I'm back.....but with a contingency.

[trachy]

Long time no see, everyone. I'm guessing there's a whole new generation of PPC junkies on these forums since I last haunted them, but unless I'm wrong you're all just as eager to offer up help and advice as your predecessors. Am I right?

I gave up on my iPaq H3835 (?) over a year ago when the screen broke and I realized after a week without it that I didn't miss it all that much. Well, since the divorce I have run into a few situations where I longed for her, but nothing too drastic. I have missed having my contacts and calendar handy, and while cruising the occasional airport have wished I had a wi-fi device to surf the net and kill time.

Anyway, long story short I'm thinking about getting back in the game. This time, however, I think I have a good idea what I want (aforementioned basics). Unfortunately, there's one additional requirement that I'm not sure even exists yet. I want a big ol' hard drive. I want what I suppose amounts to an iPod/PPC that can hold 10-20Gb of media. Does such a thing exist yet?

Now please don't bother with the whole SD/CF solution. I'm not interested in plunking down $500 for a PPC and then breaking the bank on micro drives, etc. It should be integrated and come in under $500. Am I dreaming? It seems such a device should have been realized since I broke things off.

I'm really looking forward to everyone's input. I know y'all thrive on this kind of stuff. :-)

A shout out to Jason, Janak, Ed, Katie, Brad, Steven Cedrone, PetiteFlower, Pony99CA, etc., etc., etc...

[trachy]

Long time no see, everyone. I'm guessing there's a whole new generation of PPC junkies on these forums since I last haunted them, but unless I'm wrong you're all just as eager to offer up help and advice as your predecessors. Am I right?

I gave up on my iPaq H3835 (?) over a year ago when the screen broke and I realized after a week without it that I didn't miss it all that much. Well, since the divorce I have run into a few situations where I longed for her, but nothing too drastic. I have missed having my contacts and calendar handy, and while cruising the occasional airport have wished I had a wi-fi device to surf the net and kill time.

Anyway, long story short I'm thinking about getting back in the game. This time, however, I think I have a good idea what I want (aforementioned basics). Unfortunately, there's one additional requirement that I'm not sure even exists yet. I want a big ol' hard drive. I want what I suppose amounts to an iPod/PPC that can hold 10-20Gb of media. Does such a thing exist yet?

Now please don't bother with the whole SD/CF solution. I'm not interested in plunking down $500 for a PPC and then breaking the bank on micro drives, etc. It should be integrated and come in under $500. Am I dreaming? It seems such a device should have been realized since I broke things off.

I'm really looking forward to everyone's input. I know y'all thrive on this kind of stuff. :-)

A shout out to Jason, Janak, Ed, Katie, Brad, Steven Cedrone, PetiteFlower, Pony99CA, etc., etc., etc...

[surur]

No intergrated HD yet. There is a rumoured Dell device coming up, but most people think it will only be 4 Gb.

Surur

[ADBrown]

Originally Posted by trachy

Now please don't bother with the whole SD/CF solution. I'm not interested in plunking down $500 for a PPC and then breaking the bank on micro drives, etc. It should be integrated and come in under $500. Am I dreaming?

Yes. At this point, there's nothing with a completely integrated hard drive, let alone 10 to 20 GB. You can get microdrives up to 6 GB for relatively cheap (Call it $550 for both a PPC and a drive) but nothing larger.

[trachy]

I'm disappointed, but I suppose I'm not surprised. I for one would sacrifice some size for a boatload of storage if I could carry one less device. Considering there aren't the nagging contract head games of a wireless company in play here, I'd have thought someone would have stepped up and created such a hybrid. IMHO that's why Smartphones still haven't taken off they way they should.

[M_R]

Well it is not in the PPC world but I have heard of a few people hacking an iPOD for use as a basic PDA. Beyond that is is above my head.

[Pony99CA]

If you don't mind a non-Pocket PC, there's now the Palm LifeDrive. It has a 4 GB hard disk, and I think one with 6 GB is rumored. Nothing with 10+ GB is even rumored that I've heard.

However, I'd still rather have an extra expansion slot that I could put a MicroDrive in. Read my editorial to find out why.

Steve

[Duncan]

Originally Posted by trachy

I'm disappointed, but I suppose I'm not surprised. I for one would sacrifice some size for a boatload of storage if I could carry one less device. Considering there aren't the nagging contract head games of a wireless company in play here, I'd have thought someone would have stepped up and created such a hybrid. IMHO that's why Smartphones still haven't taken off they way they should.

Seems to me that the closest thing to what you are after is the Archos PMA400. It is a Linux (Qtopia) based PDA and video/music player/recorder combination. It has USB host, WiFi, QVGA (18-bit) screen, 30GB HD. It is marginally taller and wider than a top end PPC (and somewhat thicker) - plus it is a rather heavy 280g (but then you have to pay for that HD somehow!).

[Janak Parekh]

Originally Posted by Duncan

Seems to me that the closest thing to what you are after is the Archos PMA400. It is a Linux (Qtopia) based PDA and video/music player/recorder combination. It has USB host, WiFi, QVGA (18-bit) screen, 30GB HD. It is marginally taller and wider than a top end PPC (and somewhat thicker) - plus it is a rather heavy 280g (but then you have to pay for that HD somehow!).

Exactly -- as long as the Qtopia interface is sufficient for you. It depends on what your primary requirement is.

--janak