[maxintosh]

I'm very fickle with technology, and if something doesn't fit me like a glove, I'll sell and trade like crazy until I find something perfect.

I think I expect too much out of current PDAs, and it's driving me a little looney.

Palm OS frustrated me because, try as it might, it couldn't do much besides be a simple organizer. Multimedia -- not really. The MP3 player was weak and couldn't deliver good enough volume through the headphones. Kinoma player was a hack-job. I tried to take class notes on it, but the screen was way too small, and the T|T's screen was kind of dim.

Pocket PC frustrates me now because it lacks to simple intuitiveness of Palm. The Windows Mobile 2003 alarm bug is REALLY driving me nuts. Plus trying to juggle Pocket PC with the Mac, especially when most installers come as Windows executables, is really quite maddening. That said, the screen is big and bright enough to take notes on it, but my PowerBook still reigns supreme. WiFi works well but web browsing on a small device remains somewhat of a novelty.

I bought the 2215 about 20 days ago from Best Buy and I think I may just pack it up and return it tomorrow, and get a Palm Tungsten|T2 instead -- it has a nicer screen than the original TT.

I think my problem with PDAs is that I just need to lower my expectations, and use a PDA as a solid organizer, ocassional gaming device, and Vindigo guide, instead of trying to fashion it into a laptop replacement. Cause it isn't working.

[kennedy]

Yeah, that's why I am getting a 12"PB...

I've got a Palm with the fold-up keyboard and some pretty good apps setup on it. But the screen is just too small for many things. I've taken lots of notes on it... but the integration with my primary world is somewhat lacking... and the tiny screen gets painful. Plus, I often needed a laptop anyway to throw up presentations or to remain accessible via email.

Sooooo, now I am thinking of moving the line between my laptop and my Palm device... email, browsing, notetaking, and any serious computation uses the 12"PB. I'll have an extra LCD monitor at my desk to augment the little 12" screen when I'm not mobile.

The Palm will be used for when I am not expecting to be computing. It will be a mobile cache of my calendar and addresses and a place to temporarily capture info in a pinch. HOWEVER, that gets me to wondering if the Palm is really the best tool for this... although it fits in a pocket, its not exactly comfy... thus, I don't always have it with me. Sooooo....

I am thinking with this reduced demands for my mobile device, a new high-powered cell phone might be the better choice. I always*\ have my cell phone with me. With iSync, syncing my calendar and address book with a phone is as easy as palm. (right?) So that leaves two key challenges:

1) data input -- typing stuff on a number pad is painful -- however, I could just take the approach of leaving myself a voicemail with the information -- or with a PCS Vision phone, I suppose I could take picture in some cases -- either way, when I get back to my PB, I quickly type it up -- that's borderline as easy as capturing it once on the Palm with Grafiti

2) custom databases -- while I've seen phones that handle calendars and address books fairly well, they tend NOT to be very programmable -- FileMaker Mobile is not ever an option -- and some of the great Palm software has no equivalent -- for example, going to a restaurant without WineScore would be a dreadful thought!! However, with web access from my phone, perhaps what I can do is put up some personal web pages designed specifically for phone access... then anything I can convert to HTML can be available to me from my phone.

Hmmmm...

So, I need a Sprint PCS Vision phone with advanced address book and calendar capability, a usable calculator, and good web access; and then a way to connect to my PowerBook for sync'ing and ideally to use my phone as a modem. Oh, and some software to let me put up data in mini-web pages accessible to my phone.

So, how close can I get to this???


Brian

[geekwagon]

I have been going round and round on this one too. I really need an actual computer with a more general purpose OS on it (well, I guess it is more of a want) so I can do thinks like Java programming when the mood strikes. PDAs simply can't do stuff like that.

Unfortunately, a laptop sucks for scheduling, because it isn't able to wake itself up to give you alarms when it is in a bag. Also, if I am going to carry it with me everywhere, I want it to fit in a bag that is small enough that I don't get searched every time I leave a store. That would really p*ss me off I haven't been able to find a bag that I can get away with carrying everywhere yet.

There are a few PC's out there that are small enough (like the transmeta based Sharp notebooks, or the Sony TR1A) but they all cost more than the 12" PB, have no bluetooth built in (needed for internet access,) and well, they run Windows which I hate. I would be happy with Linux but unfortunately linux doesn't run very well on these esoteric laptops (no drivers.)

SO, where does this leave me? Waiting for someone to come up with the next big thing I guess...

[KP*]

You might want to think about one of the higher-end Sony Clies. They have all the advantages of Palm OS, plus better multimedia capabilities than Palm-branded PDAs, and a higher-resolution and brighter screen than Palm or PPC.

If what you really want is a laptop, this may not be for you, and for the price of a top-of-the-line Clie you could pretty much get a really cheap laptop, but it's something to think about if you do want something pocketable.

[michaelb]

There's also the Tablet PC concept to add to the mix.

Won't fit in your pocket, but better for notetaking. And it offers full compatibility with many apps as it runs an extended version of Windows XP. And has the power to do useful things (1 GHz Pentium with Centrino chipset is no slouch).

www.motioncomputing.com 's offering is regarded as one of the best Tablet PCs.

I really wish Apple would make a Tablet. They won't, however, until the market proves itself. At the moment, only vertical solutions providers are buying tablets in any sort of quantity.

[Paco500]

Originally posted by michaelb:
I really wish Apple would make a Tablet. They won't, however, until the market proves itself. At the moment, only vertical solutions providers are buying tablets in any sort of quantity.

I'm with you there. I would buy one in a second if Apple produced it. It would be great for my mass transit commuting. The TiBook is a bit hard to juggle, especially when I have to stand.

[Cadaver]

I finally broke down and bought a PocketPC (Toshiba e755 with Win Mobile 2003). While still very Windows-ish, it's much more of a "real computer" than my Clie was. It's got an actual file system and is much more full featured (real web browser, built-in WiFi, SD and CF card slots, fantastic 3.8" LCD). Since we have a full campus-wide WiFi network at work, the pocket IE comes in very handy. Conversion-less Word and Excel files is nice, and drag & drop file copying (with Missing Sync) is great. Documents To Go always seemed to mess up document formatting on the re-sync back to my desktop.

The Missing Sync for PocketPC does a decent job, though I still periodically sync it with my PC at work as well and to install apps.

Anyway, while it's not quite as Mac-friendly has the Palm is, IMHO it's a better pocket computer than the Palm.

[goMac]

I'd go for the Tungstan. They're quite powerful (Intel XScale processors) and they support the next version of Palm OS, which has great multimedia support (supposedly) when it comes out. It would cost around $30 to upgrade probably.

Although if you want a heavy duty multimedia machine, look at an iBook. I have 2 laptops and a Palm m500. The Palm gets used for organization. The laptops (mainly the Powerbook, the Dell has a virus called "Windows", causes a lot of crashes) get used for entertaining people with movies, getting girls, etc.

[Mithras]

I'm selling my Sony Clie because I now agree with Steve Jobs that the PDA will lose out to the cell phone.

As kennedy said, I always have my cell phone. So why carry around some other thing that I use only intermittently?

My Nokia 3650, while not perfect, does have:
* up-to-date addressbook
* (with iSync 1.2) up-to-date calendar
* slow but not impossible jotting of to-dos and notes
* unlimited Web access (with T-mobile's $20/month plan)

and it makes phone calls!

Once the Treo 600 is out, it will have all of the above plus
* much easier typing, on the mini-keyboard


For me, that meets my definition of what I need a device to do, if it isn't a full-fledged computer.

Though I agree that the Tablet PCs are intriguing.