Are PDAs PITAs?

[Seahawk]

I have used a Blackberry for years and view them sort of like management "claymore mines": they let you know something is at the management wire, but other tools will be needed to get the job done. A BB just isn't usable for spreadsheets and briefs, YMMV.

That said, I hate traveling with a laptop and will be looking for a way out of the dual tool (or tri-tool if you include a separate phone) problem. I would also like to be able to surf the web in a meaningful manner.

Does anyone who travels have a real world appraisal of any of the new devices on the market, strengths and weaknesses? I have no issues with Apple or MS or any other provider so long as the device works.

Thanks.

Edit: I searched on other threads and while the tech info was great, I am more interested in how well they work in the grind.

[Halm]

Just got back from Sri Lanka. I carried my MS Smartphone with me and was able to check email, surf the Internet and read attachments. I never wanted my laptop. The AT&T Blackjack is a good choice. If you need more power, look at a Pocket PC like the AT&T 8525. Among other things it allows are VPN and terminal services. They are slightly bigger and heaver than Smartphones but also do more. In either case, make sure you get MS Mobile 6, not Mobile 5 OS.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Halm

Just got back from Sri Lanka. I carried my MS Smartphone with me and was able to check email, surf the Internet and read attachments. I never wanted my laptop. The AT&T Blackjack is a good choice. If you need more power, look at a Pocket PC like the AT&T 8525. Among other things it allows are VPN and terminal services. They are slightly bigger and heaver than Smartphones but also do more. In either case, make sure you get MS Mobile 6, not Mobile 5 OS.

Halm,

I was hoping I'd catch you in...what is a VPN and where to I check to make sure whatever I buy is MS Mobile 6?

I just started my homework on Smartphones and AT&T units.

Thanks!

[legion]

I've had an iPaq (company issued) with Windows Mobile for 3 years now. I hate it.

Not only does it crash about once a month, requiring a hard reset and losing any unsynched data and losing any custom settings, but it refuses to sync with my PC about once a month, requiring a hard reset and losing any unsynched data and losing any custom settings. They put this God awful Credant software on them that turns half the memory into a "secure drive"--which also makes have the memory unusable. So I can't put anything worthwhile on now either. Not that that really matters, because the battery only lasts about 30 minutes off of the charger. Oh, and I actually have to have ActiveSync up and in focus for it to actually sync, being in the background or minimized won't cut it. It will say it's synched, but when you check the date for when it was last synchronized, I've found it can be a month or more!

But it does have a color screen.

I had a Palm V before this. It never crashed. It was easy to use. The battery would last about a week of heavy use without charging. I had to push a button to make it sync, but it synched every time I pushed the button. It never stopped recognizing my PC. They didn't put any crappy security software on it either.

[Halm]

Seahawk, I "assumed" you were more up on the technology. My mistake, sorry.

What is it you want to do on the device? Based on that info, I can better give you ideas.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I have had a Palm Pilot for a few years. It's a cool idea but ultimately every time I try to make a "habit" of using it, I find a notepad and pencil to be easier and just as effective, if not more so.

I personally dislike digital clutter. I don't even like carrying a cell phone, to be honest.

[hpservertech]

Have been using PDA phone's for better then 6 years. Have also had a BB. One thing that a PDA phone (smartphone) will do that a BB can't do is edit a word/excel doc. That may or may not be important to you. Surfing the web is much easier on a pda phone compared to a BB as well since they are almost always touchscreen.

I think e-mail is a little better on the BB device at times, but that just depends on which PDA device you compare it to. There isn't much I haven't done with the PDA phone I have used. Less power cables to carry around too since they are also a phone, email and mini laptop all in one.

Battery life will not be as good as BB though. Have a spare or charger with you.

But if you want something that you can at least read Word, Excel & PDF documents on, plus email, calander, Internet & phone you can't go wrong wtih most of the pda phones that are out there. Models are different by carrier though, so that might limit your options.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Halm

Seahawk, I "assumed" you were more up on the technology. My mistake, sorry.

What is it you want to do on the device? Based on that info, I can better give you ideas.

No worries, I am a user only, with minimal savvy beyond the obvious.

I would like the following Holy Grail of PDAs:

- All common data that exists on the laptop: Email (ability to file email on the mothership, delete and clean as well), calendar, contacts, etc.
- Ability to sync with mothership.
- Workable viewing of Power Point Briefs, excel spreadsheets and MS Word. Some ability to edit same.
- Good human factors on data entry.
- Ability to surf the web, focused on travel emergencies, so access to airline websites, weather, hotel and rental car websites. Pelican would be a bonus (for me, anyway).
- Long battery life, at least three hours constant use.
- Phone.

What I do not need:

- I don't take music with me nor do I need video. Pics of the kids would be nice.

BTW, I'm not completely ignorant, I just have little interest in riding the crest of the tech wave...unless, of course I need help

[Halm]

Based on what you want to do, your needs are similar to mine. There are number of devices that will do nicely. The "issue" will be the the type of email server you are using. If it is corporate and MS Exchange, then you can probably sync everything over the air is a seamless fashion, as you did with the BB. Otherwise, you will have to manually sync via a cable your contacts and calendar while getting your email via POP3.

If you travel internationally, then AT&T or T-Mobile should be your carriers of choice. If not then Verizon is the best of the rest for these type devices. I would start by going down to your AT&T store and looking at the Blackjack2 and possibly the 8525. The current i-phone might be a choice is POP3 or IMAP4 email is adequate for your needs.

Feel free to PM me with any questions you might have.

[Shadetree930]

+1 for AT&T.

I have been doing the procurement of this technology for the past 10 years of my career for different corporations.

For your usage profile, get the "Tilt" (its the latest iteration of the AT&T 8525 built by HTC).

