This is a very nice description by one of our readers about the process of going from Palm to PPC. I like the word he chose... "traumatic!" Very true. You can find the three Tanker Bob articles he references here. And I've written my own 2-part article on the experience during my own switch to PPC here. [BobR]
This is just a short primer for something I'll be finishing later tonight. However, I just recently switched from a PalmOne device to an iPaq.
My goals were simple, though probably numerous:
1 - Clear screen, as I use it for a mobile photo album and movies
2 - HAS to be able to deal with To Dos and Calendaring, ... and do so EASILY!
3 - Financial tracking is a MUST
4 - eBooks. Gotta be able to do eBooks! Not negociable.
5 - Games. Not the crap-sex stuff either that used to polute PocketGear.
6 - Battery Life
7 - Memory (ROM / RAM) has to be considerable. I do a lot. :-)
8 - What are the extra's.
I went with the HP, despite the slightly smaller pixel resolution than the Dell x50v because I could simply BUY IT LOCALLY. Dell, I like your online store, but I NEED to see it, feel it, hold it, in my grubby paws before I'll ever drop out $500 or more for something. Because if it breaks, I can now take my handheld back to the purchase point (on warranty) and get help. I like that. Especially since I'm not especially big (yet) on Windows Mobile PPC.
I didn't feel like waiting for the PalmOne LifeDrive that is soon to debut, because at the time, there was NO INDICATION except for a rough time frame (summer, 2005 sound familiar anyone?) of when this was going to be available. My T3 was going out FAST, ... I couldn't use Graffiti anymore because the screen was going. As a result, I couldn't wait. Not an option.
Now. For the transition itself. If I were to use a single word to describe it, I would use "Traumatic". And for me, it would be extremely descriptive. I will give kudo's however, that there was someone else (I *think* TankerBob) who did 3 primers on his own switch. I used his guides as a starting point for my own dang near religiously. I had his second guide printed out, I needed the data that much.
It's not easy, doing the switch. He has it right, though. The BEST way to convert over is to do so COLD TURKEY.
Software.
--------------------
Essential Software:
Financial -
- Microsoft Money
- Pocket Quicken 2.03 (I hope they update this one soon, like they did for PalmOS)
----> Both were on the plate for consideration due to their overall robustness. I eventually decided on PocketQuicken (though it's quirkier on the install, and it REALLY preferrs that you sync with Desktop Quicken) due to familiarity on the Palm side. Plus I like to be able to categorize by Bank Accounts, Loans, Assets, etc where MMoney does not do that.
Time Management
- Ultra something.
- Pocket Informant.
---> You can tell here what I went with. PI has a TON of customizations that you can do for it. So many that I'm still going through and struggling with some of them. A lot of them are just common sense, though so the basics are pretty easy to figure out. Which is a good thing, all things considered.
Web Browsing
- One of the things that I wanted NOW was WiFi capability, as well as BlueTooth. The iPaq does this nicely. But Pocket Explorer does not. So you will WANT to down load NetFront3. Yes you have to pay for it, but it's WORTH it. It's SSL capable (meaning that if you can secure your Wi Fi, you can use it to access your bank account online), and it's speedy. It can do tabs, and you can save images from a webpage to your card. In short, it's a desktop browser on your handheld. It has tons more features that frankly, make it really worth the small amount of cash that I paid for the license.
Entertainment
- I added BetaPlayer to the mix. WONDERFUL application. I love it. And it's free. I don't remember the EXACT phrasing, but you don't have to pay anything to use it. It plays a ton of different formats (... now if only they can add MOV to that list it'd be excellent and truly above all others!)
Maintenance
- Way more important here on PPC than on PalmOne handhelds. For this, I use MemMaid. Nice little ditty that keeps your temp files and otehr things cleaned out. Quite necessary on PPC, unfortunately. Pocket Mechanic is the other utility I use. Both are wonderful, and while not exactly required for use of a PPC, they definitely enhance your experience wth your handheld.
Overall ease of use
- Get something like WISBAR, or WisBar Advance 2x. In short, since Windows does not give you the option to Minimize vs Close the application, you're stuck with PPC minimizing to the background. Free up some memory and have WisBar set it to CLOSE instead. Nice feature, and they add a bunch more too! I just switched from WisBar to WisBar Advanced (still evaluating it) but so far, I'm *really* impressed.
Oddball Add Ins that make life easier:
- Kasuei's Hitchhiker. Still in beta, but still, VERY NICELY DONE so far.
- MohairSofa Calendar+ Today Plug In. Allows your Today Screen to show more than just your next appointment, and up to several days worth, in fact.
- Resco Explorer. So definite nice add ins, and I like the split screen approach to File Exploring.
- Macromedia Flash Player. Won't play desktop flash stuff ... at least not without a major conversion, but maybe down the road? Still, it allows others to do some nice programming. See DashBoard, or FlashDance for examples.
This is the short list, and frankly, they've made it a LOT easier on me for my surviving my transition from one platform to the other. I hope that if you read this and are thinking about converting, that this will somehow help you out too. And find TankerBobs' stuff too. They're priceless on this stuff for providing tips and information.