PDA

Tom if you need the basics than the palm zire is £50.

2 megs of memory
16mhz procesor
monochrome screen
calander etc which syncs in with outlook
cool white colour
small
USB interface.

Then you could consider moving up the line to the m130 which is around 110 quid.

I have just got a palm (again, I droped my last one a year ago) and they have come a long way, the handwriting recognistion is actually usable and it syncs on the mac at least faultlessly.

Gary

Thanks for that. beyond being able to achieve the basics, what key features do you think are necessary from a business POV? for example, will a basically equipped PDA allow me to read word documents attached to emails? In effect, i would like to be able to take some information with me.

I am aware that there are PDAs available which pick up email on the hoof as it were (the partnerrs in my team use them - Blackberrys), but I don't need such facilities.

Which model do you have and what was the deciding factor in acquiring it?

Thanks for the help.

I got the m130, the decidinf factor was that Currys buggered up and sold it to me for 60 quid!

It does however have one key feature I might well find usefull for the future, it has a card slot on the side which will allow me to stic a commonly available memory card into it and carry documents around with me.

There is an image viewer app, allowing me to view JPGs and software is available for reading word docs etc.

However if this particular area is important, then mabye one of those small PC bases PDAs, but they seem to start at around 200 quid, although I did see a sony one in currys for 140 quid.

To be honest I think the currys in Watford has a muppet pricing things up, all the PDAs seem really cheap.

Any PDA running windows for toasters (or pocket pc as it's often refered to) will read and write word files, excel files and sync your inbox, with attachments.

There are some really nice shells like Pocket Informant that will present your contacts, tasks and appts in a more user friendly way - I've got mine set up like a Filofax.

Good online source for pocket PCs and PDAs is
www.expansys.co.uk.
www.clove.co.uk do refurbs.

Just gone to an iPAQ 5550 from one of the first 3600s and it's the mutts nuts - but at the wrong end of the price range. the less powerful iPAQs which come in around £200 are well reviewed.

Cheers

Harry

Thanks guys.

Will do some research and see what suits best.

Just one thing to look out for - my wife got a palm a year ago or so and the native canendar/contacts package is a bit limited. For instance it can't cope with appointments that extend over midnight (it breaks them into 2 or more separate events) also contacts are limited to a total of 5 phone no's and email addresses (in total not 5 of each, it assumes emails are phone nos). Eventually we got a separate package called beyond contacts, which works very well but is very sluggish.

My 4 year old Pocket PC syncs with Outlook perfectly and came with pocket versions of word and excel.

HTH
Phil

I have the HP h2210 (sometimes called the h2215). From the research I did, I concluded that if you want to be able to use both CF cards (good for cheap memory) and SD cards, it is pretty much unbeatable at it's price point. It also works as a universal remote.

Review 1
Review 2

If, on the other hand, you only need one slot (SD), the HP h4155 (sometimes called the h4150) is a nicer package, and includes WiFi out of the box. Unfortunately, its usefulness as a universal remote is hampered by them putting the IR unit on the bottom (doh!).

Review 1
Review 2

I don't think I could be more happy with mine. If you decide to go the Windows Mobile route, rather than Palm, I have a pile of great freeware I can recommend.

I can also second the recommendation for Expansys.

Ok, the plot thickens. It seems that, as with all this stuff, the specs at once look similar and also quite different!

So, putting my idiot hat on, what is the difference between say a Palm and a pocket PC? All the machine has to do is:

Take with it my Inbox (incl sub-folders), Contacts (all of them, incl phone numbers addresses, etc), Calendar, Tasks, Notes;

Access emails and their attachments (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, .rtf files); and

Amend documents (mainly Word, often 100 pages plus).

Am not sure whether I need Wi-Fi, mainly because I don't know what it is or how it works! Is this the ability to receive email when not hooked up to the PC?

It only needs to synchronise with the work PC (will get one of the IT guys here to set it up) and not at home.

Apologies for the banal questions cheers for the help (so far!).

I know Pocket PC will do those things straight out of the box, with the exception of Powerpoint (which you will need to get another programme to do. Most Palm's come with a version of Documents To Go (you will want the premium edition, I think), which does those things too, AFAIK.

