What was your PDA evolution?

[Zero101]

Just curious to see how you have arrived at the Pocket PC platform. Have you always used Windows CE devices? Or are you a recent Palm convert? Is your Pocket PC the first PDA you have ever owned?


My first PDA ever was a Windows CE device (a grey-scale NEC Mobile Pro palm-top). I liked it, but it could never quite do what I needed it to. It was more of a fun toy than a useful device.

http://www.nec.co.jp/press/ja/9611/images/1801-01.gif


Eventually my Mobile Pro broke, and I moved on to a Palm IIIx. I loved my IIIx. Small, sleek.. and could do just about everything I needed. I had Avantgo and Eudora for web and email, and IRDA modem (http://www.psion.com/connect/tmmenu.htm) for connecting to the internet via dial-up.

http://www.palmare.net/images/modelli/palm/mod_palmIIIx.jpg

The Palm IIIx lasted me a little over a year. It traveled with me a lot, and I definitely got my money's worth out of it.

Then came the Pocket PC's.


Soon my eye started wandering from my dull palm to the much sexier Pocket PC's that were on the market. Ok, sure, they are a little bigger... but they are beautiful devices, and most of them have full-color screens! Not to mention the multimedia capabilities... wow. It wasn't long before I bought the Casio EM-500 that I still use today.

http://www.communica.se/bilder/produkter/casio/em500.jpg

My Pocket PC allows me to surf the web in color (from anywhere, when connected to my Sprint PCS cell phone), and I can still browse through Avantgo while offline. I can watch videos, view photos, and listen to mp3's... none of which was possible on my palm. When I'm bored I can play some Super Mario Bros. on PocketNES (http://pocketnes.retrogames.com/), or Tiger Woods Golf (http://www.ziosoft.com/product.html?n=5)

What's next on the horizon? Not sure. I definitely need a new PDA... my EM-500 is starting to show its age. I have been considering an Ipaq 3835, or maybe one of the new Toshibas?



So how has your PDA uses grown and changed over time?

[marlof]

My PDA development went from

Philips Velo 1
Handheld PC running Windows CE 1.0, upgraded to Windows CE 2.0. Used it for two years. Retired.

HP Jornada 548
Pocket PC 2000. Used it for a year. In use with a friend.

iPAQ 3670
Pocket PC 2000, upgrade to Pocket PC 2002. Used it for a few months, in use with a friend.

HP Jornada 565
Pocket PC 2002. Still in use.

Compaq iPAQ 3870
Pocket PC 2002 with internal Bluetooth. Still in use.

I have had up close and personal experiences with (due to my girlfriend):
Psion Revo
Symbian

Palm m505
Palm OS 4

[Dave Beauvais]

Sharp 128K Wizard (Gave to an ex-girlfriend)
RAM: 128 KB
OS: Proprietary
Screen: Tiny, black and white
Misc: Keyboard input, clamshell case

Casio 256K B.O.S.S (Stolen)
RAM: 256 KB
Screen: Black and white
OS: Proprietary
Misc: Keyboard input, clamshell case

Texas Instruments Avigo 10 (Sold)
RAM: 2 MB
Screen: 4 grayscale
OS: Proprietary
Misc: Built-in protective flip cover, touch-screen stylus input, on-screen keyboard, and T9 predictive input

Uniden Unipro PC100A (Sold)
RAM: 8 MB
Screen: 240x320 4 grayscale
OS: Microsoft Windows CE 2.1
Misc: Built-in 28.8 Kbps modem, CF II slot

Palm m505 (Sold)
RAM: 8 MB
Screen: 160x160 16-bit color
OS: Palm OS 4.0

Casio Cassiopeia E-200 (CompUSA warranty exchange for Toshiba e740)
RAM: 64 MB
Screen: 240x320 16-bit color
OS: Microsoft Pocket PC 2002

Toshiba e740 (Current PDA)
RAM: 64 MB
Screen: 240x320 16-bit color
OS: Microsoft Pocket PC 2002

[Jeff Rutledge]

