Help me choose a PDA for my dad:) How about Trio 300?

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zveruga

Senior member
Aug 24, 2000
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Hi,

I want to get my dad a PDA for his big 5-0. He is not very good with computers, so it should have intuitive navigation. Ideally, I would like him to be able to store contacts on it, and also do some spreadsheet work (simple stuff, like creating a monthly roster for the workers at his job). If it has some wireless function -- for example work like a cell phone or get wireless web that would be a ++ depending on the price.

Any suggestions on some other features he might want? Suggestions for brands? What price range should I go for?

I have no experience with PDA's so any advice, even simple advice will help:)

His B-day is the 22nd, so i want to have an idea by the 15th or so... thanks!
 
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Lalakai

Golden Member
Nov 30, 1999
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For what you want, most of the units will have decent software. The biggest factors you'll want to consider are screen size, brightness, color, and ease of moving around on it. My wife was a complete newbie, but loves her Jornada (uses it for nursing programs, contacts, and games). Battery power shouldn't be an issue. See if you can talk with someone else in that age bracket who's just getting into it and see what they like. But there isn't a "grey" line for pda's; either they love 'em or hate 'em. good luck
 
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fatbaby

Banned
May 7, 2001
6,427
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determine your price range first

If i had all the $$$ in the world, i would get a toshiba e740 or a high end compaq (3395)
 
Eug

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
24,165
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Originally posted by: wyvrn
I was looking at a Sony Clie SJ30. They can be had for approx. $170, have 16MB of memory and are pretty small. My wife uses a lot of medical programs like Epocrates and Clinical Consult, and has outgrown her 8MB Handspring Visor. For a little more money, you can buy color models. I saw a Dell PDA (forget name) that ran Windows CE, color, 32MB of memory etc etc.. for $199 locally.
Click to expand...
8 MB flash cards for the Visor are super cheap now. 16 MB for a Visor Deluxe works very well.

By the way, tell her Tarascon (?sp) has a new ePocrates-like program beta out, with much less bloat.
 
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jasonsRX7

Senior member
Aug 9, 2000
290
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Originally posted by: zveruga
Hi,

If it has some wireless function -- for example work like a cell phone or get wireless web that would be a ++ depending on the price.
Click to expand...

I have a Handspring Treo 300 thru Sprint which is a Palm OS based handheld, with built in cell phone. I can surf the net, email, instant message, and SMS. I can even use VNC to remote control some of the servers that I manage. It has a keyboard, which IMO is much better than grafitti for entering data.

It costs $500, but you may be able to get a discount if you're a new subscriber.

Handspring Treo 300
 
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zveruga

Senior member
Aug 24, 2000
466
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Gosh thanks for all the replies... I am even more confused now:p

OK so lets narrow this down somewhat. I think it would be nice if:

1) It's color
2) It has a keyboard as well as a graffiti sensor -- not sure which dad will like more
3) Forget the phone feature, he can just get a cell phone if he wants
4) Uncomplicated to install software or download files onto PC.
5) Enough RAM and clock speed, but not too much for his needs (spreadsheets etc).
6) Comes with intuitive spreadsheet and word processing software
7) *** Will support typing in cyrillic fonts if installed! (Is this possible??)

So what would be a reasonable price for this kind of PDA, and any recommendations with these particular constraints?

thanks
 
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jasonsRX7

Senior member
Aug 9, 2000
290
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0
Originally posted by: zveruga
Gosh thanks for all the replies... I am even more confused now:p

OK so lets narrow this down somewhat. I think it would be nice if:

1) It's color
2) It has a keyboard as well as a graffiti sensor -- not sure which dad will like more
Click to expand...

Other than the Treo's, I don't know of any that have a built in keyboard. I think I've seen some Sharp PDA that has a slide down plate that hides a keyboard, but that thing was kinda huge.

You can use Grafitti on the screen itself with Grafitti software such as RecoEcho and Jot. RecoEcho is free if you have a Treo.

Here's the Treo 90
 
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Syborg1211

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2000
3,297
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Toshiba e740 is a good one with lots of features but it is pretty pricey. The thing keeping it a VERY nice buy right now is a 100 dollar rebate by Toshiba. That rebate will throw the e740 into the lower 300s which is AWESOME. The rebate is also optionable between either getting the 100 dollar rebate, or a high capacity battery, or some other thing that wasn't so great...

Personally I am looking at the Dell Axim X5. The Axim has much better life than the e740 but the downside is no wireless card installed and the graphics chip on the e740 is a higher performing one supposedly, but both those points are rather moot points. The Axim can be had for cheaper than the e740 and the added cost atop the Axim with a wireless compact flash card is still less than the e740. The graphics chip on the e740 is supposed to have a good future but shows little or no performance difference compared to other handhelds right now, but that will change in the future when people start optimizing for the performance graphics chips.

I am basing my purchase of either of the handhelds on whether or not Dell comes out with some new coupons that will shoot the Axim's price into the floor.
 
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zveruga

Senior member
Aug 24, 2000
466
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Dell Axim X5 looks good to me... anyone care to stop me before I go ahead and buy it for about $300 (possibly slightly less)??? Will I get better performance or more features with another PDA for the same price or less?

Thanks!
 
C

Coherence

Senior member
Jul 26, 2002
337
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You said you wanted one with an intuitive interface, since he's not computer-savvy, so I'd stay away from anything running PocketPC OS. You can find good color PalmOS PDA's for $300 and under, and he can still have the spreadsheet functionalities (running DocumentsToGo). Memory isn't nearly as much an issue on a Palm PDA as it is on a PocketPC, since it's a much more efficient OS, and SD memory cards are inexpensive, anyway.

As far as the cyrillic text, I'm not sure what to tell you there. You may want to check out Palm.com for any foreign language support.
 
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zveruga

Senior member
Aug 24, 2000
466
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0
How will Palm documents be opened on his PC tho? Like will a spreadsheet made with a PalmOS program open in Windows Excel on a PC?

 
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zveruga

Senior member
Aug 24, 2000
466
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0
Just went to Circuit City, they have a rebate offer on the Trio 300 for a $299 price after rebates... not very knowledgeable staff tho. Couldnt tell me -- Do they come equipped with spreadsheet software?? If not, can it be downloaded for free?

Im thinking of going for the Trio after all....
 
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jasonsRX7

Senior member
Aug 9, 2000
290
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You're probably going to want to look at Documents 2 Go for opening Excel, Word, and Powerpoint files, if you go with a PalmOS solution.

Remember that the Treo 300 you're looking at is a cell phone also, and those rebates probably only apply if you subscribe for the service. I have the Treo 300, and I love it, but you should be aware of that.
 
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