipped with the Mobile Internet Kit.

CBS MarketWatch
With CBS MarketWatch, pictured in Figure H, you can check your stock portfolio.

FIGURE H

Enter your ticker symbol and tap the Go button to check a quote.

As you can see in Figure I, it's a down market for tech stocks today. Looks like President-Elect Bush's nomination for Secretary of the Treasury is not sitting well with the market!

FIGURE I

CBS MarketWatch provides real-time stock quotes.