I want want that can help me plan my day and stick to the pan. An
alarm system would be helpful. One that worked while the handheld was
resting would be perfect.
I want one that is easy to keep in sync with my desktop, preferably my
current Dell without USB, but if not then my next Dell with USB.
I want it to be easy to charge and have the possibility of using
multiple charged battery packs.
I don't need it to play movies or any games, save perhaps chess or a
card game (so I get better at the live versions), but I do want it to
do voice recording and MP3 play, preferably well.
I want to read e-books, like those in the Baen Free library, without
any eye strain.
I want to be able to download a lot of the same information that is in
the newspaper and read it from the handheld rather than buying a copy.
I want to have all locations of all the stores I might need to visit
so that I don't have search on the streets or look for a yellow pages.
I want to record every financial transaction in the day, every calorie
eaten, every calorie expended. Well, as close as reasonable for the
latter two.
I want to be able to keep an inventory of the contents of my kitchen,
bath, and other places where I might have stuff I overbuy.
I want to be able to record the contents of my videotapes so I can
find one with sufficient useable space very quickly rather than having
to keep looking. I want to do this while sitting in my easychair
rather than writing it on paper and transfering to the desktop.
These are just what I could think of off the top of my head. Anybody
who has any other suggestions for tasks that can be managed better
with a PDA, feel free to tell me.
On 29 Jun 2003 21:38:22 -0700, Mark_Reichert@hotmail.com (Mark
Reichert) wrote:
facilities in any PDA that isn't in the toy range, or can easily
be added using third party programs. Or else, they are
facilities that impact upon some other aspect of the PDA design,
so that a good fit in one area makes problems in another area.
A disorganised person with a messy desk who gets a PDA generally
turns into a disorganised person with a messy PDA. One of the
first things to try might be to use freely available PIMs (even
something like MS Outlook) and see whether you get more organised
using that.
You can assume all PDAs have a fairly decent personal information
manager (PIM) that can help plan your day. All such PIMs have
alarms, usually more than you could ever use. Some PDAs (early
Palm for instance) have alarms that are not sufficiently loud if
you work in noisy areas. On PIM use and features, I'd rate the
Palm as the easiest, the Psion as the strongest, and the Zaurus
as the weakest in this area. You can almost always obtain a
fairly serious project management planner from a third party if
your needs in this area are really more extensive than can be
handled by the standard PIM. However project planning generally
is when you are talking stuff like managing 20 people over 50
projects each involving a few hundred tasks.
All the early PDAs had a serial port, and only later moved to
USB. You just have to check the specifications. Some PDA
cradles just need a cable change to convert them. You can also
get USB to serial converters to allow a USB PC to work with a
serial PDA, if you end up with such an item.
That means you must check whether it has a removable battery
(some very popular models do not). Even if it has a removeable
battery, getting spares (unless they are something like a
standard AAA) may be either difficult or expensive. Also, many
PDAs can only have the battery charged while the battery is in
the PDA. You certainly can't always charge the battery separate
from the PDA. I've stuck with an old Psion 5mx because it uses
long lasting AA batteries I can pick up anyplace (and if using
rechargables, I can charge them without the Psion).
Chess and card games are available from third parties for pretty
much all PDAs (not sure whether all have versions available for
free).
Low end and early Palm lack a microphone, as does Psion Revo.
You need to check the specifications to see if both a microphone
and appropriate voice recording software is included. The Psion
5 not only has the microphone, but also a set of three external
buttons corresponding to the record, play and rewind buttons on a
tape recorder, so you don't even need to turn it on to record.
Pocket PC systems should also generally be good in this area.
Pocket PC also have enough CPU power to do decent MP3 playback,
however this power badly impacts their battery life. Palm
devices mostly don't do MP3 playback, but have good battery life.
Generally Palm only do MP3 when they specifically have custom MP3
hardware. Check versions from Sony.
A typical Palm 160x160 display is not a good match to long term
reading, especially of entire books. Even the 240x320 Pocket PC
display isn't great for long term reading. Check the Sony
version of the Palm, and see if you like its display. I've had
really good results reading Baen eBooks on a Psion NetBook with a
640x480 VGA display, however this is way too large to use as a
PDA due to its massive form factor. Try setting a window on your
PC to various pixel counts, displaying a Baen eBook in say
Mobipocket, and see what the minimum size you can accept is.
Various ways of doing that, pretty much all of which work on all
PDAs (with various complications on each). It especially depends
upon which newspapers you want (some are not really available on
some potential download formats).
If you can't do that on your PC, what makes you think you will
manage it on a PDA? Someone has to make the information
available in a downloadable and usable form. It may end up being
you, depending on where you live, and which location specific
information is available for your area.
Third party products. There are good ones available for all
PDAs, although you may have to pay.
Standard database stuff, built in on devices like Psion, and
generally either supplied with other PDAs, or available from
third parties. There are also more specialist versions.
As above.
I find them great for interfacing to a GPS for street navigation
when travelling, especially in areas where decent PDA maps are
available (UK, Europe and USA). However I can add my own maps
for where I live.
I use the spreadsheet a lot for ad hoc business calculations and
a bunch of other "what if" situations. It tends to reduce the
flights of fancy of real estate agents, since it is easy to play
with the figures.
Project management, convention organising, diary notes, customer
relations. Email access via cell phone while travelling. Sale
lists, discounts, invoicing, receipts, all on the spot using a
portable printer, plus keep your inventory updated. There is
really very little limit, except for stuff like heavy duty
graphics and number crunching.
--
Eric Lindsay http://www.ericlindsay.com/guff
Airlie Beach Qld Australia - Great Barrier Reef entry
Psion & Epoc site http://www.ericlindsay.com/epoc
