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Originally Posted by camarotx
Exactly what I want as well. A larger screen PDA/reader color or BW really doesn't matter to me as my current paper and pen are black and white and that is really all I need 
This cannot be that hard to produce and market. |
Producing it is not an issue. Selling it is a HUGE issue.
Such items were the trend years ago. Most of the ones with larger screens used a mini-laptop configuration, but some were convertible to tablets (the Intermec 6651 was quite nice) and some were only tablets (Viewsonic made one at some point). The products were there and, sadly, stayed right on the shelf. As much as I personally liked them, they just did not sell well.
Smaller machines, the actual PDAs, did well for a while with Palm, HP/Compaq and Psion (internationally) doing very well. The next trend, however, was convergence, which brings us to the smartphone world we have today. Jealousy of the Blackberry connectivity was also an issue. While I loved my Psion Series 7, and it was
far more functional than a smartphone, it was not nearly as portable or as connected.
Mini-laptops have been around for quite some time, and can fill some of the need if you do not mind the battery life. Modern sleep modes have made up for a lot of the start-up time issues. And new processors (the Atom, for instance) promise to continue improving the battery sitch.
One of the big issues from years ago remains for many people, and that is price. The price for these larger or advanced PDAs often rivals that of the inexpensive laptops (especially the recent wave of Eee-PC wannabes), and the PDA generally offers fewer features or less performance or expandability. Of course, if you really want the features it does offer (portability and convenience), it is not really much of an issue.
If a PDA is a good fit for you, and I am starting to lean that way myself recently, HP and Palm both still sell them, though not with the larger screen you request. For that, look at some of the new MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) or Nokia's line of Internet Tablets for some nice solutions.
Jack