Considering PDA

[Taz]

I tend to agree with Chrono: the PalmOS (while being very good) is more of an organizer.

I'm sorry I don't get that I've got both an iPaq and a Treo 650, I can't think of anything the iPaq can do that the Treo can't. There's PalmOS apps out there for pretty much everything. Mine currently gets used for phone, contacts, diary, email, web, telnet, remote desktop, GPS, MP3's, video, camera, games, mobile storage, checking eBay, IM and viewing MS Office files.

[VJ]

Hmm, perhaps we haven't been following the evolution closely... I'm using my brother's Palm as a reference, but it is an old device (if I'm not mistaken a Palm Vx color).

Just curious: if you just were to consider both devices out of the box (no third pary applications), how would they compare? And what if you only take free software into account?
(somehow, I don't like to purchase software for such portable things, so the availability of free software is a plus for me )


Jörg

[Taz]

Out of the box the Treo is the most useful, but that's mostly because it's a phone as well so not really a fair comparison The Treo comes with Dataviz's Documents to Go budled with it as well as Real Player, Versamail and the normal Palm apps. Apart from TomTom Navigator the other apps I use are either free or cost a few pounds.

The biggest advantage the Palms have over Pocket PC's IMHO is the ability to use them one handed. I don't want to have to take the stylus out to check something quickly, I want to be able to press a few buttons with one hand and have the information. I also find the PalmOS more intuative than Windows for Pocket PC, or whatever name MS are calling it this year

Palm must be doing something right because they've just done a big product anouncement with Microsoft and Verizon for the new Treo 700W. This is the first Palm device not have a PalmOS It will use Windows Mobile 5 but Palm have modified it to work more like their other products. There is expected to be a 700P which uses PalmOS but details of this are very thin on the ground

[VJ]

The biggest advantage the Palms have over Pocket PC's IMHO is the ability to use them one handed. I don't want to have to take the stylus out to check something quickly, I want to be able to press a few buttons with one hand and have the information.

Acutally, this is possible with Windows Mobile 2003, and Windows Mobile 5 has made furter improvements on it.

Well, what still is a huge downside to Palm (for me) is that they can't use CF cards... (at least, I know of no model that can).


Jörg

[lecter]

Another happy Palm user here...for the external display thing, you can get the Margi Presenter-to-Go pretty cheap now (30-40$), which works with a whole bunch of apps...anyway, I'd assume you're mostly interested in this feature for PPTs and videos, right? It even comes with a little remote

Palm is also due to release an accessory for the LifeDrive (which should also work just fine with the Treo and TX) which will allow USB-host compatibility...in this case, you can just leave your CompactFlash card in your camera and take the camera's USB cable along...

What really annoys me about Palm is the lack of a small attachable thumb-board, which would be a great thing for SMS over Bluetooth...still, the on-screen keyboard is fine for most usage, I wrote several belicose e-mails on it

[Taz]

Well, what still is a huge downside to Palm (for me) is that they can't use CF cards... (at least, I know of no model that can).

Most support Secure Digital/MMC cards which are smaller and therefore more portable than Compact Flash. Capacity wise CF still has the edge, but you can get 2Gb SD's now, with 4Gb just around the corner

[VJ]

Yes, but if you already have a large CF collection, it would be convenient to be able to reuse them.
I have 3x 512 MB, 1x 1 GB microdrive; which are now used mainly in my camera, or (only the microdrive) in my car's MP3 player (Blaupunkt CompactDrive).

There also is the fact that it would allow me to use the PDA as a photoviewer (larger display than the camera), from which i.e. deleting images is also possible.


Jörg