1. Casio BOSS
2. Palm 1000
3. Upgraded Palm 1000 to Palm Pro
4. Palm IIIe
5. Palm Vx
6. iPAQ 3650
7. iPAQ 3870
8. Palm m515

[Martin I Pettinger]

1. Psion 3a (EPOC - I think)
2. Velo 1 (CE 1.0 then CE 2.0)
3. iPAQ 3850 (CE 3.0)

[Thinkingmandavid]

I started with an IBM 3c and it is basically the Plam 5x. I used it for about a month and also bought the Psion Revo. A wonderful operating system!
I got tired of little viewable area on the palm so I started using my REvo much more and then only the REvo. NOw I am very happy with it because of the built in keyboard, Symbian OS, and the list goes on:) hehe
The IBM is on its way to my wonderful mom so she will quit loosing and forgetting my phone number:)
Next on my list is the Nokia 9290 because it has the Symbian OS, and I am also considering buying a PPC, probably a Maestro because it is affordable. If I had the money it would be the Fujitsu Loox!:)

[Thinkingman]

I think the NOkia 9290 is a good choice. There is the windows ce system that is on the HP's with a wide viewable area, check it out and see. There are some refurbished ones, and some new ones at good prices if you know when and where to catch them:) Ebay I think has good stuff:)

[jerrytroll]

-Sharp Zaurus, a gift from my Uncle
http://www.pygmy.com/images/zlite.jpg
-Palm III (with some dog-bite marks)
-Compaq Aero 1530 (man that was a thin device)
-Casio E-100
-IBM z50 (owned 2 of these, love the device)
-Compaq iPAQ 3635

[BTS]

1. A Sharp 32K organizer.
2. A Palm Pilot Personal.
3. A Compaq C Series HPC (still use it!).
4. An Everex Freestyle PPC. The voice recording went so Computer City gave me a:
5. Handspring Visor Deluxe.
6. Casio EM-500. I still LOVE this unit but it's lack of internal memory is beginning to be a pain. I also wish I could buy that new Infrared keyboard for it but, alas, the company didn't make a MIPS driver.
7. A Handera 330. Great device as far as Palm OS goes but just doesn't have that "there" feeling that my Casio does.

[Brad Adrian]

1. Paper DayTimer
2. Casio 16k DataBank
3. Psion 3a
4. Psion 5x
5. Jornada 548
6. Casio EM500
7. iPAQ 3600
8. Jornada 56X
9. iPAQ 3870

[GC4062]

Didn't realize until this topic began how many I've gone through over the years...

* Letts of London diary (paper)
* Day-Timer (paper)
* Sharp 32kb organizer (still in a drawer)
* Time/System (paper)
* SelecTronics DataStor 8000C (still in that drawer)
* Sharp Dial Master EL-6250H (8kb) (in the same drawer)
* Priority Manager (paper)
* Time/Design (paper)
* Palm Pilot Professional, which I upgraded to a Palm III with the memory/infrared chip and plastic door (sold to a co-worker)
* Palm Vx (sold to a co-worker)
* Palm m505 (also occupying a drawer)
* HP Jornada 568

(and now I want an iPaq 3970 after seeing it at Comdex next to my 568, and I plan on buying it for family members for Christmas, unless something better is out by then)

Jim

[ironguy]

It was a dark and stormy night... actually my fascination with handheld devices started back with HP calculators.

HP-45 (still have)
HP-34 (still have)
HP-15 (still have)
HP-12 (still have)
Then I had a quiet time in my life without any other devices. My brother-in-law (wife's brother) received a Casio CE device in 1998 and I drooled!

Xmas 2000 arrived and a surprise! My wife got me an HP-548! Woohoo! Now I've graduated to a 568.

Glad to say... NO PALMS!

[renz]

My trip into handheldland started with a Newton 130 :D I loved it. Made me a bit geeky, I guess, but hey: nobody else had something like it. That was in 1996 and that´s quite some time ago. It still lives! I have it sitting in it´s original box w/ all accessories that came along with it. Every now and then I hook it up to AC (I took out all the batteries for protection) and play with it a little. It is still an awesome machine. Too bad that Apple is not in that business anymore. They just know how to design cool stuff (see iPod).

