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Personal Digital Assistants. What's the point?

Ive sat here reading up on 'em a little but I still cannot see how they can better a notebook and pen and the mobile phone that chances are you'll be carrying anyway?

Are they just a gimmicky 1980s product that people still buy thinking they really need it, or are they genuinely useable?

i have used one for several years

you get what you pay for imho

I currently have an O2 XDA trion - great as a phone, PDA and mp3 player. It will run satnav software and i can use a bluetooth satnav with it

I can keep all my contacts with me, and also my diary - it uses push email so I can get stuff even when out and about.

Would I do with out it - no - and that is a big NO

BUT

do your research, and if you use outlook, go for a windows based machine. If not, go for palm as is often cheaper

I like mine.
Do I need it..probably not but I use it at work as an mp3 player, for watching movies and playing solitaire
I have tomtom bluetooth sat nav on mine ( the software and receiver will be for sale if anyone interested)
I do have my contacts on it and some other stuff.
mine takes cf and sd cards and had wifi as well as bluetooth.
and it all slips into your pocket

I use mine mostly for sat nav, but I've got a 1gb card for movies when im on an hourly rate at work, another for casino and nintendo games, another for music. All duct-taped to the back of it
Dont think I've ever used it as a personal digital assistant though

Its showing its age and is falling apart . I'd show you but its taped to the dashboard steering my cousin through france atm

Could i do without it? yea but I'd have to get at least another satnav device

I have one.

It combines a phone, notebook, addressbook, camera and GPS - all in one handy little package.

I use it most for (obviously) making phone calls and keeping track of meetings. It's also come in very handy to carry large files around on.

Now, if only I could get Outlook to talk to the calendar server here at work...

www.emoze.com

quite possibly the end of the problem viking.....

Thanks Aladinsane,

But it's not quite what I'm after. When it comes to phones, I'm lost - GSM / GPRS / WAP / 3G / WTF??

Work has an ancient (circa-1999) calendar server program that was once owned by Netscape (iPlanet), then bought by Sun (Sun-One), then passed to someone else before being bought by Oracle. Needless to say, we haven't upgraded - ever.

I have Outlook running on my PC, and there is supposed to be some magic piece of software that will allow Outlook to talk to the calendar server (named "Oracle Calendar Connector for Outlook", oddly enough), but I can't make the !@#$&@@ thing work. None of the guys who look after the calendar server can help, either.

We're supposedly moving to Lotus Notes before the end of the year, so I'll see how things pan out there.

Sometime, I really hate computers.

Viking wrote:
We're supposedly moving to Lotus Notes before the end of the year, so I'll see how things pan out there.

You're in for a real treat!

Viking wrote:
Sometime, I really hate computers.

You certainly will do once you start using Lotus Notes!





(Yep it's what we suffer at work)

giggles madly - tell me, do you have a vending machine in your office with diazepam in it?
(yep - agree with andy over lotus notes.....)

Thanks for reinforcing what I've been hearing from other places, guys.

It seems all the world is moving away from Bloated Goats to anything else, yet we're firmly embracing ancient technology. As much as I dislike Microsoft, I have to say that a properly implemented Exchange setup would be better than Notes. (Mind you, getting anything properly implemented and looked after here is a Sisyphusian task.

$DIETY save us...

Viking wrote:Sisyphusian

Impressive, had to look that one up.

nod

was impressive

thank god I did both greek and latin so i had an idea..... still damned impressive though

*Huge grin*

I thought you'd like a complicated word in there. Cheers!

Aladinsaneuk wrote:i have used one for several years

you get what you pay for imho

I currently have an O2 XDA trion - great as a phone, PDA and mp3 player. It will run satnav software and i can use a bluetooth satnav with it

I can keep all my contacts with me, and also my diary - it uses push email so I can get stuff even when out and about.

Would I do with out it - no - and that is a big NO

BUT

do your research, and if you use outlook, go for a windows based machine. If not, go for palm as is often cheaper

I have one as well, I like it but its imperative you disable IE and the Sat Nav buttons, and if you hold it like me the camera button as well.

I tried it in portrait and landscape mode, the 2nd is terrible if you use the keyboard.

Do you also use the security features? I do as I've heard lots are being stolen?

anything silicon based can be hacked so - anti theft software is about as useful as a johnny machine in the vatican imho