I remember when the Palm Pilot was the hottest thing on the market. Everybody was buying one. Heck, I even have an old one in a drawer somewhere. Now you can pick them up at tradeshows refurbished for $20.

Is it time to offically declare that PDAs were only a fad? I don't know anybody that uses one on a regular basis. The Blackberry seems to be more popular than any Palm or PocketPC.

Maybe Apple got it right? Everybody wants a music player. Put an iPod in their hands, and then include the calendar and phonebook in that (albeit with no capability to enter data).

Will the cell phone evolve to be everything a PDA should have been? Hopefully the ROKR phone matures. Hopefully Apple designs a cell phone one day. The interface of every Motorola cell phone seems to be designed by some college reject with ADD.

Maybe Apple has to build voice recognition into iPods! No need to type stuff in. Speak and spell?

I use a PDA regularly. But I generally only use it for contacts, calender and the note pad. When a small cell phone comes out that includes all this, plus a built in iPod and email, I will be all over it.

The first company to make this product will make a killing.

 

I have never owned a PDA. I have an iBook and an iPod, which will do pretty much anything that I would use a PDA for.

However, I think you're going to see the "die" once there's decent Tablet PC's made by Apple.. well.. for Apple fans anyway. The Windows market already has some really nice ones. 10-12" screens are ultra portable and can do way more than regular PDA's can.

 

I use a PDA regularly. But I generally only use it for contacts, calender and the note pad. When a small cell phone comes out that includes all this, plus a built in iPod and email, I will be all over it.

The first company to make this product will make a killing.

Well, it's been done for quite some time now. See the
Sony Ericsson P900. I'm not sure how well they sell but not gangbusters at this point. Very pricey.

I use a Blackberry and it fulfills all of the functionality of a PDA plus Email. I think even the Basic of Cell phones can now do Calendar, Contacts and to do's.

So, yes, I think the PDA is dead.

 

I have a I have a $600 Palm Tungsten T5 and tons of software for it. I carry it in my purse. It comes in handy when I have to wait somewhere and want to play solitaire.

I also have a dedicated solitaire handheld that I got at Walmart for $29 that I keep in the biffy - it's been two years on the first AAA battery.

Margaret

 

I keep pens and pieces of paper in my pockets.

 

I have had many a PDA (Palm, WinCE, Zaurus, etc) ... can I live without it... sure.

I will say however in the Corporate world the PDA/Cell convergence is the BIG thing, with RIM and Treos being the main players. All the guys in my office have gone out and got their own Treos. I've thought about a Treo... but still way too much money, short battery life and they are huge compared to my SE T616. A couple of my neighbours have a RIMs... I just don't like the huge size of these things.

 

I have a Newton MessagePad 2000, a Blackberry 7100r, and an iPod. They all do their respective jobs perfectly.

 

I agree; the iPod will not achieve PDA status yet. The ease of use in terms of entering data into a PDA is not matched at all in an iPod. Until it is, the PDA will still be able to complete its job.

 

The "smart phone" (such as a BlackBerry) killed the PDA.

 

The future of handheld devices is this.
PIM, Browser (WiFi, WiMAX or otherwise), Cellular Phone, (Motion and Still)Camera, Personal Audio/Video player (MP3) all in one.

Within 5 years I am guessing these will converge into a single device.

 

PDA's are evolving like the iPod and cellphones.

Will they disappear? No.

Not only for business apps, PDA'shave found a niche in healthcare.
The staff doctors carry them around with all the info they need for prescriptions and diagnosis. Nurses use them for notes.

Connectivity means calling/text messaging/consulting at your fingertips.
Very handy. Lots of software available.

POC (point of care) testing is limited to a few tests at the bedside right now. PDA's can process and transmit data to become a data terminal at the patient's bed.

In our hospital, with a goal to electronic (ie. paperless) patient records, they are powerful and small enough for the task.

 

I have a I have a $600 Palm Tungsten T5 and tons of software for it. I carry it in my purse. It comes in handy when I have to wait somewhere and want to play solitaire.

I also have a dedicated solitaire handheld that I got at Walmart for $29 that I keep in the biffy - it's been two years on the first AAA battery.

Margaret

600$ for a palm pilot, so that you could play solitaire?

i'd rather spend 1$ on a deck of cards, thx

 

600$ for a palm pilot, so that you could play solitaire?

i'd rather spend 1$ on a deck of cards, thx

Well, I had read all the hype about how useful the T5 was and when I bought it, I thought it was going to change my life. I kept buying software hoping it would become more useful - never happened.

