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Without reviving the PalmOS/PocketPC debate... what kinds of features would make you pick up a PDA? Personally, I want something that's tiny with great battery life, first and foremost... am I the only one that doesn't give a damn about multimedia?

What I would like to see:

My Palm V about 2 times faster, for freecell , and a built-in wireless modem at 56kb.

This way I could waste time faster in class.

i want a pda w/ a high-resolution screen, 802.11a wireless networking built-in, 1 gb memory =), cf mmc ms and sd slots, fast processor, atleast a week of battery life, usb host, and in the size that's a little smaller than the e125's =)

Well, no one said you couldn't be ambitious.

About all I'd ask above the standard Palm/Visor configuration is a higher-resolution screen.

But monochrome's fine -- who needs color for that sort of thing? Multimedia... ~~~~~~

Damn smilies... that's ~~~~~~~~~

Small and indestructible. The screen size on the Palm m100 series is about right, now if they would only make the rest of the thing that small.

TwoFer, check out Sony's PEG-T415. I got to play with it a little bit at Comdex, and it's great. Small, light, thin, and it has a high resolution screen. I'm trying to snag a review sample now so I can give it a more thorough workout, but it looks like a winner.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Dissonance on 2002-01-04 22:24 ]</font>

Looks interesting. May have to stop by the local CompUSA and see if they have one on display.

I like the size, but I want a more powerful IR built in, that way I don't have to use a module for it. And higher resolution is always nice. Grayscale is fine, color isn't important.

I want a "Star Trek" pad. Personally, I like my Visor. A slightly higher res screen would be nice, but for what I use it for, its good. Now, I would love something that is somewhere around the size of a sheet of paper, nice high-res screen (B&W is fine) with an 802.11b or bluetooth interface. The point here is not a portable PDA. It's something I can use at home or office for reading docs & email and such. Something that can render a full page of a PDF at a readable size. I'm looking for something that removes the need to print a 200 page doc when I want to go sit on the patio and peruse it.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: SecretSquirrel on 2002-03-15 02:58 ]</font>

Sounds like you want a Newton 2100 or such. I miss those things so much, they were a joy to program.

I just dusted off my Psion 5mx. Maybe it's not in the same class as a Pocket PC, but it's a good deal more powerful than a Palm. I never did like the handwriting recognition crap. The Psion's just the ticket for checking out a router, or any other device with a serial interface.

On 2002-03-15 03:08, HowardDrake wrote:
Sounds like you want a Newton 2100 or such. I miss those things so much, they were a joy to program.

The Newton 2100 is closer. I'm thining 7"x10" or so and more like 1024x768, though 8x6 would probably suffice. No more than 3/4" thick and aroun 1/2" would be better. The tech is there, just no one has built one yet.

Started looking at some of the tablet PCs that are do to be out soon. They are getting close. However, IMHO, too much focus is being put on adding all sorts of nifty gadgets, and not making them actually usefull. I don't want XP on my tablet PC. A scaled up version of the PalmOS, or even **gasp** WinCE would do much better.

PocketPC requires a great deal of baby sitting. We have a about 15 palms users in the co. I work for and I wouldn't give anyone of them an Ipaq... I spend more time babysitting my PocketPC than I do using it...

I have to rub it the right way when I put it in the .... cradle... or the system won't recognize it...

A simple thing like the automatic backup on that hotsync does, doesn't happen with activesync... The irony is that you are 10x more likely to drain your battery and lose everything on a pocketpc than you will a palm... The solution on pocketpc is to schedule full and incremental backups... And that slows things down...

The screen is great... but the colour depth is really much to low to enjoy porn so... you may as well be in b&w...

...but for the love of god, don't waste you money on the low resolution m500/m505...

Inhalent....

I have an m515. It works for what I need to do. And I could care less about multimedia.

If I were going to tweak anything, my ideal handheld would have the form factor of an m5xx, a larger screen, with the high-res of the Sony Clie models. Throw in 64 to 128MB built in, with excellent battery life, and I'd be set.

