PDA's/Pocket PC 2002 (1 Viewer)

[DavidAM]

I'm looking at getting a PDA with Pocket PC 2002 to use for work. The problem I'm having is with the memory card slot. They have the new SD memory cards and the PDA I like uses this type of external memory. I also see PDA's with compact flash slots. Is there one better than the other? I'm familiar with CF cards, but don't know much about the SD cards. Does it seem like the future will be SD memory? To make things more difficult, my digital camera uses Smartmedia, so it looks like no matter which PDA I buy, I will not be able to use my current memory cards with it. One plus to getting a PDA for work would be to download my pictures directly to the PDA, but I guess that won't happen unless I buy a new camera too. I can live without doing this though. So, since I'm new to PDA's and their features and things, what should I look for? I like to Toshiba e310. I was interested in the HP Jornada 567/568 back when I first found out I could use these things for work, but it seems that model isn't ranked to well by the reviewers online. If anyone uses these things, let me know what you like and which features you find are useful and which to ignore. Thanks...and Happy Turkey Day.

 

[PatrickM]

David,

The biggest difference between a CF slot and a SD/MMC slot is that you can basically only find memory that will fit into a SD/MMC slot whereas there are many peripheral devices that fit into a CF slot beyond memory like a digital camera, a Wi-Fi 802.11b wireless modem, a bluetooth modem, etc.

I've been looking at them to outfit all of our outside sales people. The Toshiba e310 is great but there's another Toshiba e550 I think it is, that's really awesome. Check compusa. The HP IPAQ's (formerly Compaq IPAQ) are really good. I'm looking at the soon to be released 5450's.

Dell has also released their own version of a PocketPC.

Good luck,

Patrick

 

[AviTevet]

The iPaq is the king of PPC devices for some reason, though I'm not sure what that reason is. I think it's got the nicest case, and I think in standard form its marginally thinner than the other PPC devices. You can also get them with built in bluetooth radios, and it has a CF slot and a mic. I'm more of a PalmOS person myself... I like the new Treos and the Sony PalmOS devices. BTW, pretty much anything you can do on a PPC you can do on a PalmOS device, but your battery life will be way better, the device will be thinner, smaller, and lighter, and there are more applications.

 

[DavidAM]

Unfortunately I can't use a Palm because the work program I would run on it uses Pocket 2002. So for the people that know about these things, which models would be the best in the $200-$300 range? I've seen some decent units on ebay in this range. I don't need a $500-600 PDA cause its not worth it for that price. At $200 or so, I can see it being a worthwhile investment for work. Also, has HP discontinued the Jornada 567/568 now that they are putting out the Ipaq? I first started looking at these things in May and the Jornada was top rated and $550, but now I see it for around $250 on ebay and read some reviews online and they dropped way down from the top of the editor's choice list. Are they still worth looking at or are they outperformed now with newer competing models?

 

[PatrickM]

David, the e310 your looking at from Toshiba is great. I actually think there's an update version called the e330 now.

The new Dell looks good but I have no experience with that one. The IPAQ 3600 and 3800 lower end models all will fit into your budget.

And, yes HP has dropped the Jornada's for the most part and are sticking to release IPAQ's.

Patrick

 

[DavidAM]

Thanks for the help. Best Buy online has the Ipaq 3835 for $250 after rebates, so I think I will order that one tomorrow.....seems like the best one for that price. Thanks again for all the input.