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Is there a mass storage PDA?

M

masshass81

Senior member
I need a PDA that with lots of storage space so I can transfer pictures from my digital camera via a CF card. The largest storage I've seen is 128mb from an HP iPAQ. :frown: I need something that has at least 1gb of onboard storage space.
 
Some PDAs can accept a microdrive in a CF slot, but they only have one CF slot so you can't transfer directly from camera card to disk. None of the consumer PDAs come with a hard drive yet.

Get a subnotebook from someone like IBM, or even an ultrasmall notbook from Sony. Use a PCMCIA adapter for the CF card and you don't need a reader. 20 - 100 GB of storage.

One of those new portable media devices from Archos, Apple, etc. might be able to read data from a CF card, but I don't know of any.
 
Originally posted by: NFS4
Good luck.

Anyway, I'm kinda confused with that you are trying to do?
Click to expand...

Going to Europe and I'm going to take a lot of pictures, but I only have a 256mb CF card. I just need a medium that will hold my pictures so I can have room to take more. Why not buy another CF? Well, I'm in the market for a new PDA and I'm trying to find one that has sufficient storage capacity to hold my pictures - so just trying to kill two birds with one stone. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: DaveSimmons
Some PDAs can accept a microdrive in a CF slot, but they only have one CF slot so you can't transfer directly from camera card to disk. None of the consumer PDAs come with a hard drive yet.

Get a subnotebook from someone like IBM, or even an ultrasmall notbook from Sony. Use a PCMCIA adapter for the CF card and you don't need a reader. 20 - 100 GB of storage.

One of those new portable media devices from Archos, Apple, etc. might be able to read data from a CF card, but I don't know of any.
Click to expand...

Why haven't they made PDAs with hard drives? Would it increase the cost by that much? Do you know when there will be PDAs with integrated hard drives?

As for the notebook, I don't need anything like that. I need an ultra portable device (6-7 oz.) as I will use the PDA to listen to MP3s at the gym and in the car.

Archos' 20gb Gmini400 PVP does have a CF slot, but I really need the PDA functions. Was looking at it for a while. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
Yes, it would add at least $50 to the cost, but a hard drive also adds to the weight, drains the battery faster, and makes the PDA much more fragile.

Since most people aren't using them for mass storage yet, there just is not a market.
 
Originally posted by: Gunbuster
just buy some $50 1gig CF cards.
Click to expand...

Looks like that is what I will have to do. Hopefully someone knows when PDAs will have hard drives in them since I can wait.

In the mean time, anyone know of a PDA that has more than 128mb of storage space? Can't seem to find one.
 
I've owned several pda's with the mobile windows operating system Most of them use sd memory cards. Presently I use a Viewsonic with a built in camera that I got for $199.00. I use 1gig sd cards to hold data pics and movies. Works great. Pull out the card and put it into a laptop or destop with a card reader to exchange data. If you need more space just get more cards. I use them like I used to use floppys. I didn't need the latest and greatest pda. This one works just as well for me as a $600.00 one.
 
Originally posted by: masshass81
As for the notebook, I don't need anything like that. I need an ultra portable device (6-7 oz.) as I will use the PDA to listen to MP3s at the gym and in the car.
Click to expand...

To get ultra-portable you have to make sacrifices. That's why PDA's don't have harddrives. Couldn't fit it in your pocket anymore then.
 
if you look into it some more i know a few of the older toshibas had built in usb hosts, and a number of manufactures added usb hosts to the latest generation of ppcs. there is also the older ipaqs that support pcmcia. at one time i there were a number of companies working on making a cf usb host for pdas but i dont know if they ever released any. if all else you could just get a ppc with dual ports and get one of the 4gig microdrives. the other day i saw 1gig flash drives at microcenter for 40 dollars if you are pressed for money.
 
The ipod can't have data transferred to it from a CF card, whats the typical battery life of an Ipod mini? Couldn't they make a PDA with an Ipod mini drive but the size of a 20GB ipod?
 
Originally posted by: malak
Originally posted by: masshass81
As for the notebook, I don't need anything like that. I need an ultra portable device (6-7 oz.) as I will use the PDA to listen to MP3s at the gym and in the car.
Click to expand...

