PDA as mini-Tablet PC?

[maniladude]

Hey all,

I'm a student looking into getting a PDA to use to take notes (and drawings of graphs and diagrams) and do homework like essays and letters on the go (in line for something, in a car, etc). A little e-mail and chat on the side is something I'd like to do with it, too. Essentially, to use as a mini-Tablet PC. Is a PDA a practical device for this kind of work?

I'm looking into the Palm Tungsten C for this. I like the built-in thumb-board for doing things on the go (I'm not looking forward to writing much of anything in Graffiti), the Wi-Fi and the Documents to Go (which I understand works far better than Pocket Word). But is a thumb-board or Wi-Fi on a PDA practical for anything I'd imagine myself to be doing? Would I be better off saving a few hundred and just getting a Tungsten E or Zire 72, and a separate folding keyboard?

I'm also honestly not sure whether or not to get a Palm over a Pocket PC; specifically, I'm debating between the T|C, an Axim (for if I realize that a thumb-board is worthless) and the iPAQ H4355 (the one with the thumb-board). It seems to me that Palms in general have more out-of-the-box usability (what with Documents to Go bundled with nearly every model), but that PPC's have more growth potential in terms of programs and add-ons - but that you pay through the nose for expansion in either system. I don't want to spend much more than I do on the device itself..

I have no idea what a POP3 or an IMAP is, except that they are some way to grab email on a mobile device, and that they don't work at all with the "free" e-mail services (Hotmail and Yahoo) that I use.. Is there some way for me to check mail on accounts like those with a Wi-Fi PDA?

I'm also interested in doing free-hand notes, diagrams and graphs with a PDA; is there any program that would allow me to do this on a PDA?

That's a lot of questions, I know, but thanks for any answers!

[IpaqMan2]

Hmmmm....

You're asking for alot of information...Or in other words you seem to have alot of expectations as to what a handheld PDA will do for you.

No doubt that either PDA you choose will offer many answers to your needs and this being a Pocket PC website most everyone here will tell you that Pocket PCs are they way to go... But more importantly I think it's important to ask... are you looking for a portable PC that will allow you to do indepth drawings of graphs and diagrams as well as writing alot of documents for school? If so I don't think PDA is what you're looking for. I mean they can handle documents but I would never recommend one as your only platform to write all you papers... a laptop or desktop would be better. And as for graphs and drawing of diagrams.... This sounds to me that it would be a PC based program not a PDA program. You're going to want the larger room to work on your drawings from a PC with a large monitor not from a PDA. Of course if your school uses a special software for diagrams you could always find out from software vendor if they make a Pocket PC counter part, or do extensive searches on Google or other Pocket PC software sites such as Pocketgear to see if such a software exist for Pocket PCs.

I'm not trying to discorage you, but I am trying to take a realistic approach to your questions. PDAs are great and I love them, but they are more like companions to your desktop computer, being able to carry around information that you might need while on the go. And even though you can use Pocket PCs or Palm PDAs to do mobile computing there still will be some things better done or needs to be done on a desktop PC or laptop.

just my 2 cents.

[sylvangale]

If your heart is set on a Palm, don't limit yourself to a keyboard version. By playing a simple game such as Giraffe a few times you can master graffiti and write faster and more comfortably than you can thumb a keyboard.

Giraffe is a tetris type game, except instead of blocks falling down you have letters, numbers, and symbols. You have to enter the graffiti to clear the letter from the screen before it works its way to the bottom. If a fun and easy way to get used to graffiti.

If you plan on doing heavy writing you may want to invest in an external keyboard (with a number row!).

Giraffe
http://www.palmplanning.com/software.htm

http://image.pcbee.co.kr/images/review/mobile/Giraffe.jpg

[frankenbike]

If you go the Axim route, there's a thumboard that snaps on the bottom for $20.

Most people I've talked to who went from Palm to PocketPC regretted waiting so long to make the switch. There's just a lot you can do with PPCs.

Not quite everything you can do with a PC, but a lot of things. The Transcriber on the Axim is pretty good for notes once you train yourself to write neatly, and even when it screws up words, you can go back and fix them later and still get the gist of what you wrote.

I also use a folding keyboard that's just a little bigger than my Axim when folded, that makes typing a lot easier. There's a whole bunch of those available starting around $35.

The Axim I have has built in WiFi and Bluetooth. I don't have any BT devices at this time, but the WiFi is amazingly useful once you find free WiFi sites within your normal circle of travel. I also have a pocket WiFi access point that plugs into ethernet ports and use that in hotels and such when I'm travelling, and if you're in a school with ethernet you can use that as well.

I also have a 1 gb SD card in my Axim, with about 825mb of it taken up with music. At the 90kb rate I compress most of my tunes for the Axim, I get about 30 hours worth (it's a lot when you cherry pick the songs you like most off albums).

When away from home (some things need a WiFi hookup) I use it for the following: email, Usenet, web browsing (highly compromised since most pages are made for a larger display), IM, writing letters that I'll print from my PC later (though you can print directly to HP network printers, especially the wireless ones), road atlas (you need map software and it doesn't require wifi, though some require GPS I think, which you can get in Bluetooth for wireless integration). Not to mention the MP3 player capabilities and if you're really desperate for entertainment, some folks compress movies on a PC and download them to the Axim (but it's not a trivial amount of work). It's basically my PC away from home.

Around the house I use it mostly as a music player I can plug into computer speakers in various locations around the house, including streaming Shoutcast music and streaming music from my PC.