Palm to Pocket PC???

[TBWilliams]

A fellow by the name of Captain Poland suggests I get out of my very old Palm and purchase a Pocket PC.
I have been planning on upgrading my PDA for a couple of months but have not decided which to buy (Palm vs Pocket PC).
I have some very basic needs which consists mainly the following:
Calendar & Scheduling
Tasks/ To dos
Address book
Books
Documents & spreadsheets
Additional keyboard (right now I have a bulky keyboard for my Palm M100 and would like to find something with a thumbboard)
Gaming (small games, possibly)
I do not need this for checking my email, therefore, I do not see the necessity of wireless, bluetooth, etc. Correct me if I am wrong.
Suggestions, opinion, brainwashing, etc all acceptable.

Thank you in advance.

[xoiph]

It sounds like a palm might suit you better if that's all you need to do. You would be able to do a whole lot more with a PocketPC IMHO, but if you don't think you'd be using 802.11 and BT, then I guess you're better off with a PPC; plus you're probably more used to PalmOS since you currently own an M100. If you've never owned a PPC, I'd go buy one and try it out for a few days, most stores have nice return policies :wink:

[TBWilliams]

What are some of the additional benefits/perks that a Pocket PC has over the Palm units?

[JustinGTP]

Pocket PC is by Microsoft, and Windows is by Microsoft, they go hand in hand, especially Word Docs etc.

The perks are great, but since you want simplicity, I wont go on about the graphical games, movies, mp3s, etc! :D

[Vasant56]

PPC's double as a portable movie player, music player as well as virtually any multimedia device that you can think about. I can also sync all of my contacts, appointments and whatnot with outlook. E-mail messages sync wil outlook as well, so lets say it syncs every 5 minutes you can just grab your pocket pc and all of you e-mail messages will be there for you to read on the go, you can read then reply and when you sync at home it will automatically send your message. Also, you don't have to worry about losing your e-mails, they are automatically backed up on outlook so don't worry :)


A pocket PC can be used to do virtually anything.

[mrkablooey]

I have both, currently a Garmin iQue and an iPaq 2215. I've used Palm for years, this is my first PPC and it's great! i think I even like it more for day to day stuff than the Palm. The extra features are cool, too, such as wireless, etc. I won't even tell you where I'm tapping this from! :wink:

[Thinkingmandavid]

well i have used a plam, diamond mako, and ppc.
For me the ppc is great now. I dislike the palm os. I feel that you can go with a pocket pc and get it at an affordable price and it will go well for you.
here are some good reasons.
it learns your handwriting so no learning graffiti :roll:
you are used to windows on your desktop and the ppc is windows
familiar software such as word, excel, media player, blah blah
the screens are nice in my opinion, but maybe i am seeing bias:)

now about the keyboard, you can get a thumb keyboard or a fold out keyboard, just depends onwhat you need adn the time yo need it :wink:

[SandersP]

Only the upcoming h4355 has thumboard.

but if you ask me, thumboard is overrated. CHeck out Tengo, it's a software that simulate T9. It sounds cheeky, but it works as thumboard replacement.

[Thinkingmandavid]

it is the only one with a "built in" thumboard. I am assuming TBWilliams is willing to buy one to attach to the bottom. At least that is the impression I received.
22xx foldable keyboard
38/39xx foldable, thumboard, and slim

wireless keyboards from belkin and others.



I dont know what ppc you would get but that is what is available as a quick but far from complete list :wink:

[mrkablooey]

there is apparently a thumboard coming from HP for the 221x. can't wait to try it. :)

[Possum48]

Used a Palm device for almost 5 years. Son-in-law suggested that I get a PPC device. I did and I love it. Although I don't use WiFi or BT now I can see it in my future.

Don't limit yourself as to what you want to do with any PDA. The PPC allows you to do more things, things that you never thought you would use your PDA for.

I take mine to my workouts each morning to chart my progress, I listen to the latest in Smooth Jazz as I workout, I even take the PPC on the golf course to keep score, and finally I have found a great program for keeping score at baseball games (my true sports passion).

Forgot to mention that I use it to carry around pictures, family ones of course as I just love to show off the pix of my daughter's wedding. Couldn't do that with my Palm!

I also second the idea stated above that PPC using Microsoft operating system goes well with your desktop OS which I assume is Microsoft.

Good luck and I hope you become another of the satisfied PPC owners soon! You won't be sorry.

[Thinkingmandavid]

There you have it, another satisfied ppc use.
I think the way he told it was unbaised in the senes of how he approached it.
I tell people who are looking for a pda, dont buy a pda for only for what you currently need it for, buy it thinking in six months hwo else will i be using it. how will my life have changed in six months. These are important things to think about. once you spend the money, you dont want to have to be thinking how you wish you would have spent 49.99 more and could have gotten this and that, go ahead and spend it so when six months come you are glad you did and you have found yourself more productive. :wink:

[PoweriPaq]

I've used Palm since the Palm Pilot 5000, which I thought was pretty cool. Then so on and so on continuing the Palm line. Until last year I switched without trial of how the pocket pc but I always wanted one thinking that it should be as powerful as windows os. After receiving it, the screen is the one that amazes me, no Palm can be that sharp and clear to view the content on the screen. My second amazement was on how fast the ppc was able to multi-task, and less hassle for switching application. I couldn't do what I want with Palm, and now I'm watching my own dvd movies on my ppc and I envy Palm users, even Sony Clie user. Palm users always asked me what kind of format the video is and so on. One even wants to watch it on their Clie and wasn't able to, even when I beamed it to him. The disappointment on their face was priceless.