To get ultra-portable you have to make sacrifices. That's why PDA's don't have harddrives. Couldn't fit it in your pocket anymore then.
Click to expand...

Well I meant micro drives or whatever they put into portable media players. If they can fit 4gb into a 3.7 oz device (iPod mini), I thought there would be PDAs with the same drives.

 
Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
The ipod can't have data transferred to it from a CF card, whats the typical battery life of an Ipod mini? Couldn't they make a PDA with an Ipod mini drive but the size of a 20GB ipod?
Click to expand...

THAT is what I really want! It would just make too much sense to make a PDA with the storage capacity of an iPod! 😕

Your first question - iPod mini's typical battery life is between 6-8hrs.
 
i still don't see the point... you're asking for like a 1GB of space... a few 1GB cards and you're fine. If you're REALLY going to take a crap load, you can get the media reader adapter for ipods.. or a portable drive that has memory slots. gateway's new ipod competitor has a usb slot, so you can just do a direct link from the camera (not sure what's supported).

and if you put a mini laptop drive in a pda, it would be too big, the ipod doesn't have an xscale processor sitting inside, so it can be that slim.
 
Originally posted by: masshass81
Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
The ipod can't have data transferred to it from a CF card, whats the typical battery life of an Ipod mini? Couldn't they make a PDA with an Ipod mini drive but the size of a 20GB ipod?
Click to expand...

THAT is what I really want! It would just make too much sense to make a PDA with the storage capacity of an iPod! 😕

Your first question - iPod mini's typical battery life is between 6-8hrs.
Click to expand...

To make it more plausable for space and battery life, they could use a low end processor or make a high end processor into a low end and use more "compressed" components. It shows that even with a b/w screen you can't get very good life out of your iPod. The screens on the pda's are much bigger and brighter than the Ipod's. The only thing we have in our future that will slove the LCD issue is the LCD that is paper thin and is like a roll of plastic. It could be pressed onto windows and such, providing a low power solution for LCDs. So in this case the could use that and the LCD would just take up much less room but thats not due until 2006 or later at best.

Found the page:
http://komar.cs.stthomas.edu/qm425/01s/Tollefsrud2.htm

It's called OLED
 
Originally posted by: Philippine Mango

To make it more plausable for space and battery life, they could use a low end processor or make a high end processor into a low end and use more "compressed" components. It shows that even with a b/w screen you can't get very good life out of your iPod. The screens on the pda's are much bigger and brighter than the Ipod's. The only thing we have in our future that will slove the LCD issue is the LCD that is paper thin and is like a roll of plastic. It could be pressed onto windows and such, providing a low power solution for LCDs. So in this case the could use that and the LCD would just take up much less room but thats not due until 2006 or later at best.

Found the page:
http://komar.cs.stthomas.edu/qm425/01s/Tollefsrud2.htm

It's called OLED
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I remember reading about OLED in a comp mag. MSI's MEGA MP3 players and Samsung's E71x series cellphones already use this technology. Can't wait for this to become more widespread though, seems like a great step forward in LED displays.

 
There are certain devices called storage wallets, that are harddisks, with batteries, and card readers, they do exactly what you want.
 
Originally posted by: boran
There are certain devices called storage wallets, that are harddisks, with batteries, and card readers, they do exactly what you want.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks a lot, didn't even know those data storage wallets even existed. Here is a LINK for others who are interested. Its the only one I can find, is there a cheaper one you know of?

I also can't believe I haven't stumbled upon this microdrive earlier. I knew they were out, but for some reason only thought they were just put in retail devices.

 
One of Sharp's Zaurus models in Japan comes with a built in 4GB microdrive (and a separate CF and SD slot for cards):
http://www.dynamism.com/sl-c3000/index.shtml

I have a slightly earlier model (the SL-C760) which doesn't have the microdrive, but does have the same form factor (you can flip the lid so it can act as both clam shell and standard PDA). The thing is awesome, but probably out of most people's price range. Although it is much cheaper if you don't get from dynamism, who provide a US warranty and English localization.
 
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