24/02/2003 Interview with David Harfield- Editor of PDA Essentials Magazine
1/ Tell us a bit about PDA Essentials- how many people are involved in it's production, how hectic it can get to meet your deadlines and what you love most about your job as Editor?
PDA Essentials started life as a one-off magazine, spinning off from an existing title called PC Essentials. It pleasantly surprised everyone at what was then Paragon Publishing by outselling its big brother! Soon enough it had a dedicated magazine team consisting of myself, Andy Betts the staff writer, Dale Pratley the designer and Claire Frost the Sub Editor. There's also a chap by the name of Trevor Ford who sells the advertising. As well as the in-house team, there are four or five regular freelance contributors who are old hands at the handheld game. They're probably familiar names to some, Steve Litchfield, Steve Turczyn, Andy Nott and Sandra Vogel. Generally, hitting deadlines shouldn't be a problem if I'm doing my job correctly, but Sod's Law states that if something can go wrong, it will, so we sometimes end up putting in some late nights during the last week of the schedule. But we haven't gone late to the printers for some six months now. What do I love most about being an editor? Definitely writing about the technology - I love doing the hardware reviews even though I don't actually have the chance to write them each issue - Sandra Vogel usually writes them. And getting hold of the latest kit before anyone else has had a chance to play with it! I've also enjoyed the fact that I've been on the mag since day one, watching it grow and develop into what is now a very established title.
2/ Do you consider the magazine to be successful and are you committed to continuing this publication?
Absolutely. I'm totally committed to continuing the mag because otherwise I'm on the dole! Although I guess I could win the Lottery or something. Seriously though, I do consider the mag to be successful - the sales have risen something like 46% over the last year or so - and while people still want to buy it, we'll make it the best product that we can. Sales are still on the up too…
3/ What PDA do you use and why?
I did have a T3 but it fell out of my pocket when I was celebrating a last minute equaliser by my beloved Southampton FC at the weekend. Now the screen is cracked and I'm not sure if Palm will replace it or not. I'm definitely a Palm-powered PDA user and I got the T3 because I was really impressed with the screen, amount of RAM and processor power. As well as doing all the boring work stuff, the multimedia capabilities mean I can have some fun with it too. I did use it as an MP3 player and the reason I took it to a football match in the first place was so I could play Kinoma videos of classic goals to my mates in the pub before the game. Now it's sat on my desk with a big crack in the digitiser… I'm gutted… Bugger. Shaun: Oh- if I had known you supported Southampton this interview may have never even started...:)
4/ This will be difficult to answer but can you guess as to how many hours work goes into each edition?
Right….. we do a 37.5 hour week for three weeks then, if all's going well, we'll do about a 45 hour week in the last week of schedule. So multiply that by the four team members and you've got something like 630 hours. That's a long time - I'd never worked that out before…
5/ Are you pleased that Psion are re-entering the PDA world with their Linux devices and do you expect them to once again be a major force in this market?
I'm actually a relative newbie to the PDA, as I started using a handheld just over two years ago when I was asked to edit the magazine (I was editor of PC Basics at the time). As such, I never really used a Psion so I've never really missed them. However, there is still a huge user-base and the fact that we still feature Psion content in the magazine (written by Steve Litchfield) is testament to this. I still get a lot of correspondence from Psion readers, so there is definitely a market for new devices out there.
6/ What's the best song you have ever heard and your favourite book?
That's tricky, probably "Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield (RIP), or maybe "Pretty Vacant" by the Sex Pistols. Favourite books at the moment are the four books known as the "Red Riding Quartet" by David Peace, very dark stuff though.
7/ If you could invent one future PDA feature what would it be?
Screens that don't bloody crack when you drop them! Or a super-fast Internet connection.
8/ Give us 3 reasons why my visitors should take a look at PDA Essentials and what's the best piece of feedback you have received for the magazine.
It's the only newstand magazine dedicated to handheld computing It features a great selection of pre-tested software on the cover disc including free full-version programs It's packed with hints, tips and advice to help PDA users get more from their devices "It's getting better with every issue" , a comment that appeared on our MSN community today
9/ I understand you are based in Bournemouth (my home town)- what do you like most about it?
It's my home town too. It's got great beaches, beautiful countryside and it's good fun. It's not full of old people as some folk wrongly believe. Come the summer, there's a real party atmosphere to the place.
10/ Anything you would like to add...?
Keep an eye on the mag this year, we've got some really exciting things planned. Oh, and don't take your PDA to football matches…
My thanks to Dave for taking the time to do this interview. If you want to find out more about PDA Essentials just get yourself along to your local newsagents, visit their site or their MSN Community.