Advice on PDA

2cv

Hi,

I'm thinking of buying a PDA, but have no idea which one... Any ideas/tips/comments?

Thanks

Dave

Karoma

2cv wrote:

Hi,

I\'m thinking of buying a PDA, but have no idea which one... Any ideas/tips/comments?

Thanks

Dave

Well,what do you want one for? What price range?

2cv

Price range? Don't know really... About €300-€400. Could i get something decent for that or do i need to spend a bit more than that?

wirelessdude

depends what u want from it really?

Ghost Train

well mobile (smart) phones these days have sort of taken the place of a lot of pdas.
there's some good info here
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/computers/pda-reviews/

i have the axim x51v, and for video playback it great and doesn't waste battery too quick, web browsing is okay but not great considering it's one of the fastest pdas, vga screen is great on the axim, i found text entry on the palms better though

old model pdas I liked are the psion series 5mx(which i still use for some word processing) and i always wanted a clie th55, but that never happened

2cv

Would there be a lot of difference between a PDA and a Blackberry?

BendiBus

I'm very happy with my Axim x51v. I particularly required wifi for mobile web browsing. Good for video too although I don't use that feature as much.

richieg

2cv blackberries and PDAs are fairly different. Blackberries will really on handle email and PIM. PDAs will do much more particularily multimedia, GPS, office docs, PIM etc.
List out the main things in priority of what you will use it for. As someone said PDAs are declining due to smartphones etc. I have had palm, pocket PCs and blackberries and each does things very differently.
300-500 euros shoudl get you something very good

I also have a palm lifedrive that i am considering selling but list out what you plan to do and go from there

thehomeofDob

This is what I'm planning on getting as soon as I have funds gathered. It's due to get a free upgrade to windows mobile 6 professional soon!

Komplett have it here.

quintron

Its very important to know how you will use it, particularly for syncing with your PC or laptop. The functionality of a PDA is greatly increased by syncing your documents, mail with your device.
So are you on a Mac or PC? What will you mainly use a PDA for? An office extension, a personal information management device, games, ebooks, videos, etc. Depending on your order of the above preferences, that will narrow down your choices.
Operating systems on PDAs are important also, windows mobile, palm, linux, or Series 60/UIQ. All have their pro's and con's.
Is it a stand alone PDA you need or do you want a phone/pda together in once device, aka a smartphone.. etc..

(P.S: I also have a Palm Lifedrive, two Palm Tungsten T3's, an old Sony Clie N70v and a QTEK S100 lying around gathering dust )

2cv

Well, i suppose i'll mainly use it as an office extension (Word, Exel, Powerpoint). In second place i'll use it for multimedia as well. ~For emailing and calls i have my blackberry which suits me fine :-)

thehomeofDob

If you decide to go down the Windows Mobile route, be aware that there are two types.1.) Pocket PC 2.) Smartphone. Pocket PC would be the more robust, more features and the addition of a touch screen.

mkennedy

thehomeofDob wrote:

This is what I'm planning on getting as soon as I have funds gathered. It's due to get a free upgrade to windows mobile 6 professional soon!

Komplett have it here.

tbh I never really understood the appeal of the htc herald myself
-TI processor no gps or 3g.

except for the slider keyboard the htc trinity/p3600 www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=730 has everything the herald has and a 400mhz processor, qualcomm gps and 3g. not sure about wm6 upgrade availability for it though.

or why not wait until june and go for the htc 4550 (kaiser) www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=733 which has everything ie wm6/ slider keyboard/3g/wifi/gps/proper processor.

quintron

^^ agreed, the herald is very dated for the money.

mkennedy

2cv wrote:

Well, i suppose i'll mainly use it as an office extension (Word, Exel, Powerpoint). In second place i'll use it for multimedia as well. ~For emailing and calls i have my blackberry which suits me fine :-)

you mainly want it for office documents and multimedia you say.

if you choose a pocketpc device pocketpc's inbuilt office apps aren't brilliant tbh.

however instead i'd recommend softmaker which works on the pocketpc platform.

this includes textmaker which is like word on a mobile device and planmaker which is like excel.

pocketpc/windows mobile doesn't allow you edit powerpoint presentations yet but you can get presentation software for pocketpc like pocketslides that will do this ie create edit and view ppt presentations.

as for multimedia there are plenty of apps like tcpmp for pocketpc.

obviously palm and symbian have their own office/multimedia apps but I dunno much about them or their compatibility with pc software tbh.
others here should be able to advise you on that.

thehomeofDob

mkennedy wrote:

tbh I never really understood the appeal of the htc herald myself
-TI processor no gps or 3g.

except for the slider keyboard the htc trinity/p3600 www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=730 has everything the herald has and a 400mhz processor, qualcomm gps and 3g. not sure about wm6 upgrade availability for it though.

or why not wait until june and go for the htc 4550 (kaiser) www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=specs&id=733 which has everything ie wm6/ slider keyboard/3g/wifi/gps/proper processor.

1.) I don't need a faster processor won't be using it to watch video or play games. Longer battery life with the slower processor.

2.) I don't need 3G. Maybe I would use it, if Meteor had a 3G network with decent data plans. Wifi at work, and home is enough for my use.

3.) The Herald is cheaper than the Trinity (no keyboard on the Trinity either), it will be cheaper than the Kaiser as well.

4.) Size, other than the Kaiser, it's smaller (not lighter though) than the rest of HTC's offerings in the same form factor.

5.) I don't drive, no need for GPS.

