Recommend me a PDA ... PLS!


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West_ray

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Feb 10, 2003
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hi, i getting a PDA. But i'm kinda know nothing abt it. I did some research on Net and found this forum www.spug.net ,but the info is TOOOOOOOOOO much for me to absorb in a short time ...

i'm looking a simple PDA with the following features:

Able to surf online.
MP3
Color screen
Tranfers of video clips, photos and MS words, ppt, excel to and from PDA to laptop

and ...
No need camera fea
No need movie/voice recording

i can't think of any other features right now ... but would like to know wat is the latest software in the market?

i'm looking for a 2nd hand pda, with a budget of $350.

thanks
Ray
 

Tungsten E.
$350+ but you'll need to get an SD card to be able to play MP3s.

Wireless connectivity is achieved through IR with your handphone using GPRS. If you want built-in wireless then go look at Tungsten W, but it will blow your budget big time.
 

i'm currently looking at 2nd hand ipaq 3850, tungsten E and clie PEGTJ37.

and oh yah how abt getting them? is there any specialised shops selling at affordable price, like CP, MS for photography?
 

The Tungsten T3 sounds like the perfect PDA for you.

Able to play MP3 (although you will need an external SD card) and able to surf online so long you have your HP handy (even better if your HP is bluetooth enabled).

:)

Happy shopping!
 

hmmm ... my HP dont have IR but got GPRS, well i guess it's kinda useless right? guess i have to give up surfing on PDA liao ...

erm ... do i have to place my PDA and HP side by side to surf (with IR features on both pda and HP) ? ...
 

oh yah , another qns, does all PDA link to laptop??? Coz i might need to transfer video clips, photos and words docments to and from PDA ... Or a card reader is a better chose? and can i view MS office on pda?
 

Able to surf online?

Most PDA will be able to do that with a browser software 'Pocket IE' or a Palm OS browser like Palmscape

However.

To be able to connect to the internet, you need 3 "things"
Tranmission device, tranmission medium, an Internet account.

TRANMISSION DEVICE
a) either a built-in modem (like Palm Tungsten W, or O2 XDA) or a communication port (IR or Bluetooth) to a Mobile phone (which in turn acts like a modem)
Or a Wi-Fi built in (Tungsten C) or a SD Wi-Fi card to plug into Tungsten T3..etc or CF Wi-Fi card..etc

TRANMISSION MEDIUM
b) a data account with your mobile phone operator, either HSCSD, GPRS. For example Gee! (Starhub), IDEAS (Singtel), SunSurf Mobile (M1)
HSCSD is slower and charge by the minute. (I think it's 10cents/min)
GPRS is faster and charge by the data received, in KB.
Wi-Fi is the fastest and charges depends on the operator.
Some charge by time and some charge by volume.

Internet account
c) Lastly is an ISP dial-up account, like Pacific Internet, or Singnet...etc for GPRS/HSCSD method of connection
Or a Wi-Fi account for wireless LAN connection.
(Singtel mobile and Singnet customers automatically have the Wi-Fi account created, just use your mobile number 91234567@stm to login and IDEAS password)


If your phone does not have IR or Bluetooth then it has no means to communicate with the PDA, but you may be able to find a USB data cable for it to use your mobile phone as a modem on your laptop?
You can still get a Pocket PC with CF or SD slot and get a CF or SD Wi-FI card to surf online in Hot Spots.

There are some good deals in HWZ...
For example,
2nd hand toshiba e310 for $200
http://www.hardwarezone.com/classified/view.php?cid=15&id=391298
you can add bluetooth connectivity or wireless LAN connectivitly using SD Wi-Fi or SD Bluetooth cards for S$100+
 

West_ray said:
oh yah , another qns, does all PDA link to laptop??? Coz i might need to transfer video clips, photos and words docments to and from PDA ... Or a card reader is a better chose? and can i view MS office on pda?

Transferring of file to and fro the PC/laptop is know as syncing and all PDAs will come with the necessary cables/docking cradle and necessary software to do that.

Reading MS Office documents on PDA is possible, with Pocket Word, Pocket excel and Pocket Powerpoint on Pocket PC PDA and Document-to-GO applications for Palm OS based PDA.
 

You might want to consider a Tungsten T given your budget. A second hand Tungsten T cost between $200 - $250 now. You can easily get a 256MB SD card with the remaining budget =) Tungsten T comes with Bluetooth, so if you have Bluetooth equipped phone, you can surf wirelessly.
 

i also want to get a pda. Most prob 2nd hand. Where can I buy one, other than hardwarezone.com?
 

I think you should look at O2 Xda
 

oh yah, anyone can tell me wats the main differences between pda and ppc ???? i posted a ppc thread in a pda forum, and was warned not to !! ...
 

Usually,
PDA == run on Palm OS
PPC == run on Microsoft Pocket PC

But,
PDA == Pocket Digital Assistant
and PPC == Pocket Personal Computer, which is a subset of PDA.

Hahaha... It'll get more & more confusing...

Forgot to add, those using PDA(Palm OS) usually dun like microsoft, so you may get a scolding when U post a topic about PPC on PDA forums. ;)
 

PDA = Personal Digital Assistant

Basically there are 2 flavours

1. Those that run on the Palm operating system
2. Those that run on the Pocket PC operating system (works like Windows)

Like Nikon and Canon, both have their die-hard advocates. I personally like the Pocket PC better, because it is more feature-rich. Both have lots of shareware and freeware easily downloadable.

I would wholeheartedly recommend getting a Dell Axim Pocket PC. Well within your budget, best value for a Pocket PC and you can use all those CF cards to increase your available memory! I have an entire library of books stored in a 128MB CF card, with lots of space to spare. Incidentally, if you're looking for a text-reading software that can many formats well, I would recommend ubook reader, (freely downloadable from www.gowerpoint.com).
 

amateur_photographer said:
saw no clie recommended so far from this thread :D is it too damn lousy for CS-ers? :D
Nope, Clies are great, and Cliesource.com is the place to go for all clie related issues and recommendations :) You can find me using the same user name ricleo at Cliesource, the other CS :p However, Clies that are able to fulfil his requirements are not available at the thread starter's stated budget. I gues that's why no one recommended them.
 

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