Want to buy a PDA

F

Furr

Guest
Ok i have a problem, i want to buy a PDA preferably with Windows CE, however i have no idea whats good and whats bad, so can you give me some advice.

Since your all mostly tec boffs :)
 
P

PR.

Guest
The iPaq ain't that bad, if you want accessories to go with it then the iPaq is the most supported, if you do want an iPaq wait til xmas as they are going to be releasing another new unit.

I used to use a Psion Series 5 which had the keyboard, then tried a Handspring Visor (Worst Handheld EVAH) I didn't like Palm so tried a iPaq 3630 the first one was duff, but the 2nd model I got was a revised model fixing the dust bug and other minor improvements

http://www.foxpop.ndirect.co.uk/ have good reviews on most PPC's

Hope this helps
 
X

xane

Guest
I had a Psion 3c for ages, I dropped it and got a considerably faster 3mx, it catered for all my needs and I never had to upgrade even when the Revo came out.

I was toying with the idea of a CE machine for ages, but the limited battery life was a real bummer. The iPaq was tempting but once it had been in the field it had several bad reviews citing hardware failures.

After all this time, with the revision to CE (now called Pocket PC), I still don't trust them, so I invested in a Palm M505 last Xmas and its a great little toy. The sync with my Windows PC is smooth and even though it has rechargeables it lasts for ages.

All I wanted was the basic diary, address book and such, plus the option of a bookreader. The only thing that Palms really lack is an MP3 player, although I believe Sony have a clone that does all this. The amount of software available more than makes up for not being a Windows compatible machine, and you can get Word/Excel converters anyway.

If you need some advice on all the PalmOS PDAs (Palm, Sony, Visor, etc), not Pocket PCs, then visit Palm Infocenter.
 
K

kanonfodda

Guest
I used to work with a guy who recommended handsprings. Developed by the guys who original came up with the palms I believe :)

www.handspring.co.uk

Loads of accessories, and fairly good prices too :D

They do use palm OS rather than Pocket PC though :(
 
P

PR.

Guest
I reckon my Fave PDA of all time was the Psion Series 5mx, only times it crashed was when it was hit by static, if Psion released a colour version I would dump my ipaq instantly.

I've always fancied a Apple Newton 2100 just cos I prefer that form factor over the PPC

Newton__keyboard.jpg


EDIT: Shame they were discontinued :(
 
O

old.Jas

Guest
Psion 5's rock - they are the only damned PDA that you can actually input text into at a resonable rate.

I dropped mine a few years back :(
 
B

bids

Guest
I use an Ipaq 3630 - well impressed, although now superceded by the higher RAM versions. Huge number of freeware packages, loads of accessories, and the screen is still the best I've seen (imho).
 
O

old.Jas

Guest
Originally posted by PR.
Shame they were discontinued :(
Click to expand...
They use them as doorstops at the Apple HQ - they didn't sell at all
 
G

gremlin

Guest
Ooh, I had a Newton a few years back. They were really nice little units -- shame they never particularly caught on.
 
P

PR.

Guest
Originally posted by old.Jas
They use them as doorstops at the Apple HQ - they didn't sell at all
Click to expand...

Maybe but theres still a high demand for the current units. Expect to pay £250+ for a decent 2100 and its generic bits.

And there nearly 5years old.

On top of that the PDA market hasn't really become mainstream til recently.
 
W

wolfeeh

Guest
bah @ pocket pc'

i've had a palm V for a couple of years now... and omg is palm the daddy :p blows chunks all over the poclet pc pda's that i've seen... the batteries last forever, the apps are all u need... unless ur of the gayboy persuasion that wants an mp3 player and games on ur pda... i mean ffs?

palm is definitely the way to go... with the Sony Clié PEG-T625C being a reasonable priced and very fucking compact little unit.

i'd definitely buy one if i didn't have a new pc and a sony x202 flat panel higher up on my priority list...

graffiti is really easy to use by the way, you can input data at a blistering rate once you've been using it a few days
 
P

PR.