MLO

I'd go for a low-end PDA but MMC/CF/SD cards is a must (at least one of them). And by some strange reason low-end PDAs don't support them. I don't need a 4th computer nor a 2ºlaptop. PDAs are more like growing to tablet-PC's/notebooks than focusing in their field. USB is a must, too. Serial port is dead.

A notebook ain't something you'd take anywhere, but something you can bring with you sometimes when you know you'll need it.

Now that cell phones are widely used, it'd be a great plus to include both in the same device. There are some, but they are too expensive or either a bad phone or a bad PDA

something like the new Sony-Ericsson p800 would be OK if it was cheap and supported enough, but that may be too much to ask for now. A simple Palm 125 which supports SD cards is OK for 170$. I'd prefer rechargeable batteries rather than AAA. I think rechargeables should be a must by now. If it included a decent cell phone I'd pay 400-500$ (or more depending on another pluses) so I won't need a separate cell and I could carry 1 item instead of 2. A zaurus-like keyboard would be twice as useful as it doesn't make it bulky, and Once you got the sound feature for the phone and the processing capabilities for the palm, it won't be a bad idea to include MP3 playback and/or radio. They have to offer more USEFUL features if they want to keep the price tags high and not throwing in more RAM, more multimedia and unlimited resolution. I won't add things like digital cameras while they're not something you use every day (at least by now).

Im pretty happy with my old palm 3x... works fine.
The new palm m505(m515) seems to fit my bill pretty good really. But some of the features i want(if it doesnt have them).

* Good battery life.... palm usually has it.
* A pretty good monochrome or 256 colour(secondary importance) screen. With enough res to do text things bearable.
* Good pdf support.
* 16-32MB (for palm that is all ill ever need.
* A cpu good enough to render the pdf's i throw at it.
* That dynamic grafitti area that palm doesnt have(but treo or handspring has, dont remember really). To better make use of the screen estate.

Else i just use it for scheduler/almenac, phonebook, small notes and shopping lists etc. I also usually take the input from my stationairy computer and sync it in. If i have the possibility, the keyboards is a bit expensive really.

I Need somthing with at least 32-64 MB onboard. Wireless( to PC), Expandable mem slot, Media Player, DOS wouldnt hurt, and finaly a small screen 3x3.5 nothing fancy. MOST IMPORTANT ABILITY TO ACCEPT LARGE CAPACITY USB THUMB DRIVE.

Now there is a reasonably priced Palm Zire out there. $99 is really cheap. It's not the handheld of my dreams, which would be some Zaurus+cellPhone+longBatteryLife+cheap (keyboard, compact, color, linux, etc) but it's nice. Can I read PDF and HTML directly? or do I need some expensive software for doing so.

For me it has to be an all in one miracle device which includes the following:

1. multi-network cell phone
2. Full function PIM
3. Color screen/hi res
4. broadband internet/wireless
5. Good addons/expansion
6. High speed CPU/lots of memory
7. Great syncing to the desktop
8. Reasonable multi-media
9. Great battery life/rechargable

I don't want a utility belt full of gadgets and I don't want a very limited PDA because I'd never use it. Give me everything or it will be a waste of money for me. It has to have so many great functions that I will actually use it.

Very tough assignment I know and thats why I've never had a PDA and don't plan on buying one any time soon. I'll have to wait for my miracle for some time to come.

Cy

I want some multimedia, but not much. I want the built in voice recorder, and then obviously the ability to play that back, but I don't need my pda to be my mp3 player.

In my opinion the effort to turn PDAs into mp3 / videa players is not nearly as important as turning them into cell phones. I want 802.11 and 56K modem (or heck, broadband, eventually) much more than I want to be able to watch 30 second movie clips in the palm of my hand. I'm willing to carry around a separate mp3 player / walkman / etc, b/c my needs for playing music - ie while exercising, going on trips, walking to class, are slightly different from when I really need my PDA - more productive environments.

I would sacrifice the cost of a color screen, mp3 player, etc for better battery life, upgradability (ie CF etc slots), and wireless. Oh, and an external keyboard is pretty clutch too.

Despite that though, the new X5's are pretty sexy. Thinking about getting one, but can't find the battery life - does anyone know?