Then followed a Palm III because the speed and the Graffity input. I then turned to PocketPCs and got me an iPAQ 3660 followed shortly afterwards by an iPAQ 3850.

Now let´s see where this journey takes me next! I just can´t wait ...

[dcharles18]

Palm Pro (US Robitics)
Sony Clie (Original one, can't remember the model number)
Palm IIIc
Visor Prism
Casio EM-500
Ipaq 3835

[EyePAQ]

1. Radio Shack Pocket Computer (anyone remember these?) http://www.trs-80.com/trs80-pc.htm
2. Paper planner
3. Apple Newton MP100
4. Apple Newton MP120
5. Apple Newtom 2000/2100 (I kept thinking they'd get it right... :roll: )
6. Rex
7. Sharp Mobilon (gray scale)
8. Philips Nino (gray scale)
9. Compaq iPAQ 3650

[Tierran]

1. DayRunner - Really good paper planner that served me for 5 1/2 years. But while I was good about writing things down, I rarely checked ahead...

2. Palm IIIxe - College made me realize that I needed something to keep my class assignments straight. I saw a cool Palm thingie ;) in 2000 that a friend had and figured I could use something like that. Such a simple start to my obsession.

3. HP Jornada 565 - A year later, my Palm died and Palm Inc. wasn't too helpful about it. So I turned my eye to HP. I'm never getting a Palm again ;) And I love my Jornada...it's gonna be around for a while.. (Doubt it will beat that DayRunner though ;) )

[draiken]

1. Casio B.O.S.S. 64K (sold)
2. Philips Nino (sold)
3. Philips Nino with extra memory (sold)
4. HP Jornada 430se (sold)
5. HP Jornada 545 (sold)
6. HP Jornada 568

[acronym]

1. Casio Zoomer
2. Apple Newton 120
3. Apple Newton 2100
4. HP 660
5. HP jornada 690
6. HP jornada 548
7. Audiovox Maestro

[cajler]

Apple Newton (Still miss it :( )
Palm Pilot 1000
Palm Pilot 5000
Palm III
Handspring Visor
Palm Vx
Casiopeia (Saw the light :idea: )
iPaq 3635

Just to think of all the $$$s Uugh.

[Thinkingmandavid]

My first one was an IBM C3 or 3c cant remembe which way it goes. and about a month later i bought a Revo with the symbian OS.
Iused the ibm most of the time for about half a year but i have always felt the palm has wimpy viewable screen. so now i have been faithfully using my revo and i love it. Iwish it was still being updated and improved upon, but oh well. i may get the nokia 9290 because of the great similiarities. I Have my eyes currently on the Fujitus loox, or as a second thought the maestro. but i think it will be the loox:)

[jgahr]

Day Runner
Day Timer
Palm V
Palm IIIc
HP548
HP568
Compaq3975
Still not there yet

[seatec]

Day Runner
DayTimer
Casio E-10
HP 430
HP 548
HP 568
never a palm!
and drooling over the HP 928

[takotchi]

first... Casio Cassiopeia E-100
what a mistake... Compaq iPaq H3930
now... Casio Cassiopeia EM-500
next, with any luck... Toshiba e740

[Mr. Anonymous]

I love threads like this :)

1.) Newton 110
2.) Newton 2100
3.) Palm IIIx
4.) Palm IIIc
5.) Ipaq 3650
6.) Jornada 568
7.) T-mobile Pocket PC

I still miss my Newton 2100 the most. If only it was a little smaller and synced with desktop PIMs (and came out about 5 years later)... Sigh :)

[sub_tex]

I started a lot later than most leople on this board it seems. :D

1. Palm IIIe
2. Palm IIIxe
3. Sony Clie s320
4. Sony Clie N610c (currently in use)

I'm waiting for the OS 5 sony units next.

