I’m hoping to get a Treo in March when my current cell contract expires. I don’t really care about the internet capabilities, but I use my cell phone as a phone and portable calendar, and would like a “notes” feature. The Treo seems like the best way to do this, because I need to be able to sync up my work and personal calendars (I don’t always work 8-5, and it would be nice to know if I can go play without having to remember to check my work calendar, etc.). I wish they had a “Treo lite” that was a pared-down version, and less expensive, but still had good memory – my current phone doesn’t have enough memory to really be my calendar.
Okay, I do admit to loving new gadgets, too. But the Treo is expensive enough that I wouldn’t go for it if I couldn’t at least justify it…
I was given a Palm m100 as a gift a number of years ago, and I use it all the time now. Could I live without it? Sure - I did for many years, but I’ve figured out what seems to work for me.
I synch the calendar, contact, and to-do list with Outlook, and like having that stuff available. (It fits in my pocket, which paper organizers never did. I MUCH prefer this.) I also have a free checkbook application installed, which helps me keep very much on top of balancing our accounts in an ongoing way (protecting me from my own laziness, really).
I have all sorts of various and sundry notes to myself that I like having available. Some pretty important, others really stupid. All nice to have handy.
A few games. Chess when I feel like thinking, Solitaire when I don’t.
eWallet (the PDA/PC joint version), which is the only non-free software I’ve installed. This has revolutionized my password management, and for that alone was well worth the $25 or whatever it was.
The m100 is pretty old (monochrome display, eats AAA batteries*), and I’m running out of free memory. No email capability, I haven’t installed document or ebook readers. I’m frugal/lazy, so I’ll probably use this one until it dies.
I just got a cell phone a few weeks ago, and have not yet resolved the issue of where to store phone numbers. Right now, the phone has nothing at all stored on it - we’ll see.
I use my Clie daily. It is my alarm clock, my calendar, my MP3 player, my eBook reader, my shopping list, my to do list, and a lot more. It is small enough to always take with me, so all that stuff listed is always with me. I’ll never be stuck somewhere without a book to read, music to listen too and a game to play. Now that I’ve had a PDA for over a year I don’t think I could be without one.
I like my Tungsten|E a lot. You will notice, it’s the relative “bottom” of the Tungsten line, but that’s the whole point: for me the PDA is just that, a PDA. Calendar, organizer, expense tracker, eBook reader – but not camera and not telephone, as I’d rather have a full-featured one of each piece of technology (thus my cell phone is not a camera, either).
At the time of an upgrade, I may decide to go for the new PalmOne device that has a hard drive, as a road substitute for a notebook computer – that I can see myself using.
There was a time when I used my PDA for email and surfing when I was bored (I have a Palm i705), but now it’s pretty much just replaced my old paper Day Timer system. It is less expensive if you can manage to resist getting the latest and greatest. I’ve always been an “organizer” devotee because I’m just terrible at remembering meetings and a task list that I can roll over day after day is essential. Something great you can do with an electronic organizer that was a PITA with paper: recurring appointments and tasks.
I never used a PDA until they were incorporated into mobile phones. I can’t live without my smart PDA. It’s an i-mate JAM runing windows pocket pc. I love it. Much smaller than the previous version and really is a pocket device.
Synchs with all of my Outlook and office stuff. My files are automatically downloaded to my PC. I use if for a lot of client meetings to take meeting notes and I can email the notes and action items from the taxi. I read all my news on it. Of course I can GPRS all my email. I’ve got ebooks on it. Need a memory card so it can be my mp3 player.
I travel a lot in subways, taxis and spend time in airports. The smart PDA saves me at least one work day per month and probably more. It gives me peace of mind because I generally read all my email and know if there is something urgent or that I have to work on. I no longer finish a long day on the road and have an hour or two of email waiting for me to do.
Mainly I use it to
do email
calendar
take meeting notes
surf the SDMB
read news
read ebooks
My PDA is such a pure necessity that when my Clie started acting wonky on me, I upgraded to a top-notch PocketPC (Dell Axim XV50) with all the trimmings.
What do I use it for?
–Reference. This is what makes it indispensible, between ePocrates and UpToDate.
–Contacts. This has largely been supplanted by the cell phone, but only recently.
–Notes to self. I can record reminders to myself throughout the day (with the touch of a button), and I have an alarm set to remind me to check that day’s notes. For a doctor with ADHD, this is a godsend.
–Web browsing on wireless networks. (Don’t have one in the house or at work yet, but it’s on its way.)
–Patient info. I’m not doing this at the moment, but that’s the next step.
I don’t use bluetooth devices because they are such a battery pig. I usually recharge with my synch cable so I don’t need it between my tablet and pda. I tried using a mic/earpiece but the quality wasn’t great and would drain my battery quickly.
You’ll note that shipments are way up with converged devices.
Eg, the smart phone with internet access that contains the address book, calendar and can read files like word, excell, powerpoint. ppt.
Or the two-fer PDA phone web access combo.
I think there are a lot of people like me that like the convergence thing (except get rid of that crappy camera). One device in my pocket works for me and I just wont carry two (pda) or three (mp3 player). For a single device it’s gotta be the cell phoe. Also Having to drag around my laptop and a pda just seemed so redundant. Now I just carry my phone and voila it’s also a pda and mp3 player and… I skip taking my laptop to client meetings if I don’t need it for presentations and do all the pda.
As PDA’s do more convergence things, I think they will be more popular. What about when they can be your tv remote, turn off the house/car alarm, electronic car key, business card scanner, etc.
I’ve been using an iPaq 3650 since August of 2000. It’s short on space by today’s standards, and it’s not wireless (there are wireless cards available, I just don’t have a need for one right now), but it suits my needs perfectly. I’ve got a little folding keyboard I can attach to it; I’ve written numerous reports and papers on it. I’ve really enjoyed having Excel in my lab courses; instead of writing to data on a piece of paper and then typing it into a spreadsheet later, I can enter the data directly into the spreadsheet, then sync the PDA with my desktop and print the document. The eBook reader and PDF reader have probably saved me quite a bit on paper and ink – all of my English courses had required readings from online or course reserve documents that rarely numbered less than 50 pages. There’s also a Powerpoint Viewer available (I don’t have it loaded right now) that’s great for reviewing notes and slides before giving a presentation.
And of course it’s great for games; I have several titles from PopCap games loaded right now.
