I was looking at an article in a pilot’s magazine that told of a new program for a PDA that would turn it into a full-colour moving map when used with a dockable GPS unit. “Well, that’s neat,” thought I. But why not get a moving map GPS with a colour display instead of a GPS unit, a PDA, and the additional software? Actually, I’ve never had any problems just using the VOR receiver and/or a map, compass, and a watch. (At least not until I started flying helicopters, which often fly too low for reliable VOR reception.)
Everyone seems to have PDAs these days. Sometimes I think about getting one. But then I think some more. There’s no one I really need to get in touch with. Those few “important” numbers are on the speed-dial of my cell phone. Those and others are also in my paper address book, which is easily findable around the apartment. Anyway, I know the phone numbers I’m likely to call; and if I don’t know the number I’ll have to look it up. It won’t be on my cell phone, in my address book, or my hypothetical PDA. So that lets out the address book function of the device.
I could use it to take notes with. But I’d have to power it up, find the note-taking function, and then put the note in. It’s easier to just get a scrap of paper and jot the note down. And I can throw the scram away when I’m done with it instead of having to remember to delete it from the PDA.
I can cruise the internet? That could be useful. But do I need to “be connected”? I have a computer at home and one at my office. I don’t have a desire to check my e-mail when I’m driving. When I’m at a friend’s place I can check my mail on his or her computer. Besides, I’m used to a full-sized browser. I don’t even like going on the internet on computers where the owner has set it up for 800 x 600 pixels because it makes the screen look funny. PDA screens just seem so small.
While I can see the convenience of having one’s entire address book at one’s fingertips, or of being able to look up the address of and map to someplace on the internet while I’m driving, it seems that I don’t actually need a PDA. The people I see using them at work seem to be a bunch of yuppie poseurs, and their PDAs seem to be yuppie-poseur fashion accessories.
So aside from “Oh, this is a neato gadget”, can someone give me some good reasons to get a PDA?