The 'I Want a New Pda' Thread

[sUnShInE]

Based on the title, I'm thinking you can guess what this is about....

I was really hoping that after the Christmas holiday that there would be at least a little bit of a price break on new pdas. I have just been (seemingly) all over the net, and haven't found any good deals, which has me kinda depressed. I came very close to just biting the bullet and buying the T|T3 on Overstock today as a holiday present to myself...but they're sold out!

It's rather evident to me that I need to get rid of my T615c. Beyond the fact that I'm running OS4.1 (eek!), her memory is maxed out, so I can't put any more apps on her. And much to my frustration, the stylus still occassionally gets stuck in the silo, forcing me to have to open up the case and free it. Tres sad...

I'm thinking more and more that I'd like to stay with the PalmOS. I base this on the fact that I've never heard anything outstanding about the PPC other than they figured out how to build units with both BT and Wi-Fi, and I've played with them a bit in the store and... it strikes me that I'd be making the same Mac to PC switch I made in the early 90's and was never totally psyched about (if that makes sense as an analogy).

What I Want (and It's Not Alot)

I'd love a unit that has both BT and Wi-Fi, but I'm hep for BT so I can pair it with my phone and surf via GPRS. I'd dig having Wi-Fi but the only place I'll use it will be my office and it strikes me that that isn't that much of a necessity.

I want to stay well below the $300 mark. All told, I'll sell my Clie with accessories and all for about $150 or so, so I think my $250ish range is a responsible one. If I could get something for $200, I'd be a happy girl.

What I really need is more memory, more memory, more memory. Show me da memory! And give me processor speed...or give me death (oh wait, just give me processor speed).

That's it. That's all I want. Sounds like the T3 is where I'm going, no? I've looked at the Zire 72s, and they seem ok too, but I'm also open to suggestions.

Sale prices, advice, and bargain pointers welcome.

[Bob Russell]

I think it sounds like T5 would be your dream machine right now. Lot's of memory, and internal flash memory, a card slot, plus a gorgeous screen. But... it is a bit expensive right now. Except for the screen resolution and Win Mobile, I got about the same PDA for $150 refurbished. Is the screen really that expensive for a little more resolution? Maybe... the VGA PPCs are pretty pricey also, or else I'd have one in my hand already also!

The T3 sounds like a great unit, except for the miserable battery life. You might want to think twice if you need good battery life with it, but if you can recharge every night and don't have extended usage requirements during the day it would be a great PDA for you. Battery is one of those things that some people don't really need much of, but is a big deal for me. Anyone out there with a T3 that can comment on that?

Good luck in your hunt!

[sUnShInE]

Yea, I've thought a bit about the battery life. It's one of the things that I suffer with now, as the T615c has a pretty crummy battery too so I'm unfortunately used to constant charging. That little 32Mb difference is what keeps me away from the Zire 72... otherwise I'd go for that one.

Yea, the T5 is def out of my $ range right now.

[sUnShInE]

I quit complaining and just bought a T3 at Overstock! I think I did pretty good too. It cost me $230 shipped when I was done with the coupons and everything. It won't go out their door until after 1/5 which is the only thing that sucks. But I'm ready to go shop for accessories....

Now I just have to decide: Sell my Clie or give it to a friend as a hand me down?

[Bob Russell]

Sounds like you got a great deal! Hey, it's also like the most recent Palm PDA to come out with a lot of excitement about it. (The T5 certainly didn't do that even though it might be a good PDA.)
Now you can tell us if that really nice display makes any difference to you! Enjoy!

[Zire]

Originally Posted by sUnShInE

I quit complaining and just bought a T3 at Overstock! I think I did pretty good too. It cost me $230 shipped when I was done with the coupons and everything. It won't go out their door until after 1/5 which is the only thing that sucks. But I'm ready to go shop for accessories....

Now I just have to decide: Sell my Clie or give it to a friend as a hand me down?

Sunshine,

Did you get it new or refurbished? Also just to let you know what is good to invest in is a card reader and even better http://www.softick.com/cardexport2/ makes an app that turns your palm into a usb mass storage device that works with windows, mac and I think linux. I'm using card export on my mac at home and my pc at work and its great. No swapping out the card to put music on it etc. Since you have the screen size and the memory/speed check out a game from PDAmill called snails it is the absolute coolest on the t3 screen. Ask Alex for entrance into the PDAmill vip site for a free copy. Enjoy your new palm! You'll love the move to os5 and better screen.

Later

[sUnShInE]

wow. how totally cool about the card export. i'll def have to do that... and check out snails.

now i get to do fun things like order a case and a new sd card and stuff. i'm pretty sure the display will do it for me bob, but i'll keep you posted. there's 1000 other bonuses to this device which are making me feel like i made the right decision. now i just can't wait to get the thing!

