Buying advice please

[JayE]

Hi,

I have *finally* decided to buy myself a Pocket PC based PDA as a replacement for my Psion, the swaying point for me being the software (especially Agenda/diary) I can buy which will make it easier for me to do what I want to do.

I now need to choose which features in a PDA I need to specify. Unlike Palms, there are a number of companies offering Pocket PCs, so I need to choose who makes the best one for me.

My main priorities are:
long as possible battery life
cradle for synchonisation which needs to be very quick and easy
plenty of expansion so I can use lots of extra software such as my own Agenda
I'm also keen to use it to play games
Bluetooth not important as my phone is not bluetooth

Which makes do I need to look at ? Any particular models ? Because I want to buy lots of extra software, I'd like to spend not too much on the PDA itself.

Can you help me please.

Regards,
Jay/UK

 

[cassiohui]

well if you ask me, definitely HP iPaq. That's the only brand i believe in. which model? 2210

they also have a 2213e, which has an extra battery included. same features as the 2210. depending if you need the extra power.

both have CF TypeI/II/SD/SDIO slots. not sure if it's got a cradle but will definitely have something for you to syncrognize with

Computers are unreliable. Humans are worse.

 

[JayE]

Hi,

Thanks very much for your advise.

My Psion has now finally given up the ghost - it still works but the screen is broken, so I can't see (hardly) anything on it !!!

The HP you mention looks very good, but I am looking around at other manufacturers, and I am impressed with the Acer models and in particular their web site/support offerings (esp as they offer 2 year collect and return warranty) and a London-based technical support number and an e-mail support request form on website.

Do you have any personal experience of Acer PDAs (N10 or N20) ? Do you know others who have experience of them - whether good or bad ? Any experience of dealing with Acer ?

Regards,
Jay/UK

 

[cassiohui]

acer........no, but don't buy ppcs from mitec (don't know if you have them in states) they have bad quality control with lousy support. they once had a ppc with bluetooth that you can't use. they only fixed it with a patch a few months later =.=

personally i don't have much confidence in acer though

acer's cheap, but not the best. IMO HP's the best (in ppc i mean)

Computers are unreliable. Humans are worse.

 

[robbieguy2003]

Hi,

Im currently using a Dell Axim X3i. The performance is on par with HP's top of the line models.

If your not bothered about bluetooth but you want memory expansion then this is probrably one of the better ones to go for.

I've had mine for over a month now and i'm really happy with it. I've got a 256MB Storage card and that is more than ample for most things.

My general advice would be to go for a Dell or HP. I've used HP longer but the dell's are excellent on price and i've had no problems so far.

Regardless of what PDA you opt for though just keep these things in mind;

1: Get an Xscale Processor at 300Mhz or above. If you want to play games these are the fastest pocket pc processors out at the moment.

2: Get a minimum of 64MB Ram on the actual PDA (most HP's and Dell's come with this amount now anyway).

If you dont really want bluetooth i would go for an axim. You can get the bottom model for about £170 now so there well worth a look.

HTH

Rob

Rob

 

[cassiohui]

dells should also be ok, but dno't get the x3 with xscale 300MHz, because 1. it only has a 300mhz cpu, and 2. it only has 32mb ram

get the x3 with 400mhz, or x3i if you need wi-fi

Computers are unreliable. Humans are worse.

 

[geeklad]

What about the viewsonics? They're cheap and look pretty good. Viewsonic makes great monitors but what about thier handhelds?

 

[robbieguy2003]

I've played with the viewsonics. I was stuck between that and a dell axim but i wanted wifi and when i was looking i think the viewsonics had 200mhz processors and seemed a little sluggish. Still they are still great pocket pc's

User: My computers smoking.
Support: Turn it off.
User: Will i lose my work??
Support: Turn it off.

 

[Nelviticus]

I got a ViewSonic V37. They're not offically out in the UK yet but Microsoft were giving them away with upgrades to Visual Studio for a while.

It's great in many ways - great screen, fast (400MHz CPU), slim, lightweight, free(!) - but there are a few minor drawbacks. Only about 32MB of the RAM is user-accessible, there's no built-in wi-fi and it only has an SD slot.

As long as you can live with those downsides I'd thoroughly recommend it. It comes with a cradle included and allegedly has very long battery life, quoted at about 10 hours I think. One of the hardware buttons on mine has broken but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming that it's bad luck rather than poor quality control.

Nelviticus

 

[robbieguy2003]

That initially annoyed me with my dell axim x3 as it only had an SD slot (just bought a 256MB compact flash card for camera) but decided to go with it as its quite small and just get an SD card.



User: My computers smoking.
Support: Turn it off.
User: Will i lose my work??
Support: Turn it off.

 

[McFestoe]

IPAQ 5550 what a toy, it has blutooth but i got it at a good price from

http://www.eurosimm.com

Wifi works great just looking for a working copy of net stumbler.