PDA OS - Palm OS or Pocket PC??

[Shockwave]

Ok, per my previous thread of which PDA to buy, better question. Which OS to use? I dinked around on the net but didnt really find a cut n dried which is better and why and yada yada kinda deal.

Whats everyone's opinions. I'm leaning to the Palm OS, just cause a MS OS scares me, and with the limited resoucres and high prices of the Pocket PC devices, I think the Palm OS is the way to go if your on something of a budget.

Thoughts?

 

[Electrode]

Palm OS seems nice, but I just can't say no to Linux.

 

[MaxDSP]

If your thread was the one about simple calendar options and address book in the PDA, then Id say that a Palm would be good for you. Pocket PCs are around $250 at least, while you can get a decent, if not great Palm PDA for under a $100 if you dont want any of the fancy features. The new Palm Zire is a good option, or you may wanna buy an older Visor deluxe which should be going for under $100

 

[NFS4]

The Palm Zire is pretty damned crappy if you ask me. Not much substance for $99. It has hardly any memory, no backlight, and no expansion AFAIK.

PocketPC's are $199 - $299 now for EXCELLENT devices (Dell Axim, iPAQ 1910 and Viewsonic V35). They clearly are ahead of their rival PalmOS counterparts at that price range and they are also ultra light and slim (well, not the Axim).

You can also do SO much more straight out of the box with PocketPCs. It's a better investment IMHO if you want to do more than calander/address stuff. If all you are going to do is that, you're better off with a small binder and a pencil.

 

[numark]

The Handspring Visors are a good mix between features and price. They also have the benefit of having quite a few addons via the Springboard port, and they run PalmOS so all of the Palm programs will work perfectly on the Visor as well. Don't bother with the PocketPCs unless you really need one. And my philosophy on that is, if you ask whether you need one, you don't.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: numark
The Handspring Visors are a good mix between features and price. They also have the benefit of having quite a few addons via the Springboard port, and they run PalmOS so all of the Palm programs will work perfectly on the Visor as well. Don't bother with the PocketPCs unless you really need one. And my philosophy on that is, if you ask whether you need one, you don't.

As for your PocketPC comment, unless you have something to back up the statement, I'll take it as meaningless

Viewsonic and HP have cornered the market in small, light PocketPC's which are even smaller/lighter than Palms. And Dell has come and slashed the prices down to $199 (around $170 after Dell's coupons) for an Axim which has more features than you can shake a stick at. And with all the apps available for the PocketPC 2002 operating system and the standard peripherals available (cameras, memory, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, etc) via SDIO and CompactFlash, you don't have to worry about getting left behind.

Also, standardized SDIO and CompactFlash slots on PocketPCs are much better than that proprietery Springboard junk on Handsprings. Handspring has NO more innovation...Sony is taking over that arena in the PalmOS field.

iPAQ 1910 Review

iPAQ in comparison to a Tunsten T and Palm V:

Pic1
Pic2
Pic3

Another iPAQ 1910 Review

 

[ElFenix]

^^^

biggest pocket pc evangelist on the planet

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
^^^

biggest pocket pc evangelist on the planet

Damn straight Palm nuts just can't get over the fact that PocketPC's are now CHEAPER AND LIGHTER than their precious PalmOS devices. PocketPCs have always been more feature filled and superior as far as hardware is concerned.

 

[bolido2000]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: numark
The Handspring Visors are a good mix between features and price. They also have the benefit of having quite a few addons via the Springboard port, and they run PalmOS so all of the Palm programs will work perfectly on the Visor as well. Don't bother with the PocketPCs unless you really need one. And my philosophy on that is, if you ask whether you need one, you don't.

As for your PocketPC comment, unless you have something to back up the statement, I'll take it as meaningless

Viewsonic and HP have cornered the market in small, light PocketPC's which are even smaller/lighter than Palms. And Dell has come and slashed the prices down to $199 (around $170 after Dell's coupons) for an Axim which has more features than you can shake a stick at. And with all the apps available for the PocketPC 2002 operating system and the standard peripherals available (cameras, memory, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, etc) via SDIO and CompactFlash, you don't have to worry about getting left behind.

Also, standardized SDIO and CompactFlash slots on PocketPCs are much better than that proprietery Springboard junk on Handsprings. Handspring has NO more innovation...Sony is taking over that arena in the PalmOS field.

