I would like to get a laptop computer but can’t afford one and it has occured to me that a Pocket PC may provide what I need without the cost. Thing is, I know nothing about them. So I turn to your collective experience and expertise and ask the following questions:
Is a pocket PC the same as a PDA? ie is PDA just a brand of pocket PC?
What kind of functionality do they provide? Essentially I’m after connection to the internet at normal dial-up prices and the ability to display html pages (as opposed to WAP), do they do this? What else do they do?
Please provide opinions and recommendations on brands. I am looking at spending less than $1000 Aus ($700 US).
Any links that I can explore would also be greatly appreciated.
Don’t know about pocket PCs but laptop computers can run as cheap as $700 US. I found a Dell laptop for $599 and a Compaq Presario for $649. I’m not sure about the quality of those machines though, they seem kinda low-grade but if you don’t care about anything but the Internet connection they should be fine.
It came loaded with Word, Outlook, Excel, MSN, IE, couple of games, some sync software to sync up your systems and some other cool stuff.
The really cool thing I love about it, is I can throw all the remotes in the house away because this thing will turn on/off all of our electronics. (TV, Receiver, Satellite, VCR, DVD, etc etc) You can get other software to load on it. I have a shopping list application that keeps track of items that we need.
It now goes everywhere I do. When you plug it into a USB port on a laptop or computer, it will automatically sync up Outlook (calendar, contacts, tasks, notes, etc).
You can also store and play music files and other items.
As a big pocketPC/pda fanatic, I will do my best to answer your questions:
A pocket PC is a variety or kind of PDA… PDA, personal digital assistant, is not really a brand or variety but the generic term. The two major varieties are palmPilots (or palm handhelds) and pocketPCs.
pocketPCs are not all made by the same company, but they all run a version of the same microsoft PDA operating system, and most of them have some microsoft productivity software preloaded on them (pocket Excel, pocket Word, and a couple of different applets which are sometimes referred to as pocket Outlook. These are not the same as the comparable desktop/laptop productivity programs.)
Physically, yes, a pocketPC is a PDA and does not look very much like a laptop. They all have touch-sensitive screens that are taller than they are wide, no hard drives, and very few of them have many buttons on the unit themselves. (Ipaq makes one model with a tiny thumb-keyboard built in, and there are a variety of keyboard acessories possible.)
I have never seen a pocketPC with its own dial-up modem, or an ethernet adaptor for that matter. Some have bluetooth or Wi-fi, which are short-range wireless options used to connect to other devices, and wi-fi at least can be used to connect to the internet through a wireless hub, but you still need to have a wireless hub and to connect it to the internet somehow.
I love any chance to talk someone into getting a pocketPC, but it doesn’t really sound like they’re what you want. They’re more meant as a portable extension of your home desktop or laptop than a replacement, I think.
Thanks for your answers. It does sound as though a PDA may not be the product for me.
At present I have a desktop PC, this will remain in some form or other. I need something that I can use to connect to the internet when I’m staying in hotels away from home. These hotels are not necessarily very hightech and I generally only have access to a standard phone line. I currently use a work laptop for this purpose but would like the independance and security of having my own equipment that I can rely on.
"If you dial into an ISP or corporate dialup account using a traditional modem that plugs into a phone jack and have a Bluetooth enabled PDA, then you can use the BlueGate 56k Modem. "
There may be other alternatives… I guess I didn’t realize there was much choice in dialup modem/adapters for PDAs because I’m such a big fan of broadband.
PDAs are best for calendars, notes, address books, to do lists, etc. They are lousy for any large amount of text writing or editing (unless you buy a keyboard for them). They’ll work for e-mail, especially if you get a wireless model that lets you connect to the e-mail servier (e.g. palm.com) without having to hotsync with your computer.
For what you’re describing, you should consider a notebook/laptop. Many hotels have free Internet access, so you’ll need a network card (most notebooks come with that standard) and possibly a wireless card (some hotels use a wireless network – easier for them to set up, though there are security issues). You’ll need a modem for the times when there’s no connection. The hard part about that is knowing the local dial-up number – or if there’s one at all. You’ll have to go to your ISP and see what’s available where you’re going. I know of one technician who kept an AOL address simply because he travelled a lot and knew he could find an AOL dial-up number anywhere he went.
You could probably get a discounted notebook in the price range you’re looking for, and it would probably be more useful than a PDA.
Thanks everybody. I think a laptop is the way to go. I won’t have any problems connecting at the hotels as I have experience with this using my work laptop. It’s not very involved, just unplug the room phone and plug the computer into the phone outlet. Many Aus ISPs have one number for the whole country which allows you to dial from anywhere for the cost of a local call (which is a one off charge of around 20-30c).
I recently purchased a Palm Tungsten C, and man do I love it. I have to say the built in Wi-Fi is the best part of the thing. You would be amazed at how many wireless networks are out there.
Another thing to consider is an older laptop. I’m sure you could get a used laptop for $300-400 that would do everything you need it to do. If it’s a secondary computer, it’s not like you need it for games or rendering video or anything substantial, so an 800 MHz celeron or a 600MHz iBook laptop would be plenty of power for things like checking email, browsing the web, and office applications.
When I bought my laptop (the iBook), I took this route, and I’m incredibly happy with it. I essentially just use it as a dumb terminal most of the time, and the battery lasts a long time too.
Another use for a Pocket PC (I have an HP Jornada) is as an e-book reader. I just load stuff onto a smartcard. Mine came with MS e-book reader, but it can also handle txt, converted Word files, and some html formats.
I was about to say PDAs are good for reading text. I use AvantGo which downloads web pages (mostly news articles) automatically each time you connect to the desktop, so it’s available to read anytime. Especially good for bus/rail commuting. I’ve also read a couple of novels on my PDA.
I agree that you may be more of a laptop candidate, but I’d like to weigh in on one issue anyway. Please ignore as you see fit.
I had a Hitachi G1000 for a while, which was essentially a Pocket PC combined with a cell phone. I absolutely hated it - it was too big to be a reasonable phone (think “holding a brick to the side of your head”), it burned through a battery charge in less than a day, the cell phone reception was spotty, and it ran Windows software which hung up constantly. I was missing cell phone calls because my pocket PC needed to be rebooted again.
We replaced it with a PalmOne Treo, and the difference is phenomenal. I get my work email on it (and can respond), I can get on the web (it’s ugly on that small of a screen, but it’s doable), I’ve NEVER had to reset it, the cell phone works great (same cell phone number and provider), the battery lasts for days, and I can run some Palm softare on it which wouldn’t run under Windows. They run about $US600, but I now don’t need to lug my laptop on business trips unless I have major crunching to do.
If I were in your shoes, looking into a very basic laptop/notebook, I’d be checking www.pricewatch.com, or some similiar service. Also, I’d check to see if one of the computer makers such as Dell has any re-manufactured units. The availability of those is hit or miss - but you may find a great deal.
