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When I think about it, it's amazing how many of these functions I use on a regular basis with my iPAQ 4700. I'm in the fast food business. I run 100+ restaurants, which keeps me out in the field a lot.
Pocket Informant and PocketBreeze are my lifelines every day for appointments and contacts.
Since I travel a lot, I have weather from all the major cities I visit loaded into WeatherPanel.
Again, because of the travel, I use iGuidance and Bluetooth GPS, more for fun than anything else, since I know where all my restaurants are. It does come in handy during traffic jams, though.
So I don't have to carry a bunch of books around, I read everything I can on my iPAQ -- the VGA screen really helps here.
I have Conduit's Timekeeper stopwatch program, which I use many times a day, to time speed of service in my restaurants' drive-thrus.
To keep the iPAQ handy, I have an installed Proclip mount in the car, specific to the 4700, which provides power. This also allows me to use the iPAQ as a music server. I had power run to my trunk, where I installed an ASUS WL-HDD with a 40GB drive in it. Via WiFi, I stream mp3's to the iPAQ. With Mortplayer, I play the music through the car's sound system.
I have powerOne's financial calculators loaded. These come in handy for real estate transactions, pro formas, etc.
I'm learning Spanish with "Spanish in Your Car" and Audible Player.
I have a pdf version of our restaurant chain's multi-volume operating manuals on an SD card, which means I don't have to carry a bulky box of manuals in my trunk.
I have not gone the converged device route, so I have a separate cell phone. Convergence would be great, if I could get a decent VGA screen. I've thought about the HTC Universal, but I can't justify spending $1,000 for one, since I'm locked into Cingular (national contract) and they don't carry it. In fact, I don't think any US carriers have the Universal. Besides, I have the new LG CU500, which runs on Cingular's 3G network. I tether it to my laptop and save $10 a night at hotels. It also gives my iPAQ internet access anytime, anywhere.
Could I do most, or all of the above, with dedicated devices? Would those devices do it better? Yes and maybe, but this is one of those WBIC things.
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