Why do I need a PDA?

In My Humble Opinion
1

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?

2

Not if you are accustomed to organizing your life with paper tools, no.

For my fiance and I, if it’s not in our outlook calendars, it doesn’t exist. So we use our PDAs all the time for the calendar function alone. In fact, that’s how we set up dates, vacation times etc with each other :smiley:

Personally I would love to have a phone that also syncs up with my calendar and isn’t huge. I travel a lot and I’m always looking for ways to reduce both the number andn weight of things I have to take with me.

3

I honestly cannot think of any rational reason why I or anyone else needs a PDA. For $7 I can buy a monthly address book that’s lighter, never crashes, never runs out of power, doesn’t requires added software, requires no accessories, and is much, much faster for data access - I assure you I can flip open my datebook faster than any PDA on the market can be started up and have a date opened. I can’t see how a PDA is worth it; it’s functional fun.

4

Well – syncing up with your work calendar and your SO’s calendar will take you longer than it takes me. And that’s why I use one.

5

There are two kinds of people in the business world: Daytimer people and Post-It Note people. Daytimer people love PDAs. Post-It Note people – even techies – at best will look at a PDA and say, “that’s kinda cool, but what would I do with it?”

6

I don’t need to synch up calenders. The Outlook on my work computer lets me know when there is a meeting five or so minutes before I have to be there. At home, I either have things planned so far ahead of time that I don’t forget; or things pop up suddenly and I don’t have time to forget. And I can always make myself a note and put it near my wallet.

If they made a PDA that had a good-sized screen, that played DVDs, had a full-function browser and internet access, a built-in cell phone plus a “land-line” modem, and a GPS unit with moving map, and had some sort of keyboard so I wouldn’t have to do everything with a stylus, and was about the size of a typical hardcover book, then I would be very tempted to get one.

7

I must be a Post-It Note person. I still haven’t figured out how to use my electronic E-6B flight computer, but will often grab my metal slide-rule one.

8

And I, on the other hand, am completely not a post-it note person. Good thing we’ve got all these different organization tools, eh?

9

It helps disorganized people like me get more organized. I’ve misplaced or lost address books before, but with a PDA I can never do that. Even if I lose my PDA the data is backed up on my computer. Even if that happens to crash at the same time, I have CD-R backups. A PDA makes it easy to manage TODO lists and schedules. With a single push of a key I can see the current ToDo list, today’s schedule, and any appointments coming up within the next few days (adjustable for each appointment). I can set up recurring events/appointments for weekly meetings or annual events (birthdays and annivarsaries).

PDAs can also do many things the paper equivalents cannot. My most frequent use for the Palm is to read the news. I use a program called AvantGo. When I sync my PDA to the desktop (a one button operation), it automatically connects to a server and downloads the current articles from various news web sites. That way I can read the articles on the train or at a coffee shop. Other uses include encrypted data storage (useful for various passwords), outliner (planning presentations and project management), dictionaries and calculators.

Then get a mini-laptop. They can do everything you described.

However I personally would have no use for such a computer. The great thing about PDAs is that I can keep it on me everywhere I go. At any time it takes me 3 seconds to reach for my PDA and check the schedule/ToDo for the day. You can’t do that with a hardcover-sized mini-laptop.

10

I have two main uses for my PDA, and neither of them could be done as well with paper:

  1. I write, making great use of those small chunks of time while in transit or in waiting rooms. Transfering each day’s writing to my home computer by dropping my pda into its cradle and pushing a single button beats having to type in pages of scribbled on paper all hollow. (Yes, you can get genuine word processing programs for pdas. Yes, I have a keyboard for mine. I also know graffiti cold, and can do nearly 50 wpm using a virtual keyboard program called MessagEase.)

  2. I read. I currently have 8 full books on mine, ranging from mysteries to non-fiction to SF to classics, so I can find something to suit the whim of the moment. Sure, you can only see a paragraph at a time on the display, but the pda is small enough that I alway have it with me. Always. Who carries one of those relatively huge dedicated ebook readers on the off chance they’ll be stuck waiting?

11

I like nice, leather bound books. I have a subscription to the Easton Press “Masters of Science Fiction” and “100 Greatest Books” series. I’ve tried reading literature on the computer screen, but there’s nothing like reading a really nice edition of a book.

(Remember Max Headroom? The old guy with the mohawk said in exasperation to a kid, "It’s a non-volotile, random-access storage medium. A book!)