[hank]

I've been using a Clie SJ30 -- love the higher resolution screen. My second battery is starting to fail, and I wish I knew a guaranteed source of new batteries, I know the lithium-ions go stale on the shelf within a couple of years, whether used or not.

My dream PDA isn't built and isn't apparently being considered, so here it is:

It's as thin as my Visor Edge, with a comparable metal case and flip cover.

But when I open it (book-wise, not flip-up) it will have TWO screens side by side.

It will be able to
-- run one app in each screen, or
-- two pages of text side by side from a single app, or
-- two images side by side, for stereo viewing

(My proof of concept stereo movies are at www dot ankh dot members dot sonic dot net, each under 1 meg, viewable for now only on a desktop -- if you can "free view" and see depth by placing two pictures side by side, for 'parallel view' -- then you can see stereo movies too, the same way --- or, put a little viewer, just 2 magnifying lenses, over them to make it easier for your eyes to fuse the pair into one)

----> Meanwhile, if anyone knows a good source for a replacement SJ30 battery.....

[Francesco]

Hi, Sunshine. Well, congratulations, you've got yourself a very nice PDA!
Here, a few tips from a T3 fan:
Hardware:
- I bought an infrared keyboard, the so-called "wireless universal". Or "universal wireless"? Whatever. You don't know what a keyboard can do for you until you buy one. The possibilities are countless... No, really. I mean, think what you could do if you could turn a laptop instantly. I keep a journal in my PDA, now (using natara's daynotez, not as wonderful as many people say, but it gets the job done). I also can write emails. I can't send them instantly, but I know they will be sent next time I hotsync.
Ah! I almost forgot! Be careful if you buy the new model, I heard the terrible story of a guy who had a hard reset because of the driver. Be careful, we don't like hard resets. Do we?
Check this review on the KB I got, by Jeff Kirvin:
www.writingonyourpalm.net/column030929.htm
- Travel charger. Ah, the battery. The hardware of the T3 is perfect (don't you love the mic, for example? Perfect for quick "notes" while you're driving). Except for what we all know. Forget about the battery with a travel charger. Plug it to your USB and... what? You don't work in an office by a computer all day long? That's why we have the...
- AC to USB adapter. Plug the travel charger to any outlet. Even 220V outlets! Outdoors? Airplanes? Get a...
- Power to go. Apparently P1 doesn't make it anymore. Get one while supplies last! It will multiply the time you can play with your T3 by three. There's a way to upgrade the internall battery, but it involves having your warranty void, and the benefit is only 33% more juice. It's perfect for long trips in an airplane or train.
- 1GB SD card. No, wait, 2GB SD card! Get it as big as you can afford and fill it with mp3s! Books, pictures, etc. are welcomed, too.
- 64 or 128 MB SD card. I have one of this in my house for backups in case my PDA is stolen/lost.

Software:
- Card export, as you already know, is a must. Particularly if you want to use the mp3 player capabilities of your T3.
- Backup man. The best backup sw available. I used to BU my PDA with backup buddy. The only time I needed to restore it, I discovered BB was trying to fit all the contents from the memory stick (I had a Clié, back then) in the RAM! With backup man I backup my pda every night in my 1GB SD card (I learned to do this the hard way, but that's a different story), and occasionally to my 256MB (I proved to be too small).
- Aeroplayer / PocketTunes. AP has a better sound... much better. But PT has a much much better user interface (controls, features, etc.) If you're not too picky about sound and/or you have a LOT of files in your SD card, then PT is the way to go.
- A sad thing about OS5 is that you cannot longer use your hacks... or is it? Most of the funcionality of my previous hacks are integrated in OS5. Except for SafeHack. For some reason, you cannot set your T3 to auto hide your private records when turning off your device. You can overcome this with On Power Off (freebie). Or TealLock.
- Finally, get Fitaly. Really, graffiti is cool... for five or seven characters, and no more. Fitaly is the only way to do some serious text input in your pda on the go, when you are away of your keyboard, or setting it up would be cumbersome.
That's it, have fun!

[Francesco]

Originally Posted by hank

I've been using a Clie SJ30 -- love the higher resolution screen. My second battery is starting to fail, and I wish I knew a guaranteed source of new batteries, I know the lithium-ions go stale on the shelf within a couple of years, whether used or not.

My dream PDA isn't built and isn't apparently being considered, so here it is:

It's as thin as my Visor Edge, with a comparable metal case and flip cover.

But when I open it (book-wise, not flip-up) it will have TWO screens side by side.

