Let me start with a bottom line observation... I love a fast computer and I love a fast PDA. And it's not just a matter of wanting the "best", or being worried that my task will take a total of a few seconds more. Those waits really add up.
How many times have you been doing software upgrades or trying to make some software work on your PC or PDA, and you find the whole day is gone because of all the resets and reboots and even waiting on the user interface to go from step to step? I, for one, see precious time slipping out of my grasp because of that sort of thing. If computers were truly "zippy" it would be a lot quicker to get stuff done. And isn't that the bottom line? I'd be willing to even give up a lot of functionality.
I was working with some text files using Notepad on my Windows desktop PC and I realized that I generally use Notepad instead of MS Word whenever possible, despite the lack of features. In fact, there's a huge difference in capabilities, but I prefer Notepad. It's easy, fast, snappy and the text files are compatible anywhere.
That example explains much of what I like about PDAs (aside from the obvious -- portability.) More true of Palm PDAs than PPC, but they are generally quick and snappy and the apps are relatively simple to learn and use even if they have a lot of capabilities. I like the Zen of Palm that remembers to make the user experience more important than the feature set. Most of the time I can use a PDA (like Notepad), and sometimes I need the full blown PC (like MS Word.)
But with the growth in feature sets and the market demands, is simplicity and zippy response time going to be a casualty in the portable electronics wars? Might be my imagination, but it seems like hardware sped up during the "Clie age" and things went better for the user. But now software is starting to outpace hardware again. I hope not. I don't even like that 1/2 second wait for a response! It may not seem like a big deal, but it takes your mind off of what you were doing and puts your attention on the device instead.
And I don't want to have to buy the fastest PDA out there to get a responsive user experience. Let's face it, there are a lot of things that are slower on a PDA than a desktop even if you aren't talking about a lack of keyboard or the small screen.
The good news is that when battery/fuel cell technology improves, a lot of the hardward constraints may start to disappear also. You just might be forced to hold your pda with a glove so you don't burn yourself on all the heat put out by tiny devices with big power requirements. There are already warnings not to use laptops in your lap if you're a male who wants to procreate!