[mitchell_pgh]

Was the PDA just a fad or have other devices taken over?

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-5560453.html

[Millennium]

PDAs weren't a fad, as long as they stayed within their original parameters. But then people tried to get cutesy and put media players and games on them. People stopped using them as the assistants they were meant to be, realized that they weren't actually getting anything useful done, and dropped them, thinking that the PDAs themselves weren't useful for anything.

If they'd kept the PDA to its original use -storing and retrieving personal information- it would have lasted far longer. Address books, to-do lists, notes, and expense reporting and such are all useful, and you can even make a case for e-mail and basic Web browsing. These things enhance productivity. But games and media? These time-wasters are anathema to the PDA concept, and including capability for them was quite possibly the biggest mistake that Palm and Microsoft could possibly have made. People started playing with these instead of getting things done, until they didn't even realize that the devices had once been used to enhance productivity.

[ort888]

There haven't been enough significant improvements in PDAs for about 3-4 years now.

I owned a PDA in 2000 and I loved it. Than it broke and I decided I would wait to see what was right around the corner. Turns out I didn't miss the PDA at all. Then I got a cell phone. It turns out there was nothing around the corner. Color screens? Meh. More memory? Meh. What else? Nothing.

In 2000 I was a smoker, so I would be walking around with a wallet, a pack of cigs, a lighter, a cell phone, my keys and a PDA? It was a major case of the chipmonk cheek pockets.

I'll get a new PDA when it can replace my cell phone, my iPod and do everything a PDA can... as well as go on the REAL internet from anywhere. That's what I'm waiting for.

[xi_hyperon]

I had a Treo for awhile, and felt it was more a fifth wheel than a help, having to carry it around everywhere. I basically just used it for meeting reminders and contact information, both of which my mobile phone handles quite nicely (in addition to web access, email, etc.). If I need to take notes or do any other kind of work, I'm not about to do it on a PDA. That's what the Powerbook is for.

[Superchicken]

What people thought they were getting when they bought PDAs was some sort of pocket computer, what they got... was something that they only occasionally needed, and would rarely show off. Now then, if we had a thin client APE based Mac system... then we'd be talking.

[beadman]

You might consider the Palm Treo, then. I was just given one (Treo 600) at work to use. Has a cell phone good for anywhere in the US (or Europe, the book says), runs Palm OS with the normal PDA applications, has instant messaging, text messaging, and can browse the internet from anywhere I can receive a signal for the cell phone. I also have three different email accounts on it that I can send/receive. The only downside I've seen so far is the tiny keyboard and my fat thumbs...

beadman

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

I got a Zire 71 almost 2 years ago and found myself never really using it as my cellphone did most of the things I needed. I think people are finding out the same thing.

My Zire is for sale on ebay as we speak.

[Sarc]

in my family there are currently 3 palms collecting dust and a fourth one with a broke screen that nobody cared when it broke.

my point, they aren't very useful.

IMHO the winning combo is a Bluetooth enabled phone and Mac OS X.
Your work your schedule with the computer, and load it to the phone, then, when you get home at night, you sync with address book whatever new contacts you wrote down in your cell during the day ...

plus modern phones got basic email and web surfing.

[xi_hyperon]

Originally posted by Sarc:
IMHO the winning combo is a Bluetooth enabled phone and Mac OS X.

I agree.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

mine is collecting dust. i had a cheapo 100 handspring one.


what I really want is a phone that can do the things i used it for. basically contacts and notes.

(which they do now but not nearly as easy as the Palm software. i find they shoot for the moon too much)

[Eug Wanker]

Not a fad, but no longer as useful.

I stopped using my PDA when I got my iPod, since the iPod can store addresses and calendars. Sure, you can't enter them, but that isn't a major issue for me. And the nail in the coffin is when I got my Bluetooth phone.

I will rejoice when a phone gets full PDA features without an increase in size, has a nice 2 MP camera, and plays iTunes music too with the ease of use of the iPod.

I suspect something close will be here in a couple of years.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by Apple Pro Underwear:

(which they do now but not nearly as easy as the Palm software. i find they shoot for the moon too much)

Treo?

[Apple Pro Underwear]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
Treo?

well, i have a motorola and it has basic contact stuff but it's so hard to use. i only enter people i really call

the treo to me is buying a PDA that can make phone calls. I want a phone that can do basic PDA.

