[centerchannel68]

I have a Toshiba e740 PDA. I HATE this thing. The wifi is super slow, and it sucks battery like crazy, activesynch is super sketchy and only syncs sometimes, the buttons are horrible, you can't disable the 'record notes' button, and most of all, the operating system is windows mobile 2002, and Toshiba never offered a 2003 upgrade. Why is that important? Oh, a boost of about 25% in performance, less battery life, and much better wifi configuration. Anyway.... I'm struggling to get this thing to work with my new iMac, and I realize how much I hate this thing, I decided to look around. To me, if this thing was a bit more polished, software wise, this would be the ultimate PDA:



It's the sharp zaurus SL-c3000. Only sold in japan, some company converts the OS to english, then resells it here. You can score them on ebay for about $300-500. See, thing is, it's big enough to be actually usuable, without being the full size of a laptop. You could surf the net, listen to mp3s, check email, all that.... but the problem is it's such a hacked OS that it doesn't synchronize with anything, AND for some unknown reason it lacks wifi. Ack. Anyway, just thought I'd share, I'd never seen one of these before. I won't be getting one, because I'm not enough of a dork to know linux, or how to 'hack' things to work, but man, if I could code, I would SO get one of these puppies.

[centerchannel68]

Actually, these look pretty sweet also:

eBay: Sony CLI� PEG-UX50 (item 110095756312 end time Mar-02-07 00:38:37 PST)

[mac128k-1984]

Unless you're talking about a smartphone, pdas are DOA at this point. There's absolutely no market for them at this stage. Dell hasn't produced a new pda in years and I think they EOLd their axims, other companies like sony have dropped out of the US market. I think right now there's really only HP and Palm and even then both are focusing more on the smartphone implementation.

[centerchannel68]

I hate smartphones, mainly because they suck to use as a PDA, and they require UBER expensive wireless contracts. No thanks. I really don't feel like paying somebody $80 a month for internet access that could be had via wifi.

[Paco500]

Originally Posted by centerchannel68 

Actually, these look pretty sweet also:

eBay: Sony CLI� PEG-UX50 (item 110095756312 end time Mar-02-07 00:38:37 PST)

It almost causes me physical pain to say it, but I would never choose Palm OS over Windows Mobile at this point. I would wait and see what devices support WM 6 in a month or so and pick one up. Palm is just so outdated. The Sony is a great form factor, but completely mired in yesterday's tech.

If money were no object, I would pick up one of these or these. I know, it's windows, but I would be nice to have in your pocket. Maybe a hacked version on OS X could be installed.

[G4ME]

i enjoy pad and paper

[- - e r i k - -]

What was the point of the PDA again?

[Cadaver]

I have a black Motorola Q (Verizon) and I'm liking it very much so far.

Gets expensive with air time, unlimited data package, etc., but its a very nice do-everything device.

I'd love an Apple iPhone, but I get ZERO Cingular/ATT signal in the building at work (large hospital). But we do have Verizon micro-cells for complete coverage everywhere in the building. The iPhone is effectively ruled out for me unless we suddenly get Cingular to wire the hospital.

And yes, cell usage in our hospital is permitted everywhere with only a rare exception or two, and those are places I never go.

[mac128k-1984]

Originally Posted by Cadaver 

I have a black Motorola Q (Verizon) and I'm liking it very much so far.

That's a cool looking phone, one that I almost got but I shied away because I couldn't edit excel or word documents, only view them.

[centerchannel68]

Originally Posted by Paco500 

It almost causes me physical pain to say it, but I would never choose Palm OS over Windows Mobile at this point. I would wait and see what devices support WM 6 in a month or so and pick one up. Palm is just so outdated. The Sony is a great form factor, but completely mired in yesterday's tech.

Definitely. This is the problem I'm running into researching ANY of these cool pdas: The software is the problem, not the hardware. Hell, that's the problem with my current one. If only one could load BeOS or OSX onto one of these little buggers.... one that caught my eye was the sony 'picturebook' series



....it runs windows2000, which is my favorite flavor of windows.....but... instead of a software problem, it has a hardware problem: It's sony, so Memory Sticks only (**** you Sony), and if you leave the hard drive spinning for an extended period of time (like playing music), it dies. Great. Almost perfect, but not really.

[centerchannel68]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

What was the point of the PDA again?

The same points as having a laptop, only a lot smaller. Access to emails, surf the web, organize your tasks, check your calander, contacts, review some pictures, etc.

It just pisses me off that generally it's some obvious mistake that makes the existing products suck:

Zaurus pictured above: No wifi, no english OS, runs linux, must be hacked to get things to work...but it's a BEAUTIFUL enclosure, great form factor and decently fast hardware.

Sony Clie: Great form factor...rushed OS, half assed everything software wise.

Sony Picturebook: Great mini laptop, runs windows 2000, but useless hard drive that dies all the time, and memory sticks only. Argh.

[alligator]

I use a Sony UX-280 running Vista. Same size, but WAY more powerful.

[centerchannel68]

That's a bit too fancy. I don't need something that powerful.

[paul w]

"Rubbing the clitoris, sir?"

"What's wrong with a kiss, boy?"

[G4ME]

heheheheh

i need to watch that again

"just one wafter thin mint"

[JoshuaZ]

I have found memories of my little Visor Edge. Thin, great battery life, metal body. Now if only I had had a good use for it.

My hope is that the wake of the iPhone the smartphone community will actually become... well... smart. Decent web browsing, battery life, and wifi. The technology is there, I don`t see why we`re using smart phones that look and act like they were made from 20th century technology.

[DeathToWindows]

I spent a good year using a Sharp Zaurus 5500 with OpenZaurus on it... as I recall, there's still a fairly active dev community around the things - and they have a build for the mini-laptop Zauruses...

[centerchannel68]

What's open zaurus? Do I have to know command based interfaces in order to use it? Edit: The big thing about that zaurus that really irks me is the lack of wifi.... I mean, if it had wifi, maybe I'd give it a go with some other OS.

[Cadaver]

Originally Posted by mac128k-1984 

That's a cool looking phone, one that I almost got but I shied away because I couldn't edit excel or word documents, only view them.

Documents To Go solves that problem quite well.

[ort888]

If only Apple would make some sort of pda/wifi/smartphone type of device.

[centerchannel68]

I don't want a phone! Contracts for any phone that uses the internet are INSANE. I am not going to pay $1000 a year for just the ****ing cell service. I only want a PDA/mini laptop that syncs with a mac, is easy to use, plays mp3s nicely, and is able to surf the net in a wifi hotspot. We already have the technology, it's just always been halfassed either on the hardware or OS side... nobody has nailed 'both at once' yet.

Originally Posted by G4ME 

i enjoy pad and paper

How do I get pad and paper to beep at me when I have an uncoming appointment?
How does my paper automatically update my other pads of paper when I change something?
Why can't my pad and paper hold more than a few hundred pieces of information?

[centerchannel68]

I dislike pad and paper. It can't sync with my mac, play MP3s, or let me do complex math problems.