PDA Pondering
I've been pondering the issue of whether I need a new PDA. Until fairly recently, I dealt with mobile computing/communication via a Tapwave Zodiac and a cheap-ass Virgin Mobile pay as you go phone.
But the battery on the Zodiac no longer holds a charge for more than a day. And the phone is pure crap.
So, what do I do? Here are some possibilities:
Get a new internal battery for the Zodiac. That would cost me about $25. And the new battery would have a third more capacity than the original (2000 mAh vs 1540 mAh). That would fulfill basic PDA needs and I could concentrate on a phone that just met my phone needs. Maybe one of the LG models with the slide-out keyboard. (I send way more text messages via my phone than I make phone calls.)
Get an iPhone. This would be pricy as hell, but everyone I know that has one loves it. On the other hand, I'm not at all happy with how Apple has gone all control-freak on it. If it's mine, I should be able to install any damn thing I want on it. The problem is that Apple is selling a complete mobile computer platform, but they want to control it as if it were just a phone. I'm willing to put up with that proprietary bull-shit on an appliance like a phone. I'n not inclined to for a mobile computer.
Get a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. I've had a 770 for a few years now. It's cool, in its own way. But the software is flaky as hell, especially the browser. The damn thing hard crashes every time I try to use a custom sound as an alarm. (And this is a problem, as the built-in alarm sounds all scare the crap out of me when they go off.) But the cost for the hardware is on par with the iPhone. And I'd still need an actual phone.
Get some high-end, non-iPhone phone, that can replace a PDA. Maybe one of the BlackBerries? (How would I do email?) Maybe a Treo? (Then I have to choose between an aging OS and a bloated one.) I just don't know.
Maybe I'm just being too anal about Apple. I dunno.
Anne blathered on about something on Monday August 04 2008 @ 7:05pm
I went to a Catholic high school, where PDA was not tolerated.
Andrew T. blathered on about something on Monday August 04 2008 @ 9:29pm
Whatever became of the Pilot, by chance?
http://www.obsoletecomputermuseum.org/usrpilot5000/
Tommy blathered on about something on Tuesday August 05 2008 @ 4:59am
Still have it. And it still works, other than right by the cracked screen.
I still have every PDA I even bought, and a few I didn't. But the Zodiac is the only thing recent enough to be usable. Hell, it'll do a decent job playing movies if you encode them right.
My personal favorite was the Tungsten T3, with the sliding case:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Tungsten#Tungsten_T3
Alas, the digitizer went south very quickly on it.
HoyeBoye blathered on about something on Tuesday August 05 2008 @ 5:22pm
Get the battery. I picked up a new battery about a year and a half ago and it's still going strong. My concern now is my shoulder buttons wearing out... too much Bike or Die.
Tommy blathered on about something on Tuesday August 05 2008 @ 5:28pm
Okay, I will!
I never used the shoulder buttons much, other than while playing Quake.
I have a friend who, until this year, was still using a Palm VII, complete with fold-out antenna. (I think I have one myself, somewhere.)
Tommy blathered on about something on Saturday August 09 2008 @ 9:36am
Bought it! Cost less than $20. Now just have to wait for it to arrive.
SjWfELyCJzGmKWYK blathered on about something on Sunday October 11 2009 @ 5:49am
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