Guest
FS gets some sense ;)

Palm is utter dog shit, it wasn't til recently that it got anything even resembling a Word processor. The reason it lasts so long on batteries is got it runs on one of those DragonBall CPU that run so slow.

Grafitti, its single problem is you have to learn it. I have Transscriber on my iPaq and it will even read my poor excuse for handwriting even joined up. oh and thats all on screen not some useless waste of space panel on the bottom.

My Handspring Visor deluxe lasted a whopping 2-4hours on its 2xAAA batteries, probably down to the fact that there was a bug in the internal memory system that would cause it to wipe out the memory if you switched it off the wrong way, the fix was to stop the machine fully suspending so constantly draining power

PPC is far from perfect it is a resource hog and my mate had his iPaq running for a month without soft-reset when he did a softreset he reclaimed 10Mb of space, but it does offer excellent synchronisation, and is compatible with most modern technology and it makes good use of colour.

My fave OS is EPOC it is stable, fast and has many features PPC or Palm lack even now. If Psion released a colour machine, with a version of PsiWin that actually worked properlly tomorrow I would drop my iPaq and go back, no question

1) EPOC
2) PPC
3) Boots £9.99 pocket organiser GUI
4) Palm

So there :p
 
W

wolfeeh

Guest
sigh

Psion DO have a colour PDA fucktard, it's called the series 7... you might find it difficult to purchase seeing as it was fucked up by psion going tits up almost immediately after it was released.... but there are many about, mate of mine has one. (personally i think they are arse).

gotta learn graffiti? huh? it takes about 5 bloody means! it's as near to the english alphabet as u can reasonably expect! and because it doesn't have to 'learn' your handwriting, it's far more accurate...

so your handspring lasted 2-4 hours on AAA batteries... what exactly do you expect?? AAA are low drain applications cells, for things like remote controls!!!! put one in a maglite solitaire and it'll be dead in a couple of hours! very likely about the same power drain :p

you mention that handspring had a bug about the memory system... and? so do some ppc's - the difference is, it's not really the OS at fault, it's that vendor's implementation of it... i've never seen that on a clié or a palm....

and going back to the start of ur post... what exactly do you want a word processor on a PDA for? or as i previously mentioned... games, mp3, wine reviewing software, etc etc
it's a digital assistant, it's meant to help ya organise your life... get a laptop if u want that kinda functionality...

looks like your dying for the mini sony, jvc or fujitsu-siemens micro-laptops
 
P

PR.

Guest
Calm down Wolfeeh, sheesh

The fact is that the Series 7 was poorly concieved it runs a Series 5 OS with a bit of tacky colour support selotaped over the top which resulted in many of the programs using the colour screen ineffectively. I did consider the Netbook but when you realise that for several years they have promised that the machine will have ethernet drivers and its was only a few months ago that something appeared that worked I decided not.

As for transcriber it never learnt my handwriting I installed it and it worked.

The Handspring website reconed 10-15 hours on two AAA's I expected proably around 6-8 but not that low. It was the patch that caused the problem, what was more annoying was that they didn't except the units as faulty when they released the patch even when they had done before. It was a Hardware problem and I didn't blame the PalmOS for this problem

What do I want a word processor for? To write letters, and other documents

There are two types of PDA users:

1) People who put phone numbers and the occasional note
2) People who use them as a laptop replacement

You may fall under 1, I fall under 2

---

And yes those little Sony look v. nice :)

Problem would be that I would then want to play BF1942 on it and couldn't :(
 
X

xane

Guest
Personally I find it hard to believe a non-keyboard PPC can double as a laptop, the screen size is prohibitive for a word processor meaning you either work in Time New Roman 2-point or have around 20 columns. I used my old Psion (with 80 columns) for writing, in the end I discovered I just needed notes really, and I always ended up downloading onto the PC for reformatting, the PDA is very handy for just notes or short e-mails.

My Palm M505 will go for around a week on regular use, thats using rechargeables and it has a colour screen with backlight. The old mono Psion would last 1.5 to 2 months on 2x AA, about right for most modern mono PDAs using AA today. Non-rechargeable batteries are actually beneficial, if you run out of power then you simply go out and buy some more.

