PDAs, again

[Stu]

I posted about a year ago looking for PDA advice. At that time JoeG recomended the Palm Tungsteen. But after research, I've fallen hard for the Sony Clie PEG TH55. I love the features -- all the bells and whistles, plus Wi-Fi, which I have in my house and will find handy, as well as a digital camera (which is a nice feature to have on hand) video recorder and voice recorder.

The only thing is that Sony has quit making them. There are still plenty of models out there, and service and parts won't be a problem, according to Sony. But I was wondering if anyone can recomend another model that has all these features, say a Dell or an HP?

 

[Pink22m]

I own a Palm Tungsten T3, and I am quite happy with it.  So far I have had no problems, and I barely use a fraction of its many features.

 

[Stu]

I own a Palm Tungsten T3, and I am quite happy with it.  So far I have had no problems, and I barely use a fraction of its many features.

Does it have wifi, camera, voice recorder and video? That's what really sold me on the Clie. It would be nice to have a camera at your finertips all the time for reference shots.

 

[globetrotter]

treo 650, do yourelf a favor.

 

[nightowl6261a]

I just go the Blackberry 7250, I think it is much better if you like the windows format better than the OS from Palm

 

[globetrotter]

you may be right. I like the palm software

 

[nightowl6261a]

I have a 5, and had until syolen a 7, and although i like it ok, i just did not really care for the platform like the blackberry, the other reason i opted for the new bb was on rec from 2 cingular people, and they were giving me either one i wanted, my wife has the treo600 and she likes it, but it proves my point, she knows nothing really about palms and does not use it for inet access, the bb is smoother use for the keyboard and has less troubles

 

[Stu]

treo 650, do yourelf a favor.

Wow, I was looking at it and it looks amazing. The one question I have about the Treo is data entry. Do you have to use grafiti, or does it have handwriting recognition software?

 

[globetrotter]

I use the little tiny keyboard, as well as a graphic software that keeps handwriting as a graphic.

I love it, for the email, the palm programs, the gsm phone.

 

[Pink22m]

Does it have wifi, camera, voice recorder and video? That's what really sold me on the Clie. It would be nice to have a camera at your finertips all the time for reference shots.

It does not have a camera, nor does it have video (I don't think, but I am not totally sure). It definetely has a voice recorder. What is wifi?

 

[Stu]

Quote:

Does it have wifi, camera, voice recorder and video? Â That's what really sold me on the Clie. It would be nice to have a camera at your finertips all the time for reference shots.
It does not have a camera, nor does it have video (I don't think, but I am not totally sure). Â It definetely has a voice recorder. Â What is wifi?
Wireless Internet.

 

[Stu]

treo 650, do yourelf a favor.

Can you buy the Treo and sign up with cel phone service with whomever you want? Or is the cel service proprietary to Sprint? Excuse me for being such a newbie on technology, but you can sign up w/ a cel provider and bring your own phone to the table, yes?

 

[retronotmetro]

If you are on Sprint, you are best off buying a Treo from them--they use the CDMA phone system and a Sprint phone cannot be adapted for use in the US on any provider other than Verizon, and even then you may lose some functionality switching from Sprint to VZW or vice versa.

If you are on TMobile or Cingular/AT&T, which use the GSM system, you can purchase an "unlocked" GSM phone and use it freely on either network. The phones that they sell are usually locked to their network and cannot be used on another provider's network unless you get it unlocked, which may void the warranty but is not likely to cause any other ill effects.

Unless you find a very good deal on a phone from a reliable vendor, and are willing to tinker with the phone yourself, it's usually easiest to get a phone from your provider's authorized dealer--it may cost more and require contract renewal, but at least you have a customer service channel if you have problems with the device.

Personally, I like Pocket PC OS on my PDAs because it integrates so well with Outlook and the MS Office applications. Moving files between a PC and the Pocket PC device is very simple. I think you might want to at least look at Pocket PC models before getting anything running Palm OS. There are some fairly nice Pocket PC Phones out there.

 

[globetrotter]

to be more confusing, I would stay away from CDMA and go for a GSM phone.

I bought my phone from Treo and got cingular service. and I carry a half dozen extra sim cards for different countries.

 

[retronotmetro]

to be more confusing, I would stay away from CDMA and go for a GSM phone.

I bought my phone from Treo and got cingular service. and I carry a half dozen extra sim cards for different countries.

For the average user who doesn't travel internationally, CDMA vs GSM is not an issue in and of itself--the real question is which provider has the best coverage in the local area. That may in some cases, especially in rural areas, be the CDMA providers (Sprint and Verizon Wireless). But if you travel internationally GSM is a must. Unless you travel to Japan in which case you are screwed either way since they don't have GSM.

I had fabulous service everywhere I travelled in the US with Verizon, but moved to a house that had zero VZW coverage. I switched to AT&T (now Cingular) GSM service and find that I often have coverage issues in places where Verizon worked great.