Looking to buy a PDA

Baz_

Hey, I'm looking to buy a pda and i'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations. My budget is between €200 - €300. I have done a search online but I cant seem to find a single excellent source of information. Also I was reading an article that quoted a dollar price of 399 and a euro price of 599, is that normal, and also in that case would I be better to buy it online from the states??

So many questions, thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice.

Balfa

I used to like palm/handspring products, but i've come to prefer pocketpc recently, especially now that there's a palm emulator out for pocketpc, so you can use the thousands of palmOS software available on the pocketpc platform.

Pocketpc machines are a lot more espensive than palmOS ones, but their performance is exponentially better... A typical PalmOS PDA has a 16MHz processor, whereas a compaq iPaq has something crazy like 266MHz. That's the difference between pants LCD-watch style image and full-speed, full-colour mpeg video. PocketPC machines also generally come with more RAM, and don't use dodgy proprietary upgrade modules like handspring's "springboard".

There's really very little to choose between the current line of PocketPC products, but any review i've read has favoured the iPaqs.

Basically, if you want something a little more useful than an electronic address book, but not too expensive (around the $100 mark), go for a Palm, Handspring Visor, or Sony Clie (all of which use PalmOS) but if you want something that can actually do most things a laptop can do, plus everything a palm can do, save up and splash out about $500 on a PocketPC. I'd say it's well worth it.


Also, i'd -definitely- order from abroad. They're far too expensive here. The US is an obvious place to look, but if you can find dutch or spanish websites selling them (and can understand them) you might find a good deal in your native currency

Gunn4r

try get the biz. post newspaper IT supplement from yesterday, there was a PDA round up in there might give you an idea or two....

voodoo

there's some guy offering one in the Wanted boards. Seems to be pretty ok. A Coloured Caseopiea (spelling is terrible).

Tom Dunne

Originally posted by Gunn4r
try get the biz. post newspaper IT supplement from yesterday, there was a PDA round up in there might give you an idea or two....

Don't rely on the Sunday Business Post article/supplement. The person who wrote the article obviously has trouble reading product press releases (he certainly didn't have any of the machines he reviewed). I quote "XXX uses the Symbian/JAVA/C++ operating system..." and "JAVA allows for faster and more compact programs that you can download".

If you want a non-technical, gee-whiz, pretty pictures opinion on the PDA's, then you should read the supplement, otherwise, you would get better opinions on this board (or perhaps the wireless board).

leigh

I am selling a HP Jornado for €350 four months old still in orginal box included is a 64meg expansion card to store your mp3 comes with earphones and all

Inspector Gadget

There's a particularly good (and thorough) review of the current PDA market in (I think it's December's) PC Pro - if you're shopping for a PDA, it's well worth a read.

However, I can tell you right now that there simply aren't any new PocketPC PDAs out there in your price range... maybe you should look at a PalmOS-based model instead?

Gadget

eoinm1

I was looking for a way to collect e-mail while away from home.
I looked at all the PDAs around and found the HP Jordania 568 to be a very good machine.
If you want a PALM device take a look at the currient sony models which are being replaced in the next few weeks a sony center might offer you a good deal (i was offered a good deal by one).

In the end i got a siemens IC35 with does little more than collect my e-mail but that is what i wanted ad all of that for less that €70.

Buy the way check out dell.com they are bring out new pocket pc
PDA they should be out after christmass in europe.

All the best
Eóin

ednwireland

Don't forget the airport test you sit playing games in the airport and on the flight when you get off the palne you can't access your phone book cos the batteries flat
I use a palm better batery life than any pocketpc device but if you want fancy graphics and crap bettery life go for the microsoft based solution.

Manach

I got a Palm M500, april this year.
It is good for reading and manipulating text when travelling. Another good feature is the AvantGo app, where you can read d/l news websites.
This is a b/w model, and the graphics are not great but you can go a week between power-ups.
Finally, there is a great deal of shareware and public domain apps & d/ls available.

Ro-76

Originally posted by Balfa
A typical PalmOS PDA has a 16MHz processor, whereas a compaq iPaq has something crazy like 266MHz.

The reason for this is that Microsoft "Bloatware" is so cumbersome, and inefficient that it eats up memory and processing power. BTW, the new Palm and Sony OS5 devices run on 200MHz processors.

Originally posted by Balfa
That's the difference between pants LCD-watch style image and full-speed, full-colour mpeg video.

Sony Clie Palm OS devices and new Palms use the same screen resolution and definition as the Ipaq screen, which is regarded as the best on a PDA. Many video compression formats are freely available for PlamOS which allow viewing of high resolution full stereo video.

Originally posted by Balfa


Basically, if you want something a little more useful than an electronic address book, but not too expensive (around the $100 mark), go for a Palm, Handspring Visor, or Sony Clie (all of which use PalmOS) but if you want something that can actually do most things a laptop can do, plus everything a palm can do, save up and splash out about $500 on a PocketPC. I'd say it's well worth it.

If you want a PDA that you can actually carry with you and use dat-to-day, get a palmOS device (infinitely lighter and smaller that PPC devices). If you want to do the same as you can with a laptop, get a laptop. I know of no PPC software without a similar functioning palm version, at a fraction of the cost, or in many cases, free. The windows compatibility issue is a non-starter also. I can view any microsoft office document on my palm, with full synchronosation between it and my laptop.

Originally posted by Balfa


Also, i'd -definitely- order from abroad. They're far too expensive here. The US is an obvious place to look,

They are way too expensive here, but be very careful when ordering from the states. Many manufacturers have region specific warranties, so If you need service or repairs, you'll need a US address.


Basically, to sumarise, PPC devices have faster processors, and more memory and use microsoft software. Additional software is more difficult to find, and more expensive, because it's more complicated to write software for PPC.

Palm devices have less processing power, because the don't need it. The software is easier to write, and easier to use, with the result that there are tens of thousands of titles available, many of them freeware.

I use a Sony Clie N770c. I can listen to mp3, watch video, work with Word, Excell, Powerpoint and Access documents. I've can send and receive email, and surf the internet via infrared or bluetooth over a dialup, or a GPRS connection. I can print to any infrared enabled printer (most HP laserjets). I can send and receive SMS and picture messages. I've even got dictionaries, and a Lonely Planet guide on it.

Generally PDA users are intrenched in their preference of palm vs ppc. I do think that palm is a better operating system, but ppc users, I'm sure, have a different opinion.

BTW I am also selling my Clie, to buy a slightly newer version (T625), with a little more memory - got a good deal on a used model. Mine is for sale if anyone is interested. (The above was not intended as a sales pitch, it's been posted in the for sale forum for a while)


Ronan

Baz_

Hey all,

thanks for all the advice 'twas great. I've been off searching now since I received it all and for a while I had my heart set on the Tungsten T from palm and the Sony clie NR70, which are both top of the range palm devices but then I saw this
a linux based pda and I nearly wet myself and after reading a review (http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2002/05/23/zaurus.html) I have to say I'm in love with this, although there are some issues identified in the review, one of the reasons I'm buying a pda is to develop programs for it and help improve whats already there. What I would like to know however, is does anyone have any experience with this machine and if so, give me the details . If anyone has any experience with any linux based pda's that would be useful too.

Also just to let you all know, that expansys website is one of the best and cheapest websites I found for pdas.

Thanks again
Baz_