But if you just want to do the things you listed, then Palm is great, though I still use my ppc for contacts and calendar, not as often as e-mail or wireless activities. I still use my PPC to the maximum potential and I will never go back to palm, until their screen is clearer and sharper. Good luck with your choices.

[Thinkingmandavid]

That is what I call another satisfied user :wink:
I think the guy from the Washington post should read htis comment, he stated that it was easier to multi task on the palm, or as he also said, for users that were at home everyday people the palm was better.

[Traveller]

I switched to PPC from Palm because I wanted my PDA to seamlessly interface with my corporate enterprise system. Palm OS has come along way but is still cumbersome in this respect. Internet Explorer on PPC is definitely a strong point.

If you don't need to access a corporate system I would stick with Palm just because you are familiar with Palm OS (and you probably already have software for it)- some of the latest Tungsten models are pretty nice.

However, you can't go wrong buying either system. Price isn't an issue with PPC anymore since there are some pretty decent low priced PPCs out there.

[Thinkingmandavid]

Whether corporate system or not, to say he should stick the palm OS because he is familar with it, is not a valid argument for buying another one. If he has a home computer and work computer, which I am sure he at lease one of those, then it is more than likely running Microsoft OS on it, so that automatically makes him familiar with a pocket pc because it is Microsoft OS.

[Traveller]

No argument at all. Just another suggestion with low risk.

My ideal PDA is the following: Palm OS, Newton OS interface, and PPC applications and connectivity in a Tungsten C form factor with Blackberry wireless features.

I've gone through so many PDAs in the last 10 years that I realized that every PDA has good as well as bad qualities. There are also good and bad manufacturers as far as quality of the units and support. So in the end it's buyer beware.

[TBWilliams]

This helps a lot. Since price has to be a factor for me, I may have to go with a unit with less ram and only the SD slot.
I've been looking at the Dell Axim (older one) and it looks like it may suite my needs.
Unfortunately, one can only purchase a dell unit from their online stores. I usually like to handle something and see it before I buy it. Anyone have any experiences with Dell (good vs bad)?
Thanks again for the help.
TBW

[surur]

If cost is a concern go for a dual slot design (compact flash + SD ) as SD prices are much higher for both memory and peripherals (which you may find a use for in the future). The Dell Axim is a dual slot design btw, and apparently the only significant drawback with the dell is that it is larger than average. It has the full standard 64MB, I suggest you dont try to compromise on this.

There is 2 significant uses of a PocketPC you did nt have on your list, but which you may want to explore. One is using your PPC as a music player. If you are carrying your PDA everywhere already, you might as well take your music with you. The second is as a e-book reader (best books at Palm Digital Media (ironically), but with a good PPC reader available). I have found it incredibly useful, and it makes the time in any queue seem non-existant.

BTW their are some really cheap quite good pocketpc's coming out now.

There is one further issue you should be aware of. PPC's ar-nt really very good at round tripping Docs and XLS files, and mangle them quite badly. I believe with most new palms Docs to Go is bundled, which is supposed to be a better solution. If this is an important use of your PDA you should explore this more fully before committing.

Surur

[Thinkingmandavid]

I think it is going to be a matter of how much you expect from you pda/ppc/palm.... and what they realisticaly are able to do.
I think the files in ppc are ok, but it all depends on how advanced you are going to be wth yours in your documents.
YOu can write your document using your pda/ppc, transfer it to the desktop and do any modifying to it, and/or editing if you want to wait for them to accomplish that.

[TBWilliams]

Thanks for all the useful information and opinions! I have made the choice to go with the Intel® X-Scale™ Processor 400Mhz, 64/48MB, 3.5 QVGA Display.
Ordered online today and received a 10% discount.
I feel this will well suit my needs and your assistance, along with the other research I have done has been a great help.
Hats off to this site as I have seen many useful areas.
Being a subsriber may be useful for me. Suggestions?
Happy Canuck! :lol:
TW

[Thinkingmandavid]

So then you are going with the ipaq 2215??? :?:

[TBWilliams]

Wow! It was quite the jump from my Palm M100 to my new Dell Axim 5 64/32!
This is the reason I haven't responded for a very long time.
Captain Poland and I work together and did some comparisons. We found it was nice to have the 21 mb built-in storage space. It's a little bit bigger than his 2210 but it runs great! I would recommend it to others.
Now the hunt for software!

[bazza]

Sorry to go against the thread - but I would not move until the next release of Windows CE.

Currently I use both the T3 and HP 5550. Both have their diffrent strengths. I use the HP 5550 for crunching (complex tasks) and favour it for multimedia. The T3 is used for speed and convenience (good size). It is also used as I travel alot and World Mate PRO allows me to download airline schedules (world-wide). It doesn't crash and allows me to relate databases easily (linking). Screen res is better.

I understand that Palm is bringing out OS 6.0 next year and presumably Windows 2004. All things being equal I will probably switch to using the PPC if the OS improves. At the moment although it has improved it still needs to free-up memory for apps. Also, screen res needs to be addressed.

:werenotworthy: