How many of you use PDAs? What are your thoughts about them?

I have a Toshiba e310. It goes everywhere w/me, but I used it more when I traveled for work (mp3s, avantgo, etc.,). I love keeping lists on it though.


Lethal

i owned a newton 2000 back in the day. sold it for a powerbook 3400c.

i had a handspring visor. now my sister uses it.

i see not use for them, at least how work.

Arn, you may want to get your Newton back out...

I've been using Palm III for years. I mainly use the To-Do list feature, but also memos and addresses. I've got to have a good to-do list feature, that's the main thing.

I tried a Newton 130 years ago, and the recognition just plain stank. With no recognition and no way to input data on the computer either, it was unusable as an organizer. It was only good for playing Mah Jongg.

Recently, tho, I got a Newton 2000 (upgraded to a 2100). And I got Graffiti, and I got an ethernet card. Now I experience what Arn writes about. With Graffiti, data entry is error-free; and with ethernet, backing up to PC is painless; and with everchanging's newtsync, it syncs with Address Book and iCal.

Negative: It's big. Positive: It's big.

Yes, the big screen size puts it much beyond the Palm III in user pleasure. (Doesn't the M100 have an extra-small screen?) And as Arn says, you don't have to worry about data loss. I have a flash card to do backups.

I use four rechargable AA NiMHs in my Newton. They last about two weeks before needing to be recharged. When the day comes that they won't keep a charge, I'll pop into Radio Shack and buy more. In the Palm-III, I use rechargable AAA NiMHs. They last about a month before needing to be recharged. The latest Palms don't have user-replacable batteries...

my parents bought me a handspring visor edge. i thought it seemed pretty nifty at first, kept everything in it. but i found myself not using it much these days. in fact...there havent been batteries even in it for months. When i had a work schedule that required me to report to different places at different odd times through out the week it helped alot to just have my schedule in it.

Now that i sit in the same room all day for my law classes its lost what was its only useful funtion to me.

Now that my TiBook is ALWAYS with me i just shove it all into iCal and be done with it.

basically....i dont see any use for it much anymore.

I've got a Sony Clie SJ-30 - the color screen is wonderful, wouldn't go back to a b&w screen now. I do wish Sony would have full support for Mac though. You can sync it just fine - you can't use the Sony programs though (paint, pictures, video), so I have to sync it with an old Win machine of mine for those.

I used to have a Handspring Visor Deluxe, and my mom uses it now. She LOVES it.

I find myself using the palm for alot of things, primarily contacts, calendar, memos, to do, and reading ebooks from gutenburg.org. And the occasional game of course .

for me, they belong to the past. Note that I only used pda's for adrs and calendar. These functions are now available easily on a cell phone and increasingly better integrated with your computer.
Remember the times when while walking in the street you had to open up your pda to get a phone number and then with the other hand hold your cell to dial ??? Now with phones like the T68i all of that is archaic and stupid. And these phones are getting better.

My Palm 515 is a most valuable part of my life. I have around 500 address entries all in catagories. I have between 10 and 15 appointments a week for work with attached notes...not including the activities of my three boys/wife/church life...etc. I sync at work with a Dell using Palm Desktop. Any entries on the Palm go into my Work calander at home on iCal. I then publish the work calander. I also manage 5 other calanders on iCal for the family stuff. Everything is very organized. It has to be. My life is too busy. Syncing seems to be seemless between the two platforms. I would be lost without my Palm....but I understand that it is not a computer, but rather an extension of my desktops.

that is the attitude. that a palm-top is an extension of the desktop. tell me, when your walking down the street can you really pull out your ibook or pbook (even the 12") and startup ical or address book etc etc.

the idea is that they carry the same information to be accessed when any other option is not as convenient.

dont think of it as a replacement for your phone (unless you got a treo) or desktop (unles you got a tablet ) but as another way to access certain data or transfer it.

then you will have a use for isync.

I had a Sharp Wizard about 10 years ago and then a Palm Pilot Pro. Once I got a cell phone I kept using that for phone numbers and would look up addresses on the computer. I just got a T68i so hopefully that will eliminate the need for a PDA. I like the idea of having one less thing to cart around.

I have a Palm Vx with battery issues.

When it was working 100% I used it for:
Local transit info
Local concert database
Contact info
etc.

When it worked well, it was beautiful, as I never had to read every local paper to find out who was playing, or stand in the rain wondering when the next bus was due, etc.