I have been using PDA's since the original Palm. Graduated to different versions of the Windows Mobile platforms and like the HTC hardware. If you are going to use it internationally, AT&T is hands down the best.

I can choose any hardware and any carrier I want. I carry what I recommend.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by prials

+1 for AT&T.

I have been doing the procurement of this technology for the past 10 years of my career for different corporations.

For your usage profile, get the "Tilt" (its the latest iteration of the AT&T 8525 built by HTC).

I have been using PDA's since the original Palm. Graduated to different versions of the Windows Mobile platforms and like the HTC hardware. If you are going to use it internationally, AT&T is hands down the best.

I can choose any hardware and any carrier I want. I carry what I recommend.

Thanks Prials and Halm. I do have one question: I'm on business in Huntsville, Ala, got here a day early since my flight to Corpus Christi was canceled last night and rather than fly back to DC, I flew here last night instead.

Is the AT&T worthy of a day in a hotel doing business?

I promise I'm not being antagonistic, just two pops into a Marriott concierge floor

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

I would like the following Holy Grail of PDAs:

- All common data that exists on the laptop: Email (ability to file email on the mothership, delete and clean as well), calendar, contacts, etc.
- Ability to sync with mothership.
- Workable viewing of Power Point Briefs, excel spreadsheets and MS Word. Some ability to edit same.
- Good human factors on data entry.
- Ability to surf the web, focused on travel emergencies, so access to airline websites, weather, hotel and rental car websites. Pelican would be a bonus (for me, anyway).
- Long battery life, at least three hours constant use.
- Phone.

What I do not need:

- I don't take music with me nor do I need video. Pics of the kids would be nice.

WM6: Get a HTC TyTN II (aka the AT&T Tilt). It has all of the capabilities you ask for. If the e-mail server you are connecting to is an Exchange 2003 or later server, MS-Active Sync will allow a real time, blackberry like syncing of e-mail, contacts and calender. If you are doing extensive e-mailing, and not so much texting, the slide out keyboard will be a plus. It has Wifi for highspeed connections when in range of a hotspot, and it has highspeed 3G capability. You get video and music capability. It has the ability to take expansion cards, so you can have a library of music, videos, and data, swappable on demand.

If you do a lot of texting (no surface to place the unit available), or need 1 hand typing at times, the slide out keyboard of the TyTN II will not work for you.

It has swappable batteries. I do lust after this model, but I don't think it will work for my type of usage. I do quite a bit of short e-mails, where I may not have a surface.

Palm OS: (Treo 680 and very soon GSM Centro) It will do everything you want, but there are no 3G or phones incorporating wifi. Most of them are very good for texting, with the thumbboard. They also will allow viewing and editing of Power Point, Word and Excel and viewing of PDF. The software library for Palm is extensive. The interface is very easy, but quite dated. It also allows swapping of cards, has built in capability for music and videos. Edge internet (2.5G) is not too bad and the Treo680 and Centro have addressed the earlier browser problems of the Treo650.

I use an 8GB SD card in my Treo680. I use Exchange Active sync with e-mail and e-mails arrive on the phone before my desktop. Power - with the latest software update, the 680 will go all day long even with extensive use. No where near as good as a Blackberry, but you can swap batteries.

Price: Treo 680 will run about $300 unlocked on E-bay. An unlocked TyTN II runs over $500.

Service: AT&T has 3G, T-Mobile does not. T-Mobile costs less and the mobile roaming charges are usually less. If you know how to setup the data plan, you can have an unlimited worldwide data with T-mobile.

If you get the TyTN, get the AT&T service and 3G. If you go with a Treo680, go with T-Mobile and a Blackberry International data plan.

[Shadetree930]

Don't think I would want to spend a whole day using the Tilt (or any PDA) as my primary input device. Its best use is as a device to make/take calls, receive/view email, refer to Word/Excel documents, surf porn ... I mean do research on the Internet. Short replys via email are fine. Long winded documents would be a bother. The real time email sync is a wonderful thing.

No PDA is going to be great as a primary input device for long, wordy, or complex documents or spreadsheets.

I use the PDA when I am on the move (airport, cabs, moving around). I take out the notebook when the heavy lifting needs to be done (once I am settled in to the hotel room).

I don't think you are going to get down to one device doing it all. The Tilt is better than the BB but can not replace the full functionality of the notebook.

[jannek]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

Does anyone who travels have a real world appraisal of any of the new devices on the market, strengths and weaknesses? I have no issues with Apple or MS or any other provider so long as the device works.

Have you considered Nokia E90 Communicator? I have used almost all Nokia Communicator models during last 9 years and I have to say those have been really powerful tools. Especially the keyboards of those devices are IMO much nicer than in most PDA's. I even wrote a few chapters of my thesis with my communicator e.g while in a train.

The latest E90 model I haven't used, because I wanted to try if I could cope with a smaller device without a qwerty keyboard and large screen. If I still travelled as much as I used to, I would have chosen the E90. Now I have Nokia N95 which I use daily for calender, email and e.g. for reading Pelican BBS while commuting. Sometimes I still miss that full keyboard. I never bother writing anything else than SMSs or calender entries with T9 input.

The new E90 seems to have some nice new features, like GPS navigator and VOIP calls via WLAN. http://usa.nokia.com/A4351714

[id10t]

Take a look at the super small palmtops like the Nokia 810 (Linux based, I have a 770 and love it) or the EEe PC from Asus (also runs Linux). Both are basically palm sized laptops with wireless, office type apps, etc.

[Shadetree930]

I carried a Nokia Communicator for a while. The keyboard was nice but its biggest drawbacks were the weight/size and the fact it did not run MS Mobile. It had a proprietary OS.