08-10-2008, 11:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Is Your Handheld Powerful Enough To Allow You To Leave The Laptop At The Office?
"As handheld devices become more like full-fledged computers in their own right, the question of whether business travelers might be better served by leaving their laptops at home is again being asked by IT managers and end users alike. But that still appears to be more of a future goal than a current reality."
Is your handheld powerful enough to allow you to leave your laptop behind? For entertainment, I can listen to music (though I prefer my MP3 player to Windows Media Player), watch movies, read books and play games. For productivity email is the killer application allowing me to stay in touch. I can open and view most spreadsheets and documents to get a sense of what they contain, but when it comes to viewing or editing a large spreadsheet, my handheld falls a bit short. I also cannot manage my personal finances on my device, and being a user of MS Access for a number of things, my handheld is out for that task.
For me, it would depend on the trip. I have a vacation coming up and am planning on getting absolutely zero work done, so the laptop may stay behind, but for all but the shortest business trips, I'm afraid the laptop goes in the bag. How about you?
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08-10-2008, 11:20 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 270
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Notebook at home? Not!
I use a Dell Aximx51v. I have plenty of apps. I tried to use it as a notebook replacement a couple of times. I have the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, use Textmaker, etc. While it is possible to replace the notebook, it just ain't as productive nor as pleasurable. I'd much rather schlep a notebook.
Thanks!
BTW, If they would have added a phone to my Dell Axim, I'll bet Dell would be in the smartphone business in a big way. It's simply the best PPC ever!
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08-11-2008, 12:51 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 2
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I have good experiences traveling only with my HTC Advantage even in short business trip, weekends and holidays as well.
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08-11-2008, 02:46 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 251
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no laptop
I can't comment directly on whether my ppc would allow me to leave a laptop behind--because so far I haven't had to buy a laptop. The ppc can do the most important things needed while traveling. If I did have one it'd probably just enable me to spend more time playing games.
m.
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08-11-2008, 06:47 AM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 541
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I have tried that many times, but my iPaq 3870 with it's qVGA screen wasn't enough to replace my notebook and my first Phone edition - HTC Himalaya also fell short.
But then I got HTC Universal with quite usable keyboard, VGA screen... it could pass for notebook replacement (with TextMaker and PlanMaker) but it was frustrating and full of compromises.
For a while I gave up, and last year I even bought UMPC (Raon Everun), to be my notebook replacement - and I have to say it worked well for PC tasks, but not for mail and getting online (lack of inbuilt 3G)...
Unfortunately it's broken now, so I once again tried a WM device - I got an HTC Advantage and after two weeks I'm still in loved :-)
It's not too big, it's screen is great and with USB host and VGA out I think it's the first PDA that could replace my notebook for almost everything, and with the 3G built in I could do the rest of the stuff via remote desktop SW.
It's not perfect though - USB HDs typically don't work and WM is still lacking, but new Opera and SoftMaker Office make up for a lot...
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08-11-2008, 12:30 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 52
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iPAQ is no sub for laptop in teaching
Huge amounts of posting and email responses in my duties as a writing instructor of online courses for the local university do prevent my iPAQ 211's substitution for my laptop. I require a larger screen for copious reading as well as a full-sized keyboard for intense typing.
As far as Access on my 211 is concerned, HanDBase quickly, easily, efficiently converts my Access DBs to its own format and transfers the files to my 211 . . .
My gradebooks are in Excel and, after the initial transfer of the files to my iPAQ, I haven't been able to figure how to have them automatically update my 211 when it connects to my desktop for a sync . . .
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08-11-2008, 12:40 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 4
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I've an Axim x51v and it is great for many things but it can not replace a laptop.
The day I want replace my laptop (13.3 inches) I'd like to buy a asus Eee: it's small but has a bigger screen than my axim, 1gb ram, a sd slot too (my axim is wm6.1 so it is sdhc compatible) and linux is a powerful OS but if you need a big hard drive...anyway big hard disk are for movies and music 99% more or less legal
So a VGA pocket pc is good but a ultraporable can be better (depend of the situation: to check mail my axim is faste: no boot time)
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08-11-2008, 01:14 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 444
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I used to use my Axim with a Stowaway keyboard as a substitute while traveling. It worked passably for all but the most intense tasks. Then, I got an 8125 and took a giant step back in usability.
I've had my iPhone for two weeks. It doesn't approach the wide functionality of the Axim, but I didn't expect it to. OTOH, the things it does, it does extremely well -- much better than the WM equivalents.
Now that the Eee PC has spawned some new competition in the segment (e.g., I am waiting with baited breath for the MSI Wind and the Dell machine this fall), I'm not sure that I even want a mobile device to replace a full computer. After trying for eight years to juggle the compromises required, I think I'd just rather have a smart phone that does the basics without fuss, and a truly carryable notebook for the other stuff.
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08-11-2008, 01:53 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,060
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I found out this past weekend that I probably can't afford to leave home without BOTH my laptop and Pocket PC. My family and I took a long weekend trip to the beach, and I only intended to check my e-mail the first day for some important documents I was expecting.
My motel had no connectivity (It's a vacation, right?), so I had to use Internet Sharing with my Tilt in order to download those documents.
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08-11-2008, 02:24 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 75
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All,
When I left for a recent trip to Ecuador, I took my iPAQ 6945, my iPHONE (2G), my Palm TX, and a keyboard. The iPHONE had not been upgraded to os 2.0, so I left it turned off most of the time. The iPAQ and the Palm worked well. I found myself using the Palm and its keyboard most often, only using the iPAQ for the odd phone call. I did light up the iPHONE to make a call in Quito. The International Dialing Assist really works well! No hassles trying to find country codes, etc. Just dial and the iPHONE does the rest.
I could probably travel with just the iPHONE, once Data Viz comes up with Documents to Go for iPHONE, WEBIS develops Pocket Informant for iPHONE, and Laridian develops its iPocketBible as a built in app. An external keybroad would REALLY help, Mr. Jobs! Hey Mr. Jobs..... Are you there?
So: I left the notebook home. Did I miss it?.....Some If I had real engineering work to do, would I still carry my Thinkpad X40?..... Absolutely!
My $0.02 (USD)
Bill
Conclusion: For my consulting and pleasure travel, the X40 stays home. For field engineering, the X40 goes along. Heck, its total travel weight is only 5 pounds with its brick and power cord.
__________________
Current: 16GB 3G iPhone. 32GB iPhone 4G Gone: Can't tell ya'... My wife might find out
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