The phone IMO is still the far superior useful device and warrants you to bring it everywhere you go no matter what.

[jcadam]

A small tablet computer, pocket-sized, running OS X. Heck, G3s are so small and efficient these days I wouldn't be surprised if Apple could cram one into a handheld. Integrate a camera, micro hard drive, etc. Should be a little larger than an iPod. That would rock, absolutely.

I would use it for..... stuff....
but it would be cool!

[starman]

My PDAs:

Newton: Excellent for its time. Stored a lot of data on it, used it all the time. Problem was that it was too damn big and bulky.

Palm: For what it was, I could have used pen and paper. Not impressed.

iPaq: Loved this thing TO DEATH. Used it 24/7. The problem is, a few months or a year after I got it, cell phones started doing the same thing. Not as easy to use as an iPaq, but one less thing to carry.

Today I still have my trusty Nokia 3650, Bluetooth and all.

Mike

[JHromadka]

My first PDA was the Palm III, and it really helped to organize my life. Thing is, as time has gone on, cellphones have gotten PDA features (witness the Treo), and most people would rather carry around one device than two. Throw in the iPod, and now there's even more competition for people's pockets.

PDAs weren't a fad; they were a transition to the smartphone.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:

I will rejoice when a phone gets full PDA features without an increase in size, has a nice 2 MP camera, and plays iTunes music too with the ease of use of the iPod.

So in other words magic.

How would they have "full PDA features" on a tiny little screen like on your phone?

You cannot write on a small screen or read lots of information unless the screen is bigger, just the screen alone is bigger than most phones.

I think the Treo is as close as Palm PDA/cellphones can get ( still think it is stupid though)

The only one I would consider is the Sony Ericsson 9xx It is smaller than the treo and has a bigger screen. It is also much more friendly as a phone.

The Danger device is a figgin brick and an awful phone.

[BoomStick]

All supervisors here in the school system were issued iPaqs for meeting schedules, th whole school directory, etc.

The use of them here works great, they plug them into the sync doc and they all get their changes for the day form the network.

[ASIMO]

Powerbook, Siemens S56, pen and paper, and iPod. All I never need 99.9% of the time -- and the iPod is just icing.

[mitchell_pgh]

I also think the falling price of notebook computers has something to do with it.

[dav]

i still use my palm all the time, but my cell phone is an old tracfone i keep in the car, and i don't have a laptop.

[ort888]

I really think it's time for Apple to release a new PDA.

Riding on the succeess of the iPod it could be a runaway hit.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Originally posted by ort888:
I really think it's time for Apple to release a new PDA.

Riding on the succeess of the iPod it could be a runaway hit.

You're out of your mind.

4 years ago Steve said that the PDA and cellphone would merge and PDA's would disappear. Turns out he is right.

Why in the world would Apple come out with one now when the sales are even worse than they were 3 years ago?

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
So in other words magic.

How would they have "full PDA features" on a tiny little screen like on your phone?

You cannot write on a small screen or read lots of information unless the screen is bigger, just the screen alone is bigger than most phones.

I think the Treo is as close as Palm PDA/cellphones can get ( still think it is stupid though)

The only one I would consider is the Sony Ericsson 9xx It is smaller than the treo and has a bigger screen. It is also much more friendly as a phone.

The Danger device is a figgin brick and an awful phone.

I don't want a big monster PDA, and that's the problem. As technology progressed, PDAs shrunk, and then got bigger again to cram in all the useless stuff. What I want is full calendar, notes, and address functionality with iSync support in a small form factor phone... along with a camera and MP3/AAC playback. In fact that technology is almost here today, but so far it has not been well implemented. I don't need full fledged web surfing or Excel.

Basically, I want my phone to do what PDA used to do, not all the extra crap PDAs these days have. Unfortunately, synching of these phones on Macs has so far been less than stellar. My K700i for example has full address support, but iSync doesn't support it, and the software on Windows is even worse. And even though it's stereo, it has a useless port for headphones, and the memory is far too small for music playback.

ie. If the K700i got a better camera, more memory, and real headphone port, as well as better address support in iSync and iTunes, that'd essentially be my ideal phone.

The technology is almost here. Not we just need someone to implement it well. Apple's partnership with Motorola is a step in the right direction, at least in terms of the music part of the equation, and better cameras appear every year. And the address issue is simply software.

