* > * Best PDA * < *

[R2D2]

Get a Franklin eBookman in 2 weeks for $129.

8MB, expandable. Larger screen. USB (serial capable).

All the basic Palm functions, plus voice message recording, MP3 player, eBook reader, audio book player, microphone, headphone jack, built-in speaker.

Save your big bucks for a future PDA next year. They'll be tremendously more capable, and the current ones will be much cheaper.

 

[Nkcowboy]

<< Get a Franklin eBookman in 2 weeks for $129 >>



Where?

 

[G14]

I have the Handspring Prism and I absolutly love it! I went with the Handspring because it has expansion modules and USB interface where most of the comparable palms only use serial.

You can check this sight for a side by side comparison.

 

[Michael]

Weird, my post didn't show up.

Second try:

Link to new PDA series

Michael

 

[NFS4]

Back to the topic at hand, I remember reading over on Brighthand that a person was able to pickup a Casio E-500 (using $50 coupon) for $400 including shipping and a 28MB MultiMedia Card.

The Casio uses the PocketPC OS and features a 150MHz MIPS processor and has an excellent 16-bit color screen.

 

[R2D2]

'Cowboy,

PCConnection has all 3 models in their latest catalog. Amazon has 2 of the more expensive models in theirs. (available 01/15).

They're not out yet, so most retailers don't list them yet. (and $129 is the full List price, not the street price!)

BTW, they are expandable with MultiMedia Cards.

 

[faolan]

<< The Windows CE machines can barely do more, but at the cost of disappointing battery life, why? >>



Hmm, My Compaq iPaq can play Mpeg4 videos, support industry standard CF cards and PCMCIA cards, be about the size of a Palm III series, have a better looking screen in any light including direct sun, and outlast the battery life of a Palm IIIc. Odd.

Anyhow, best PDA to get is a Handspring Visor. Find the one that suits your needs, but don't spend too much on thrills of speed and color if it's not needed. 2mb or memory is plenty for a schedule and phone numbers. 8mb is nice for expansion and offline web browsing.

The best handheld computer without a keyboard would have to be the Compaq iPaq. Well worth $500 for it's abilities to deal with Excel and Word documents, eBooks, and many other features that could elliminate the need for a laptop. Expect Linux to also make a big hit on this one, as Compaq engineers are working to bring Linux to this small, but powerful device. (handhelds.org)

And for a keyboard, grab an HP Jornada 720. Same processor as the iPaq, meaning a speedy little companion without massive battery drain. But the price of $1000 probably will make a sub notebook look better.

 

[KouklatheCat]

My employer just gave me a Handspring Visor Deluxe. I love its great. I beleive they paid about $250 ish......

 

[fun007]

You did not tell exact purpose of PDA however I will give details about few models.

Compaq Aero 1500 Series from Compaq Computer Corporation has ruggedised characteristics and wLAN communications support.It provides the convenience busy professionals need, with standard Personal Information Manager (PIM) applications such as calendar, contacts, tasks and note taker.It costs about $299.

Palm VII handheld has a built-in two-way wireless radio with integrated antenna all in one box. The Date Book, Address Book, To Do List, Memo Pad and other applications are included with the Palm VII handheld.For wireless Internet access, the Palm VII handheld has two software applications - web clipping, which enables instant access to Internet information and iMessenger software - wireless Internet messaging for sending and receiving brief Internet messages.It costs about $399.

iPAQ H3600 Pocket PC is not much bigger than a calculator and comes standard with applications like Microsoft Pocket Word,Excel,Outlook.It has Color reflective thin film transistor (TFT) LCD display.

The EG-800 is a Pocket PC provided with a ruggedised casing and is featured with the Lithium Polymer sheet battery technology which gives up to 13 hours use on the colour version.It supports WLAN communication .If you are interested to know about some other models go to www.solveit.com .

 

[fun007]

You did not tell exact purpose of PDA however I will give details about few models.

Compaq Aero 1500 Series from Compaq Computer Corporation has ruggedised characteristics and wLAN communications support.It provides the convenience busy professionals need, with standard Personal Information Manager (PIM) applications such as calendar, contacts, tasks and note taker.It costs about $299.