WiFi lets you look up to the internet wherever there is an open wireless network. If you need to access the net when you aren't physically connected to your PC, you need it. I use a Socket SD Wifi card. If I wasn't planning on getting a 1GB CF card (for MP3s), I would have gone with the h4150, as it has built in WiFi and Bluetooth.

Beware tho', battery life plummets when you use WiFi. I am about to but the new 3,400-mAh Lithium-Ion battery to overcome this. FWIW, I wouldn't touch a PDA without a swappable battery.

Palm based PDA can sync your inbox but won't run windows apps - although there is a notes function which you can convert back and forth to word files. I wouldn't be surprised if they convert Excel files also, but I don't know.

Palm based PDAs are usually cheaper and often faster than windows based PDAs (Pocket PCs). Battery life is a lot longer too. I started off with a Palm based PDA (Handspring) which was the first device ever that allowed me to bin my Filofax and take my mailbox with me. I was a very happy bunny.

I was luck enough to get one of the first iPAQ Pocket PCs for my job. Because it runs a form of Window$ it's more seamless to use with a Window$ based PC. And I hammer Word a lot, so it's useful to be able to just do straight swaps between machines.

The iPAQ was slower than the Handspring but otherwise hassel free. Between 2001-2002, bigger more powerful iPAQs came out but were plauged by faults and really rather rubbish for the prices being asked. In 2002-2003 they got it together again the latest iPAQs are very good at their respective price points.

WiFi allows you to log into a wireless network (if you happen to be surrounded by one which you have access to) and let you dial in to your account(s)- I've never used either and I'm not an expert.

iPAQs have jackets which you can slide on to expand the hardware. My 5550 has a built in SD card slot. I was plesantly surprised when I found I could use my old expansion pack to add an additional battery and a CF card slot.

Battery life is poor compared to Palm based PDAs. Pocket PCs need recharging at least every other day if you're using them much (which you can do either directly from the mains or through the sync cradle). They now come with a replacable main battery as well the facility to add extra outboard batteries (which add to the bulk). This was the main problem with my old 3660 - the battery was on the way out and couldn't be cheaply replaced.

Pocket PCs are now pretty much as fast as Palms for the most commonly used apps.

Hope these rambelings are of some use.

Cheers

Harry

quote:

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iPAQs have jackets which you can slide on to expand the hardware. My 5550 has a built in SD card slot. I was plesantly surprised when I found I could use my old expansion pack to add an additional battery and a CF card slot.

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I think this was true of a couple of ranges back - certainly the 19XX, 22XX, 41XX, and 43XX aren't designed to use the jackets, having either SD slots or CF and SD slots. For those ranges, the extended life batteries are no longer outboard, they fit in the existing slot.

AFAIK, PPC's tend to be more powerful than Palm's, but have shorter battery lifes, although I understand they are converging in both respects.

I prefer Palms, but I don't sync for email or docs.

Here are some things to think about:

1) quality of the display. The Zire has no backlight, so it's hard to use in low light. The 320x320 color screens are much more readable than any 16-x160 screen (any Palm below the Tungsten series). This is crucial if you want to read docs....

2) What are you going to do with it? Basic PDA functions - 2 MB RAM is OK. Color? Document reading? Web browsing? GPS? All need more memory. And memory goes a LOT farther in a Palm than in a Pocket PC.

3) How are you going to carry it? Size matters if you want to carry it conveniently, less so if you're going to keep it in a brief case, or if you always wear a suit and will keep it in the coat pocket. But if you want to keep it in your shirt pocket?

4) The higher end PDAs come with bundled software. If you're going to use the software, the higher end PDA may be better VFM. (I have a Tungsten T - the bundled s/w made it cheaper than a Zire with the s/w purchased separately - but the Zire doesn't ahve the popwer to run the s/w!)

5) CPU speed is less important, IMO. Jutsremember - Palm cycles are a lot faster/more productive than Pocket PC cycles.

Let us know what you buy.

Regard.s

Phil

Bit OT, but I wanted to show off the freeware 'today screen' app I am using. It's called Today+, and it's pretty trick:

The current 5 series is backwards compatible with all jacjets going back to the year dot. The current 'budget' ones which are a different shape - I don't believe they take jackets at all?

My comments apply only to the iPAQ 5550, which is a killer machine, but overkill unless you need the horse power.

Cheers

Harry