Judging the PDA by referring to the "underpowered" CPU is utterly stupid. The Palm OS is way less power hungry than Windows so it simply does not need the high rated CPU, which in turn means better power consumption and longer battery life, if anything the meagre CPU power is a bonus.
 
O

Ono

Guest
LMAO.

Soz mate - but I totally forgot about this thread when something quite wonderful happened today.

I just managed to order the Sony PEG T675C PDA for a meagre £139.95 delivered.

Got it from www.comet.co.uk - (now no longer on the webby) it was a misprice (Dabs have it at £340)- but I actually phoned to place my order and it was accepted at the lower price!!! :clap: (the guy even confirmed the price twice for me)


Delivery this Friday. :)


The bargains forum at the DVDforums are a wonderful place. :p (not happy that some prick bought 40 of them though.:eek: )
 
H

Happy Go Lucky

Guest
I have a Palm V which I absolutely love to bits.. couldn't imagine my life without it :)

Internal battery.. can leave it on without worrying about power running low.. back-lit screen so I can look at it with the light off.. I have a leather case, and its so slim I don't feel nerdy when I take it out and look in what looks like my wallet.. It's no good for typing but you can jot down sentances easily with the stylus, cut & paste is easy.. I only wish it had a alarm.. but it has everything you would possibly want.. I can't be arsed with installing extra apps & interfacing with windows don't need them.
 
W

wolfeeh

Guest
yeh sorry PR

i was a tad harsh but you wound me up SOOO much :p it was a bad day. anyway, yes i agree about the two PDA camps. and OMFG *drools* at that new sony.

motherofgodiwantone.

anyway :p

horses for courses?

//edit

Sony W101 - Japan only concept computer.

this is a crime of holocaust like proportions for FUCKSAKE have you seen that thing yet?

http://www.dynamism.com/w101/gallery.shtml

/me cries
 
O

Ono

Guest
Originally posted by old.Jas
Jammy begger!
Click to expand...



Comet have fucked me. :mad:


Phoned them asking what time they were to deliver and now they deny even taking my order or even stocking such an item.

Needless to say the day has been spent giving sales and CS and ear bashing and firing letters to Head Office and Watchdog.


It's no longer the loss of a cheap PDA, it's now more the fucking lies that those cunts have spouted out. I took the name of one girl in sales, she told me Emma and that she was the ONLY Emma in the sales team. She cuts me off. I call her back and she denies even talking to me earlier when I ask her why she cut me off.

Bitch.
 
X

Xavier

Guest
Ono m8 - first thing I'd do is contact TheRegister and TheInquirer -they both love putting pressure on etailers when they fuck up like that :D

On the PDA/Laptop crossover devices I recently opted for these two and about a fortnight ago made the full switch over to them - laptop stays at home. Aside from fitting in my pockets and not needing to take a case out every day once set up I get pretty much everything I had before with better battery life :)

oh, did I mention that I can play Divx, MP3 and Tomb Raider as and when the mood takes me on my ickle ipaq?

I went for the 3870 which has a 206Mhz StrongArm cpu, since which a replacement has already been released (such is life), the 3970 - its got an even better screen plus a 6th generation RISC chip, the 400Mhz XScale which now carries the Intel brand since they snapped ARM up for a measly £20M.

p.s. excuse the shitness of the photos - can't find the charger for my sony and the batteries are both dead so I had to use what I had to hand :eek:
 
O

old.Jas

Guest
Originally posted by Ono
Comet have fucked me. :mad:
Click to expand...
Email a letter detailling it all to every press contact you can find - TheReg will defo be interested. In fact - you could phone them - +44 (0)20 7499 2264.

They are being completely out of line - fuck them over
 
O

old.Jas

Guest
Oh - try and drag the page that says the price out of your cache.
 
L

legendario

Guest
Another PDA question?

What the f00k do you lot use yer PDAs for?

I wanted one a few years back but decided it would just be an expensive toy that I would get bored of.

Please tell me :)
 
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