That or a smaller, Revo sized version of the Nokia Communicator 9210 that runs on CDMA 3g. :P

[MBurch]

Dayrunner (about 8 years!)
Then I got a Sharp 128K Wizard as an incentive from a credit card company. Used it one year than got jealous of a Palm carrying friend who could synch with his computer. Went to CompUSA with intentions of buying a Palm III, but was drawn irresistably to the Philips Nino 310 Palm-size PC. Bought the Nino. Sold the Sharp at a Garage Sale for five dollars. Then I started surfing WinCE sites and could not get over the beauty of the Casio E-100. Bought an E-100 at a Yahoo auction. Sold the Nino at auction after about 8 months use. Still miss the Voice Commander software on it. Best Voice Recognition and control software yet for WinCE.

Upgraded the Casio E-100 when PocketPC came out to a Casio E-115. It died about 2 months ago after two years of HEAVY usage. I could not bear the thought of buying new peripherals and gear, so I bought a "new" Casio E-125. It works great with all my E-115 stuff.

[Anthony]

1. Misc. Organizers
2. LG Phenom (ce2)
3. Palm Pilot Pro
4. Palm IIIc
5. iPAQ 3xxx (i forget which one!)
6. Jornada 568
7. e310 :)

[Evee Ev]

the evolution...

Palm III
Handspring Visor Deluxe
Compaq iPAQ 3835

[thundercat33]

It took me a while to see the light...

Casio Boss 64KB (In drawer)
Sharp Wizard (In drawer)
Day Runner (shredded, recycled)
Palm III, upgraded to 8 MB (sold)
Palm IIIc (sold)
Sony Clie 610C (sold)
:idea:
Jornada 56X (So cool and powerful, and I get to experience a learning curve again...)

Next: my wife sells me on E-bay when I mention the idea of getting a new device... :wink:

[jngold_me]

Here goes...

1. Timex DataLink Watch (you guys remember, the one that sync'ed with the flashing bars on the PC screen) :D
2. Visor Deluxe
3. Visor Prism
4. Casio EM-500 (the beginning of my PPC Era)
5. (3) Casio E-200's (ugh!) :cry:
6. HP Jornada 568 '
7. ????????

[Anthony]

[quote="jngold_me"]Here goes...

1. Timex DataLink Watch (you guys remember, the one that sync'ed with the flashing bars on the PC screen) :D
[quote]

My brother still wears his. Kinda scary, eh? 8O

That was the ULTIMATE geek device :)

[squeeze]

Okay here's my list....

1) Paper Daytimer
2) Casio Zoomer
3) HP OmniGo (remember the Omnigo?)
4) HP 200 LX
5) PalmPilot 5000
6) Philips Velo 1
7) Philips Nino
8) Sharp Mobilon
9) Casio E-125
10) Palm III
11) Palm IIVx
12) Sony Clie N710
13) Palm Vx
14) Compaq Ipaq 3765
15) Compaq Ipaq 3835
16) Sony Clie NR70V
17) Toshiba e740

This is pretty sad...my curent active devices are #14, 16, 17. My wife is using my Ipaq 3835.

[Rod3]

Daytimer
Palm (something or other; lasted about 30 minutes, took it back, swapped it for a Visor Deluxe)
Prism
Sony Clie N610C
Jornada 525
Jornada 545
Jornada 568 (just kept upgrading every two weeks with the Jornadas!)

Still have Daytimer, Prism, Sony, J568 and still use them all
Oh, but the money I have spent

:roll:

[Jorj Bauer]

The thread's getting moldy, but I'm sitting here waiting for some SQL to finish executing, so what the heck.

Newton OMP
Newton 120
Newton 2000
Newton 2100
Sharp Mobilon
Palm Pilot Pro
Compaq's original color H/PC CE 2.0 (which blew huge chunks)
Philips Nino
Compaq Aero 1520 CE 2.11, upgraded to 3.0
Compaq iPaq 3635 PPC2k, upgraded to PPC2k2
Toshiba e740

My favorite device is still the Newton MP2k series. It took CE another three years to catch up to its ~160 MHz StrongArm! It's sad, really...

[jlp]

It's all in my signature :)

I'm about to get the Pocket LOOX, and I most certainly will get the OQO (www.oqo.com) as soon as it's released, probably Q4.02.

