Palm Computers.

[Andy Murray]

Hi,

I've decided to invest in one of these gizmos, and I was hoping someone here knew a little about them.

I need something that'll;

Read/Edit Excel files

Read/Edit Word files

Pics n stuff would be good.

Link up to my Desktop (USB?)

Organise my working week.

Any other gadgets, gizmo's n whizzbangs would be good.

I'd spend up to £400, so what can I get, and where should I buy it or steal it from?

Thanks

[pesilat]

You don't want a "Palm" then (i.e.: a PDA that runs PalmOS).

You want something that runs "Windows CE". Anything running Windows CE should work for your needs.

Mike

[YODA]

I agree 100% - A Win CE jobbie is the way to go. My HP Jornada 545 does everything on your list and came with Pocket Excel, Word, Outlook, Money & more - I paid £200 for it. Dunno what the current equivalent is though. Probably one of the iPAC's now that HP and Compaq are one.

The official Pocket PC page (http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/pocketpc/default.asp)

[c_storm51]

It's probably worth looking on ebay first - I have a few friends who have found some excellent deals there on PDA's. If you're looking to buy new then amazon.co.uk is a good place to start (also good for information and peoples opinions). I guess the top brands to look out for are HP, Casio and Compaq but I'm not too sure what's good right now....

[r4bid]

I have a visor delux from handspring (about two years old). It can do most of what you are talking about if you are willing to buy the software to read the microsoft stuff. The new handspring models have color screens and are pretty nice but if your main focus is going to be on word and excel then you probably should take the others advice and go with a pocket pc.

Before you buy one really make sure that you need it. I got my visor thinking I would organize all my school work, phone numbers, appointments etc... and ended up using it for little more than playing silly games. I am not suggesting that you abandon the idea just really work out if the investment is worth it to you.

Instead of using my palm to remember stuff(too much of a hassel to carry around in school and remember to buy new bateries) I got a book on memory and just memorize all my important info.

[Andy Murray]

Thanks guys, I'm a little confused still, as the Palm OS units seem to offer me everything I need too in terms of excel etc. What's the advantage in going for a Windows CE based system?

I'm most at home with good old Win98

At the moment I'm carrying around a huge laptop (2000XP), which I keep all my customers names telephone numbers etc on. I can also go over their sales performance year on year. I'd also like to be able to do my weekly reports as I go, as opposed to trying to do em at the weekend, or dragging my laptop into a hotel at night. Hence Word and Excel, to be compatible with my desktop and laptop.

I need the laptop for other things, just not all the time you see.

If I don't need to spend my full budget on the Palm thingy, then I might be able to buy a Digital Camera as well, which would be brill!!!

[r4bid]

The palm OS does not have built in support for word and excel files... You will need to spend at least $45 dollars (US) more to get some decent software for those formats on the palm OS. Pocket PCs run a modified windows which comes with built in support for all of microsofts big formats.

You could go with either, one just requires some extra software purchases before it meets all your requirements.

[Sweeet]

Um, so far I think everybody is a bit off. You're best bet would definitely be something with the new Windows Palm OS 2002 - or 'Pocket PC 2002'.

Andy, here is a good article to get you on track to finding what you want: http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2909509,00.html

I believe that site also has a good section where they rate & review all the PDA's available so you can find what you want based on your criteria and then find out how to buy it.

Sweeet.

[pesilat]

Originally posted by Sweeet
Um, so far I think everybody is a bit off. You're best bet would definitely be something with the new Windows Palm OS 2002 - or 'Pocket PC 2002'.

Andy, here is a good article to get you on track to finding what you want: http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2909509,00.html

I believe that site also has a good section where they rate & review all the PDA's available so you can find what you want based on your criteria and then find out how to buy it.

Sweeet.


Huh ... haven't heard anything about Windows Palm OS yet. Sounds interesting.

Mike

[Sweeet]

It's by far and a way the best - and I'm going out on a limb saying that, because I hate microsoft. It has Word, Excel, Outlook, and a bunch of other things which make it good for Andy - it's just a more portable version of his laptop.

Sweeet.

