Doriath22
07-23-2008, 10:37 PM
Ok guys, here's my conundrum. I've been out of the "tech world" for some years now, and, naturally enough, don't recognize anything.
When I was a teenager, I bought an HP Jornada 545 on a budget. I loved it, used it, and enthusiastically participated on websites devoted to the Pocket PC and PDAs in general. Before I graduated from high school, the Jornada had been used so much that it was worn out (even with the metal case!) I moved on to an iPAQ H1940, though that was more of an impulse buy than anything else. I still use it, as a glorified library card catalogue. (It runs Pocket PC 2003, of course.)
Shortly after I purchased this device, I enrolled in a *very* old fashioned college, where technology of any kind was discouraged. For the next few years (ages in the tech world) I didn't watch television at all, and I checked my email perhaps once every week.
Earlier this year, a friend showed me his iPhone, and I was utterly mesmerized. I went out posthaste and bought myself an iPod Touch. Heretofore, I'd always avoided the iPod, almost as a point of pride, and figured that it was nothing more than a fancy MP3 player, and if I wanted to listen to music on the go, I always had a Pocket PC which was perfectly servicable for this purpose.
Anyway, I love my iPod touch (it seems almost, in my opinion, a worthy successor of the old Newton Messagepad) but I must confess, I'm quite mystified when I look at the greater "PDA world." When I go into my local Staples now, there are maybe 3 handhelds, a couple of palms and a Pocket PC which is more billed as a GPS solution than as a PDA. Contrast this with the "good old days" when Windows CE 3.0 had just come out, and the display had at least 6 palms, plus 3-4 Pocket PCs. I can't believe that people would just stop using and buying PDAs.... every cellphone I've seen seems to be very inelegant and cumbersome in comparison, and I just don't see too many "smartphones." All I see are iPhones.
So basically, my question is, what's the hot new device today? Are there any "traditional form factor" Pocket PCs? Do they sell? I'd ask if Palm is still alive and viable, but it seems to me, based on the (highly unscientific) observations, like Pocket PC (or is it Windows Mobile, now?) is actually in worse shape. You tell me....
I must confess a certain bewilderment! Going "under a rock" for four years really makes things hard when you decide to come out, hehe. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks guys!
When I was a teenager, I bought an HP Jornada 545 on a budget. I loved it, used it, and enthusiastically participated on websites devoted to the Pocket PC and PDAs in general. Before I graduated from high school, the Jornada had been used so much that it was worn out (even with the metal case!) I moved on to an iPAQ H1940, though that was more of an impulse buy than anything else. I still use it, as a glorified library card catalogue. (It runs Pocket PC 2003, of course.)
Shortly after I purchased this device, I enrolled in a *very* old fashioned college, where technology of any kind was discouraged. For the next few years (ages in the tech world) I didn't watch television at all, and I checked my email perhaps once every week.
Earlier this year, a friend showed me his iPhone, and I was utterly mesmerized. I went out posthaste and bought myself an iPod Touch. Heretofore, I'd always avoided the iPod, almost as a point of pride, and figured that it was nothing more than a fancy MP3 player, and if I wanted to listen to music on the go, I always had a Pocket PC which was perfectly servicable for this purpose.
Anyway, I love my iPod touch (it seems almost, in my opinion, a worthy successor of the old Newton Messagepad) but I must confess, I'm quite mystified when I look at the greater "PDA world." When I go into my local Staples now, there are maybe 3 handhelds, a couple of palms and a Pocket PC which is more billed as a GPS solution than as a PDA. Contrast this with the "good old days" when Windows CE 3.0 had just come out, and the display had at least 6 palms, plus 3-4 Pocket PCs. I can't believe that people would just stop using and buying PDAs.... every cellphone I've seen seems to be very inelegant and cumbersome in comparison, and I just don't see too many "smartphones." All I see are iPhones.
So basically, my question is, what's the hot new device today? Are there any "traditional form factor" Pocket PCs? Do they sell? I'd ask if Palm is still alive and viable, but it seems to me, based on the (highly unscientific) observations, like Pocket PC (or is it Windows Mobile, now?) is actually in worse shape. You tell me....
I must confess a certain bewilderment! Going "under a rock" for four years really makes things hard when you decide to come out, hehe. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks guys!