WordSmith can also serve as a replacement for the Memo Pad program that comes installed on your handheld. The advantage to doing this is that memos created with WordSmith can use multiple fonts and effects like underline or bold, as well as basic paragraph formatting. While installing WordSmith, you have the option of re-mapping the Memo Pad button on your device to use the WordSmith Memo Pad.

While working on this review, I was impressed with the Blue Nomad support staff. I had a problem registering WordSmith, so I sent them email at 6:15 a.m.. At 6:34 a.m. I received an email from a real live person, with the solution to my problem. That's great support.

TinySheet
If you work with spreadsheets while you're on the move, TinySheet (pictured in Figure C) could be just what you need. TinySheet supports color and there's a trial version available.

FIGURE C

TinySheet provides Excel-like spreadsheet capabilities on your handheld.

TinySheet from iambic (at http://www.iambic.com/english/palmos/tinysheet/) allows you to create spreadsheets with over 8,000 rows, 250 columns, and 64 individual sheets. It also reads and writes basic Microsoft Excel spreadsheets so you can work with whichever tool makes the most sense at any given time.

TinySheet provides over 100 built-in functions including a pop-up calculator style keyboard for entering formulas. It understands Graffiti, and works with third-party keyboards and flash memory.

TinySheet worked well for the basic spreadsheet shown above. Once I told the Synchronization Manager to synchronize that spreadsheet, I could make changes on either my PC or handheld. They synchronized with each other smoothly.

When I tried to synchronize a spreadsheet with a chart that TinySheet couldn't handle, the Synchronization Manager detected the problem, aborted the synchronization for that spreadsheet, and added a note to the synchronization log. This is sensible behavior and exactly what I would expect.

BigClock
BigClock does just about anything you could ask of a clock program. It works like an alarm clock, supports world time for up to four simultaneous time zones, functions as a stopwatch, and, of course, provides a big time display, as you can see in Figure D.

FIGURE D

Here, BigClock is in its guise as a desk clock with calendar.

Even better, BigClock is almost totally customizable. You can alter the layout for each of the four BigClock screens, as well as tweak the sounds BigClock uses for its alarms. What more can you ask for?

If you have a color handheld, you can download background images (called themes) that appear on the clock face.

Adobe Acrobat Reader
Adobe PDF is the format of choice for documents that must retain their formatting, yet be viewable on a variety of systems. Adobe Acrobat Reader for Palm OS (at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readerforpalm.html) makes it possible to view PDF files on your handheld. Adobe Acrobat supports color.

To be able to display PDF files on tiny handheld screens, Acrobat Reader must do some serious manipulation of standard PDF files, "reflowing" them to a form suitable for your device. A PC-based transfer program works, creating a new version of the PDF that gets sent to your handheld. Most existing PDF files do not contain all the information needed by the transfer program, so it does the best it can with the information it has. The warning message in Figure E summarizes the situation nicely.