Help me buy a PDA

In My Humble Opinion
1

I want to buy a PDA. This may seem odd to many people, since I imagine an iPhone would probably do everything any standalone PDA would, but I don’t really need or want all the extra stuff that I would get with an iPhone or a blackberry. What I do want is something that is easy to use.

The army issued me an HP iPAQ 4700 which was a great tool for me to keep track of stuff, unfortunately they took it back, and I can no longer live without it so I need to replace it with something else. My problem is that the iPAQ 4700 is a rather old piece of technology seeing as how the iPhone hadn’t even been released yet when I was issued it.

The only two functions I need are the to do list and appointment calender that I assume are part of windows mobile. In addition to this I need the PDA to be fairly ruggedly constructed, or at least have a metal case I can buy, and the longer the battery life the better. Since all I really need is two simple functions battery life is probably the biggest deciding factor. Also a touchscreen is a must, as typing on a tiny little keyboard like modern cell phones have would drive me nuts.

Another thing that I have noticed is that the iPAQ 4700, despite being several years old, as nearly identical hardware specs to the iPAQ 210 enterprise, which is the more expensive of the two pocket PCs that HP currently lists on their site. So with the above in mind: what should I buy? Can I get something that will do what I want for less than ~400 bucks? Does someone other than HP sell a pocket PC that will do what I want it to quickly and efficiently?

Thanks,
AmunRa

2

Let me ask a few clarifying questions:

  1. you just want a To Do list and calendar functions?
  2. Do these To Do list and calendar functions synch with your PC (Eg, Outlook)?
  3. Is your To Do list just headlines or do you enter in a lot of stuff in the notes field?
  4. Do you also carry a mobile phone?
  5. Do you access email or the internet (browse the dope on the go)?
  6. Are you serious about wanting a mobile phone *and * a seperate PDA?
  7. How long is long battery life and how important is this (PDA’s use up power)

Depending on your answers, a smart phone with a qwerty keyboard may fit your requirements. Something like the Samsung Blackjack (there are multiple makers but this will show the form factor).

3

  1. Calender and to do functions are the two things I really need to be quick and easy to use. While with my old PDA I did sometimes use it to browse the internet at a coffee shop, or play the built in games, I don’t consider those to be particularly important options.

  2. Yes they should sync.

  3. I want to be able to have headlines that I can look at quickly, and notes that I can access by tapping the headline.

4 and 6. I do carry a phone already, but I just bought it, so I would have to pay full non-contract prices for the new phone. On top of that I would have to stick with Verizon, or pay contact termination fees. On top of that Verizon is the only phone service that works consistently out here, so I am stuck with them anyway.

  1. As mentioned in 1, I do, but I don’t really see this as a requirment.

  2. My old iPAQ 4700 could easily make it through two days of work without being charged. That would be my minimum… longer would be better because I go camping in the desert for long periods of time, during which I still need access to my PDA.

I don’t like the blackjack because it has one of those tiny little keyboards that my fat fingers couldn’t possible use efficiently, and see above about why I don’t really want a smartphone.

4

[QUOTE=AmunRa]
I want to buy a PDA. This may seem odd to many people, since I imagine an iPhone would probably do everything any standalone PDA would, but I don’t really need or want all the extra stuff that I would get with an iPhone or a blackberry. What I do want is something that is easy to use.

The army issued me an HP iPAQ 4700 which was a great tool for me to keep track of stuff, unfortunately they took it back, and I can no longer live without it so I need to replace it with something else. My problem is that the iPAQ 4700 is a rather old piece of technology seeing as how the iPhone hadn’t even been released yet when I was issued it.

The only two functions I need are the to do list and appointment calender that I assume are part of windows mobile. In addition to this I need the PDA to be fairly ruggedly constructed, or at least have a metal case I can buy, and the longer the battery life the better. Since all I really need is two simple functions battery life is probably the biggest deciding factor. Also a touchscreen is a must, as typing on a tiny little keyboard like modern cell phones have would drive me nuts.

Another thing that I have noticed is that the iPAQ 4700, despite being several years old, as nearly identical hardware specs to the iPAQ 210 enterprise, which is the more expensive of the two pocket PCs that HP currently lists on their site. So with the above in mind: what should I buy? Can I get something that will do what I want for less than ~400 bucks? Does someone other than HP sell a pocket PC that will do what I want it to quickly and efficiently?

Thanks,
AmunRa
[/QUOTE]

A Palm-type PDA will do everything you need it to - I got my first one 5ish years ago and have been hooked ever since. You can program the buttons on the front to instantly launch whatever app you need (by default, they launch the address book, the calendar, the memo pad, and I think the to-do list). The one thing I use mine for, for which there’s yet no iPhone parallel, is Pocket Quicken (which syncs with my desktop Quicken). The entry-level model is the Z22 which is about 90 dollars. You could perhaps buy a gently-used one on eBay to see how you like it.

Palm also makes the Treo line of smartphones (palm + phone combo). I personally wouldn’t invest in one of those until you’re sure you like the Palm concept.

I use a Palm Tungsten E2. The only complaint I have about it is that the power button quit working just after the warranty expired, so I have no way to turn it off (it shuts off after a minute or so of inactivity). I turn it on by pressing one of the application buttons. And at 3ish years old, the battery life isn’t what it once was. Then again, I’m a pretty heavy user - I have a ton of e-books on it, and a couple of simple games that I play a LOT. Mine has Bluetooth capability (not wi-fi), which I’ve never gotten to work with the PC for syncing, but it worked quite nicely when I needed to set up my new cell phone: I used it to populate the majorty of the needed contact info.

Palms can be set up to sync with Outlook, and/or you can just sync them with the Palm desktop application. You need to do that fairly regularly, as a way of backing up your data in case the palm gets lost, stolen, or whatever.