Palm VII handheld has a built-in two-way wireless radio with integrated antenna all in one box. The Date Book, Address Book, To Do List, Memo Pad and other applications are included with the Palm VII handheld.For wireless Internet access, the Palm VII handheld has two software applications - web clipping, which enables instant access to Internet information and iMessenger software - wireless Internet messaging for sending and receiving brief Internet messages.It costs about $399.

iPAQ H3600 Pocket PC is not much bigger than a calculator and comes standard with applications like Microsoft Pocket Word,Excel,Outlook.It has Color reflective thin film transistor (TFT) LCD display.

The EG-800 is a Pocket PC provided with a ruggedised casing and is featured with the Lithium Polymer sheet battery technology which gives up to 13 hours use on the colour version.It supports WLAN communication .If you are interested to know about some other models go to solveit.com .

 

[Lord Gwynz]

It's not really fair to slam the battery life of WinCE PocketPCs, they are multimedia machines after all. Palms are just simple organizers. On a PPC, in addition to the usual complement of organizer features, you can also play full color videos, MP3's, WMA's, emulate arcade classics under MAME and even play DOOM. You can also use Compact flash cards, and on some models even PCCards. No Palm can touch that. On Visors, you end up spending a lot more for expansion devices since it's all proprietary. Even just to play MP3's. Whereas on the PPC, the functionality is already built-in and you can still add a 1 gig microdrive on top of that to store all your music.

And it's real cute you can 'overclock' a Palm from 25mhz to 33mhz. Compaq iPAQs already run at over 200mhz and the Casio EM-500/E-125's can be overclocked from 150mhz to 180-200mhz.

 

[fun007]

You did not tell exact purpose of PDA however I will give details about few models.

Compaq Aero 1500 Series from Compaq Computer Corporation has ruggedised characteristics and wLAN communications support.It provides the convenience busy professionals need, with standard Personal Information Manager (PIM) applications such as calendar, contacts, tasks and note taker.It costs about $299.

Palm VII handheld has a built-in two-way wireless radio with integrated antenna all in one box. The Date Book, Address Book, To Do List, Memo Pad and other applications are included with the Palm VII handheld.For wireless Internet access, the Palm VII handheld has two software applications - web clipping, which enables instant access to Internet information and iMessenger software - wireless Internet messaging for sending and receiving brief Internet messages.It costs about $399.

iPAQ H3600 Pocket PC is not much bigger than a calculator and comes standard with applications like Microsoft Pocket Word,Excel,Outlook.It has Color reflective thin film transistor (TFT) LCD display.

The EG-800 is a Pocket PC provided with a ruggedised casing and is featured with the Lithium Polymer sheet battery technology which gives up to 13 hours use on the colour version.It supports WLAN communication .If you are interested to know about some other models go to solveit.com .

 

[Michael]

I don't want a little computer I can hold in my hand, I have a desktop and a laptop. I want a PDA with good battery life and a simple interface. That's why I prefer the Palm OS-based PDA's right now.

I don't need a super fast CPU just to carry the overhead of my OS and I can't see working on an Excel spreadsheet on the screen the size of a handheld. My 19 inch screen is barely big enough to handle my spreadsheets.

I use my Palm IIIcto carry to meetings and to type of simple memos and emails when I'm on the train. It's much smaller than a laptop for around $200 (what I paid, around $330 street). I think that the new Windows CE machines are getting much better.

There is a reason why Palm OS machines outsell the Windoiws CE machines by the huge margin they do.

Michael

 

[Degenerate]

Probably the Palm series
but if you can spare some cash, the Ipaq!!!

 

[NFS4]

Hell, I have no problems writing Excel spreadsheets with my iPAQ. I and I have no problems with Pocket IE or word either. Better yet, I have Jimmy Landscape which allows me to operate my iPAQ in a &quot;Landscape&quot; configuration of 320x240 instead of 240x320. Here are some pics:

Pocket IE in Landscape
Today Screen in Landscape
Pocket Word in Landscape
Pocket Excel in Landscape

*Note* The screen shot corrupted part of the image in the Pocket IE shot...the colors look exactly as it does on a regular desktop system on the iPAQ.

