Do you have a PDA? Palm? or Pocket PC? Questions->

[Gman2]

If so what do you have .
I am looking to get one and am doing some research on them.
I am leaning towards a Palm instead of a Pocket Pc, due mainly to the
fact that they are windows based and that can never be good, and also I hear the Pocket Pc's loose battery life fast and you could lose your data.
I dont know though, thats why I'm asking
Are any of them like cell phones where if your battery goes dead it saves your address and stuff and all is good when you charge it up? Or is all your data gone if you dont back up?

Also is Sony's Clie a Palm based PDA?

I just looking for a good reliable PDA (color) with decent options but no too crazy.

G.

 

[db]

Call me old fashion, but I use a small calendar (the kind you get free). I add a few business cards, and a dozen or so stickey notes. It fits in my pocket, and serves me well.

 

[David Hartman]

Call me old fashion, but I use a small calendar (the kind you get free). I add a few business cards, and a dozen or so stickey notes. It fits in my pocket, and serves me well.

So Dave, have you always had this fear of technology, or is it just a aversion to change? [Refer to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance].

 

[db]

So Dave, have you always had this fear of technology, or is it just a aversion to change? [Refer to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance].

Nope.... It is the mere fact of why buy something else when what I currently have works. Should I "get more productive", my employer will only give me more tasks and I will work even more.

 

[Jimmy Olson]

Gman,

To begin, yes, the Sony Clie line does use Palm OS.

There are pros and cons to Palm versus Pocket PC and a lot of it depends on what you plan to use it for. If you are going to use it as a basic organizer then I would recommend going with a Palm OS unit, and go with a cheap model. No need to spend the money to get something fancy if you're not going to use it.

If you are planning to do more, than you may want to compare features of individual ones. The advantage of Pocket PCs is that they synchronize with a desktop computer better and can handle standard Office documents (word, excel, powerpoint) without any conversions. Outside of that, they are pretty even now. The newest version of the Palm OS is a lot better.

As far as the battery issue, the pocket PCs do seem to use batteries more, but that is due because they are usually more powerful than a typical Palm based PDA. If you compared an equivalent Palm based to a Pocket PC, they would consume batteries at the same rate.

Basically, the advantages - disadvantages between the 2 really isn't much. It's a matter of deciding what you want to do with the PDA and then comparing features. Hope this helps and doesn't make things more confusing.

 

[Greg B]

Hi All,

I just got a PalmOne Zire 72 (It has Digital Camera and a lot of the bells and whistles). I wear two hats at work now, one of which is 'Logistics Guy' so each month I go down to the wharf for a week and supervise the loading of bulk ships, with our products. It is an arduous job and requires upto date info and records. I used to write everything down on scraps of paper and in small notebooks (the one's with paper) and then transcribe it later to a Laptop. When I returned to work I would then transfer everything back to the PC.
The PDA allows me to update a document with the timings, Data etc and then transfer it to the PC when I return. It also has all of the other bells and whistles such as Calendar, PIM, Multimedia capability (Photos, Movies etc), email and Mobile Phone (Bluetooth links). They are definitely not for everyone and ultimately I would have liked a smart phone.

 

[Laura M]

I use paper/pencil at the client and transfer to an outlook calendar at home. I know, I could download off a Palm, but just haven't made the big jump. My planner is kind of like a security blanket.

My husband, however, bought the phone with a built in pda planner. He uses it all the time.

Maybe some day I'll make the jump - but for now - just added some lead to my mechanical pencil!

 

[WALLACE]

Been there and done it.
I purchased a high end pocket PC and PDA. Both let me down terribly, there was always some kind of crash, so I went back to the lo tech alternative and it worked and still works very well for me.
There's no doubt MAC shall come along with something that shall kick ***.
The convergence of a few technologies such as phone, organizer and PC is of course the way of the future and, I'll have to jump back in again, if I want to be a productive yuppie again.
Wallace.

 

[Joe Cruse]

I don't use one, but my sister-in-law has a pocket PC that she uses as a pharmacist, and has found it to be an outstanding tool. She regularly downloads drug interaction texts and other drug info databases, so that she can quickly access drug info from anyplace she happens to be, when a person calls with a question. Never heard her complain on battery life, but I'm sure it's an issue, runningthat nice little color screen.

 

[qualitytrec]

I have a Sony Clie that I purchased about a year ago. It is great for my needs except when I forget to sync it and it runs out of juice (you loose all your data). I use it mostly as a planner.
Mark