Looking to buy PDA

[Heihachi]

Hey Yall,

I'm thinking about getting a PDA but I'm not sure about whether to go w/ something that runs on a palm OS or windows CE. Battery life is probably a very important factor for me. It would be nice if it served as an MP3 player also.

I'm looking at a $300 budget.

Anyone in the know about the current technology of PDA's?

Thanks

[whitak24]

you want to buy my palm VIIx? i'll sell it (used twice) for $75 :D

[spigidygak]

for $300 you could get a palm tungsten t easily or if you look around probably can find the newer tungsten t2 for near 300 which I would recommend going with since it has the nicer transflective screen. I have the original tungsten t and its a great lil' bugger. Battery life is great. Probably can go with about 2 weeks of average use. With playing MP3s though probably only gets like 4 or 5 hours maybe more haven't really done full tests on that.

[Out2L8]

If you're looking for a Palm Pilot - there's a deal at Palm for an open box m515 for $189 and comes with a free ThumBoard keyboard, keyboard case and a personal finance e-book.

Not the top line pilot - but pretty decent for a new piloteer!

http://store.palm.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1178074&clickid=body_handhelds_txt#featBen

[Heihachi]

Originally posted by spigidygak
for $300 you could get a palm tungsten t easily or if you look around probably can find the newer tungsten t2 for near 300 which I would recommend going with since it has the nicer transflective screen. I have the original tungsten t and its a great lil' bugger. Battery life is great. Probably can go with about 2 weeks of average use. With playing MP3s though probably only gets like 4 or 5 hours maybe more haven't really done full tests on that.

Spig.. so are the Tungstens more sought out than the clie's?

[spigidygak]

I'm not exactly sure which is more popular, but definitely palm cut the distinctions and caught up and to some passed sony on the tt design. I just love mine 'cause its still smaller than a comparable sony model. Also, oddly it may be just me but I think sony models now are overpriced for what you get like the palms used to be. Also the current comparable model to the tt2 is the tg50 clie. . . weak sauce is all I can say. The tt2 imo is automatic winner because it uses the newer transreflective screen. And at the price the SJ-33 is at, you can get the TT which is more powerful than the SJ-33 so thats a no brainer there too. I think the general palm community right now will agree palm is ahead of sony now. Even their "consumer" model zire 71 is an awesome deal for what you get.

Personally I don't think I ever will buy a sony clie because of sony's stuborness/ignorance in sticking with the memory stick media. I don't need to deal with yet one more type of media, but the palm uses sd/mmc which is fine with me since I have a minolta xt that uses that and a camcorder. So dealing with that and compact flash for my main camera is enough media for me.

I think my love for the tt is augmented more for the bluetooth. Paired with my t68i (soon to be getting a 3650) I can go online and check my mail, go on aim, write sms messages on the palm then send it through my phone which makes it so much easier, dial from the palm, etc etc. I think my love is more for the bluetooth than the palm itself. And no getting a pda phone is not a solution as of yet, those are too bulky, if I don't need all those features then I just carry my tiny phone around. But yeah. . . i've talked way too much now, I'll let you judge for yourself. Check out www.palminfocenter.com for more info on all the models.

[Out2L8]

Actually I use a CLIE 665T and have had very good experience with it. I don't really use the M3 player on it but I do have a few songs on it mostly for just showing it off to people! My office, car, house and gym have music - so I don't really need that feature. It's very nice PDA IMHO. The screen is very clear and bright. Here again you can pick up a re-furb'd one pretty cheap.

In fact I also have a refurb'd CLIE 615T and a refurb'd CLIE N760C that I have never used! We (biz relation) were going to standardize on CLIEs - but a bunch of things changed and I still have these 2 units that we never depolyed. I really need to sell these units - so if anyone is interested let me know. I'll let 'em go cheap. I have the boxes, software, Memory sticks and everything that they came them.

If you're interested....