And I WANT a little computer in my hands. I have no need for a laptop now as my iPAQ can handle 90% of the duties that a laptop can do (including PCMCIA support).


<< There is a reason why Palm OS machines outsell the Windoiws CE machines by the huge margin they do. >>


Ford outsells BMW by a large margin as well...

Pocket PC's have their place and are increasingly increasing the marketshare. For my monry, the Casio EM-500 and the Compaq iPAQ are the best PDA's on the market.

 

[OS]

I have a palm iiixe and I absolutely cannot live without it now. If you can still get one for 150 or so, it's a great deal.



<< There is a reason why Palm OS machines outsell the Windoiws CE machines by the huge margin they do. >>



Well, even though I own a palm, things that sell more aren't necessarily better. I'm sure intel sells far more celeron 2s than AMD sells Durons, but celeron 2s suck ass.

 

[NFS4]

<< Well, even though I own a palm, things that sell more aren't necessarily better. >>


Yep, I totally agree with ya there.

 

[Eug]

Just about every business user I've talked to hates using Excel or Work or like programs on a PDA. (Palm, Visor, PocketPC, or otherwise) Anyone's who's serious about that on the road uses a laptop. Actually, I have a keyboard for my Visor and have been testing a word processor called WordSmith on my PDA, but finally I just gave up and bought a PIII laptop with 15&quot; screen. Really, the PDAs with keyboards are just for taking short notes, etc, because the screen is just too painfully small.

For this reason, these same users don't want to buy a relatively large and expensive PDA. By far, the absolute fave in the corporate crowd seems to be the Palm Vx to be honest, although for value I continue to recommend the Palm IIIxe or Visor Platinum, and own a Visor Deluxe myself. But if somehow Palm were able to reduce the price of the Palm Vx, that PDA would simply dominate. Tiny, cool looking case, and powerful enough for what it's to be used for.

So if you have money, buy a laptop and a Palm OS machine. If you don't, then just buy a Palm OS machine. Heheh.

 

[NFS4]

<< Really, the PDAs with keyboards are just for taking short notes, etc, because the screen is just too painfully small. >>


Who needs keyboards, and who need grafiti for input? I am more comfortable with using Transcriber for my iPAQ which allows me to write on the screen as I would a pad of paper and it recognizes my writing. It's about 95% accurate and it's fast. Using the landscape software, I have more screen real-estate to write on and it's even better.

No exteranl keyboard need apply


<< Just about every business user I've talked to hates using Excel or Work or like programs on a PDA. >>


I have NO problems with them. I create a document in Word on my PC, or an excel spreadsheet. I transfer it to my PDA and make changes to the spreadsheet or additions if need be. I'll sit in bed (or any other place where I'm away from my PC) and make corrections and proof read a document before sending it back to my PC.

On the flip side, if I'm in class, I can get started on assignment right there in class and get ideas down while their fresh. And I can enter in data from class in a spreadsheet, then transfer it to my PC when I get back to my room.

I have a hard time believing that many can't find this useful...but oh well, it's their loss.

 

[BoberFett]

Well, I'm finally going to drop the cash and get a PDA. Time to get organized.

A friend of mine managed to get THREE iPaqs and sold two on Fleabay which handily paid for his personal one. Lucky bastard. Anyway, I tried his iPaq out and I can see what some of you are raving about. For the size and price, that's one heckuva nice little piece of equipment. It's got a beatiful screen, lots of memory, it's fast. But I don't think I'm willing to spend the cash, or wait until I can find one in stock. And I don't really want or need to the capability that those have.

Since I'm going to use this as an organizer, and NOT a handheld PC, I've pretty much narrowed it down to the Visor Deluxe and Platinum. Can anybody tell me why I'd want to spend the extra $50 on the Platinum? I'm trying to conceive of what I'd do with a PDA that would run too slowly on the Deluxe. Pulling todo lists, addresses, and phone numbers just can't be that demanding on the hardware.

