My Visor died a year or so ago, but I haven't bought a replacement PDA yet. Why?
My basic requirements are simple:
It must be no more than 1/8 inch thick
It must weigh no more than 2 ounces
It must have good scheduling and note-taking functionality
It must run PalmOS or PocketPC
It should run for months on a single battery or charge
It shouldn't cost an arm and a leg
Those are pretty basic requirements. I guess what I'm saying is that I want something I can slip in my shirt pocket and not even know it's there, and be able to pull it out on a moment's notice to add a note or check my schedule.
Nice but not absolutely necessary would be:
color screen
built-in wireless email
built-in digital camera
built-in digital voice recorder
SMS messaging capability
But I won't sacrifice any of my basic requirements for frills like these as I don't want:
a brick that tears a whole in my shirt or bangs against my chest when I walk
a whiz machine whose battery dies after two hours of use
I was Visor-less for quite a while until I got a Sony Ericsson T68i. It doesn't meet all of your basic requirements, but it's almost there. Good points: small and light, week-and-half battery life, syncs with iCal and address book, bluetooth. Weak points: lousy reception (I'm on ATT which partially explains that), voice record function is too cumbersome to use.
For taking notes I got an Olympus DW-90 and I transcribe notes later. If you are willing to forego written notes while you are on the go, a voice recorder actually works quite nicely.
What you want is a device in two parts connected by Aura's wireless magnetic bubble. http://www.auracomm.com/Technology/Default.asp
The hip device would contain the battery, the CPU and the other I/O wired & wirless ports.
The shirt pocket device would just have the screen and stylus like a remote "terminal server".
I have the same requirements...
2003-10-22 12:33:32
rmanalan
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and after switching between an old US Robotics Palm Pilot (the classic) to an HP Journada Pocket PC, I ended up going back to the Palm for its simplicity. The one I use now is the basic Palm Zire. It's small, light, and includes all the basics I need. The best part is the battery will go for 16 hours on a single charge... my PocketPC only lasted a few hours on a charge. Another good part is PalmOne sells them for $79... but you should be able to find some for around $40! Got mine on eBay for $45.
I have the same requirements...
2003-10-22 13:02:28
Mitch Tulloch |
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I'm not alone, yay!
...but the Zire weighs 3.8 oz and is 0.6 inches thick. I want something half that weight and a third thick or less...you probably wear corduroy shirts, but I wear Egyptian cotton ;-)
The Franklin/Xircom REX PDA line was about as close to your dream machine as anything the tech world has ever produced. Too bad it's been discontinued. Perhaps the Fossil Palm watches might be a contender?
Nope, the screen is too small on the watch. Mind you, I could always carry a magnifying class in my shirt pocket...
Even more basic requirements.
2003-10-22 08:16:10
bazzargh
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Handheld emacs, with long battery life, and removable storage (eg CF).
I'm only partly joking here. Emacs implies I have a /keyboard/ for fast input and I have a customisable editor that can also manage my diary. Its old enough that there are versions that will easily run on handheld hardware. CF storage would let me synch with pretty much anything, without the power drain of wireless or the clunk of cables, is way more than enough for editing text, and allows for upgrades.
And before anyone starts: I don't mind if its VIM instead!
an 1/8 inch???
2003-10-22 08:08:15
anonymous2
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My *digital wristwatch* is thicker than that!
So, I'm going to vote for "crazy", and say that, yes, most likely someone can help you. :-)
But are there any *technological* reasons why a PDA like the one I describe couldn't be made? It just frustrates me that PDA manufacturers are hooked on "feature bloat" instead of form factor/ergonomics...
an 1/8 inch???
2003-10-29 08:29:19
simon_hibbs
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>But are there any *technological* reasons why
>a PDA like the one I describe couldn't be made?
Probably not, but it would cost a lot for the restricted feature set. The Zire 21 probably has the feature set, and not much else, that you're after. Unfortunately shrinking it to the form factor you require would make it as expensive as a far more feature-rich machine.
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For taking notes I got an Olympus DW-90 and I transcribe notes later. If you are willing to forego written notes while you are on the go, a voice recorder actually works quite nicely.