I know - probably should post this somewhere else on the forum :-o

[Nottoman]

Sorry to go against the grain here, but I think especially for PC users a Pocket PC platform is muck more powerful and also much more compatible with the way we do computing on a PC. The iPAQ, the Dell Axim, etc are true hand held computers. Anyway...
Buying guide on here.
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,4148,7,00.asp

[vroxx]

Originally posted by Nottoman
Sorry to go against the grain here, but I think especially for PC users a Pocket PC platform is muck more powerful and also much more compatible with the way we do computing on a PC. The iPAQ, the Dell Axim, etc are true hand held computers. Anyway...
Buying guide on here.
http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,4148,7,00.asp

I agree with Nottoman, I work for a software company and our old software ran on Palms and it was very limiting as to what it could handel and now with our new software line its all .NET and PocketPC... I've tested about 10 different PPC's and they all are great, if you are a Windows user then Windows Mobile 2003 (WM2k3) is the best OS for a mobile device... Bluetooth, WiFi, VPN Support, Outlook Email, word, excel, you cant beat it... for the MP3's theres Windows Media Playere and u cant watch streaming videos and stuff if your in a wifi enviroment... battery life is pretty good for the toshiba that I have (e740), although it dont have WM2k3 it has PPC2002, some downfalls are ppc2002 you have to look (site survey) for wifi hotspots and there is no built in vpn controlls, WM2k3 soon as you walk into a wifi hotspot a little bubble pops open and asks if you'd like to connect to the current wifi hotspot, ITS GREAT. VPN, Terminal Services Client, Windows Media player, Word, Excel, Outlook, what more can you ask for?!?!?

The SmartPhones are truely the way to go since all the major networks providers are upgrading now to allow for faster xfer speeds and whatnot why wast money on a Palm or Blackberry when a PPC can do EVERYTHING you want it to... As you can tell I've very much in love with the entire line of PPC's and with CF Card prices dropping all the time you can bump a 64mb ppc into a 1GB PPC and watch movies and play as many mp3's as you want, xtra batteries dont cost too much...

Little more about battery life... With normal useage, checking email's 5-10 times a day, surfing net while on smoke breaks and just testing software I can usuailly go 3-4 days w/o haveing to recharge and with WiFi you dont have bring your computer back to the cradle, u can just sync to your pc with wifi... other nice thing is when you are in a wifi area you can browse to normal computers using the File Explorer and pull txt docs or word docs, excel, etc... from file serves and pull them up on your ppc when need...

Hope this dont sound like I'm trying to sell these dam things but They've made my life a hell of a lot more organized and a lot more fun... Sorry if i dont make much sence... Writeing reviews isnt one of my strong points, either is spelling. :)

Oh yea, the games are cool too, hehe

Your mileage may varry... :angel:

[kruppt]

I've been looking at iPaq 2215 and seen it at Costco for $359. They also have 256 mb SD for $49 AR.

[Heihachi]

Yea.. I think imma go w/ the 2215 also... Costco ey?... Just might go w/ them.. sounds like a fair deal... and I heard that Costco has a great return policy...

Recent Review:
http://www.tomshardware.com/newsletter/vol3/36/ipaq.html

[kruppt]

I ended up buying from OfficeMax with the $50 coupon floating around. Luv this things. It's the best PDA out there for the price. Also, it syncs up nicely with my Sony Ericsson T616.

[Heihachi]

so how much did you end up paying in the end?

[kruppt]

$379 including CA sales tax. Also bought Sandisk SD Wifi card from eCost for $94.

[elsidster]

Best deal I can find on the 1945 is 299 with a free cradle at OM or 259 at Costco. At OM B&M I can get the 1945 for 299 with free cradle and mail-in rebate(I'm in Hawaii so the deal is still good). I really want the 2215, but the best I can find is 399 with free battery at compusa or 359 at costco or 399 with 50GC at amazon. Anything better out there? Thanks!