need some advice on PDA's..

Discussion in 'Non Technical' started by JEDI-77, Jan 29, 2007.

  1. JEDI-77

    JEDI-77 Jedi Master

    I want to buy the wife a PDA for her birthday as she has wanted one for aggesssss.... but I know nothing about them..:) Anyone recommend a good website for PDA's like dpreview for camera's where they review and test a whole heap of PDA's??..... or even better, someone recommend a good PDA to get.... I am on a budget so I'm not necesarily after the most expensive thing with all the whizz bang whistles....

    Cheers
     
  2. MagicMike

    MagicMike Moderator Staff Member

    Get one compatible with Caz's software so you can 'borrow' it :)
     
  3. DrongoMan

    DrongoMan Sir

    DON'T GET XDA

    Although they look impressive with a whole lot of buzz crap, the sole reason not to get one is that. IF it runs out of batteries, it wipes everything and resets!!!!

    I have an XDA IIs, and yeah every now and then you just can't help it, also maybe you drop it or something, there goes everything.

     
  4. djozzie

    djozzie Member

  5. MikeZ32

    MikeZ32 das Über member

    i've taken a interest in PDAs too recently. O2s seem to be recommended as you can use them as phones apparently. i'm curious as to whether or not you could play videos on them streamed wirelessly. anyone know much about that?
     
  6. NightFallTech

    NightFallTech Member

    There are some good ipaq models....

    Depends on your budget, but one of the 69xx models has phone, gps & reasonable specs with windows mobile 5, but at over $1K ...

    for a pure PDA, hx4700 (HP ipaq) or Dell X51v are both vga 640*480 which makes a big difference :)
     
  7. DrongoMan

    DrongoMan Sir

    Mike Videos come out beautifully

    On my phone, also has wide screen display, it has good wireless capabilities etc etc although never set it up for that

    However remember the downside - no battery = reset everything

     
  8. BigCol

    BigCol That's what she said...

    As strange as it sounds, ebay is as good a place to start looking around and get specs. I also found http://pocketpccentral.net to be useful.

    If you want the best then go for a HP Ipaq 6828. Some of the absolute hardcore tech guys at my work have them and love them. And being a small integrated phone/PDA/GPS/Windows Mobile device means not having to carry a separate mobile & a PDA around with you. If I had my time over again I'd get one of these. And according to my investigation it does support serial connection so would be usable for ECUTalk in the zed!!!!!

    For the budget minded, go with a previous generation HP ipaq. I'm more than happy with my Ipaq 5550, and heaps of other work colleagues use similar ones from the 5000, 4000, and 2000 series. They can be found at a reasonable price on ebay $200-$300. What you are missing out on here is that these units use Windows mobile 2003 or 2002 as their operating system (akin to Windoes ME & Windows 98 in desktop parlance), and the ease of connectivity. For example, it took me nearly a fortnight to get all the service packs installed in the correct order so that I could access my home wireless network that was WPA encrypted. But once these initial teething problems were sorted it has been a dream to use.

    Given that I'm not really a power PDA user (I use mine primarily for ECUTalk, navigation with TomTom6, remote connecting to my desktop machine in the study from the loungeroom, and to make reminder notes so I don't forget stuff) I have plenty of space free on my 512Mb memory card. But given 2gb cards are so cheap there is no reason why you couldn't have a couple of them for mp3's / video / pictures etc.

    I didn't realise how much I'd love my PDA til I got one. Go on - convince her that you need one as well!
     
  9. DUB

    DUB BRAMIS Photography

    I wouldn't recommend the O2 Atom as I have one atm Mark. It constantly requires rebooting, the camera is absolute crap and the phone isn't that crash hot either.
    I also have an XDA II that I was using beofre the Atom and that was a better phone. The things you do for 5mm less length :rolleyes:

    BTW, if you do drop it or it runs out of power all you have to do is resync it with your PC. Everything is restored again. No problems there.
     
  10. pexzed

    pexzed Forum Administrator

    Have a look into the dopod

    www.dopod.com.au. The 838Pro Model.
    It is a PDA and Phone, and best of all, you can get it on a phone plan so you don't have the up front cost. I got one and love it.
    Just another choice to make your decision harder :rolleyes: .
    I have mine on the hutchinson 3 network, but Telstra also have it.
     
  11. NightFallTech

    NightFallTech Member

    don't the latest versions of these run wm2005?

    the hard reset on power off was a windows mobile 2003 issue, i upgraded my hx4700 to 2005 purely for that reason.
     
  12. MikeZ32

    MikeZ32 das Über member

    some great info. top of the line mobiles can cost $800+ with limited multimedia functions. i really should consider more in getting a PDA.
     
  13. niven

    niven Member

    Hi,
    the dopod and iMate K-Jam are both very good. Functionally identical and almost twins for layout & styling. The dopod has a faster clock which is better for response time and having multiple programs runing, the K-jam's battery lasts a lot longer because of it's slower clock ( and that suits me fine )
    Telstra have the K-Jam too - i think it's bit more expensive tho.
    Both have slide out qwerty keybaord which is great, and almost every connection you could you want - bluetooth, wi-fi , infrared, and of GPRS ( i think EDGE too ). both will accept miniSD cards for good storage space.
    Camera on the dopod is slightly higher res.
    both have lots of options for data entry - very versatile.
    Tapping the screen to dial phone numbers can be a bit awkward.
    Both have voice dailing and voice command for launching programs etc but i haven't used it ( even tho its easy to use : dedicated button to record commands)
    Both run windows mobile which is prety good and totally compatible with your PC ( so you work on word docs, spreadsheets, play wav's and wma etc )

    etc etc etc

    cheers

    niven
     
  14. JEDI-77

    JEDI-77 Jedi Master

    what do people....

    think of these pda's by Dell??...

    Dell PDA's

    Cheers

     
  15. NightFallTech

    NightFallTech Member

    for movie watching and web browsing


    x51v all the way - VGA res!, also has wifi & bluetooth and the fastest current pda processor, you can't really go wrong. however the model down is still strong, but i'd be hesitant on the lowest model.
     
  16. Gazza

    Gazza Active Member

    Ive owned various palm pda's for several years. The advice for the uninitiated would be to buy a decent case with the pda that has some shock absorbing capabilities, buy a screen protector (stick on film) to protect from scratches, and lastly, dont sit or stand on it or apply any great pressure on it at any time (the number one cause of pda's demise). And back up info regularly.
    I dont know how other pda's perform, but Ive found the palm ones last 2 or 3 years before dying, the cost of repair comparable to buying a new one. I do treat mine roughly though (dropped constantly, banged around inside of bags etc)
     

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