I'm thinking of getting a Compaq iPAQ handheld PDA. The main attractions are the operating system (pocket pc) and its ability to sync all the folders in MS outlook. Any comments about these things? Love it/hate it/can't live without it? Any other suggestions?

Kuan

I have had my Casio pocket PC for about a year now and I absolutely love it. I read news on it through avantgo) and use it for all other typical PDA tasks.

When I bought mine, Ipaq was having a few quality control problems and the Casio was the only one that had 16 bit color.

Go for it and you'll love it.

I have a casio E-125. Its more of a novelty item then anything else, I dont use it to keep track of my life and stay organized, just games, word documents, etc but it sure is a lot of fun.

My friend has an Ipaq, its ok, it has a much more appealing shape, but I dont like the screen, and the lack of built in CF slot.

I have a Casio now but wish I had a Handspring or Sony. The palm sync's with outlook and all other MS app's and more people have the Palm OS so you can trade data easier.

I know there have been significant improvments in Pocket PC and more people are using it but I still wish I had a Palm OS like the Sony. Also the Pocket PC's are much larger and I have found just the size issue alone is a reason to go with the sony. Also in light the Casio's screen is difficult to see. When you test the unit you wish to purchase take it outside in natural light and make sure you can see. Sony has the best screen for the time being.

I do, its a Phillips Nino runs windows CE, it WAS a top of the line when i got it a few years ago, but it still runs very good and i never had any problems with it.

I dont like to bring my laptop to places cause its still heavy and cumbersome, so i try to get by with PDA for my appts, contacts, etc.

I cant live without mine. once you get used to something you gotta have it.

There are many many reviews on which model to get, you might want to do a search first. Watch out for color ones cause they eat battery power quicker.

I have an HP Jornada, and love it. Among other things, it has Word and Excel and a schedule.

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Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

And I highly recommend it. The screen resolution is very good. For me the MemoryStick is an important feature. I have Sony laptop, a Sony desktop and various Sony recording devices (DV camcorder, digi-cam, etc).

The ability to easily transfer up to 128Mb of data (the equivalent of 91 floppy disks) between my PDA, laptop, camera, desktop, etc., using just one MemoryStick is very important.

I have the b&w Sony PDA. Soon I'll buy one of the Sony color PDAs and pass the b&w to my kid.

Regardless of which model you get, you will never go back to using paper and pencil....

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Hi, i got a sony laptop too. i got a sony vaio pcg xg700, i like it, its got dvd, cd rw and i added a little memory, it came with 128 but i added a 256 to it.

So far so good, i never thought much about sync the nino with the sony.

Let me know how the sony color one goes. i am worried i might lose some data when going from windows CE to a palm OS, has anyone done a conversion so far?

I am of no help. My elder Palm Pilot is programmed to work only in German. It "understands", or at least accepts input in English, but the controls and functions are all in German.

Makes a great conversation piece...

Hey Kuan, how about upgrading your Mac pizza box first? :p

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Scott Longston
Northern California Wine Country...
"Turbos whistle, grapes wine..."

I have a Palm Vx. I chose the Palm OS over Pocket PC because Palm devices are much smaller (slimmer in particular) and can be carried in a pocket without spoiling the line of the jacket. I also figured that a handheld should be relatively simple. The Palm is "instant on", I don't know about Pocket PC.

I find the range of software and accessories excellent. I use the mobile internet kit to download my e-mail and to use web-clipping applications like the British Airways real time flight info service or the Traffic Master traffic jam warning system. I use this in conjunction with a Nokia 8210 telephone over infra red.

The Palm M500 and M505 take smart digitial memory cards. Apparently these are quite widely used.

I've checked out the M505 colour Palm Pilot. The screen is inferior to the b&w model for readability. The colour Sony Clie has an excellent screen but apparently its higher resolution can confuse some software.

I've just acquired a new Sony laptop with bluetooth and memory stick, so I am going to upgrade to a Sony Clie as soon as they bring out a bluetooth version. There are a number of bluetooth mobile telephones now.

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JJ Rodger
2013 G350 Bluetec
1999 SL 500
1993 E300 diesel T
1990 190

I bought an iPAQ 3650 from MPC online for $329. You won't need any additional memory unless you need map storage for a GPS system.

It plays very well with Windows 2000 and Office 2000. It's the GPS software that I'm having trouble with, the iPAQ is great.

Good luck,

My girlfriend just bought a HP Journada. She was initially interested in the new Palm Pilot 505. But I quickly pointed out to her that the Hp is an actual PC with 32MB, and colour display for the same price as the 8MB Palm(basically an electronic journal) with black&white display. Yes it is slightly bigger and heavier but what it can do more than offsets this. The Compaq is definitely more attractive , but the extras, like expansion cards(which have to be Compaq) are bulky and expensive compared to the HP.The HP extras seem to be more reasonably priced and aftermarket extras are available.

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1987 190E 2.3L (Daily Driver)
1985 VW Scirocco (Mint-Summer)

I don't own a PDA...but my Dad (thinking I'm this cutting-edge techie) got me a 24K gold PDA stylus for my birthday!

Funny thing is I am on a project coding PDA software...

Along with several Symbol devices, I have an HP Jornada and a Casio at my desk for testing...but I don't use them.

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2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

Has it been 2 years since this post? I finally got one. I guess PDA's finally reached a point where I found that the functionality was worth the price. Here's what I got. HP4150. Bluetooth, WiFi, and you can't even see the antenna.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF05a/215348-64929-215381-314903-f43-349042.html

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

A couple years ago I bought the bottom-of-the-line Handspring visor. 2M, grey screen, larger than the latest "thin" PDA's....

I still love that thing. Holds all I need it to hold (grey screen doesnt lend itself to viewing pictures...) alarms, a little drawing programs, a couple games. Keeps my phone #"s and daily schedule MUCH better than any paper and pencil setup.
I love the Palm OS, no waiting- none. I've reset the thing twice in the 2 years I've used it.
Batteries (2 AAA's) last 4 to 8 weeks depending on useage. No worrying about plugging it in.

I dont think you can still buy a PDA as old-tech, but, if you can forgo the techie instinct to always have the latest and greatest, I have MUCH more than gotten my money out of the Handspring. Now I'm just looking for old springboard modules =)

-John

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Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)