[Andy Murray]

This should really be in the 'Rant' column but;

I spent a whole day traipsing round PC/Electronic wholesalers today, and got zip. I felt like getting a T Shirt printed with 'Help I'm a Consumer' printed on it. Even resorting to "Hi, I've got money to spend on one of these gizmos, please take it" with no result. Wouldn't happen in America I tell ya, it's no wonder our economy is wrecked.

I've concluded I'm as well buying from a Cyber supplier, and rather like the looks of this;

Dell X5 (http://www.euro.dell.com/countries/uk/enu/bsd/products/model_axim5_3_axim5_performance.htm)

Whaddya reckon Techno-Phibes?

[YODA]

Wowza! Looks awesome for the money!

I'd have one!

[Sweeet]

Excellent choice.

Sweeet.

[dredleviathan]

I bought a Song Clie PEG-SJ30/E for £150 recently althought it took me a whole afternoon of bartering to get it for £150.

Dead pleased with it. Easy to use (does everything you mentioned) and has a few additional pluses (for instance plays video clips). Being Sony its also pretty darned sexy and easy to carry around.

I don't know much about the technology although it does run on the Palm OS. In the end just opted for the one that did all the things that I wanted and was reasonable - the whole purchasing experience was a real downer though.

[Andy Murray]

I bought the Dell, and aside from an assumptive user manual (you mean you've never used a pam computer before) it's absolutely amazing. I have MAP updates when I can dock (thanks HngKongPhooey) and all the stuff I wanted. It also records as a dictaphone too.

All I need now is somewhere to download MP3 files without paying for em???

Any ideas???

[Saz]

Kazaa lite - http://doa2.host.sk/ Don't get the regular Kazaa, as its got lots of unwanted spyware extras. This version is OK though. WinMX - www.winmx.com is pretty good too.

[Jim]

Andy, still happy with the X5? Yoda got me thinking in this direction now with the link diversion from laptop. I think our needs are similiar; I need to be able to show performance graphs and property data to clients and I thought the laptop would be the way to go.

From the way it looks, it seems that you wouldn't be able to type letters, etc. into it so how do you get the data in apart from downloading? Maybe I should get outta my hick town and go to the 'big smoke' to have a play with one...

[Andy Murray]

Originally posted by Jim
Andy, still happy with the X5?
From the way it looks, it seems that you wouldn't be able to type letters, etc. into it so how do you get the data in apart from downloading? Maybe I should get outta my hick town and go to the 'big smoke' to have a play with one...

Hi Jim, the X5 has made me feel almost competent technically, but I'm not the sort of person to exceed technical advances these days. 'Gimme Analogue baby'

Most PDA's will have a snap-on keyboard accessory though.

I just dock my didgerydoodermy to my desktop pc thingy and all the data I have in my pc flirts across to my pocket gadget. Works fine for me.

If Oz is anything like the uK, the sales people won't help you. just do the do on the net.

Yoda's gadget is fab if you can stretch to it. I believe it's his phone as well!

[Jim]

The boss decided to buy a second hand Dell P3 500 with 256Meg RAM, 12Gig HDD, CD & FDD for $750-. Worked out pretty good only the screen only has 16 colours. A bit bad for presentations to prospective clients for that but all else is good.

I had recommended to me the Sony VAIO (Spell?). Looks ok, but I think I'll wait off on the PDA for a little while yet because it seems that the changes are going to be for the better.

[YODA]

Hmmm..... Dell P3 500 with 256Meg RAM - you should get at least 16bit colour from that unles the graphics card is shot.

[Jim]

Yeah, I think it is 16bit colour but I was hoping for a little bit more to show pictures, etc.

[YODA]

16bit colour should give you full photo quality on screen

16 bit = 65,336 Colours on screen

[WhiteWizard]

yeah 16 bit colour is fine you can't really distinguish much difference from 24 and 32 bit colours anyway

[Jim]

I think I have to upgrade the driver so that I get better res and colours. I have no real idea how to do this so I'll take it to the shop and let them mess with it.

[YODA]

The driver is probably already on there - PM me and we' can meet up in chat sometime & I'll talk you through it if you like.

[Jim]

Better be careful what you ask for... I am a bit techno-dopey. I spoke to a mate who has downloaded the file from dell (17Mb) and I'll get him to load it on for me. The laptop came formatted and I loaded Win98 on it myself. I thought that it may be one of the ones on the list of monitors but I had no way of telling which one it was.