Help me find a PDA

I’ve recently hit a bit of a windfall in my online activities and have some money I’d like to spend. One thing I’ve wanted for some time is a PDA. The features I would like are:

  • Excel spreadsheet
  • Ability to use Wifi to access the net
  • Ability to game
  • The more memory, the better

All of that and ideally for less than $500. Of course any other features are gravy and I will likely not complain (though I have ZERO use for a cell phone and have no desire for that feature).

I see the Tungsten C looks like a nice product, but seems to be only for business use. The Zire 72 looks nice too, but uses Bluetooth, which from what little I know, is a pain compared to Wifi, although it allows MP3s to be played, which seems to be a bonus over the Tungsten C.

Can anyone recommend any products that will meet my needs? I know very little about these, I just happen to see those that caught my eye at the Palm site.

Thanks!

I am in no way an expert on PDA’s, but for what it’s worth, just to get the ball rolling…

I have a Dell Axim X5 and my son has a Palm Tungsten E. I know the Tungsten E is a ‘cut-down’ kind of product, but it has enabled me to familiarise myself with a Palm.

I would recommend the Dell, based on my own experience. It has not got built-in WiFi (although I think other Axim models do) so I have to use a CF card adapter. It is fast enough to do whatever I want to do, which includes interfacing with a GPS (via yet another CF card serial adapter), and loading large map files. It has both a CF card slot and an SD card slot which is VERY useful, especially if I want to use a CF adapter card.

There are a lot of games available for it, I have downloaded a few freeware ones and they have kept me amused. It comes with an MP3 player, a cut down version of Windows Media Player, and the sound quality is good through headphones.

It runs on PocketPC 2003 and has Pocket Excel and Pocket Word and an Internet Explorer style browser for the Internet. It has an Outlook type e-mail and contacts manager and this synchronises with my Outlook in the office to keep up to date.

It also comes with a charger/docking station which will charge a spare battery, if you have one. I have found battery life to be generally acceptable. The screen is very bright and clear. I find browsing normal non-pda-specific web sites is just about possible, depending on the graphics content. This site, for instance, is perfectly usable on it.

All in all, I am happy with it. Hope this helps.

My girlfriend has a Tungsten T3 which will do everything you mentioned, with a memory card, for about $400. (Sort of. It’s Bluetooth, but still…)

I’ve got the Tungsten C. Love it. It’s not just for “business use”. It can, in fact, play MP3s, although the output is going to be mono. It’s just marketed towards business users, as the wifi leaves battery life to be desired, so they push it towards people who can put it in the cradle regulary.

-lv

I’ve been using PDAs for a while, so I’ll toss in my 2 cents.

At face value, your requirements suggest a new-model Pocket PC running Windows whatever-they-call-it. I’m a Palm junkie myself, so I can’t tell you much more. Pocket PCs mostly have business-related stuff. They do have WiFi, Excel (part of the MS Office portable package), some ability to game, etc.

HOWEVER…

I’m not big on the idea of WiFi for a PDA unless you have a specific need. WiFi implies a web browser, FTP, or some other Internet protocol. I haven’t seen any PDA versions of these that were worth it for general-purpose use. Most WiFi use in PDAs is for very specifc “vertical” apps like inventory tracking etc. Just warning you that you might not be that impressed with net apps on a PDA.

BlueTooth is not an Internet protocol. BlueTooth is simply a RF wireless protocol for sending data very short distances. BlueTooth DOES makes sense for a PDA, but not many support it yet. Also, not many other devices available in the US use BlueTooth yet.

Most PDAs have some ability to game, but on the other hand they’re not GameBoys. Not only that, most people are not writing tons of Gameboy-style SW for them.

OK, what I do know is PDAs using Palm OS. I’ve had a Palm OS PDA since 1998, so I have tons invested in that OS. That will show you my prejudices!

Palm OS does not have Excel, but it DOES have spreadsheet programs that synchronize quite well with MS Excel. I use a commercial one called Sheet-To-Go, but there are other shareware/freeware ones. I find Sheet-To-Go perfect for my limited requirements.

My current PDA is a Sony Clie NX-60U, which accepts a special Sony CF WiFi card. So, it will do WiFi. I haven’t tried it cuz I don’t need it. Palm OS has web browsers, FTP, Telnet, etc. But, as I’ve said, I don’t need it and I doubt that I would use it over using the Web with a mobile phone.

There are tons of games for Palm OS. Most of them are puzzles, card games, etc.

My Clie has roughly 12Mb of internal storage, and I added a 128Mb Memory Stick to it. Besides WiFi capability and memory stick, it also features a built-in keyboard (which I do not often use), very high resolution, 65Kb color, built-in voice recorder, and built-in MP3 player. I don’t think this model is currently in production, but you can probably find it “new”, and there are similar current models.

I prefer Palm OS to Pocket PC. Pocket PC’s target market is business users who want close coordination with their business PC and certain business PC applications like MS Office. I don’t need any of that. I prefer to have some more personal applications, plus the choice that Palm OS gives me. Palm OS was first to market, and I would venture that there are at least 10 times as many Palm OS apps as Pocket PC apps. Most commercial PDA SW comes in both, except for MS apps themselves.

Here’s what I have on my Clie:

[ul]
[li]Datebook 5, a very powerful and useful calendar/todo app built on top of the Palm OS calendar database[/li][li]SmartList-To-Go, an easy-to-use database program that can sync with MS Access on the desktop[/li][li]Wordsmith, a powerful memo/doc app on top of Palm OS memo database[/li][li]DietLog, a diet manager and logger[/li][li]Pocket Quicken, a checkbook program that syncs with my desktop Quicken[/li][li]ShadowPlan, a checklist/todolist manager[/li][li]Documents-To-Go, which includes Word-To-Go and Sheet-To-Go for doing MS Word and MS Excel on the PDA[/li][li]MPG, a vehicle fuel mileage and service tracker[/li][li]HandyShopper, a great FREE shopping list manager[/li][li]AccountManager, a bank/creditcard/ID manager[/li][li]ThoughtManager, an outliner[/li][li]ConvertIt, a units converter[/li][li]SoftTrack, which tracks the software registrations for my PDA[/li][li]BackupBuddy VFS,which can back up my internal memory to my memory stick[/li][li]MathuPro, an HP RPN calculator emulator[/li][li]EZTip (cuz I hate calculating restaurant bills)[/li][li]Abroad! - very useful for dealing with timezones, currency conversion, etc.[/li][li]Lunar - astro program for showing lunar data including phases[/li][li]Star Pilot - plots a map of the night sky with stars[/li][li]Sol System - tracks planets[/li][li]Sol II - tracks sun data[/li][li]Rally 1000 - PDA version of Mille Bornes game[/li][li]Card House - PDA card games[/li][/ul]
Go to www.palmgear.com to look at all that’s available.