I have used both Pocket PC 2002 and Palm 4.1. Now I am back to the piece of paper and a pencil

Palm is much easier to use. You can do PIM stuff much faster and the application load so much faster. Grafitti is so much more intuitive than the MS equiv in PPC2K. Pocket PC is a little bit more cumbersome to use, although more powerful.

At first I bought an Ipaq thinking of all the cool things I would do with it (watch movies, listen to mp3, play games, surf the net, etc). At the end I used the most basic functions and I kept it in my backpack most of the time.

Then I sold the Ipaq and bought a Palm thinking that it would satisfy my needs. Well...the screen sucked compared to the Ipaq although battery life was better. The problem was that when entering information in my Palm I would remember it, so at the end I didn't need it to remind of the things I needed to do.

Bottomline; make sure you have a real need for a PDA and big pockets. Carrying my Palm VX was uncomfortable if I wasn't wearing cargo pants. I would go with PPC2K. Is more powerful and you can do more things with it. It is also a better value compared to the Palms in the same price range.

 

[ultimatebob]

Yes, it really boils down to what you want to use your PDA for. If you just want basic address book, calculator, and calendar functions, you can save some money by buying a basic Palm PDA.

If you want advanced features (like full wireless internet access and an MP3/movie player) or expansion capability (like adding a GB of storage space or a GPS unit) you'll probably want to spend the extra bucks on a Pocket PC.

I've used both, and I found the Pocket PC to be more useful. It's a personal prefrence thing, though.

 

[bolido2000]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
Yes, it really boils down to what you want to use your PDA for. If you just want basic address book, calculator, and calendar functions, you can save some money by buying a basic Palm PDA.

If you want advanced features (like full wireless internet access and an MP3/movie player) or expansion capability (like adding a GB of storage space or a GPS unit) you'll probably want to spend the extra bucks on a Pocket PC.

I've used both, and I found the Pocket PC to be more useful. It's a personal prefrence thing, though.

I would strongly recommend a Pocket PC now that Circle K, Starbucks and Union gas station are offering free wireless internet.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: bolido2000

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
Yes, it really boils down to what you want to use your PDA for. If you just want basic address book, calculator, and calendar functions, you can save some money by buying a basic Palm PDA.

If you want advanced features (like full wireless internet access and an MP3/movie player) or expansion capability (like adding a GB of storage space or a GPS unit) you'll probably want to spend the extra bucks on a Pocket PC.

I've used both, and I found the Pocket PC to be more useful. It's a personal prefrence thing, though.

I would strongly recommend a Pocket PC now that Circle K, Starbucks and Union gas station are offering free wireless internet.

I was over at a superbowl party tonight, and during halftime I whipped out my iPAQ 1910 and started playing Contra, then Mike Tyson's Punchout with PocketNES. I've never seen people turn their heads away from Shania Twain that fast before Everybody commented on how small and light it was and how awesome the screen looked. And after I played them back a DIVX AVI episode of Scrubs that I had on my 256MB SD memory card, they were drooling

 

[MaxDSP]

Originally posted by: NFS4
The Palm Zire is pretty damned crappy if you ask me. Not much substance for $99. It has hardly any memory, no backlight, and no expansion AFAIK.

PocketPC's are $199 - $299 now for EXCELLENT devices (Dell Axim, iPAQ 1910 and Viewsonic V35). They clearly are ahead of their rival PalmOS counterparts at that price range and they are also ultra light and slim (well, not the Axim).

You can also do SO much more straight out of the box with PocketPCs. It's a better investment IMHO if you want to do more than calander/address stuff. If all you are going to do is that, you're better off with a small binder and a pencil.

This was his original thread. He doesnt reall need the power and features that PPcs pack these days

 

[bolido2000]

Originally posted by: MaxDSP

Originally posted by: NFS4
The Palm Zire is pretty damned crappy if you ask me. Not much substance for $99. It has hardly any memory, no backlight, and no expansion AFAIK.

PocketPC's are $199 - $299 now for EXCELLENT devices (Dell Axim, iPAQ 1910 and Viewsonic V35). They clearly are ahead of their rival PalmOS counterparts at that price range and they are also ultra light and slim (well, not the Axim).

You can also do SO much more straight out of the box with PocketPCs. It's a better investment IMHO if you want to do more than calander/address stuff. If all you are going to do is that, you're better off with a small binder and a pencil.

