Been using a Treo 650 for a little under a year. The scheduler and contact management are invaluable to me in my work. I also discovered a piece of software called TCPMP which can play compressed movies (about 200 MB for a full length film) and with a 1GB SD card, I have 5 movies at my disposal in case meetings start dragging on...

im thinking of getting an expensive palm.   i started looking at some of the cheaper ones.     Some of them only give you a 30-90 day warranty so if you are shopping pay close attention to the warranty.

im wanting one around a hundred.   the only thing i will use it for is a program called exbal  for when im at the range.   i have the windowz version, but its a pain to bring my laptop and ac adapter to the range witht me

You’ll never all the uses you’ll have for it until you’ve learned to live with it.  I’ve perpetually had one in my pocket for more than five years, including the 15 months I’ve lived in Iraq.  Right now I’m carrying a Toshiba e830.  I upgraded from an e755 but I don’t especially recommend the Toshibas; I just happen to have worked for them once upon a time.

Mine daily syncs all the information in my MS Outlook in my home PC with the one at work, and verse-visa.  I know anything I create in my PPC’s notes automatically will be backed up to both my work PC and my home PC the next time I sync.  And, as previously mentioned, it’s a great DayTimer and mini word processor.

Mine connects to AvantGo every time I make an ActiveSync connection and downloads that day’s online Reader’s Digest version of the Christian Science Monitor, NY Times, Dave’s iPaq, Reuters & BBC Sports, Sydney Morning Herald, Wired & Yahoo News and a bunch of others.  It’s my way of keeping up with what’s going on in the world when there’s a lull in the chaos.

And there’s a slew of killer PPC games if I feel the need to kill some Nazi occult researchers, along with some time.

I have Microsloth Money on mine and use it in lieu of a check register (it also maintains my balance for me).

I keep electronic copies of all my ID documents (passport, driver’s license, handgun permit, social security card, government ID, Blue Cross card and anything else I can think of) in PDF format.

Another app stores all my credit card information and all internet account logons in encrypted files.

I have an IP address scheme calculator on mine to figure subnetting for me at work.  In jobs where wireless networking was permitted, I’ve connected to servers remotely from my PDA via another freeware, VNC, and actually got something accomplished during those completely irrelevant staff meetings.  Or surfed the web and no one could tell I wasn’t merely taking notes. ;-)

I use a video shrinking app to reduce DVD movies to a size that will fit on an SD or CF card, usually carrying 4 movies on a single 1GB card.  It’s low resolution but looks okay on the small screen.  Beats the heck out of watching Emirates Air’s lame-o in-flight movies.  It also doubles as a respectable MP3 player, holding 10-12 CDs per flash card.

I have a freeware that transforms my IR transmitter into a universal remote control.  I’ve yet to find a TV in a waiting room that I couldn’t change the channels on at will.

I can pull my PDA out of my pocket and tell in 30 seconds whether there’s available WiFi signal, without having to fish out my laptop.  Along with my BT cell phone, I can surf and do E-mail anywhere there’s GPRS signal (which is just about anywhere there’s cell phone signal).

Among the more esoteric functions, I found a freeware app to guide me through the Paris Metro.  You input your start and destination points, tell it whether you want the fastest route, the one passing through the fewest stations, or the one with the fewest changes of line, and it gives complete details, right down to station numbers, platform numbers, direction of travel and estimated time en route.

I can get into a cab in Dubai and show the Jordanian driver the screen on my PDA, which is displaying the address of where I want to go in Arabic.  And a graphic world clock tells me at a glance whether it’s daylight in Tennessee and, consequently, whether I’m about to telephone my daughter before she’s had her morning coffee.

This summer I’m going to Italy and I plan to buy a GPS CF card to fit in mine to turn it into a GPS that hopefully will keep me from once again getting repeatedly and hopelessly lost in all those medieval mazes of inner city streets.  I also will load an English-Italian dictionary with audible pronunciation guide.

Most of the horror stories about network connectivity problems are leftovers from the early days; they’ve become markedly easier to network in the last couple of years.  I have Skype on mine and can use it for an IP phone anywhere I can make a WiFi, BT or IR connection to the Internet.  Two cents a minute from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world.  And, since it contains all the contacts from both my PCs at work and at home, I never have to worry about forgetting an important telephone number or address.

It’s not just commercial companies, common folk also are continually creating more (freeware) apps for the devices too, and, like crackers, they do it for bragging rights, not for profit.  There’s virtually nothing you can do with a laptop that can’t be done on a PDA.  How much use you find for it will vary directly with how much interest you take and how much effort you invest in making it pertinent.  I’ve made mine an integral part of my life.  The people who tell you a PDA is worthless are the same recycled Luddites who told you 20 years ago that you'd never have use for a computer in your home.

Downside?  If you can’t get it on a charger in time and the battery completely discharges, you’ll lose all your installed apps and most of your stored information (you did back up with your laptop last night, didn’t you?).

btt

what is the best planning software for meetings and to-do's?

The ability to turn a PDA into a remote control sounds pretty sweet. The devious idea of going into my college's cafeteria and changing the channel to something inappropriate just crossed my mind

Quoted: The ability to turn a PDA into a remote control sounds pretty sweet. The devious idea of going into my college's cafeteria and changing the channel to something inappropriate just crossed my mind

I haven't found a free one.  They are all trial versions that you have to buy in a month.

Is listpro worth using?

