PDA

PDA or Personal Digital Assistant is a palm size computer designed to be used as a calendar, memo and address book.

PDAs have several advantages over paper organisers. The date book is always kept in order, you can easily move the items in the calendar view, the address book is automatically in alphabetical order, etc.

The same functionality is available in so called smart phones, such as Nokia Communicator. They have embedded basic PDA programs into a mobile phone. The phone has usually bigger display and a small qwerty keyboard, meaning both speedy input and clumsiness. Of course, the PDA has direct access to mobile connections, allowing you to check your e-mails easily and surf in the web.

There are two flavours of PDAs: Palm compatible and PocketPCs. The difference is the operating system and the look and the feel of the user interface. PocketPCs look like Windows, as the operating system is produced by Microsoft. Companies like HP and Dell provide these gadgets. Palm PDAs have their own user interface that is based on slightly different idioms. PalmOne and Sony, for example, produce Palm gadgets.

The information inside the PDA is usually synchronised to a computer, to be a backup if the PDA is lost or broken. The synchronisation can be done with cables, infrared or Bluetooth. The two latter means are the best while you are on the go. They can be used to connect the PDA with a mobile phone to allow surfing the web and checking e-mails.

PDAs are not very good for continuous web access. If you know what you need to do and how to do it efficiently, you may succeed. But if you just want to surf around and try to find something, you will get frustrated and accomplish nothing. Instead, think buying a small laptop.

I, personally, prefer Palms. The user interface is cleaner and the device is somewhat faster to use. The major drawback is that they have poorer support for web surfing and reading Microsoft Office documents. There are adequate solutions, but PocketPC support is far better. But you can get very frustrated while dealing with the clumsiness of PocketPC user interface.

When buying any system, check that it has good colour display, precise touch screen, rechargeable batteries with long lifespan and enough software to suit your needs. The batteries are the most important; you do not want to spend your precious time trying to find a place for reload. Remember that even if there are not enough software in the box, you can always download more later. Just make sure that the program you need really exists for your platform. There are no big differences in selection, but everything is not available for every type of gadgets.

In a nutshell: If you are planning to buy a replacement for calendar and memo book, check Palm first. But if you like to surf the web and read documents with the gadget, start with PocketPCs.

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