For those that have PDA (PocketPC or PalmOS), what do you use it for?

[Gl4di4tor]

i use mine most for reading my downloaded textfiles which i read on my way to school on the subway.

 

[Quiksel]

I use my Visor Deluxe for a few things:

1) ToDo Lists (i'd forget my name if i didn't write it in there)
2) School notes (printing those rigs out is way better than my handwriting)
3) People/Phone numbers
4) Games (though extremely rare use)

I always look at "PPC" and think Motorola's "PowerPC" name. Call me a crazy Mac fan. uwa uwa
And what's up with "PalmOS"? Imagine if they shortened the name even further? "POS"? LOL, thought that'd be a great strategy for the company.

 

[HansXP]

<< LOL, thought that'd be a great strategy for the company >>



Considering how much money all the PalmOS companies are loosing, that would be a great name.

 

[Stripe]

I have a Palm V (not Vx) and have more than a thousand contacts, two years of appointments, a todo list, and 150 memos. I also put all my passwords, birthdays, VIN #'s, account #'s, etc. in a hidden place on the Palm. I back it up every night to Outlook with the push of a button. The battery has never run down in two years of sporadic charging. I use graffiti and don't have to think about it. I carry a laptop for files and e-mail and stuff, but who has time to wait for it to boot up for simple tasks? The best thing over a paper organizer is the search function - I have a habit of noting peoples names and phone numbers in the calendar and can find them months later. The search is good too when you remember somthing about someone, but not their last name...

 

[Feanor]

I've got a Sony Cli&eacute; (soon to upgrade to the color model with MP3), I use it mostly for e-books. I've got the entire Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, The Lord of the Rings, some Shakespeare, The Complete works of Edgar Allen Poe, The Hacker's Dictionary, The Icewind Dale trilogy, part of the Wheel of Time series, among others stored on the 32MB memory stick. I use avantgo, address book, memo pad and some games as well, but mainly e-books

 

[Quiksel]

Feanor--

where'd you find those books at? I've often wondered where I might be able to d/l some of that sweet lovin.

thanks for any response, this would be killer for my Visor...

~niko ^_^

 

[Aquaman]

Hi Feanor,

Were did you get those books on e-format? I have not looked into it but are there a lot of e-books for PDA's?

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Aquaman]

I forgot to ask, is there any map software for palm PDA's?

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[NFS4]

Do you have a download link for the hitch hikers guide?

 

[HansXP]

Aquaman, you can use AvantGo for maps. Subscribe to the MapBlast or MapQuest channels and then sync maps to your PDA. Works great.

 

[Aquaman]

Thanks HansXP

Cheers,
Aquaman

 

[Woodie]

Visor Deluxe (8MB)

1. Calendar--with alarm!! (So I don't miss meetings)
2. Calendar--syncs w/ Lotus Notes for work (same as #1--means I don't have to go back to my desk to find out where my next meeting is. REALLY USEFUL--for me)
3. Contacts/numbers--Every phone number I ever look up, I keep. (Dominoes, other restaurants, family, ...)
3a. Showtimes--Movie listings for your area--freeware, PalmOS sync it every Thurs/Fri with all the weekend movie listings for our whole area. No more searching the paper or listening to the theater voices!
4. Really handy when on vacation--you can put all the hotel info into your calendar, or travel arrangements, and you don't have to carry a bunch of papers around with you, or letters people/agents sent you.
5. Maps/Avantgo
5a. ToDo
6. PocketRogue--not often.
7. ebooks--rarely...(The Art of War, some Dickens,etc.)



Replacing batteries sucks...at least 1 set/month. I want the newer version so I can get the rechargeable/cradle setup.

Just my $.02 Your uses will vary with what you do.

--Woodie

 

[wolf550e]

that all sounds really cool but i'm poor and dont need it anyway!

 

[Feanor]

wow! huge response. Well, I found them all on alt.binaries.e-book in txt/doc/pdf/lit format. I then use QEX to convert to .pdb and CSpotRun to actually read them. I unfortunately don't have any web links for the books. You can find a lot of public domain texts by doing a search for Project Gutenburg. I use Fort&eacute; Agent to access the newsgroups (most isps carry at least one of the many e-book groups).