Bought one.  Didn't really use it much, so I sold it on ebay.  I would rather have used the money on a different gadget.

Does anyone use their PDA for to-do lists or tasks?  If so what program do you use?

Bought my wife a Palm a few years back for Xmas...  It's great for collecting dust.

~Dg84

Wow......I was browsing HP's PDAs and came upon this sexy little number:



Intel® Bulverde 624MHz processor

4" transflective VGA TFT display, portrait and landscape modes, LED backlight with power save mode

Integrated WLAN 802.11b, Bluetooth®, Fast Infrared, IrDA, USB & Serial

All for a mere $600

Quoted: Is listpro worth using?

It's my favorite software for PDAs, much better at organizing tasks than Outlook's tasks or notes (you can group them, arange them, create drop down boxes, etc...).

I also use it for various checklists, reference data, etc..

Had one once.  Premature internal battery failure and I switched back to my Day Planner.  It doesn't need electricity and is faster than a PDA anyways.

Saw a guy at work was using it to read entertainment books (current fiction) said it worked pretty well for that.

I used to use my day planner religiously, my current employment doesn't require it so I mostly use the calendar on Yahoo.

Does anybody know of one that I could sync with Yahoo calendar?  I avoid using MS Outlook as much as possible outside of work.  Too paranoid about the varaious security issues for my home stuff.

Are there inexpensive ones that do contact management and scheduling and not much else.  Farankly I don't need GPs, or Wi-Fi, or e-maild or internet.  I'ld like something to replace the dayplanner for normal carrying around away from work.  I used to use the day planner for recording meeting notes, logging phone conversations, etc.  In other words, stuff that you can't do near as quickly wih a PDA.  Plus it was easy to flip through the book and find things.

Anybody ever use any of the Sharp cheapies?  

Again the fewer bells and whistles the better, but syncing with a computer for backing up and gross data entry would be a must.

Quoted: Had one once.  Premature internal battery failure and I switched back to my Day Planner.  It doesn't need electricity and is faster than a PDA anyways.

I heard from somewhere (honestly can't remember where though) that if you let the battery completely die you can lose all your data. I thought if you had a memory card like a CF or SD this wouldn't be a problem, am I wrong?

Quoted: Does anybody know of one that I could sync with Yahoo calendar?  I avoid using MS Outlook as much as possible outside of work.  Too paranoid about the varaious security issues for my home stuff.

You're worried about security, so instead of using Outlook, you want to keep all your personal data on servers that are replicated across the world, with countless of people who have access to them.

Keep your computer clean, keep it updated, use common sense, and you'll be fine with Outlook.  

i have a dell axium i use 4 a GPS when driveing

Quoted: I heard from somewhere (honestly can't remember where though) that if you let the battery completely die you can lose all your data. I thought if you had a memory card like a CF or SD this wouldn't be a problem, am I wrong?

Most of your software and files are kept on volatile memory with PDAs because it is faster.  Most PDAs have a backup battery which will preserve your files for a few days but after that, it's gone.  You can do regular backups to your laptop/desktop or SD/CF/xxx cards.   It's not a big deal if you're on top of things.  With the new Windows Mobile 5.0 coming out though, the PDA will move around the data between volatile and non volatile memory so you won't have to worry about this.

Verizon/Samsung i730 here.


I love this thing!  I never have to remember anything, I just type it in.

EVDO broadband internet...anywhere I go. I stream internet radio off shoutcast.com.

Its a phone. Bluethooth, wlan, etc.  4GB memory card, which is full of Family guy episodes.

Quoted: I heard from somewhere (honestly can't remember where though) that if you let the battery completely die you can lose all your data. I thought if you had a memory card like a CF or SD this wouldn't be a problem, am I wrong?

Not true anymore, at least not with the new Palm Models. Storage is just like a memory card it dosen't need a charge to keep it's data.

Quoted: Verizon/Samsung i730 here. I love this thing!  I never have to remember anything, I just type it in. EVDO broadband internet...anywhere I go. I stream internet radio off shoutcast.com. Its a phone. Bluethooth, wlan, etc.  4GB memory card, which is full of Family guy episodes. www.myrateplan.com/images/phones/ani_auto/i730.gif

That's a pretty slick unit. How's the phone reception?

Quoted: Quoted: Verizon/Samsung i730 here. I love this thing!  I never have to remember anything, I just type it in. EVDO broadband internet...anywhere I go. I stream internet radio off shoutcast.com. Its a phone. Bluethooth, wlan, etc.  4GB memory card, which is full of Family guy episodes. www.myrateplan.com/images/phones/ani_auto/i730.gif That's a pretty slick unit. How's the phone reception?

the reception is great. Better than my last cell.

Quoted: I heard from somewhere (honestly can't remember where though) that if you let the battery completely die you can lose all your data. I thought if you had a memory card like a CF or SD this wouldn't be a problem, am I wrong?

thats why I do backups once a week. And save my info to my storage card or to safestore memory

Quoted: Quoted: I heard from somewhere (honestly can't remember where though) that if you let the battery completely die you can lose all your data. I thought if you had a memory card like a CF or SD this wouldn't be a problem, am I wrong? thats why I do backups once a week. And save my info to my storage card or to safestore memory

Hmmm.....now all I need is the money to buy one!

Quoted: Hmmm.....now all I need is the money to buy one!

fyi, the i830 is coming out next week. It adds a camera to the mix.

check out pdaphonehome.com  they are like an arfcom board but for these devices