Advise on a new purchase:

[bennettj]

I little help from the resident experts:

I am thinking of trading in the old Casio BE300. (Yes I do still use it) Was wondering what you thought of the existing brands and models? What I am looking for is a contact mgr., wifi, MP3 player, voice recorder and while I am listing my wants a camera. Additionally, I don’t want to spend over $500 bucks either.

Additionally, should I purchase now or wait a while? If need be I can live with the POS BE300 for a while.

Thanks in advance.

[Menneisyys]

What I am looking for is a contact mgr., wifi, MP3 player, voice recorder and while I am listing my wants a camera

If you don't want VGA, then, prolly a cheap Dell Axim X30 Mid will best suit you. It's one of the best handheld price/performance-wise. It doesn't have a camera; however, none of the built-in PDA cameras are worth paying for. They are all much-much worse than even the cheapest quality-brand standalone digital cameras. It's almost impossible to make (semi-)quality shoots with them.

[jickbahtech]

At "under $500" you could probably get an hx2400 (I got an hx2750 for under $500 after shipping, but it took some shopping around).
Wi-fi, Bluetooth, dual slot memory, I like mine a lot.
If you don't need VGA it's something to look at.

[applejosh]

The rx3715 has the standard PIM apps, wifi, bluetooth, can play mp3's using the builtin Windows Media Player or third party (some free) mp3 players (the nevo media program might be able to do this also, but I've never used it), has a camera (1.2MP, although the quality, as pointed out, is pretty bad compared to standalone cameras), and through the notes app I can record little voice snippets. It is a QVGA (240x320) device. The battery life is pretty darn good.

There have been some issues with the device for some people, the most notable being that the iPAQ File Store completely locked up on them requiring them to send the unit back for exchange/repair. I haven't had this issue (knock on wood), and I'm pretty pleased with the rx3715 so far.

I got mine for $399 after a mail in rebate ($499 MSRP), but I recently saw a post somewhere for Office Depot offering for $349 after rebate.

I don't have any first hand experience with any of the Dells, or with just about any other "newish" PPC (my previous PPC was an H3955 from a couple of years ago), so my perspective is a bit skewed towards what I've been using.