I recently described the confusion the PDA-Plus market can engender.
Plus? The PDA-Ps offer tiny digital cameras, voice recorders, Bluetooth connectivity, MP3 players, WiFi, built-in keyboards or phones — and there may be a wee kitchen sink in research and development.
This particular model, the Palm Zire 71, intended for the non-enterprise market, has a digital camera and an MP3 player. The problem is I would have chosen different pluses if I had been the buyer. I already have a good digital camera, the Pentax Optio 330, that I don't use often enough. My MP3 player, the deservedly famous iPod, can't be bested. If I had been the person making the decision, I would have known what plus features to select. Most likely, I would have shopped for WiFi, so I could use the PDA with my Tmobile account and the free 802.11 networks in Portland and Seattle. Second choice would have been a voice recorder for memos and short interviews. If I could find a PDA with a cell phone that did not tie me to an undesirable service provider, I would consider that, too.
. . .There are two things we can learn from my predicament. If you are in the market for a PDA, be sure to examine the features offered closely and decide which ones you can actually use. For example, unless you have a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone or printer, you will have to purchase adapters for any peripheral you hope to use to communicate with a PDA with Bluetooth built in. WiFi might prove useless in an area where there aren't many access points. And, many of us already have MP3 players. Second, if you are buying a PDA as a gift for someone else, be sure to develop a profile of the person's lifestyle and gadget history first. Does she already have a digital camera? Is her vision and hand coordination good enough that she won't mind pecking away on a diminutive keyboard? Will she consider using the provider a phone-enabled PDA's manufacturer insists on?
The worst of the confusion may end with the introduction of Palm's Handspring Treo 600. Peter Lewis analyzed the hot new device for Fortune.
Although it has a few glaring omissions — it lacks a corkscrew and an airbag, for example — Handspring's Treo 600 smart phone may be the finest color-screen wireless phone, e-mail, web-browsing, Palm PDA, MP3 music player, messaging, and digital-camera combination yet devised. It's due out later this month for somewhere over $500 from several carriers, including Cingular, T-Mobile, and Sprint.
Article comments
1 - Steve Rhodes
I just ordered a Treo 600 from Handspring.com and should get it in about a week and a half. I'll post a review when I've had some time to play with it.
One thing I'm hoping it will be able to do soon is play real audio (there already is one for the tungsten palm).
The connection speed is good enough so it should be able to play a decent sounding stream from a station like kcrw.
2 - Mac Diva
Do review the Treo 600, Steve. I am eager to hear about more about it.
I have the Tungsten C now, but haven't gotten around to trying it out yet. I was going to yesterday, but Tmobile went down for all of us using laptops at the Starbucks location where I was. The weather? Tmobile flakiness? Dunno.
All I have seen really function well in the PDA wireless segment is Pocket PCs. So, if the Treo and the Tungsten C make it, I think they will do a lot for Palm.
3 - Kevin La
I just received the Treo 600 from Amazon. I'm sending it back. The keys are too small and difficult to use. It has no Bluetooth compatibility, so I can't use a wireless headphone. The earpiece jack does not fit stereo headphones; you need an adaptor. I like my samsung I-300 better.
4 - Mac Diva
Thanks for the info, Kevin. It helps with the issues I have been weighing in regard to PDA pluses.
I have started using the Tungsten C, with some of the same results. Despite all the headphones I have around here, not one fit that odd in-out port. I purchased a Nokia cellphone headphone from Office Depot that fits, but it is dissatisfying because of being one-ear. I find myself ignoring the built-in keyboard on the Tungsten C and using Graffiti most of the time. Except for Ts. I can't seem to get them to work in Graffiti 2. I am very pleased with the WiFi, especially with my laptop headed for repair Monday or Tuesday. I'll have a way to browse and do basic stuff. However, I am not sure what I am getting out of the Tungsten C is worth $500 for the PDA, $49.99 for an extended warranty, $24.99 for the forementioned headphones and additional costs for added memory and programs. (The MP3 player among them.) Some of my friends have been teasing me about buying a PDA. They laugh whenever I take it out. They say I should have sprung for a small laptop insread. Maybe they are right.
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