Advice on buying a PDA

[Leareth]

I am in the market for a PDA type device.

I am totally ignorant of the types on the market as I have never had nor needed one before.
What I need in it the ability to add not only names and dates but notes as well. So it needs either a thumb keyboard or a portable foldable one.
Being bluetooth and wifi capable are necessities as well.

I have looked at various manufacturers, and I dont think I want to get any PDA that runs Windows Mobile.

SO with these requirements what do you guys think would be the best one for me to get? Personal experience is highly sought.
I do not need MP3 or video player capabilities,
but if there is a good reason for getting an extra feature. please tell me.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

well if you do not want windows mobil your only real choice is Palm. And there I would say the TX is your best best. I can not think of any PDA like device that has a keyboard but most of them do have a keyboard you can use with you stylus and honestly it pretty quick to use that way. It has wireless and blue tooth on it. I own a TX and I think it is really great for the stuff you want it to do.

Windows Mobile does wireless a lot better than Palm OS. Most of it dealing secure wireless connections.

Other wise I would say look at Dell, HP and Acer as some good PDA brands but they all run window Mobile. You have to go to Palm other wise.

 

[odaiwai]

Palm TX is ok, even if iPhone makes it look sad. You can use an external bluetooth keyboard too, if you need to.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Palm TX is ok, even if iPhone makes it look sad. You can use an external bluetooth keyboard too, if you need to.

well considering the iPhone also cost about 3 times as much and would be massive over kill and a rather large waste of money....

 

[Leareth]

As much as I would like an iPhone , I really do not need one, and it wont be available for 6 months ( < the real reason)
Secondly my boss told me to get a PDA by next week. Paid by boss, so I have leeway what I get but not too much.

 

[eMac4ever]

I can tell you I'm very happy with my Dell Axim X30 "High". It does run Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, but it's actually a good operating system. I'm sure that you could find many external keyboards. I personally have not used one, but I know many who do. It does come with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, you can even use both at the same time. I really have no problems with it. I have even dropped it several times, and it's still works. Also, I'm pretty sure that Windows Mobile has more market share than Palm does in the PDA market. The only complaints I ever hear about the X30 is that its battery life could be better and that it takes Dell a long time to ship them. If you do decide to purchase a Dell Axim X30, I would recommend that you purchase Spb Pocket Plus and The Missing Sync, so you can synchronize your PDA with your Macintosh. Here's a review from geek.com on it. http://www.aximsite.com/ is a great Dell Axim and Windows Mobile community; I have been a member there for about 2 years now. Dell stopped selling the X30 this January, so you might have to purchase it off eBay. If that wouldn't fly with your boss, perhaps you could buy the new Dell Axim X51, which I hear is quite good. The Axim X51 includes Windows Mobile 5.0, which has some major improvements over Windows Mobile 2003, most notably, persistent storage. I hope this mini review helps you.

 

[Lyle]

I like my Palm T|X pretty well. I've had it for a little over a year, now, and use it on a daily basis. I haven't timed the battery life, but I can tell you that it has "pretty darned good" battery life, especially if you don't have the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth turned on. As someone else said, the T|X doesn't come with a keyboard but you can buy one as an accessory. Like you, I wasn't especially looking for something that could be used as an MP3/video player, but was pleasantly surprised to learn that I could use my T|X that way, too.

If you have any other questions about it, feel free to ask. I'd second eMac4ever's recommendation to get Missing Sync; it just makes things work better.

P.S. The iPhone makes everything look sad, so that's not really a fair comparison.

 

[Phat Elvis]

I would recommend Palm too. I have a tungsten E2 which crashes frequently - but everyone else I know has not had any problems. I sync mine with a PC at work and I use the bluetooth to sync to my iMac at home so I didn't have to buy an extra cable. While graffitti 2 is not as good as the original it is still pretty good and the keyboard on the screen is very easy to use.

The benefit of the TX over a treo is that the TX has a much slimmer profile and a bigger screen. The tungsten doesn't have Wi-Fi.

Palm support is almost insulting once your warranty is up so it might be worth buying it through Best Buy and getting the store extended warranty. PDA's are not 100% reliable but they are still a little too expensive to be considered disposable. Paying to have it fixed is almost as much as a new one.