[Apple Pro Underwear]

EUG! I AGREE WITH YOU!!!!

you guys ever see one of those bootleg no-frills PDAs they sell for like 50 bucks made by shyt companies like "Royal"?

well, even their bootleg software is better than what comes with phones these days. instead of cramming everything Palm does in a phone and making it huge, why can't they cram in a no-frills OS into a tiny flip phone? this way they dont have to worry about big LCD screens!

[ort888]

Originally posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker:
You're out of your mind.

4 years ago Steve said that the PDA and cellphone would merge and PDA's would disappear. Turns out he is right.

Why in the world would Apple come out with one now when the sales are even worse than they were 3 years ago?

Here's what I want. A micromac that can get on the internet anywhere. A laptop small enough to put in my pocket.

[lexhair]

I have a PalmOne T2 and I rely on it heavily. I don't use a laptop. Pairing it with my Moto V710 gives me internet anywhere and access to my email. Recent changes to my configuration at work do not allow me to check personal email so my T2 is my lifeline.

The way I work, the T2 is quite effective. Calendar, contacts, notes and documents are always at hand and OS independent. I can't deal with the bulk of a smartphone. I'm more comfortable having 2 devices but it's just me.

[goMac]

I started with a Windows CE palmtop. Loved the thing to death. It was grayscale, but it had a mini keyboard and a nice screen. Even had a pci slot for a modem, and I could get online with it (but it didn't come with Explorer, and I could never get to sync right to load Explorer). It died eventually and I went for a Visor Deluxe. I wasn't as impressed with Palm OS 3. The smaller form factor and the handwriting recognition were nice though. Next I upgraded to a Palm m500, which was nicer in the way that it had a built in battery and was thinner, but the software still wasn't up to scratch with Windows CE, or Windows Pocket of the time. Recently I've upgraded to a T3. The software is finally getting back up to scratch, and the initial overview of the day screen is quite welcome.

My dad is using my old m500 right now, and carries it everywhere with him. You get a lot of use if you use them for organization away from your desktop. I use it for quick notes if I need it, contact look up, etc. I've been looking for a way to get xd cards in it so I can use it for quick photo storage and viewing. Stuff such as video I always found as a gimmick. Watching video on a screen that small is kinda painful.

[TheIceMan]

Originally posted by Superchicken:
What people thought they were getting when they bought PDAs was some sort of pocket computer, what they got... was something that they only occasionally needed, and would rarely show off...

Well said. I'm glad I didn't get one because I had all these grand visions for doing everything on it. But when I really thought about it, I didn't really have any use for buying one. That's just me though.

[King Bob On The Cob]

I'm in school, My handwriting is scrawly enough that even I can't read it all the time unless I take some time to write it out. I take all my notes on my PDA since I can't use a laptop at school. I also need a fancy calculator for two of my classes, and my PDA with PowerOne Graph fills in this void nicely.
Yay for Sony for not making crap PDAs.

[Bandit240]

Ive still got my Handspring Visor from 2001. Trusty little thing. Anyone know where to get the hotsync program for it? (not palmone they want the seriel number and i lost the battery cover years ago)

[itai195]

Originally posted by Millennium:
PDAs weren't a fad, as long as they stayed within their original parameters. But then people tried to get cutesy and put media players and games on them.

I agree, kind of. I don't think there's any problem with extra features, just that PDAs haven't gotten any easier to use since what, 1996? The PIM features on Palms are more or less exactly the same, and dealing with PDA software is a pain. Everyone eventually gets tired of it.

But what's really going on, IMO, is that the popularity of smartphones, laptops, and blackberries is killing PDAs. Convergence isn't always popular, but there's no reason to carry around a PDA when something else you're carrying can accomplish the same tasks.

I'd like to think there are also people like me who fueled the PDA industry. They were toys to us. I'm a gadget fan; I used buy one or two new PDAs a year. But that fad is over, they're just not interesting or novel anymore. I figured their last salvation would be integrating wireless, but by the time that finally happened I wasn't interested anymore.

[hart]

maybe I just had a defective machine, or no luck but I've recently given up on my Tungsten T (too lazy to look up complaining post elsewhere)

1-the screen synchronization (what do you call it, where the screen knows where the stylus is) was always getting screwed up so I couldn't enter anything and then I couldn't get to the screen where you fix it because you could't press the button accurately because the screen was messed up. Vicious circle. VERY impressive while everyone's sitting around looking at you trying to fix the damn thing so you can write down the appointment that everyone else has already put in their paper calender.

