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Bob Russell · 07-14-2005, 06:55 AM

I've never successfully used more than one pda device at a given time. The great advantage of a pda has always been that it's there and has up-to-date information. And I don't believe there's a good way to manage the synching of shared content across dissimilar devices.

For example, if I have a Treo 650 and a LifeDrive (I do have a Treo, but I still drool over LifeDrives) then I might not pick up the LifeDrive too often. Ebooks are my favorite way to read, but I don't want to have to page through a book looking for the last page I saw, so I don't want to read a book from muliple devices. Same with a video. I usually only watch portions at a time, and use my TV at home anyway. Similarly PIM info is only useful in the central location.

I suppose I could use the LifeDrive for web browsing via wifi, or games (I don't really play games on my pda anymore), or as a reference book. But to be honest, I'd rather browse the web with my pc, and it's not worth keeping a device charged just for reference works.

What I wish we'd see is some built-in synching funtionality that can handle multiple devices. You can't just synch everything because it might not be compatible, or might not all fit on the small device. But if you could specifiy items to share like a Handyshopper database and Outlook info and eReader/iSilo content and bookmarks, it would allow me to actually pick the device I want for the particular day. If I didn't need a phone one day, I'd sure love to be able to carry a bigger screen.

So basically, I'm wondering how other people are using multiple devices, and whether anyone thinks we'll ever have true multidevice synching.

07-14-2005, 06:55 AM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Multiple PDAs I've never successfully used more than one pda device at a given time. The great advantage of a pda has always been that it's there and has up-to-date information. And I don't believe there's a good way to manage the synching of shared content across dissimilar devices. For example, if I have a Treo 650 and a LifeDrive (I do have a Treo, but I still drool over LifeDrives) then I might not pick up the LifeDrive too often. Ebooks are my favorite way to read, but I don't want to have to page through a book looking for the last page I saw, so I don't want to read a book from muliple devices. Same with a video. I usually only watch portions at a time, and use my TV at home anyway. Similarly PIM info is only useful in the central location. I suppose I could use the LifeDrive for web browsing via wifi, or games (I don't really play games on my pda anymore), or as a reference book. But to be honest, I'd rather browse the web with my pc, and it's not worth keeping a device charged just for reference works. What I wish we'd see is some built-in synching funtionality that can handle multiple devices. You can't just synch everything because it might not be compatible, or might not all fit on the small device. But if you could specifiy items to share like a Handyshopper database and Outlook info and eReader/iSilo content and bookmarks, it would allow me to actually pick the device I want for the particular day. If I didn't need a phone one day, I'd sure love to be able to carry a bigger screen. So basically, I'm wondering how other people are using multiple devices, and whether anyone thinks we'll ever have true multidevice synching.