It's A Small, Small World

A wide new array of handheld electronic products-from datebooks to the Bible-takes off

The latest revolution in consumer electronics is, well, tiny. But the potential impact may be enormous. Last week's Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas-one of the largest trade shows in the world-featured a plethora of handheld products that do everything from keeping your schedule to quoting the Gospel, chapter and verse. For now, in the world of electronics, small is beautiful. And it looks as if these compact cases filled with computer chips are here to stay.

The recession notwithstanding, about 70,000 retailers and distributors (the show is closed to the public) jammed miles of convention aisles in Las Vegas over the weekend scouting out the latest gadgets. "Even if business is soft," said Marianne Taylor, who owns a stereo store in Tennessee, "you can't get left behind." But it's a dry season for consumer electronics, which thrives on new products. For the most part, the usual suspects were on view. The much-touted digital audio-tape recorders and high-definition television remained out on the horizon, costly or just plain unavailable. The one new product category taking off was what gadget sellers generically call pocket-size.

The term is broad, because the capabilities of the little machines range from translating Spanish to helping doctors prescribe drugs. Franklin Electronic Publishers sells a raft of handheld gadgets, including three $400 versions of the Bible (including the King James and the Revised Standard editions), in a sleek black plastic case a third the size of the printed version. Why spend $400 for a Bible? Because it has typewriter-style keys and some intelligence. Suppose you vaguely recall a verse containing "valley ... shadow ... death," but can't remember where it's from. Just type those words and the electronic Bible immediately delivers the 23rd Psalm. The New Jersey-based firm may have struck the absent-minded clergy market; it has already sold 50,000 electronic Bibles in six months. Last week in Las Vegas both Franklin and New York based Selectronics Inc. introduced electronic encyclopedias: 6-inch by 6-inch, 12 ounce machines with a small keyboard. If you ask for "Einstein," you get not only his biography but the entries on the theory of relativity and the 1976 avant-garde opera "Einstein on the Beach." Another new handheld, aimed at people trying to learn English, translates from Spanish to English-then speaks, to indicate the proper pronunciation.

The most sophisticated of the new gadgets combine the attributes of address book, Filofax, calculator, notebook and telephone directory. Both Casio Inc. and Sharp Electronics Corp. make similar devices, with keyboards, small screens and the ability to reprogram themselves using software on a plastic insert the size of a credit card. One $80 program turns the little computer into an expense-account ledger-you type in expenses as you travel, then transfer the results to your office computer via a small cable. Another program lists the best vintages of wine. Yet another delivers a complete travel guide to a dozen American cities. You can type in "San Francisco, Downtown, French Restaurants," and the Casio will almost instantly serve up a list of just those establishments. Both machines, costing under $300, approach the capabilities of laptop computers-except, of course, that the screens and keyboards are smaller.

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