OT - What is the best PDA??

i have a visor and i love it. i don't have the color screen, but plan on getting one asap, and giving this one to my son.l it uses palm os. i bought it at best buy

 

Well I used to say the HP Jornada but since they have decided to drop that line and go with the Compaq Ipaq I would have to say that. So far, There are alot of new ones coming out that might have decent accessories.

I have one of the older Jornadas the 548 and I use it for everything. I got tons of storage for it. I use it for mp3s, Music videos, Divx movies when I travel. I carry maps of the areas and local hot spots to visit.

 

Second that. If you want a PDA, it has to be a Pocket PC 2002 PDA.

I've used the Visor Deluxe, Prism, Sony Clie (the highest end model) and now i've switched to the Jornada 568.

Frankly if you want the electronic version of an organizer, the PalmOS-based devices are excellent.

If you want to do more, such as storage, portable audio/video, wireless networking.....then pick a Pocket PC 2002 device. And the best of them are either the HP Jornada or the Compaq Ipaq (the Jornada is phased out due to HP/Compaq merger)

When choosing a PDA, do not let price be your major factor. You need to look at accessories, options and software, then comes price.

It costs significantly more, you get much functionality in return.

 

I have the Palm M515 color palm with the expansion slot. It's my 3rd Palm pilot in a row since I had my first PDA (HP 620lx handheld).

The software for the Palm is good. If I had it to do again and money was no object I might have tried the Ipaq but the price difference was pretty great and the fact that I carry a laptop also weighed in.

Dave

 

I'd recommend waiting until after August - new (faster/better) PocketPC units will come out (featuring XScale processors - twice as fast as StrongARM ones).

I've had Palm III, Palm V ... great little address books.

I now use Compaq (HP) iPAQ. I had a 3600 ... now a 3800. I love it.

It synchronizes with Outlook seamlessly (address, email, and calendar). It also has pocket versions of Word and Excel (documents transfer perfectly... and you can edit). Acrobat Reader for books. Audible for books-on-tape. Tons of games (to waste the time away on flights) ... and most importantly, Windows Media Player for audio & video playback. I also have a GPS that I can travel with (never lost!).

I have a microdrive on mine - 1Gb - so I can take tons of stuff (sometimes even work related!) with me.

The big advantage (if you haven't figured it out yet) is that it's EXPANDABLE and flexible. The disadvantage is that they're expensive and the "extra" gadgets can add up. Battery life is much MUCH less than with a Palm, so I have a few spares.

God luck-
mj

 

God, I thought I had alot of accessories, I have the Jornada 548, its the slower cpu, but I can do almost the same things. I Don't have the GPS but I like one, (Hint ooky). I have the 1 gig microdrive also, those are nice. I never had a problem with battery life yet, but I use it alot in the car when i have it hooked thru the radio to hear my MP3s or watch music videos while driving. Hehe Yes dangerous, but the cool factor overrides that.

 

Third that. I have the HP Jornada 568 and I like it much better than my old Visor (the original 2mb Visor). I like that PPC2002 comes with Pocket Word and Excel which I use extensively. [obligatory credit info] In fact, I have my credit card payment schedule in an Excel workbook on my Jornada. Also, HP included CodeWallet Pro which lets me store credit card, bank and other personal info in a secure, encrypted database.[/oci]

But, as Kiyi mentioned, with the HP-Compaq merger, the New HP is going to drop the Jornada handheld line in favor of the iPaq.

However, if I were to get a PalmOS based machine now, it would have to be the new Sony Clie NR70V http://www.sonystyle.com/vaio/clie/nr70_index.shtml which includes camera, keyboard and full sized color screen.

 

Speaking of migrating from Palm to Pocket PC...

My old Visor had a program called DateBook+ which was an enhanced version of the built-in calendar. One of the nifty features of DB+ was you could create an appointment and designate it as a rolling appt/task item. (It appeared on the calendar with a circle) This particular item would go off at the specified time but if you didn't acknowledge it, it would roll over to the next day and then the next day etc until you check it off.

Does anyone know of a similar program for PocketPC? I've looked at Pocket Informant and Agenda Fusion but I don't think they do that.

 

I have a Visor and love it. I am thinking of the new Treo pHone, which is basically a Palm/Phone without the graffitti language to write stuff. They have a mini keyboard instead. I kind of like the graffitti, though.

 

I know this sounds old fashion, but I've been using my Palm V for years now and love it. I bought the "clam shell" for it, and I take it all over the world. I only charge it once a month or so. It has never let me down.

Your decision is based on what you plan to do with it. I use mine for the address book, appointments, information database, and language translation, currency and measurement conversion. Therefore, I want loooong battery life, simple interface.

If you plan to do PC style apps on it, the get a fancier model. I use my laptop for PC work such as email, word processing, database work, etc. It simply is better at it than trying to get a small PDA to do it all.

I would love a color screen, but the washout in bright sunlight and the drain on the battery doesn't make it worth it.

And when stuck at an airport for hours, it is nice to have the games to play. It is also a great device to shut up noisy nephews on road trips.

 

Ipaq is the way to go. Now that HP and Compaq has merged, these two giants will create the industry standard. Compaq was already close to it anyway.

Microsofts doing it's divide & conquer thing with the Pocket PC platform trying to port it to many different consumer applications. There will be so many different applications out there in a year or so.

The StrongARM processors are like 8 times faster than PALM right now. So imagine what the new machines will be like.

 

iPAQ, iPAQ, iPAQ!!! And there will not be any more new Jordanas, but the ones that are currently out will be supported.

 

One other thing to watch is battery life depending on your lifestyle and how you use it.

Dave

 

New ones 400mhz. I had a chance to get one of the new HP 400mhz models but they stop the production of them and no support;(

 

Don't get too crazy for the higher speeds ... interesting tidbit I saw today:

http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13498