Palm Pilot's

I'm looking at these - any comments on what to buy?

It appears that there are two operating systems now - The Palm OS and a windows based OS? Any thoughts on that?

[Hierophant]

Well, you can feed the machine, or you can feed the people that produce innovative new products. For which reason, I would avoid buying the MS-palm based systems as strenuously as possible.

Further, since more and more computing is directed at web-page style transfer of information, the emerging standards there are, I believe, independent of platform.

The only question is, 10 years from now, when the hand-helds have the power of today's laptops, will you really want to run full-blown spreadsheet and word-processing applications? Will you be willing to pay $200 for a Windows-CE license and $700 for an MS-Office license so that your $250 to $350 palm device can generate an annuity for Bill Gates?

Gee, I'm looking out there, and I think that most of the speech recognition software is being developed by someone other than MS. Yet, 10 years from now, the MS standard will probably take over, even though they don't have monopoly power.

Speech recognition along with continuing exponential improvements in speed and power will be the next big steps to palm; plus, the availability of cheap, BIG wireless bandwidth to deliver content.

That, and integration with your cell phone. Maybe that's the ticket - see if you can find a cell phone that's got the bell's and whistles now. If you would pay $300 for a palm, you could add that to the price you would pay for a phone, and see what you can get. (Actually, the modem attachments to palms adds at least another $100 to the package, although I haven't shopped this for about a year now.)

In any event, the "Dick Tracy" watch is not that far away - we could make one today without too much trouble. BANDWIDTH, BANDWIDTH, BANDWIDTH!!!

[The Mister]

On 2001-10-16 16:47, Hierophant wrote:
...That, and integration with your cell phone.

<font size=2>Japan already has that, IIRC. (Either that or they're darn close.) I heard that DoCoMo recently released their G3 phones on the market there, and they were pretty much an instant hit.

Unfortunately, the bureaucracy and red tape of the FCC prevents the U.S. telecommunications industry from securing the necessary frequencies to release the such products here (yet).

[Actuary321]

OK, get off your soapboxes and give Glenn some information.

I have a Palm Vx. This has a 20Mhz processor with 8 MB of ram, a monocrome screen and a built in recargable battery.

It is a nice one but there are better ones now.

Two pieces of advice that I would give you are:

1. Make sure you get one that has expandable memory.
2. Make sure you get one with rechargable batteries.

Color is nice but not required.

Look at the Handera 330, that is the one I want but currently cant afford. I will probably get one like that but newer when they come out with one.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Actuary321 on 2001-10-16 19:24 ]</font>

[DW Simpson]

Hi Glenn, I've had an HP Jornada 548 for awhile, which is based on the Pocket PC Windows OS. It rocks when compared to what you get with a comparably priced Palm or Handspring.

If you want to surf the web, there's no comparison. Pocket PC has Internet Explorer, and I take mine everywhere and can get a 10-minute internet fix wherever I am with a cheap modem card and a phone line. You can also sign up for a $30/month wireless internet connection, but my experience was that it didn't work most of the time so I cancelled it. It works off the AT&T/Verizon cell phone network and there are alot of dead pockets of the country.

Handspring's Blazer browser can't handle the graphics as well as the Pocket version of IE can. And I've been able to make transactions on pages with Cold Fusion right on my PDA. IE rarely craps out on me. I've heard that other browsers have a problem with Java.

The new HP Jornada 568 (I think it's the 568) and the new Compaq Ipaqs that are advertised both have 64MB memories (I have 32MB), and the best Handsprings and Palms have no more than 1/2 that. I've read, and heard from those that own them, that the Ipaq's chips are faster than the Jornada's.

You get Microsoft Outlook, Word & Excel, and the new Pocket PC 2002 (I don't have that) enables you to talk directly with Palms via infrared. I've traded files and business cards with mine (more as a toy than a real tool, though), but I had to add a $20 program that enabled my machine to talk to Palm OS's. I can also point mine at a laser printer and print out Word documents, and I've used that function, too. I can run .mpeg movies with the free PocketTV download.

If you're just concerned with scheduling and an address book, any of them are ok. And you can get the cell phone attachment with Handspring, but my guess is that since the voice component of the Pocket PC is just as powerful, it's just a matter of time (or maybe it's available) before someone has a cell phone pack for the Pocket PCs.