It will be able to
-- run one app in each screen, or
-- two pages of text side by side from a single app, or
-- two images side by side, for stereo viewing

(My proof of concept stereo movies are at www dot ankh dot members dot sonic dot net, each under 1 meg, viewable for now only on a desktop -- if you can "free view" and see depth by placing two pictures side by side, for 'parallel view' -- then you can see stereo movies too, the same way --- or, put a little viewer, just 2 magnifying lenses, over them to make it easier for your eyes to fuse the pair into one)

----> Meanwhile, if anyone knows a good source for a replacement SJ30 battery.....

Hey, Hank, that's a crazy PDA!
Cool movie, BTW!
Why do you post your http address like that? You can't get spam in an http address!

[sUnShInE]

WOW! Thanks for the kindly advice Francesco. It sounds like you're really enjoying your T3. I cannot wait to get it, and I just found out that it arrives on Tuesday, so I'll have some deeper thoughts once I play with it a bit.

Most especially thank you for the advice regarding the battery. I read a thread at another forum about the 1200 mhs battery swap you referred to and it sounds as if it's hardcore surgery and will increase the size of the casing as well, so I'm really not interested in that undertaking. Power To Go sounds like it will decrease my worries and increase my solutions.

I cannot even imagine the frustration of using BackUp Buddy (a misnomer if there ever was one) to backup 1Gb of data. Just curious: Have you ever used a little app called Sync All? I wonder if it will be as helpful with the T3 as it's been with my Clie. I just Googled it and couldn't immediately locate it, but it backs up just your databases, and does it very efficiently and quickly. Usually 10 seconds or less.

I'm seriously considering a Wi-Fi card as my third accessory purchase for this unit. I've already bought a 512Mb SD card (thanks again Morpheus! ) and a cool case. Just curious if you've tried them and what your impressions are. I've been hearing ok things about the obvious problems with battery life. In other words, that they're no big deal.

[Bob Russell]

Is this the one Sunshine?... http://www.freewarepalm.com/communication/syncall.shtml

[sUnShInE]

YES. It's a lifesaver.

I've never been good at backing up. Alex has harangued me in the past to backup my blog, but I know that's never gonna happen. Anyway... I went through a week from hell where my Clie was hard crashing due to some hack conflict (which will obviously be eliminated with an upgrade to Garnet). Syncall totally came to the rescue. How cool is it that it's only 5k?

< /testimonial>

And my question is answered: it seems to work on OS5. Thanks Bob

[Francesco]

I'm glad you found syncall. I haven't tried it, but it seems a neat app. Just lemme tell you why I swear by backupman: in the event of a hard reset, you can restore your pda on the spot, no need to run to the computer where you have all your DBs stored. Also, it restores your preferences and registrations. In my case, that means 6 hours of work (or does it? Oh, maybe this is an exaggeration).
Sorry, I'm not the wi-fi kind of guy, so I have no clue about the sd adapter.
Speaking of cases, I bought a Vaja case. I used to follow the ascetic path, I don't know what happened to me this time: keyboard, 1GB SD card, Vaja case... I guess I realized I was geek enough!
By the way, did you know you can change the skin of the DIA (the place that replaces the graffiti area)? There are LOTS of nice skins, and some of them even change the functionality of the DIA. You can take a look here:
http://palmgear.com/index.cfm?fuseac...id=1&catID=288
I used to have one that supposedly looked like Cobalt. Now I wonder if Cobalt ever existed. Anyway, Fitaly replaced it with its own. BTW, after one or two months of practice, I could type 30 words per minute in average. One of my favorite uses of my PDA is to capture some of my thoughts, a kind of perpetual brainstorming, and fitaly is the only way I could do it.

[sUnShInE]

The new unit has arrived, as has my SD. I haven't really had time to play with it, but I'm going to jet home from work (where I'm currently just surfing the net anyway!) and mess around with it.

Generally speaking I'll say this much so far: Though I bought it from Overstock's "blemished" supply, I have yet to find any such blemishes on the unit. I don't know if I'd encourage anyone to go this route, since I wasn't sure if I'd get a nick or a scratch or worse. I feel that I merely lucked out, and I'm quite pleased.

I also managed to already pair my BT phone and the unit (thanks to HowardForums), though Web Pro isn't exactly "lightening fast".

I'm gonna skin the GUI sometime soon. I need to look at the options. I may just go with ZLauncher, which is what I was using on my Clie. I know the skins are far more robust for OS5 though. I'm also anxiously awaiting my case. I wound up getting the PDAir hardcase, though I thought for a while I was going to go with the Bellagio. Who knows? I may end up getting one of those too.

I'll post more thoughts over the weekend. Thanks for the advice Francesco!