Yet Another Recommend me a handheld-thread! (lengthy)

[Björn Edström]

Hello folks,

I will buy a handheld device soon and I would appreciate recommendations exactly what to buy. I know this is a very common question but I've been searching and reading for six months (I kid you not) without finding answers so now I just have to ask. I will use the computer for the following tasks:

* Dictionary. I read a lot of english literature and sometimes (being from Sweden) I get unsure what I'm reading. What, exactly, is "assail", for instance? If they assailed Morgoth, did they slay him or just assault him? Or insult him? Normally if I was working with my regular desktop computer I'd just type dict assail in Mozilla Firefox which would take me to http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=assail ... But when you are lying in bed reading that's not very convenient. :-)

* E-book/PDF reader. I read, that's what I do. Being a programmer and role-player I have a million of documents I would like to read but can't because I don't want to waste papers, or ink, or for that matter read them on my workstation. I have a few of my Dungeons & Dragons books as PDF and it would be wonderful to read them on screen. Besides I know there are lots of role-playing tools for both PPC and Palm so a handheld could potentially replace my 15 pound backpack of Dungeons & Dragons material...

* Encyclopedia. You are upstairs reading The Silmarillion, and it says something about Gothmog... Wait a minute, who the heck is Gothmog? You can, of course, go downstairs and look it up in your 4 pound "The Complete Guide To Middle-Earth", but it would be much easier to just search in your tolkien_encyclopedia.txt, or ask Google. :-)

* Something new and cool to create applications for. I have since long coded windows applications (mostly a healthy mix of C and C++, and the win32 API) and I would love to create programs for a new platform. How much does the PPC API differ from the "regular" windows API? Are there any specific PPC SDK I can look at? Thanks.

Well, I think that covers everything important. It's probably stupid to mention but I'd like the computer to be small, light-weight, have a good battery-life and a nice screen (as everyone else that is). :)

Now, the catch. There is always a catch. I can practically afford a $500 device with WiFi, Bluetooth and other goodies, but I'm unsure if I'm willing to spend that much. Although my home network is quite sophisticated with seven computers and more ports than you can shake a stick at, I have no wireless capabilites, no access points etc. I can of course change this, but a WiFi PDA is quite expansive as-is and as I have to spend even more money to upgrade my LAN.
Before you solve this problem, remember this is Sweden, PDA:s are quite expensive here, so not even the Ipaq 2210 or 4150 are affordable. To make things worse, unfortunately www.provantage.com who used to be really liberal with international orders won't ship HP's products to Sweden anymore.

So... Any suggestions? I am currently looking at the Ipaq 1940 and Palm Tungsten T3, but both have various problems, such as the yellow screen on the 1940 and the fact that the palm is a palm. :-) Now I will probably spend more money on a PDA than I can afford, so I might as well ask what you think about the Ipaq 4150, If I'm lucky I might find one on e-bay. Can you live without your Wifi? :-)

Thanks in advance!

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Bjorn,

The amount of money you're willing to spend almost puts you in range of the new Toshiba e805. I just bought one for $599 US and there is a $50 rebate on it.

I think it would fit your needs very nicely as it has built in 802.11b, a 4" screen that is capable of 640 x 480 resolution, 128Mg of RAM, 32 Mg of usable Flash Rom, a CF slot and an SDIO slot.

I bought this one because I read tons of e-books and watch DivX movies. The screen and resolution alone are worth it for reading and surfing. With a screen resolution hack (an open source embedded C++ program I believe), you can even go full res and landscape....no more web surfing and scrolling left\right to see the whole page!

Prices of WLAN routers \ access points have dropped way down (at least here in the States) so you could probably add wireless to your LAN for a little out of pocket and then take full advantage of the Tosh's WiFi. I believe that oversees, the e805 is available with your choice of WiFi or Bluetooth....here we only get the built in WiFi option. With the SDIO slot, however, it's very easy to add BT.

There are some great reviews out there on the e805.....check Google. It's a pretty penny to spend, but I am loving this PPC....it just replaced my Dell Axim x5.....

