how useful is wifi/bluetooth for a pda?

[substance12]

I've been asking myself why getting a new PDA with wifi/bluetooth could be useful to myself.

there aren't too many free hotspots around so I can't just see myself poping in a starbucks and hooking up.

what exactly is bluetooth? something to do with connecting to your phone?

I have wifi at home but really i don't see how that's a perk.

Is there a way i can use my phone to dial up to say... earthlink and hook it up with my pda and surf?

 

[CJP]

One thing I do with my wifi on my pda at home is I stream the BBC to the pda and hook a pair of micro speakers to the headphone jack. That way if I want to listen to the BBC (and it took quite a workaround to do it (software wise)) I don't have to leave my laptop or desktop on.

Also with the wifi you can activesync to your desktop wirelessly. It's alot quicker than having to set up the cradle every time through usb. Just a click and you're connected to download files to your sd card, install programs, etc.

 

[DGath]

Wifi and a PDA? Its awesome. You'll find all sorts of uses for it. Stream music and video to anywhere in your house, or use it to follow other NFL games while your watching your team's game. My dad even used it to send my mom an e-mail from the bathroom telling her to bring him toilet paper.

 

[stinkycheese]

LOL @ the toilet paper

 

[substance12]

ROFL...

actually active sync wirelessly is a plus for me. I've never used the pocket pc platform so i can only explain this from the Palm perspective. I use avantgo and i read their websites when im on the go. can I sync with avantgo without having a desktop powered on? Or is there another feature where I can just download websites and read them later?

anyone know anything about using a cell phone to dial up and use the pda to check email? or even AIM?

 

[acemcmac]

toshiba's post-recall e740's are floating around the web refurbished for around 200... I've had one on backorder for almost a month now. I keep thinking the 802.11b would be useful for AIM in lecture hall, email on the go and office, but I'd really like to know what everyone else thinks too :beer:

 

[Ionizer86]

Provided you have a keyboard, AIM works wonderfully, as does MSN messenger.

Browsing is a bit slower on the screen, but with the text wrap feature, it usually is relatively doable.

I like having wifi access via my Pocket PC. I sometimes IM on it just for kicks (I have a keyboard), and I like to download stuff, like music, from my PC to listen to. If I need to access documents from my room, I can do so as well (My PC is in another part of the house). As for Avantgo syncing, I think there is a way to setup a direct sync with the Avantgo server, but I haven't tried it.