New to this. Just bought an e310.

[JackTheTripper]

Hi all, I'm new to this Pocket PC thing. used to have a Palm IIIex till I sat on it.

Just wanted to ask what are the best things I can do for myself with this thing. Programs? Accessories? What size SD card to get etc... I just got the basic model. Oh, great deal BTW. $239 after $50 rebate.

Thanx. Hope to learn a lot here. :)

*Edit* Hey! Just noticed my title. What contest?:D

[Jeff Rutledge]

Firstly, welcome to the PPC community.

As far as what's out there for your e310, the answer is "just about anything". I've been a PPC user since the first version of Microsoft's PPC OS and am currently a happy iPAQ 3870 user. I am continually amazed at what these little things can do.

As far as specific advice for you, I'm afraid I have to answer your question with a question: What do you want to do with it?

Are you interested in wireless connectivity? There's a Bluetooth SD card you could get. Couple that with a BT Access point at home and you could surf wirelessly at home. Or get a BT phone and surf anywhere wirelessly via GPRS.

Maybe multimedia's your thing? If so, I'd definitely get more memory. The e310 has only 32MB memory and you'll find that you can use that up pretty quick (even without media files actually). You can get SD memory cards up to 512MB now.

Then there's software. There are hundreds (maybe thousands?) of titles available.

Truthfully, the best thing you can do is hang out at sites like this one. This one is my personal favorite and I spend the bulk of my time here, but there are others too: www.brighthand.com and www.pocketpcpassion.com are two of the most popular. I'd spend some time "lurking" around those sites, especially the forums. All the forums have a search function. Get to know it well. There are lots of "Top 10 software" posts and the like that should help you too. Thankfully most PPC software has a trial version so you can try it out first. Quite a bit is free too. You just have to spend the time looking and trying.

Finally, if you have a specific question, definitely post in these forums. You'll find them very helpful (especially this one).

Good luck!

[JackTheTripper]

Thanks JR for the warm welcome. I'm very farmilure with the VB forums. Im a mod on another one. I've actually lurked a little here already and got some info which pointed me to the e310. Also check out cnet.com for free downloads. Not a whole lot of them out there unless you want a spanish to french dictionary or a program that calculates radial curves. WTF? Well, I guess it's what some people need/are into. ;)

Background: My company paid for my PDA. But only up to $250. That's why I went with the e310. But I will use it personally of course. Wanted to hole a few MP3's on it for those long boring meetings so will have to def get a SD card. ***Specific Question*** Read in another thread ScanDisk cards don't work to well. Is that true?

Also wanted to know about any ways to cusomize the little thing. Background images etc... I'm not finding it. *** Another Specific question ***

This looks like a great forum. Interesting. You have a lot of members but hardly any of them are online.

Oh ya, one more "specific" question. I actually asked it above... What contest?

Thanx again.:)

[Jeff Rutledge]

For software, I think Handango (www.handango.com) is probably the most popular. I know that Brighthand had a "Top 5 Apps" thread that I found very useful. I've lost track of how much $$$ I've spent of software and accessories.

I have two SanDisk 128MB cards and haven't had problems with them, but I too remember hearing the issues (not lately though). I also have a Toshiba 64MB card which is also great. Also, it might be different for Toshiba devices. Maybe someone with a Toshiba unit can chime in here.

As far as customisation goes, the easiest way is with Themes. There is literally thousands available. Check out www.pocketthemes.com as they have over 20K themes available. They're just single TSK files that you place in your My Documents folder. There are also apps that you can get to manage them. I use Theme Manager to automatically change my theme every 15 minutes. I think you can find it on the PocketThemes site too. Microsoft has a Theme Manager available too which lets you create your own.


I didn't answer the contest question because I'm not sure myself. Maybe one of the mods can fill us in. It might just be an inside joke. I know that your title is updated automatically (you can't change it). Mine seemed to change the more I posted, so maybe "I just joined for the Contests" means you're a new poster. As far as the contests go, this site often gives away copies of software, etc. but only to registered users. So that's probably what that means.

Also, speaking of apps, there are a few that I can't live without that you might like:
Pocket Informant (must have PIM replacement) - www.pocketinformant.com
List Pro (hierarchal lists) - www.iliumsoft.com
eWallet (keep your password, etc.) - www.iliumsoft.com
Dashboard - Today screen replacement - www.snoopsoft.com
Resco File Explorer - www.resco-net.com

Hopefully you find a couple you like.

Cheers,

[Steven Cedrone]

Oh ya, one more "specific" question. I actually asked it above... What contest?

Thanx again.:)

Your first post gets you the title "I just joined for the contests". After that, the title will change based on the number of posts you make...

Steve

[Thinkingmandavid]

I dont remember my posts changing at all. Now i am thinking about it.
I too read about a lot of people having trouble with their SD cards from Scandisk. I think one of them even posted that Toshiba had admitted to it. Unfortunately I am not able to remember where I read that. If you buy it from best buy and it doesnt work you can return it in 30 days wiht your receipt so that is useful and helpful.
ewallet isgood, I am a firm believer that your ppc is your dayplanner, so useit and treat it like one and you will be so happ you did so. there isnt any sense in not taking full advantage of the capabilities of your pda!
welcome to the boards, i dont post everyday but have been here a bit.