12

I like nice, leather bound books, too. How many of them do you want to haul around all day, every day? My PDA weighs about 5 oz.

13

Max! I loved Max! And, I still love leatherbound books, too! Reading books on-line sucks, IMO.

I think BrotherCadfael nailed it, with his “two kinds of people” diagnosis. I’m a techie, and I have a hand-me-down PDA that I almost never use. It’s generally dead, because I use it so seldom I don’t know the batteries are dying till it’s too late. But, my GF, who is a writer, used to live by hers, before she started working out of a home office. She was also a Franklin Day-Timer (Day Planner?) fanatic. (Aren’t they all? Seems like there are two more kinds of people in the world; those that are Franklin fanatics, and those that don’t use Franklin at all. Doesn’t seem to be any in-between.)

Actually, there are three kinds of people in the world; those who can count, and those who can’t.

14

Boy! You must read faaaaast! I couldn’t read eight books in one day, if my life depended on it. :slight_smile:

15

I’d like a PDA, but right now they’re too expensive for my taste. Especially since I’m in the habit of getting a dayplanner every year for about six bucks. And they’re also still evolving quickly–I think the cellphone/PDA combination would be just right for me, as soon as they get it right. :slight_smile: I’m not sure that I’d want to depend on something that needs batteries, too.

I also drop things. A lot. This worries me, although my 8-year-old calculator still works even though I’ve dropped it millions of times. Oh, yeah, and there’s also the fact that I’m the kind of person who still uses a calculator that old…

16

This is a topic I’ve been mulling over for myself recently, too. I found a web site about it at
http://www.pilotlite.org/intro/why.html

but haven’t read it all yet.

17

Generically called Smart Phones. Out in the UK and Europe. I know that Siemens has a new one called IIRC the S65, tri-band GSM with GPRS, that runs on Msft Pocket PC and synchs with outlook and the office suite. since it is just a phone keyboard one either writes short notes or records email replies by voice. I’m getting mine in the next week or so :slight_smile:

18

Alas, I am based in the US and use a CDMA phone. So far, the ones with calendars etc are rather large, about the size of my Palm Pilot.

19

Well, I currently have over 50 books from 30 different authors on my PDA. I have to be in a mood to read a book so this is immensly useful to me. What is the weight of 50 books?

Also, I happen to sync my PDA each morning with 4 major news paper services (Sydney Morning Herald, Reuters, NY times, BBC). Not only is it annoying to buy a paper every morning, some of them are very hard to find in Australia. And I still never got the hang of reading a full sized newspaper on anything less than a large office desk, let alone a crowded train or a lecture hall.

20

Why, thank you, Johnny, I didn’t realize I was a “yuppie-poseur” :wink:

Strictly speaking, you don’t need a PDA - we used to get along just fine without them - but there are some reasons you might one useful.

Like another poster, I do some writing. Having a PDA allows me to make use of waiting time, and commuter train time, and other stray bits of the day to do that. Then it downloads quickly once I’m home.

I’ve used e-books on my PDA. Yes, there are many things preferable in real books you hold in your hand, but the PDA I own is smaller than most paperbacks and can carry multiple books. When traveling it’s much more compact and the screen on mine is decent enough I can read without eyestrain.

There is flight planning software available for use by pilots. I’ve considered buying it but haven’t yet. I know a couple of pilots who use it. A good package can make calculating weight and balance, or take-off/landing requirements, easier, quicker and more accurate than using a pencil, paper, E6-B, and calculator.

I’m putting a copy of my log book on mine - when I’m done, I’ll be able to do things like quickly determine time in type, or night cross country, or how often I’ve been to a particular airport, and other sorts of handy things.

Since I carry it with me most of the time, I can make notes on things I need to keep long term, like doctor appointments (who, when, and why). This makes filling out the dang paperwork for the FAA physical a tad easier. It’s harder to lose the PDA than a piece of paper, and even if I did lose it, the information is backed up on my PC.

I can enter information I need to review - like checklists for a new airplane - and be able to study the information wherever I have a few spare minutes.

I can carry pictures on it (JPG’s, BMP’s, etc.) to show people.

I can play music with it, as with a CD player

I can play games on it.

I can download my e-mail and compose thoughtful and lengthy answers.

I don’t use the Internet or calendar functions - if my life is so busy I need an aid to keep track of what I’m doing I’m too busy. IMO.

So it does have a multitude of uses. If you got one you’d probably find yourself doing more with it than you anticipated. But it certainly isn’t required.