Cheers and Happy Downloading

 

[Eug]

<< PPCs can also hook onto wired and wireless networks, and use both landline and cellular modems for Internet access. >>

Same with Palm, except for wired LAN (for now). Strangely enough, wireless 802.11b exists.


<< Palm's have an awkward way of adding, where basically you need to copy anything to main memory before you can use it. >>

Not correct. With several Palm OS machines you can run programs directly from FlashROM.


<< PPCs use a real file system. That means you have a directory structure, and can organize everything in folders. Palm uses a database system, meaning everything is stored in one huge directory, and you can't even really see the file system. >>

While the PalmOS doesn't use a the FAT system internally, it can use it for plug-in hardware. CompactFlash upgrade modules can be read and used with the native FAT file system.


<< -PPCs play MP3s and videos, which Palms can't do because they don't have a fast enough processor. The new Sony Clie is able to play MP3s only because they added a special audio processor to it. >>

Strangely enough, you can play videos on a Visor. If you buy a CompactFlash adapter for the Visor, it includes software that allows video playback right off the CF card. Haven't tried this function though, since I so far have no use for it.


Anyways, I do the following with my Visor Deluxe (8 MB):

Contacts (with MS Outlook)
Calendar (with MS Outlook) The alarm has saved me a couple of times.
Notes (with Stowaway Keyboard)
Email sometimes
AvantGo (although nowadays I just read the newspaper)
Databases
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Games (of course )

By the way, how long does iPaq last uncharged when the unit is OFF? Just wondering. Never used one long enough to actually find out.

 

[arod]

I just recently bought a Casio E125 (on the way) and a 128 mb Cf card to go with it hopefully that will be enough to store some games and mp3's

 

[randomlinh]

arod, how much?

btw, of all the times i've seen PalmOS... POS never occured to me.. hahahahaha

 

[Charles]

Do you guys really care about wireless connectivity? Do you guys actually use iPaq or other Pocket PCs to browse the internet or write e-mails on the road?

 

[arod]

<< arod, how much? >>



i got it for $410 shipped off an ebay auction.

 

[NeoHC421]

i have an old casio pv-200A (i need to find a hot deal on a new PDA) so i can't use avantgo and all that other good stuff, just the basics like
calendar, contacts, memos, quick memos (freehand writing) and of coarse games.
The advantages of this (although not many) is that
1. it was fairly inexpensive
2. it is slim and small
3. it was cheap
oh yeah, did i mention it didn't cost a lot of money?

but anyways, it gets the job done... the alarm is nice (so i don't miss important appointments) and i use the calculator when i am shopping on the web.
the only thing i need more in a PDA is a map for places i've never been, and long road trips.

 

[TimeKeeper]

<< Do you guys really care about wireless connectivity >>



To me, it is.....(specially on the golf course, reply short msg, and read some e-mails w/ some stock quote)
You could give me a really expensive PDA w/ 100MB buildin memory, but w/out wireless connection, it seems like a extremely expensive phonebook to me.

 

[Doctorweir]

Visor Platinum

1) Overclocking and running Benchmarks against Palm devices
2) All that PDA stuff: calendar, notes, e-mail, etc.
3) Mobile Document and News Reader / E-Book
3) Game Boy Emulator and other fun stuff

Damn, I need the mp3-module, but it's so expensive...

 

[Charles]

Damn, wireless connectivity is good, but it would be expensive and I don't think I can afford it.

 

[bonkers325]

daily prices,calender events,school work,etc

 

[Woodie]

Because I was asked, here's the linky for the Showtimes utility I mentioned above:
Showtimes 0.4a

As far as wireless connectivity--I want to play (at?) golf, rather than check stock quotes, so internet connectivity is relatively useless to me. Now, the module that adds a cell-phone to it, THAT's handy. Now I don't have to enter phone numbers/names into two different devices. Or I would, if I could afford the module.

--Woodie