Now, I just play solitaire.

Oh, and I read eBooks on it. It's great for that too. But I've gotten lazy and mostly listen to books on my iPod.

Take care, Margaret

 

The PDA still has it's place. I think that it is overpriced at the moment.
By PDA, I'm assuming Palm, because it still has Mac Support.
I don't need or want an "all-in-one" device.

 

Well, I had read all the hype about how useful the T5 was and when I bought it, I thought it was going to change my life. I kept buying software hoping it would become more useful - never happened.

Now, I just play solitaire.

Oh, and I read eBooks on it. It's great for that too. But I've gotten lazy and mostly listen to books on my iPod.

Take care, Margaret

perhaps you should think of selling it to someone else who might find it more useful than you before it depreciates in value even further?

just a thought. since you could always play solitaire and listen to books on your ipod.

=)

 

Sony left the PDA market ... I assume it was because they didn't see any growth in it ... I can't comment on their PDA's since I had never used one.

I have a Palm T2 which I bought used over a year ago ... it's sole purpose is to run Salling Clicker (which is amazing software for only $20 US).

 

I have a Handspring Neo with MP3 player and 128MB of media cards. I also have a 30GB ipod Photo with all my contacts on it. I never use the Neo and should sell it. Actually, I have a ton of stuff that I have wanted to set up a garage sale with...

 

I'm a pda junkie and power user for over a decade. Let's see started with the newton, then palm pilot, then palmVx, then Handspring Visor Deluxe, then Visor Prism, the Sony Clie N760, then Clie UX50 and now HP HX4700.

I believe that there will always be a market for pda (in one form or another) due to a combination of quick bootup and screen size. There's certain things that cannot be accomplished on a smartphone due to the lack of screen real estate nor a smaller notebook (ie. Toshiba Libretto) due to long boot up time.

btw, there's nothing wrong with using a pda exclusively to play solitaire (bejewelled for me) and read books and news.

Cheers

 

I have a Palm T2 which I bought used over a year ago ... it's sole purpose is to run Salling Clicker (which is amazing software for only $20 US).

Salling Clicker is arguably one of the best utilities for the Mac. I love using the iTunes mode during parties when I have my Mac set up for Music.

 

Salling Clicker is arguably one of the best utilities for the Mac. I love using the iTunes mode during parties when I have my Mac set up for Music.

Absolutely ... actually, once I found out about the Clicker software and what it could do ... I went out to find a T2 to run it ... it must have been 'meant to be' because I found an ad for a used one at a great price the very same day.

I not even sure if a Crestron touchscreen would be able to do (for a couple thousand dollars I might add) what the Clicker software and your PDA/cellphone allows.

 

I use an iPAQ PDA and I love it. It's my second brain basically. I keep a small cellphone that goes everywhere with me and if I am more selective where I take my PDA.

Example - I will take my cellphone snowboarding or mountain biking. It's been though hell But there's not way I'd take my PDA to those places.

There is a push from my employer to move to a crackberry which I'm resisting. But I think I'll be fighting a losing battle.

Some people love the PDA/Phone combo thing. Not me.

 

The PDA is not dead.

I've got the Tungsten T5. I use it for:

1. Reading books (public domain downloaded from Project Gutenberg)
2. Portable Photo and Movie Album
3. Contacts and Calender
4. Wireless (Bluetooth) SD card reader
5. Cognitive Therapy
6. Occasional music player

 

A friend just picked up a Blackberry, and asked me to check it out. I'm not all that impressed, frankly. The interface is 'way too cluttered and ergonomically, well, it's just a big flat oval with a keyboard that only Japanese schoolgirls can use effectively.

I'm sure that if I took the time to read the manual, I could become quite proficient with it, but it's far from an ideal PDA/Phone.

Another friend's Treo 650 SmartPhone was far more appealing...

M

 

I've been using a Hiptop for the past 2.5 years or so, and its great: all my contact info is there, there's a web browser, camera attachment, email, to-do list, notepad, AOL/ICQ, calculator, alarm clock thingy, and a couple of games. I used to have a palm pilot, but when it crapped out on me (at the same time my cell phone did), I switched to this device. I looked at the Blackberry too, but didn't like it as much as the hiptop.

I guess it would be neat if it were an mp3 player too, but that's what I have my iPod for