Comments on: I Need Your Advice: PDA Recommendations

By: Bobby

Bobby — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:47:25 +0000

Man, I miss my Blackberry.

I had one about 4 years ago through work and it was wonderful. I could send email, make phone calls with text (freaky auto voice that would read your text message), surf the net. Had my work email forwarded to it so I was still in touch even when I was traveling, which was quite often.

It is amazing how quickly you can adapt to the typing style (mine was one of the first that was a little larger than an old pager.)

Wonderful device.

I also have a PDA for personal use, Tungsten E2. Be very careful with any PDA to make sure you don’t get one that is a bad design. I originally chose the E2 because we have a Palm IIIe that still works after about 12 years. The E2 is nice but I have had trouble with the battery. Also, you can’t put much on it without expansion memory cards. But all in all, pretty dependable and useful when everything is considered.

By: die fledermaus

die fledermaus — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 01:09:03 +0000

WIN CE devices are crippled by virtue of the fact that they run the unstable, bloated joke of an OS made by microsoft. Until this year, the only usable PDA was made by Palm. I’ve used them for 8 years and they sync with Macs and Windows. Lots of 3rd party shareware and software. Does it work with Outlook? Who cares? Outlook sux.

However the best PDA is now made by Apple. Either the iPhone or iPod touch. Don’t like Macs? Then I pity you.

By: SavingWithMe

SavingWithMe — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:08:26 +0000

My vote is for the Treo line of products. I have the Treo 650p and my girlfriend has the new 755p. Both very solid phones and PDAs. In my opinion it just does not make sense to carry two devices with the level the Treos are at now. Maybe it made sense 3-4 years ago. Anyhow, i use Sprint for service and Treo for hardware and have been very pleased.

By: Mini Paper Planner

Mini Paper Planner — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:09:52 +0000

Have you considered the mini Bubble Planner (www.bubbleplanner.com)? It’s a paper organizer that fits into your pocket. It is put together with cards and disc binders so you can add, move, and remove pages as often as you like.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:16:06 +0000

fivecentnickel – Whoops, you are right. I looked into the other Treo models after my comment had posted, and sure enough, PalmOne has not equipped any of them with wifi yet.

JLP, if you are leaning toward the standalone PDA and don’t want to spend an outrageous amount, I’d like to recommend the slightly older but still fantastic Palm Tungsten T3. You can find very gently used ones on eBay these days for under $100 including shipping, which leaves you some spare change to buy the wireless card accessory (slides into the full size SD card slot) that will give give it full wifi web browsing capabilities. The T3 has a beautiful high resolution screen that actually expands when you pull the top and bottom of the case apart, making it much easier to work with spreadsheets. It comes bundled with Docs to Go so you can edit and create Word and Excel files, and it also functions as a voice recorder, MP3 player, and all of those other things I mentioned above in my Treo 650 plug minus the phone feature. There are also optional IR and Bluetooth keyboards you can buy for the T3 that make it a viable laptop replacement when traveling.

I’ve had one for three years (my sister had it for several months before that–bought it from Palmone.com as an open box, blemished product) and it still runs like a champ.

The only inconvenience lies in having to swap out any SD memory card you might have in the single SD slot for the WiFi card when you want to get on the web.

By: Bill Neilson

Bill Neilson — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:25:29 +0000

I just moved up to a Palm TX, yes you can surf the net though your home wireless connection, I you are like me cheap and do not want to pay very high data connect charges. I got a blue tooth dongle so that I can keep my note book and PDA in sync, yes you can use the supplied cable, but I am a toy junkie. And the dongle is easier to carry that the numerous cords, that we all have.

By: SecondTimothy

SecondTimothy — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:22:47 +0000

I used to use the IPAQ which did everything I wanted. I also used it primarily to sync with outlook and ms word/excel files. I was hesitant to use a phone/pda combo until I got my MDA from Tmobile. It has many advantages over the IPAQ including: A slide-out keyboard, being able to look up outlook contacts and call them directly. But the greatest was the price. With a 2 yr tmobible contract, I got my MDA for only $49.00. Try getting an IPAQ at that price. There are no disadvantages that I’ve found.

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 03:22:12 +0000

Forgot to mention… Blackberry requires an additional BB data plan for $40/month on top of your voice plan. They can’t make use of the regular Sprint network for data. It’s hard to justify that sort of cost if your workplace isn’t paying for it.

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 03:20:49 +0000

JLP: I am seriously considering a Treo 755p. I use Sprint, and can get a SERO plan with 500 minutes and unlimited data on their high speed EV-DO network for $30/month (Google it – it’s an employee referral offer that pretty much anyone can get in on).

Maggie: As far as I know, none of the Treos do wifi.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 02:35:54 +0000

Yes those older Palms (formerly Handspring) are great. I have one from 2000 that still works and looks brand new, but I got an OBDII kit for it so it just stays in the garage.

I prefer simple and robust to fancy and fragile.