Now I'm not trying to be argumentative, just giving reasons as to why the Herald does have appeal to some. Still, I'm very open to other possibilities, but I don't want to spend 600+ on one of these. Generally, from most of the reviews I've read, the Herald performs very well with the processor it has, and there's the option of the overclocking when needed to get Skype to work correctly. We'll just have to see what price the Kaiser is when it comes out, but I would hazard a guess that it'll be way over my budget.

richieg

I have tried office apps on both pocket pc and palm and palm is way better particularily the newer versions of docs to go which come with the device. As for multimedia they are also very good with some additional freeware if needed.
My lifedrive is handy for multimedia as I can carry 4 GBs on board and still have memory card slot free

mkennedy

thehomeofDob wrote:

1.) I don't need a faster processor won't be using it to watch video or play games. Longer battery life with the slower processor.

2.) I don't need 3G. Maybe I would use it, if Meteor had a 3G network with decent data plans. Wifi at work, and home is enough for my use.

3.) The Herald is cheaper than the Trinity (no keyboard on the Trinity either), it will be cheaper than the Kaiser as well.

4.) Size, other than the Kaiser, it's smaller (not lighter though) than the rest of HTC's offerings in the same form factor.

5.) I don't drive, no need for GPS.

Now I'm not trying to be argumentative, just giving reasons as to why the Herald does have appeal to some. Still, I'm very open to other possibilities, but I don't want to spend 600+ on one of these. Generally, from most of the reviews I've read, the Herald performs very well with the processor it has, and there's the option of the overclocking when needed to get Skype to work correctly. We'll just have to see what price the Kaiser is when it comes out, but I would hazard a guess that it'll be way over my budget.

fair enough. I thought they were priced similarly tbh:

on expansys.ie the herald/4350 is 545 euro and the trinity/3600 is only 16 euro more at 561, no difference at all really. www.expansys.ie/t.aspx?m=407

hopefully the kaiser won't be much more.

I know the trinity doesn't have a slider keyboard but you could get an eten m700 for 561 euro- www.expansys.ie/t.aspx?m=259 -that would have everything the
herald has plus gps, fm tuner and better processor. similar form factor for all those devices iirc.

edit: just saw on the first link I posted that the 3300/artemis is 547. again apart from the keyboard this seems like a better device for the money imo.

thehomeofDob

The Herald/4350 is €489 on Komplett. €10 more for the 3300/Artemis - which has the same 201mhz processor, plus GPS, minus keyboard. Note: most reviews say the Herald performs better than the Artemis even with the same processor. The 3600/Trinity is does have the faster processor, 3G, same size and GPS, but it's more expensive and lacks the keyboard (which I want, OP might not:)).
The Glofish I haven't looked at much at all, seems to be in between the older HTC series' and newer ones in terms of size. Could be a possiblity, but again, more expensive than the Herald.

mkennedy

thehomeofDob wrote:

The Herald/4350 is €489 on Komplett. €10 more for the 3300/Artemis - which has the same 201mhz processor, plus GPS, minus keyboard. Note: most reviews say the Herald performs better than the Artemis even with the same processor. The 3600/Trinity is does have the faster processor, 3G, same size and GPS, but it's more expensive and lacks the keyboard (which I want, OP might not:)).
The Glofish I haven't looked at much at all, seems to be in between the older HTC series' and newer ones in terms of size. Could be a possiblity, but again, more expensive than the Herald.

ok.
I suppose if one really needs a slider qwerty then the 4350 is a relatively inexpensive option (compared to the tytn etc).

but could the wizard/o2 xda mini-s do the same job as the 4350-the specs are nearly the same iirc aren't they. the wizard or an o2 xda mini-s with o2 could probably be picked up cheaper couldn't it.

interesting though that the 4350 is so much cheaper over at komplett. I knew expansys were a bit overpriced but not by that much tbh. just a pity I can't see the trinity there. it'd be nice to get it for less than 500.

thehomeofDob

The reasons I would be inclined towards the 4350 over the older Wizard or Mini-s would be it's new, so it comes with one of the latest AKU's (not the latest, but at least over 3), it's also got a free upgrade to WM6 Pro (not released yet, but HTC say it's coming), on top of it the battery life is better and it's smaller.

The 3600/Trinity is on komplett here - but alas, it's more expensive than Expanys I think.. go figure :rolleyes:

Everything I say is based purely on research, I'm no expert!

mkennedy

thehomeofDob wrote:

The reasons I would be inclined towards the 4350 over the older Wizard or Mini-s would be it's new, so it comes with one of the latest AKU's (not the latest, but at least over 3), it's also got a free upgrade to WM6 Pro (not released yet, but HTC say it's coming), on top of it the battery life is better and it's smaller.

The 3600/Trinity is on komplett here[/ur] - but alas, it's more expensive than Expanys I think.. go figure :rolleyes:

Everything I say is based purely on research, I'm no expert!

yeah ok.
thanks for the link.
strange pricing alright.

quintron

Just spotted this if any use..
HTC P4350 Herald €485 delivered here:
http://www.handtec.co.uk/product.php?xProd=530

Delivery of £12.99 to Ire factored in..

Probably cheaper elsewhere but shaves €15 off Kompletts price.

Kingkong

Has the XDAiis wanted it so bad but when i got it i found i was spending more time setting it up and reseting it coz of problems. As a phone it has ridlious. Wifi was nice but surfin on a tiny screen isnt practical.

In all I would suggest keep away from o2 Xda range Windows mobile is terribe. Be certain what you want it for. If ya want it for everything you will ne disappointed no matter wat u get