This was his original thread. He doesnt reall need the power and features that PPcs pack these days

If that's the case then he should get that Sharp organizer that Staples and OD sell for 30 bucks. They do exactly what you need. Phone #s, addresses and daily planner.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: MaxDSP

This was his original thread. He doesnt reall need the power and features that PPcs pack these days

he might be able to get by with just a cellphone then. I email myself lists of things to do and delete them when I'm done. Data entry goes kind of slow on pdas vs a usual keyboard anyways. I have an ipaq but I don't usually bring it with me anymore cause I have too much crap to carry around.

What my friend does is he prints out his address book, folds it up, and puts it in his wallet.

 

[Shockwave]

Thanks for all the replies!
Anyways, no i dont NEED alot of power and gadgets. The problem with paper is I freaking lose it or forget about it. (Yeah, its that bad...)
So, if I had a nice gizmo to keep track of crap i have to do it would help out alot.

But, after the comments on the price and extra power of Pocket PC, maybe I will look into it.

But yes, it sounds like a regular PDA would be my best way to go.

 

[numark]

Originally posted by: NFS4

As for your PocketPC comment, unless you have something to back up the statement, I'll take it as meaningless

I'll elaborate then. With the still-higher prices of PocketPCs today (sometimes in the range of $100 more than a comparable Palm) for a somewhat small increase in power, I'm not sure if the average person really needs a PocketPC for just simple PDA functions. What I meant by my comment there is that, if you're on the edge and not sure whether you really need to spend the extra $50-100 on the PocketPC, you're in a group that is eyeing the PocketPCs only for its flashy media features and probably don't need to spend that money for something that may not be used very much at all. Just my spin on things

 

[Pliablemoose]

The Palm Zire is pretty damned crappy if you ask me. Not much substance for $99. It has hardly any memory, no backlight, and no expansion AFAIK.

Big thumbs down on Zire here too, bought one for my wife when she was on a simplify her life kick & it never once made it to her purse, I took it back the next day. It even just looks bad aside from being a crippled PDA.

I'm still a fanboy of the Palm OS (515), but have one of those porky Dell Axim's too. The Compaq 1910 is definitely the model to buy if you want a small PPC system, and definitely worth looking @. I also like the Palm 500 series PDA's. The Sony Clie line is impressive as heck, but are just a hair too thick for me. Played with one of the NR70XXX's the other day & loved it, but it's too big to carry around for me...

Overstock.com has some refurb Clie's with good prices, BTW.

Both OS's have their +'s & -'s, Palm OS is mature & pretty stable and far from dead (Dell has made a comment or 2 about becoming a Palm OS licensee & bringing a unit or 2 to market), and PPC si in it's 3rd generation or so now, is full featured & the road to the future.

So in answer to your question, buy 3 PDA's & use them all, I've had a dozen or so (I buy them on a Hot Deal, & sell them when I want to change, I've got to admit though, the Palm M515 is the only PDA I've bought for my personal use twice although I only paid ~$160 for the 2nd one, and the Dell Axim is going to be listed on eBay soon (way too big, & I just bought a notebook that's a whole lot less painful to surf the web on wirelessly))

 

[Dedpuhl]

I'm looking to buy a PDA and am torn between the Axim X5 and the Ipaq h1910.

Here is what i'm looking for:

1. Video Playback supporting divx
2. Audio Playback for mp3
3. Emulator compatability (NES)
4. I don't care for internet access

Anybody have a preference between these two? I already talked to NFS4 and he is cheering for the Ipaq...

 

[n0cmonkey]

Wrong forum.

Palm OS is more compatible with various systems, but I think Pocket PC is more useful.

 

[brtspears2]

You can just do sooo much more with a pocketpc. Wi-Fi, videos, mp3s, fast processors, excellent color, all the office apps that a majority of the world uses.

 

[Descartes]

From a developer standpoint, Pocket PC.

From a user standpoint, Pocket PC.

 

[Mr N8]

I bought a Palm m505 a few weeks ago, and it is a great organizer / email product. If you want to do anything else, though, you will want a pocket pc. I've regreted not saving for a few more weeks to pick up a pocket pc instead of a palm.

 

[Doggiedog]

I just got my 400Mhz Dell Axim a few days ago and it is awesome. I've been a Palm guy for the past 4 years and have never even touched a PPC until I got mine.

This thing is a minilaptop basically. It can do so much more than the Palm and the screen is just gorgeous. The best part of it all is the price.

NFS4, after finally using the Axim, I can tell you this thing is not a brick. It is the same size as my Palm IIIxe. In fact, I use the cover for my ancient Palm Pilot for it.