I could use your thoughts... Palm or Pocket PC

[sunni]

I have owned a Palm III and I currently own a Palm m105 so this will be a big jump for me! I really like the Palms but I am quickly outgrowing my current one and I am having problems with it as well.

I don't have money to buy toys very often so I am looking for something that will fill my needs in my price range as well as keeping me happy for the next few years. In my research I have narrowed my choices to the Palm Zire 71, Tungston T2, or the iPAQ 2010... the big choice is whether to make the switch to Pocket PC or not. I can see advantages and disadvantages to both, but since I have never had a Pocket PC I am not sure what *big* differences to expect.

I will be using my PDA for a lot of things... simple things like shopping and to-do lists, taking notes in and downloading web pages. I read *tons* of ebooks! I also love to play games on my PDA as well as keep pics and/or videos of my kids. I would also really like to listen to MP3's as well. Another biggie is that I need this to work for me for the next few years!

In your honest opinion what do you think would be my best bet?

[TawnerX]

the h2210 can do all those out of the box, except shopping list. But there are a couple of freebies.

if the built in is not enough, there are 3rd party apps, freebies or payola.

as a long term investment,
h2210 is wireless capable at much lower cost with WiFi.
CF memory is also far cheaper and bigger
replaceable battery
OS upgradable.

multimedia in PPC (music an movie) is miles ahead compared to POS lower cost too. You cannot find freebie .mpeg player for Palm.

Z71 is NOT upgradable.
and T2 does not have CF slot (SD WiFi will cost twice if it comes out at all)

[theone3]

ermm.. is it a good idea to be asking whether to go for palm or for ppc on a ppc site? 8O

No offense to the site, of course, but we're pretty biased here ;) :lol: (not without reason)

for something a little less one sided, try here (http://www.pdaavenue.com), or here (http://www.brighthand.com)

[g0097]

Since you have used a palm machine for years, a Zire or a T2 would both be natural step upwards that you would be comfortable with. I am going to assume that you are very use to using graffiti and I would recommend that you check out the new machines since they have changed that input method slightly. I personally do not like the change at all because letters that I learned to make I now have to learn to make a new way. I already learned two ways to make a T (regular and grafitti) , I do really want to have to learn a third. They say that its like writing on paper (see website here: http://www.palm.com/us/products/input/graffiti2.html) but I got use to make those letters they changed a certain way and I really dont like have to break my habbits. Pocket pc's have a input method called block recognizer that it extremely close to grafitti 2 so either way you will have something a little different but very familiar as far as entering text. Pocket pc's also come with several other input method out the box such as letter recognizer, keyboard, and transcriber.

The Zire and the T2 can both do what you listed as your primary tasks with a pda very efficiently. The other plus side it that you are already familiar with the software and you would proably just have to transfer over the ones that you are already using and they download the ones that you want to get up and going. You can also add your music and your pictures. With a Pocket Pc, most will proably recommend the Ipaq 2210. It seems to pack the most features that Pocket Pc users want for the money right now. I would suggest that you look at websites that carry pocket pc sofware and make sure that the software avaliable will work in a way that you are comfortable with. One good site to look for software that currently includes over a thousand freeware applications is: (http://ipaqsoft.net/). Look for the specific applications you will use and make sure they will work how use will use them (i.e. look for reviews and look at screenshots if possible to see you like the way that the information is presented and how you have to enter in and display you data).

What kind of pda I use is utterly unimportant to your search. Just because I use something does not mean it going to be right for you so I am not just going to say get a _______! because I use one. You do have a big decision ahead of you and I suggest you research, research, research! You have made a good step coming to discussion boards such as this one to get some ideas.

I do not know how much free time you have but if you can, go to the stores and spend hours playing with the machines that are currently out to get a good feel for them. Dont worry, I think that enough pda fans do that now that no one will look at you weird! :lol: Just get a feel for the machines and how they work. Good luck with your decision and let us know which one you make!! :D

[gtmtnbiker98]

I use both platforms on a daily basis, so I will provide an unbiased opinion. For your stated needs, I would go for the T|T 2 due to it's form factor.

Now, if you were wanting the device for multimedia use, then I would recommend the H2215.

[dh]

Someone who rides a GT MTB must be right. (I have a C'Dale and an Amp).

What it all comes down to is what will work best for you. I went from Palm Vx to an Axim, which works well for me. I'm not really tempted by any of the OS5 devices, but when OS6 arrives this fall things might change.

I like my Axim because I can do just about everything I need for work, plus it's great for music, movies and books.

It's taken a while and quite a few applications to get the Axim how I want it. I would say, that if you prefer to use your PDA right from the box, Palm OS is the way to go. If you like to customise and are prepared to spend some time (and some money) on it, PPC can be very rewarding. PPC is especially good for multimedia since you can play .ogg music files and DivX video files. both of which give good quality with smaller file sizes. The CF card option on the PPC platform gives you great, low cost storage for multimedia files.

Of the PDAs you mentioned, the TT2 and the HP2210 would both be nice. There is supposed to be a new TT3 available in October, with larger screen and POS6 so if you stick with Palm it might be sensible to wait a little while and see.

Since you read ebooks, check out the free ones every week from Microsoft. They are in MS Reader format but you can convert them to what you want. www.microsoft.com/reader

[crass]

Well late again for a reply but here it goes:
I own a Palm V and an ipaq 3870.
They type of uses which you described for yourself, are the same for me. Sincerely without any bias, if I were you I would stay away from a Palm, now. Palm is in a transitional PocketPC wanna-be period. I am about to sell my ipaq for sth new so I did a little research myself. Download the Palm Simulator and tons off apps. My God! Seems nothing has changed. PIM functions are very good of course if you buy Agendum. But Pocket Informant on ipaq is superb. And I get more fields for my contacts too.
As for multimedia, there is just no comparison. Either natively or by the use of excellent free apps, the PPC is by far a clear winner.

Now a little story:
I, too, read a lot of ebooks. And during my vacations I finished the ones I had on my storage card. No problem.
1. Went online, did a Google search. Opened 5-6 browser windows (can Palm do that?).
2. Found a nice site. Not PDA optimised. It had animated gifs, flash blah blah.
3. Downloaded the ebooks I wanted with a freeware download manager (can Palm do that?).
3. They were compressed with WinRAR. No problem. Used a freeware extractor for dozens of compression types including RAR (can Palm do that?)
4. Extracted the txt's in a nested folder on my SD (can Palm do that?) et voila. And of course the bigger screen makes reading a pleasure.

The only thing I can give Palm as an advantage is DocsToGo. It is great. But for me Palm OS 5 is still behind. I hope Palm OS 6 proves to be far better. I would like to go back. But now it's not the time.

[PantheraLeo2k3]

This is minor, but with the T2's d-pad, you can check off a shopping list with one hand.

For eBooks though, PPC's bigger screen will probably be a good thing

Of course, I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on my IIIe and got no headaches from 867 pages :)

[ti2gr]

Almost a year ago I switched from a Palm (m505 - which was my third palm) to a pocket PC (Toshiba e335) I have fallen in love with teh PPC, however I do mis some of the apps that were available on my palm. They are just minor apps, and I have found work arounds to them on the PPC.

The best thing though I liked about the PPC was it's compatability with Outlook. Sure I do use Pocket Informant now, and the palm can sync with Outlook, but it's not the same. Although I did notice some new apps that work better with Outlook now.

The other best thing I like is transcriber as opposed to Grafitti. The transcriber may not be perfect, but I notice a better job of inputting than I did with grafitti.