PDA Newbie

[ComputerDragon79]

I'm looking to get a PDA but I'm kind of out of my league in this area, with next to no experience with them. Based on the bits of knowledge I've picked out here and there, I have a general idea of what I want, but I don't know where to go from there. Here's what I'm looking for based on what I know:

I know I want a pocket PC, I'm used to the windows interface.
I want wireless internet.
I would really like bluetooth.
I would like to have GPS.
Games are a must.

I'm hoping based on those, I can get some good suggestions. I haven't decided on a budget yet, I figured I would start narrowing it down based on what I'm told, and what people reccomend.

[MrAustin]

I have an iPAQ 2215 and it works rather well for all above mentioned. It has SD and CF slots, which is great because you can use one for expansion and one for GPS or Wireless Internet. Good screen size, has worked well for games for me (Virtual Pool rules!). I don't have experience with others, but I hear ASUS makes good ones, and the Dell Axim is supposedly good as well.

Just make sure you get one with Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition, as it supports both landscape and portrait views, landscape being new to SE and works well with Excel and some other apps.

[Mhollinr]

I agree with MrAustin, having two expansion slots is a big benefit if you want to use it for many different things. I have a Toshiba e755 with built in wireless. I can use the SD slot with audio files to listen to music through my boat stereo and use the CF slot with my CF GPS adapter at the same time. no swapping out each time you want to use something else.

Before I bought mine I looked quite a while at the Axim and the Asus both. they seem to be good quality.

[Mac Medic]

Normally i would recommend an HP ipaq as i have owned 4 or 5 of them. But considering that my ipaq 5555 PDA is less than a year old and HP have already dropped any and all support for the device sets an unpleasant precedent for future buyers. Now i say buy toshiba, they seem to continue support for their older devices and offer OS updates and security updates for them.

[ComputerDragon79]

Okay, I've narrowed it down to two, the Dell Axim 30, and the Toshiba e755. Right now I'm tilting more towards the Dell Axim 30, because it has bluetooth, but the Toshiba e755 is cheaper. My only question is, in both scenarios, would I be able to add a GPS? Also, I was reading somewhere, but I don't know if it's true, that there are some GPS adaptors that will work in both a laptop and a PDA. If that is indeed true, that might be a deciding factor as well.

[Mac Medic]

you could use a bluetooth gps solution, it would work with the dell and a notebook with a bluetooth usb dongle.

[Mhollinr]

My GPS is CF and has an antenna on it if you are outside with no obstructions, or you can plug in the 15ft. magnetic extension if your in a car or whatever. since it's CF, I used a PCMCIA compact flash adapter and it worked just fine in my old laptop.

[ComputerDragon79]

Can you reccomend a good CF GPS adaptor then? I actually like that idea, because then i can use other CF devices in my laptop as well.

[glc]

You mean a CF to PCMCIA adapter? Any brand should work fine, buy by price.

[Mhollinr]

Exactly, I have something like this:

Adapter

[ComputerDragon79]

No, I meant a CF GPS. The adaptor I've seen around lots of time, I just didn't have a use for it before this point.

[Mhollinr]

I'll try and figure out where I bought it from, I ordered it online. I should still have the reciept around here somewhere.

[glc]

http://www.deluoelectronics.com/cust...39&cat=0&page=

[Mhollinr]

Very similar to what I have, in fact this has a few more features for about the same price.

[MrAustin]

They even have now CF GPS expansions that include memory on them, so it's a twofer hehe

Originally Posted by oem_guy_2002 Normally i would recommend an HP ipaq as i have owned 4 or 5 of them. But considering that my ipaq 5555 PDA is less than a year old and HP have already dropped any and all support for the device sets an unpleasant precedent for future buyers. Now i say buy toshiba, they seem to continue support for their older devices and offer OS updates and security updates for them.

Just so you know, this seems to be a more common practice among PDA companies and has been going on in the cell phone industry for years. HP is doing it now, Toshiba has done it before, and so has Dell. I'm assuming you're refering to WM2003SE upgrades? Check around. Before you know it, Dell and HP will be shoveling support in your face and Toshiba will be saying, "Which new customer is next in line, please?"