Now that it powers up/hotsyncs unreliably, I use it less, and can't really justify a new one with my iPod doing much of the work.

I owned a palm III back in the day but i dropped it and broke it and soon bought a handspring visor prism to replace it. with both Palms, though, i found that my biggest complaint was that they were TOO big (i guess it's ironic that so many people loved the newton's, which were much larger). The prism especially was a lead weight in my pocket all the time.

Also I was not very good at the Graffiti writing system, and it was easier to type anyway so I used palm desktop to input all my contacts and calendar info. My dad also used a palm, and we both agreed that inputting data into the palm was cumbersome and it would be much more convenient to have a device that focused only on displaying info, with a small form factor (small screen as well) and light weight.

The fact that such a device could also boast a 5, 10, and 20gig HD is a hell of a bonus. i know, i know, the iPod is NOT a PDA - and thank goodness. if it was i guess it would weigh more and have more bells and whistles than I want anyway. although, i do wish it could support third party software...

-colin

i have a palmV and i do not like it. even it works very smooth with iSync. i don't carry it with me alot - i have big hopes for better mobile phones (sonyEricsson P800). and i am happy that apple did not release another pda!
.a

I have a Palm III which I have used less and less after getting a cell phone. I just bought my friends old 10GB iPod so I expect to use it even less if at all. I like the unit but hated the hassle of getting things loaded on it. I would love to see a more graphic sync program.

Consider:

You launch the program and a window opens with the normal Palm interface. You could drag and drop programs, datafiles, reassign buttons, delete files. This would all be viewable as a Palm emulator on the Mac. When you are finished, you would hit sync and be done.

I own a Palm M100, got it cheap ($30) from a friend who wasn't using it at all.

The first couple of weeks I spent a ton of time on it maxing out the ram, finding new toys, apps, etc to play with. After that, it lost that novelty. However, now I use it daily to keep track of appointments/meetings at work. I synch it with Lotus Notes and I can't imagine keeping track of my week if I didn't have Notes open without this Palm. I still would love to get one of the Sony Clie PDAs, those are cool, but I can't justify the price for what I will be using them for.

Oh, and I have a Newton lying around somewhere, that was fun to use, but bulky.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeey! I just realized, my first Apple that I ever bought was the Newton!

Can you see the to-do list items on the iPod (yet)? An Apple guy at MWNY02 told me that was coming soon.

I'm on my 3rd PDA and I end up never using it. When will I ever learn. First I had the Palm Professional, then a Palm V, and now a Kyocera Smartphone. I agree with the poster above that said that the PDA is dead and cellphones will take over. I bought the Smartphone because I though I wanted full Palm functionality, but now I regret it - it's way too bulky. My next phone purchase is definitely going to be something along the lines of a T68i - just a small, basic phone with Address Book and Calendar synchronization, and maybe a few games - that's all I really need.

I think in the long run (let's say withing 5 years) there's going to be 3 major computing form factors: 1) a small handheld device, with phone being the primary function, 2) a laptop, which is what most consumers and corporations will use for day-to-day productivity, and 3) desktops for power users that need expandability in terms fo video cards, etc.

Originally posted by MacFan25
Besides music, what else (if anything else) is on the iPod? Is there an address book?

Click to expand...

iCal...seeing your calender.

Skip the PDA???

For contacts and appointments, can't you just skip the PDA all together and get an appropriate phone and sync them?

I'm thinking of getting the Sony Ericcson T68i and passing on a new PDA all together.

Does anyone have reason why this won't work? Or why I'll need a PDA in addition to a phone with contacts and calendar built in?

I just don't see the point of carrying 2 devices in addition to a PowerBook.

Any thoughts before I go drop some duckets on a new phone next week would be appreciated...

--BWhaler

Well...in my case I need to have an easy way to enter data/notes/appointments even away from my desktops, so the graffiti on the Palm is what I need. Not sure how that works with the new T68i phones. Just my 2 cents.

BWhaler, that is what I would do, sorry what I have done. I had PDA's for ages, but never really used them. A T68i burns them to death in no time. Again, this is true provided that all you need, like me, is adrs and cal.
Note that the T68i is a young product in its features and its ability to integrate with the Mac. It still looks a bit like a toy. But it works and serves such purposes.

gio

I personally do not, but I bought my fiancee one and though she wasnt that excited about it at first she loves it now, and its a basic one the new Palm Zire.