Best of luck!

KCT

[Partita]

my take:

-Asus A716 if you don't mind the size ($450) (dual slots, dual wireless)
http://www.pocketmatrix.com/reviews/a716/
-or Dell Axim if you want slimmer/cheaper (~$400)
-then h4150, e800 etc...

-eBook, encyclopedia.
uBook for any size of HTML/txt/open ebook.
http://www.gowerpoint.com/
Wikipedia is available in downloaded version in mobipocketformat. (some 168MB in size)
http://members.chello.nl/epzachte/Wikipedia/

there are about two dozens more, but those two freebies item seems to hit your requirements. There should be several commercial ebook/encyclopedia available too.
http://www.pocketdirectory.com/

-There are pocketGCC, ASM, perl, python....
(so this should give you a fairly complete tool right in your handheld)
http://www.rainer-keuchel.de/software.html

[Aerestis]

You seem to be biased towards palm because as far as I know you haven't tried using one yet... Well, you might be impressed, they're pretty cool little things.

But you should without a doubt go with a pocketpc. What you want is more suitable for a pocketpc.

I just wanted to say that you might be surprised by a palm, more so the operating system 5, it's not bad at all. If you do get a palm though, make sure you get an extended hardware warranty... The screens lose their sensitivity FAST, and while they have brilliant screens, sometimes they stop responding or turning on. It's all in the operating system when it comes to palm.

[sublime]

I, too, read a dumpload of literature and would love to have a good dictionary and encyclopedia to work with. The only ones I found for the ppc are freaking huge and expensive, $50 for the dictionary and $50 for the encyclopedia. However, they are the most thorough of any program in either category.

World Book Encyclopedia
World Book Dictionary

Look for them at Handango. If you buy them, you'll need a memory card to store them, because they're disgustingly huge, like 70 megs per program, I think.

[Björn Edström]

Wow, thanks for all the thorough replies. Much appreciated!

I have discovered that PDAs are really cheap on e-bay, say a new Ipaq 4150 with shipping to Sweden is only $450. The retail price here is well over $650... So I can safely buy a higher-end PDA without upsetting my wallet too much. :-)

Now I must say that I am really tempted to get the 4150, I have heard great things about the size and screen of the 19xx and the 4150 seems to be quite like the 19xx, with some more nice features. I am worried that if the device is too large - the e805 for instance seems to be a tad larger than other PDAs (obvious reasons) - I won't use it. Is the e805 _that_ large? Does it fit in your pocket for instance? :-)

Thanks!

[David Prahl]

Does Dell ship devices to Sweden? You might consider reading my review of the Dell Axim X3i - it's fairly inexpensive lightweight.

I don't even know what "assail" means! :lol:

Pretty much any Pocket PC will be able to perform those tasks. Now you just need to pick a shape and price you like (the hard part!).

[Pat Logsdon]

I don't even know what "assail" means! :lol:
Usage: Only a pugnacious prat with pernicious proclivities would assail a puissant person.

:mrgreen:

Sorry - it's only 11am and it's already one of those days...

Back on topic - I'd vote for the 4150. While I think the e-805 is still pocketable, it's definitely larger than the iPaq.

[Partita]

Yeah if size matter than it's h4155 hands down.

but if CF + WiFi counts, then I would say A716 is ahead of e800, even with the swanky VGA screen.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Now I must say that I am really tempted to get the 4150, I have heard great things about the size and screen of the 19xx and the 4150 seems to be quite like the 19xx, with some more nice features. I am worried that if the device is too large - the e805 for instance seems to be a tad larger than other PDAs (obvious reasons) - I won't use it. Is the e805 _that_ large? Does it fit in your pocket for instance? :-)

Thanks!

If you are familiar with the Palm One Tungsten and the HP 2215, there are pictures of the e805 stacked under them at this review (http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/toshiba-e805-review.html).

I am relatively small (5'6", 125 lbs.) and I'm OK with the device size. It does fit in a front shirt pocket.....

Good luck!
KCT