Does anybody have experience with both models of Visor, and if so, what would you recommend?

BTW, Eug that's a cool site you have there.

 

[Michael]

Boberfett - My 4 year old Palmpilot Professional from US Robotics can pull up phonelists with no noticable lag. If you are only going to be using the PDA as an organizer, I can't see the worth in the faster processor. If you think that you'll oad other applications (there are a couple of decent DB programs for Palm OS, for example), the faster processor might help. Typically you pay for the extra speed with reduced battery life.

I recently tried out the Peanut Press reader on my IIIc. I read one of the books that came in the free Colur Pack that Palm provided, and I was surprised that it was a very enjoyable process. It was very much like reading a paperback. I noticed that there is a pretty decent selection of books on their website, and magazines as well.

I recently found a very good drug database program (designed for MD's) that my wife is now using on her Palm V. It isn't available on Windows CE machines.

I have three linked spreadsheets open right now. They're around 3 megs each. I really don't think that a PDA with the smaller screen and memory limitations would do. I do about 4-5 one-off spreadsheets each day that is just a page or two, I guess that would work on a PDA.

I am using my keyboard to write memos and emails everyday. I type faster than I write and 4 years of Graffiti has gotton me close to 99% accuracy when I do use the stylus.

I think that the Windows CE machines are much more powerful than the Palm OS PDA's. I just don't need or want the power in a PDA.

Michael

 

[BoberFett]

Thought of my other question for you PalmOS users. What's up with Graffiti? It's fairly easy to learn the pen strokes, but where's the upper case? I was having a heck of a time putting upper case letters where I wanted them. Was I missing something? Anywhere I wrote in the letter portion of the screen seemed to give me a lower case. The iPaq I tried had a thing where there were three areas to write in: lower, upper and numbers. But the Visor only seemed to have two, one for letters the other for numbers. I'm thinking I must just not have been using it correctly, I don't think a product that didn't let you type capital letters would sell as well as Palm PDAs have.

 

[OS]

a single upward stroke sets upper case once. Two upward strokes sets capslock on.

 

[TheOverlord]

best thing to get is a visor...go with either the deluxe or platnium (faster processor)...that way you get 8mbs and an expansion slot so your not limited in the future....plus the deluxe is 250 new and platnium is only 300 bucks...much better deals for your money than comparable palms...

 

[Eug]

<< On the flip side, if I'm in class, I can get started on assignment right there in class and get ideas down while their fresh. And I can enter in data from class in a spreadsheet, then transfer it to my PC when I get back to my room. I have a hard time believing that many can't find this useful...but oh well, it's their loss. >>

You forget, this can be done on a Palm as well. I used to do it all the time during meetings. However, it's still a pain in the ass to use such a small screen for the complicated stuff. The corporate and medical types I talk to would not even bother with that, either on a Visor or an iPaq. And yes, most of the functions like you mentioned are still there on an Visor, save for stuff like playing colour videos and MP3 (which I think are irrelevant for most people), for a MUCH cheaper price. As for the keyboard, I challenge you to enter 40-50 words a minute using stylus-based input. That would be roughly 5 characters per second - simply cannot be done by us mere mortals, but I can easily type that fast with the PDA keyboard. However, you're right in that one is much more inclined to carry a PDA everywhere than a laptop. Indeed, I keep my PDA in my briefcase always for those quick notes and stuff, and transfer it back to my laptop or desktop later. But having that cool foldable keyboard also in the briefcase makes that data entry just that much less tedious. By the way, this full-size keyboard is roughly the size of the iPaq when folded up. Pity it ain't available for the iPaq.


<< Can anybody tell me why I'd want to spend the extra $50 on the Platinum? >>

For the most part, the added speed is fairly useless. However, it is nice for some games. More importantly though, is the fact that native IR support is in OS 3.5 with the Platinum. With OS 3.1 of the Deluxe, it's less well supported and requires a couple of (free) downloads and a bit of tweaking for full support to sync via IR with my Windows 2000 laptop. I use OS 3.1 fine, but as any AnandTecher knows, it's always nice to have the latest OS.