The Beginner’s Guide To Choosing a PDA
The Beginner's Guide To Choosing a PDA
For everyone thinking of buying their first PDA, this guide's for you! A gentle introduction to these devices should be all you need. PDAs aren't like other computers - they're compact, user-friendly, fast, featureful, and even fun!
The first thing you have to do is figure out what you want to use a PDA for. The most common use is as a datebook or appointment planner, a purpose for which PDAs are suited like no other device. Address books are the second most common feature, and something else that are very well-managed on a PDA. A calculator is a given. Email and Bluetooth/ WiFi connectivity is usually required as well. PDAs also make great eBook readers. And for jotting down quick notes or sending text messages, an onscreen keyboard or stylus with handwriting recognizer.
What other fancy features would you like? A USB connector will let you hook up your peripherals. A backlight is essential if you won't always have full light. And then there's the entertainment value - quite a few games are being written for the PDA platform, and multi-media applications will let you watch movies or listen to music. And web browsers have also become standard with the platform.
All of these will be things to keep in mind when you go shopping. Be sure to ask around your social circle for the model you're interested in; chances are you know someone who has a model they'll let you look at. Work is an especially good environment for shoulder-surfing PDAs.
Major brands include the Windows Mobile Classic PDAs, ASUS - Asus P750 3G/ HSDPA/ GPS PDA Smartphone, Hewlett-Packard - HP iPAQ 212 Enterprise Handheld PDA, 4P - 4P FDA300 - Intrinsically Safe PDA - CE5 / Barcode / GPRS / Atex, Zypad - Zypad WL1100 Wearable Industrial CE6 PDA with GPS, Pocket PC, and the Blackberry. Of course, the market is always changing, and new manufacturers are always coming and going. Some of the PDS market is getting absorbed from either end into the smartphone category at the lower end and the UMPC (think mini, mini laptop) on the high end, so you might consider these devices as well.
Some quick care tips for after you get your PDA: Use furniture polish to clean your PDA, buffing out any scratches. An inexpensive alternative to a screen protector is to use a swatch of clear vinyl tablecloth from a fabric store, cut to fit the screen, stuck on with a few drops of water and using your fingers to smooth out the bubbles. In case your PDA ever gets lost, set an alarm to go off once a week and briefly flash your phone number and address on the screen, to help people find it and return it. And when worse comes to worse, remember that a hard reboot, not a soft reboot, will reset the device just like hitting Control-Alt-Delete on your home computer reboots it.
Filed Under: PDAs • Product Reviews
