PDAs--any good for web surfing?

[eshort]

With the ever dropping prices of PDAs, Im cconsidering one for use while traveling-strictly for web browsing with a card flash 56K V90 modem attahced...

Has anyone had experience doing this?

Will web pages display properly with the windows CE O/S?

Once tried an IBM Z30--it did not properly display web page colors-rendering some (including PC Mech!) un-useable.

thanx.

[Nuclear Krusader]

AFAIK the pages must be optimized or especifically designed for PDAs for them to show them right.

Don't expect to surf the web in a PDA like you do in a normal computer or laptop.

PDAs can be great for e-mail but not for web surfing.

[arubahounds]

I'm using a Kyocera 6035, which is getting a little long in the tooth. It's a phone with a Palm built in and has a wireless modem. The modem works at only 14.4, so surfing is very slow and graphics are non-existent. The browser is Eudora Web.

But there are a wide variety of web clipping pages out there. They're all text based so they pop up quickly and are a great way to get stock quotes, check the weather, news, flight status, yellow pages, ebay, mapquest, blah blah blah. It's a different experience from the www but it's very useful.

PC Mech works via the browser, but it's slow.

You can get email on it also, but you have to log on - it's not like a Blackberry that's always connected.

HT

[Mac Medic]

http://oemguy.dyndns.org:86/pocket_pc.htm

Not the fastest interface but it works, I surf the mech every day on mine. I would recomend netfront 3.0 over IE just for formatting though.

[mbossman2]

Originally posted by Nuclear Krusader
AFAIK the pages must be optimized or especifically designed for PDAs for them to show them right.

Don't expect to surf the web in a PDA like you do in a normal computer or laptop.

PDAs can be great for e-mail but not for web surfing.

in corporate environments, there are devices available that can "transform" pages into something a little usable form for a PDA.

see here for an example:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/contnetw/ps797/index.html

they aren't exactly cheap, but for an enterprise sized company that is migrating over to PDA devices it really does the trick. the administrator can customize commonly used pages (like intranet pages) to a form factor that easily fits the screen of a PDA.

[eshort]

interesting--im looking at some of the Dells (approx $200-250) or Compaq IPAQs..they seem good on papaer but im wondering if theyll be satisfactory for basic web browsing..I like to view weather graphics and forums such as PCMECH-- the IBM "Z" worked OK except certain web pages would not display properly (colors off etc)...would be great if I could find a store to try one/several out wiuth a web hookup and actually see them in operation!

[mbossman2]

if you are looking at the iPaq, make sure you get the ones with the "better" batteries (newer models only). I had a 3645 (?) and the battery lasted, at best, 8 hours and 24 or so hours in "sleep" mode. As I travel quite a bit, i am not always in a position to charge the batteries and it sucks to have to reload everything again and again

[cobra]

I bought a dell axim a few eeks ago. Got a compact flask wireless card, I surf evey night on the couch while watching Leno
It's good for that, but not for your daily surfing, and I like the msn messenger also.
I upgraded from a Palm vx, and I love my pocketpc!
My battery lasts all day even 2 days, maybe more, but that's because I only turn it on when I need contact or meeting info.
That's about 10-20 times a day.

[eshort]

TX all--

I was considering the Dell Aim..its priced at about $200--as long as it could access/display weather sites/email and forums on the web it would be fine...it would be a "back up" and "travel" computer...

[TechSupport420]

I just finished setting up a Palm Tungsten T for the CEO of my company and I didn't like the thing so much but with the wireless chip the internet is decently fast, the pages are displayed in full and the display is pretty nice. I am looking at the Sony Clie for myself I love all the differnt upgrades for them. Anybody that knows anything about the sony's let me know what you think.

[Mac Medic]

eshort:

The Dell axim will work fine, but I really do suggest spending the $30 on Netfront 3.0 Web-browser. Pocket IE makes you scroll all over the place, ,whereas Netfront fits a site to the small screen very well.

[n1cholas]

I used an Compaq Ipaq to surf the net. I was fun, but not worth it. Nice thing to show off tho...