# Recommend a PDA **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 19, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884 "2004-04-19T20:32:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Star\_Was](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Star\_Was](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Star_Was)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/1 "2004-04-19T20:32:19Z")
I am about to start law school and I think a PDA would be useful. I would like a color monitor, e-mail, scheduling, and review and edit word files. I don’t need a camera on a PDA. I would like to be able to synch to my computer (Dell Inspirion 600m). Can anyone recommend a good PDA for my needs? What features should I be looking for? Any models to stay away from? ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/2 "2004-04-20T01:06:44Z")
First, let me say that I own a PalmOS-based PDA and have not kept up with the Pocket PC world, so my information may be biased. That said, the requirements you list are all pretty basic and should be available on most PDAs today except the very low-end (i.e., monochrome) models. Word compatibility on PalmOS PDAs is available through third-party applications, and one of these – [Documents to Go](http://www.dataviz.com/products/documentstogo/index.html) – is bundled with a number of PalmOS machines. Without knowing how much you want to spend, I’d suggest for you to visit [www.brighthand.com](http://www.brighthand.com) and read their reviews of both PalmOS and Pocket PC devices as a starting point. Last (and to show my partisan colors), if you’re concerned about how well Docs to Go works vis-a-vis a native Microsoft application, both [Walter Mossberg](http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20030206.html) of the Wall Street Journal and [Brighthand](http://www.brighthand.com/article/Office_comparison) think that it actually works better than Pocket Word. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/3 "2004-04-20T01:18:35Z")
They’re getting obsolete quick, because they’re being supplanted with cell phones which do all the PDA stuff too (or PDAs which are also cell phones, depending upon your perspective…) The good news, from a cost standpoint, is the same as the bad news - they’re getting obsolete quick. The older Palm units, especially the old monochrome units, are really cheap and have better batter life than the newer (and/or color) models. Do you want to do wireless email, or only sync up to your PC’s email? I assume the latter. I’ve had two Palm-based devices which were both great - an old Handspring Visor and a Palm Zire 71. (I think Palm owns Handspring now, by the way.) The latter has a camera, which does you no good, but it’s a nice unit. The Palm Tungstens are nice, and relatively high performance. Although I now have a Windows-based device, it’s also a cell phone… I really don’t have a model recommendation for the Windows-based models. The Windows devices are probably better if you want to actually run Word on your PDA (perhaps a requirement for law school?). I currently run Word, Excel, and other MS Office stuff which all syncs up beautifully with my PC. But the Windows stuff tends to be more expensive. Sorry this is so rambling, but there are a lot of variables. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/4 "2004-04-20T01:21:23Z")
> [@Earthling](#): > > if you’re concerned about how well Docs to Go works vis-a-vis a native Microsoft application, both [Walter Mossberg](http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20030206.html) of the Wall Street Journal and [Brighthand](http://www.brighthand.com/article/Office_comparison) think that it actually works better than Pocket Word. This could well be true - I wasn’t running this on my Palm devices. ---
**Author:** ![Star\_Was](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Star\_Was](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Star_Was)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/5 "2004-04-20T01:27:36Z")
I just back from looking at these at Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. The two I like best were the HP iPAQ 1945 Pocket PC and the HP iPAQ 2215 Pocket PC. The operating system seemed easier to use. The problem is I am not very tech savvy so I don’t really much about things like this. I looked at some reviews of these models they seemed to be rated pretty good. As for my price range, I would like to stay at or below $400. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/6 "2004-04-20T01:34:20Z")
Don’t be cowed…I don’t think that someone has to be tech savvy to utilize any PDA - you can ramp up on most of the features pretty quickly. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/7 "2004-04-20T04:00:55Z")
I have a Dell X-5 and I could not be happier with it, full featured, both types of card slots, color, Pocket PC and it was cheap!. Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Star\_Was](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Star\_Was](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Star_Was)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/8 "2004-04-20T05:18:12Z")
I just checked out the Dell website and the Axim X3i looks great. It has wireless which would be nice since the law school is set for wireless. Anybody have any experience with ths model. My biggest concern with this PDA is the battery life. [http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Dell\_Axim\_X3i/4507-3127\_16-30571428.html?tag=subnav](http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/Dell_Axim_X3i/4507-3127_16-30571428.html?tag=subnav) ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/9 "2004-04-20T06:45:33Z")
The charging cradle that came with my X-5 has an extra slot for a battery on the back so I got an extra battery and I swap them out (I am a “belt and suspenders” kinda guy), a full charge runs for about 6 days in my X-5 so it has never been an issue, plus the cord for the cradle also plugs directly into the X-5 so when I travel I don’t have to pack the whole cradle. Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/10 "2004-04-20T07:15:49Z")
Sorry, I forgot the link to all the answers to Dell PDA questions, this place helped me out a lot! [www.aximsite.com](http://www.aximsite.com) Unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Star\_Was](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Star\_Was](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Star_Was)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/11 "2004-04-20T09:36:19Z")
Ok after checking my law school’s website, I see I can only register one woreless card so I probably won’t get a wireless PDA. What difference in performance can I expect from the 400 MHz and 300 MHz models? Is the 400 MHZ worth the extra money if I will only be doing scheduling, word files, reading e-mail, and maybe playing some music? ---
**Author:** ![Star\_Was](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Star\_Was](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Star_Was)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/12 "2004-04-20T20:17:49Z")
Bump. Bump. ---
**Author:** ![unclviny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e274bd/32.png) [@unclviny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unclviny)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/13 "2004-04-21T03:41:54Z")
I had the same question regarding 300 or 400 mhz and I was told “you are effectively limited to 266 so don’t worry about it”, the only reason I was ever given for paying for the 400 mhz unit was graphic intensive games and I am not a gamer (I have a life…sorry, I couldn’t resist that snarky, anti gamer comment). I have photo’s, music video’s (MP-9), Ebooks, contact info and misc. files (Word and Excel) on my X-5, it runs PPC 2003. unclviny ---
**Author:** ![Chairman\_Pow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Chairman\_Pow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chairman_Pow)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-a-pda/240884/14 "2004-04-22T00:23:57Z")
Be warned that writing on your PDA is an absolute pain in the ass, especially if you’re using graffiti-2. It can be done, and it takes a lot of practice, but it really slows you down and I often lose my train of thought easily.