2-I got totally sick of having to reinstall the software or reset the damn thing or fix some software problem. Hours of reading through user forums later it would be working again. Palm's help service: useless. Palm's support of Mac, half-hearted. I finally abandoned it a few weeks ago when in trying to get it fixed I got a "no localization" message and couldn't bring myself to figure out what to do to fix it. Plus the fix attempt erased some of my entries. I've been moving everything over to Apple's apps. With some irritation, as the import/export process isn't transporting all categories.

Games and music where always poorly implimented. I got a Gameboy early on after trying to play a few games.

I hate the phone entry systems so I'm not moving to that.

My current theory is an ipod with a voice memo add-on so I can enter the few things I need to during the day. Maybe a note pad. The thing I really want from a PDA is alarms and if I'm not mistaken the ipod will do it. The main reason I didn't like using a paper calender/address book besides the alarm thing was backups. I didn't want my life to be in a book that wasn't backup-able.

Basically, my impression overall, from regular folk sneering at me while I struggled with my technology is that PDAs add more complication than they end up being worth. And that's if they're working. They're too hard to use if you're just a regular person.

(rant over)

[juanvaldes]

cellphones are taking over every useful feature the PDA's have. On top of this add minus one gadget to carry around (will always have phone) and no real development in years.

[VoicesInMyHead]

I got a Tungsten 3 as graduation gift one year ago. I haven't been able to isync it with anything in my powerbook, for the life of me. I have tried everything, even contacting palm support. And nothing. And I'm not about to buy a PC just to use the stupid palm.
No wonder sales are dropping if just performing a sync with a high-end device like mine is just not possible.
It just pisses me off BIG TIME. I wish I could just smash the damn Tungsten against the wall....but it's a gift that my family kindly gave me.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by VoicesInMyHead:
I got a Tungsten 3 as graduation gift one year ago. I haven't been able to isync it with anything in my powerbook, for the life of me. I have tried everything, even contacting palm support. And nothing. And I'm not about to buy a PC just to use the stupid palm.
No wonder sales are dropping if just performing a sync with a high-end device like mine is just not possible.
It just pisses me off BIG TIME. I wish I could just smash the damn Tungsten against the wall....but it's a gift that my family kindly gave me.

Well, that sounds odd. Something is broken with your PB or the installation.

-t

[Scotttheking]

Originally posted by VoicesInMyHead:
I got a Tungsten 3 as graduation gift one year ago. I haven't been able to isync it with anything in my powerbook, for the life of me. I have tried everything, even contacting palm support. And nothing. And I'm not about to buy a PC just to use the stupid palm.
No wonder sales are dropping if just performing a sync with a high-end device like mine is just not possible.
It just pisses me off BIG TIME. I wish I could just smash the damn Tungsten against the wall....but it's a gift that my family kindly gave me.

You could give it to me...

[Superchicken]

You should probably ask for help on the peripheral forum someone should be able to help you, I'd offer but I've never owned a Palm.

My iPod holds my calendar and address book. You know, Apple could go about updating the PDA functions of the iPod. Add the ability to have your stickies sync with it, or your iCal to-do list, and stuff like that... though I spose only us Mac users would be able to use those features

[goMac]

Originally posted by VoicesInMyHead:
I got a Tungsten 3 as graduation gift one year ago. I haven't been able to isync it with anything in my powerbook, for the life of me. I have tried everything, even contacting palm support. And nothing. And I'm not about to buy a PC just to use the stupid palm.
No wonder sales are dropping if just performing a sync with a high-end device like mine is just not possible.
It just pisses me off BIG TIME. I wish I could just smash the damn Tungsten against the wall....but it's a gift that my family kindly gave me.

Have you installed Palm Desktop and the iSync support for Palm Desktop? You need both of those installed.

Originally posted by goMac:
Have you installed Palm Desktop and the iSync support for Palm Desktop? You need both of those installed.

Agreed. People often install Palm Desktop and iSync and think that's all they need. You also need the third "iSync support for Palm Desktop".

I made that mistake with my wife's Clie. After the iSync for Palm Desktop, it worked like a charm.