[xCyJ]

1. Sony Clie S320
2. HP jornada 568

as u can see, im kinda new to these stuff :D

[NetDragon]

1. Radio Shack POS 32k PIM (Gave this Saten Spawn away)
2. Palm IIIx (LCD Conductors wore out because the body kept getting squished in my pocket)
4. Psion Revo Plus (Diamond Mako badged) (Sold it when I bought my iPaq)
5. Compaq iPaq 3650
6. (Waiting for the XSCALE device from HP/Compaq)

[Julio]

Well, my list is not as long.....but here goes:

1. Casio FA-174 electronic organizer
2. Casio e105
3. Casio e115 (received as part of Casio's palm-size pc -> pocketpc upgrade offer)

Future device? Seriously considering the Fujitsu Pocket LOOX......really want an XScale PDA/cell phone combo - but more PDA than phone - and with PPC 2K2 PE! :P

-Julio

[digitalnomad]

Well I got the gadget bug at age 17 or so.. Here is my short (but sweet) list:


1. Apple Newton 110 > It's still kickin'
2. Psion Siena (I think that what is was called) > Stolen
3. Palm III > Sold
4. Compaq Aero 2150 (With PocketPC Upgrade) > Gave it to my Father.
5. Compaq C 2010 > Sold
6. HP Jornada 720 > Currnet
7. Ipaq 3850 > Current

JP

[JvanEkris]

1. Paper Planner
2. Philips Nino (retired on a shelf)
3. Jornada 548 (current backup system)
4. Siemens Loox

Jaap

[Ravenswing]

I started back with a Philips Nino 302. Which was a nice machine. Good battery life, good screen, looked good too. Shame Philips dropped out of the market.

Then I bought a Jornada 3xx, which was ugly, clunky, and went back for a full refund when the screen colour thing came up.

I then had to go two full weeks without a PDA before I picked up my iPAQ 3630 from TechEd 2000 in Amsterdam. It was one of the first iPAQs in Europe and I got it at a discount because I pre-ordered it through the conference vendor. (So I got a cheap iPAQ and the company picked up the tab for me to swan around a conference for a week and end up at a live Bryan Adams concert! Just occaisionally, life is good :D )

I still own that machine, but it's coming to the end of its useful life. I carry it around with a dual PC jacket with a 128MB CF memory card and either a Bluetooth or an 802.11b card in it. With only 32MB of memory, I have a constant requirement for the extra memory. Plus, its CarePaq runs out next summer.

So, by next summer I'll be hunting a new machine. Hopefully the next gen PPC OS will be out by then.

[bigkingfun]

Daytimer
Timex Datalink watch
Palm Pro w/2Mb upgrade
Palm m100
Jornada 548
iPAQ 3850
Toshiba e740

Every time I've upgraded I think "Wow, this is the last machine I'll need - it does SO MUCH." I'm currently feeling that way about my e740 :wink:

[juni]

Here they are:

[Guy Van Houtte]

- psion 3a (during approx. 5 years)
- 2 years nothing
- 2 years nokia communicator
- since 1 1/2 year: hp jornada 548 (with 128 MB CF card)

[bridgecrosser]

Here's my list:
Daytimer
Sharpe organiser
Palm V
Jornada 545
Casio E125
Sony Clie 610
IPAQ 3700 Series
Palm 515

[Zero101]

Wow... never expected to see this thread live so long.

Anyways, I am getting a new Pocket PC. The company I work for needed some new notebooks for the sales dept. Well, thanks to a sweet deal on CDW (buy a Compaq notebook... get a free Ipaq 3850) I just scored myself a new PDA. :D

http://webobjects.cdw.com/staticimg/full/3/8/7903.jpg


So now my evolution goes:

1.) NEC Mobilepro
2.) Palm IIIx
3.) Casio EM500
4.) Compaq Ipaq 3850

I have a feeling this PDA will last me another year or two, hopefully.

[DavidHorn]

Palm Pilot Personal
Psion 3c
HP Jornada 360LX
Psion 5
HP Jornada 420
HP Jornada 525
Compaq iPAQ 3630
HP Jornada 568 <-- My PDA at the moment.