Casio and a bunch o' others make Pocket PCs, too, but if you want attachments like a digital camera or a GPS or a keyboard (I only have the keyboard and I never use it), many of the manufacturers only make their components for 1 brand of PocketPC, and that goes for wireless modems, too. And Compaq or HP are the horses to bet on.

Handspring has the a bunch of components too, but Microsoft is stealing marketshare from the Palm OS to the point that I think the Ipaq might be the biggest selling PDA now.

All the manufacturers are hurting so you can get them to throw in things like keyboards and wireless modems like nobody's business.

I found Zdnet.com, Cnet.com, PocketPCMag.com, and some other sites and magazines useful before I made my decision.

Hope that helps! - Claude

(oh, and I forgot to mention --

-- the Compact Flash cards. The Pocket PCs enable you to use those really cheap expandable memory cards, so you can back up stuff on it. I think the last I saw, a 32MB or 64MB card is like $50. But you'll find that having 32MB or 64MB to start with is a lot of memory anyway.

-- rechargeable batteries - I plug mine in with a recharger nightly. The battery is an internal battery that's supposed to last 5 years or something long like that. You'll never hold onto yours for 5 years, you'll replace it, so you shouldn't have any battery issues.)



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: D.W. Simpson Webmaster on 2001-10-16 21:15 ]</font>

Get as much Microsoft as you can. Palm is losing market share and will be out of business soon. Anti-MSFT protesters are like crabs who think hiding in their shell protects againsts the steamroller. Remember Netscape?

Use this site to get the cheapest price.

http://www.pricewatch.com


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Voice of Reason on 2001-10-16 21:50 ]</font>

[Hierophant]

[soapbox mode=off]
Key question, Glenn - what are you gonna use it for?

Scheduling can be nice, dumping your email to bring with can work. The phone list feature is very nice if you are out and about and need a phone number.

Are you inextricably tied into your desktop/laptop electronic scheduling tool? If so, then the hand-held will be of value. If not, you may find it more of a nuisance, although it can still keep you up on some of the basic scheduling issues.

I don't use wireless, and frankly I don't see the need or valuable applications for wireless web to hand-held yet. Maybe if I was an active stock trader, but I find that a little hard to believe concurrently with getting good lag times on stock quotes.

Wireless email dumps could be useful; depends on whether you are in a predominantly email or voicemail culture.

Or, are you looking for a toy/status symbol? In which case, you absolutely must have color, infrared, wireless, AND an electronic camera attachment. (The thing could pay for itself if your boss takes you to after hours "team building" at the right places - sure, it LOOKS like you're checking your email, when in fact you're getting a jpeg of the boss in a compromising position!)

All in all, it is another thing to lug around. I don't think the functional bang for the buck is there yet, for which reason I would suggest a low-end monochrome which will handle all the organizer functions, and wait for the integrated cell phone/organizer to come out in the next few years. (Even low-end should give you 2 MB which is way more than enough for your organizer and text emails.)
[soapbox mode=resume]

Key question, Glenn - what are you gonna use it for?

Scheduling, email & phone lists.
I really like the internet idea. That's going to require a modem to connect through my cell. I have also given some thought to some software development (for distribution) which I think points more towards the Palm OS.

[DW Simpson]

CNET sent this to me this morning re: Handspring's new line, called the Treo.

[Mojo]

Glenn,

Dell is having a 20% off sale on accesories going on right now and PDA is part of the deal.

Here are some good ones:
HP Jornada 567 64MB Pocket PC2002 Color PDA
$556.95 - 20% = $445
CASSIOPEIA BE300 PDA -16MB CF, WINDOWS C Color
$286.95 - 20% = $229.56

Palm M500
$329 - 20% = $263
Search for "939604-4"
Palm m505
$445 - 20% = $356
Search for "939605-4"
HandEra 330 (Palm OS PDA)
$289 - 20% = $231 (normally $300 elsewhere)
Search for "461539-4"

orders over $100 get free shipping too.

and I don't think you will problem qualify for that


-------------------------
I second the notion that Palm is like Netscape.
It is first in the industry, but it is no longer important.
They have been featured on f*coompany.com twice already and their stock price is around 2 dollars.