Which PDA should I get???

Alright, as much as I\'d love to just blow all the money I\'ve been saving on a DC and PS2.. I think I ought to spend it a little more wisely. One thing that seems a no-brainer for me to get first off is a PDA. I\'m terrible at keeping appointments, remembering addresses & phone numbers, and birthdays usually always blindside me. I tell you, the best Phone book I\'ve had was a thin strip of wadded up paper shoved in my wallet.

So.... I need something light and portable, which can help me organize my life a little bit (as well as maybe play some games as an extra, unnecessary bonus) Right now I\'m kinda torn between three models. First is the;

Palm IIIe


This is the basic model, and has the best reviews from C|Net for it\'s price. 150 bucks isn\'t bad, as it would still allow me to get a Dreamcast and a few games. The downside is functionality. It allows me to do all the things I NEED to do.. but really none of the things I want to do. A bonus is it\'s extended battery life compaired to the other models I\'m looking at. (Palm OS 3.1, 2mb Ram, Various orginization software, two months use on two AAA batteries, 4bit monochrome Touch screen and expansion port for modem.

Palm IIIc


This one is a bit more of what I want. It\'s price jumps to 250 at the cheapest from the 150 dollar Palm IIIe, but so do it\'s features. The astetic value of an 8 bit 256 color screen and the extra functionality 8mb Ram provide make it more than worth the price as far as I\'m concerned. It still doesn\'t do quite everything that I\'d like, but it can do considerably more than the cheapie model... albiet at a lower battery life. Extras like MP3, camera, voice recorders, and such require add-ons. (Palm OS v3.5, 8mb Ram, 8bit 256 color Touchscreen, Seriel port for add-ons, various orginization software, Roughly 20 hours of battery life.)

Casio Cassiopeia E-100


THIS is the Cadillac of PDA\'s from the compairison chart I looked over on C|Net. At it\'s lowest price, it offers worlds more functionality than either of the other two PDA\'s without that much more cost given I buy it at the right places. (250 to upwards around 500 bucks). It\'s really more of a PocketPC than a PDA. It touts a whopping 16 meg of Ram and a 16bit 60 some odd thousand color touch screen. The button configuration is great, expecially if I\'d like to play GameBoy/GameGear games. This lil bastard can probably even play many of my older PC games, as well as store a few MP3\'s and Video Clips. It comes with an In/Out audio jack for plugging in headphones or a Microphone for voice recording messages. However, the downside is it\'s battery life which isn\'t much greater than that of the Sega Nomad.. about 6 hours tops. (Windows CE OS v2.0, 16mg Ram, 16bit 64,000+ color touch screen, integrated speaker, Headphone jack, audio in jack, Stylus wheel for page scrolling, 6 hours of battery life, seriel ports for optional modem, Docking cradle sold seperately.)

Sooo.. which do you think I should buy? The beat up old Volkswagon (Palm IIIe), the 2001 Pontiac Gran Prix (Palm IIIc), or the Ferrari (Cassiopeia E-100)? Or do you know of an entirely different model which you may think would better suit my needs and wants.

[videoholic]

PDAs are just starting to get worth it.  You mentioned you need it for the basic stuff, but then you sound like you want it for trivial fun stuff.  Why would you want to play PC games on a PDA anyway.  I say you should buy the cheap one since that\'s all you are really going to need it fo ranyway.  Then in 3 years when those things can really do a lot like intigrating it with cell phones etc...  You wo\'t feel bad about upgrading because you only spent the 150 or whatever..

Just my opinion...
Cya

Yo dude, you can get an IIIe for under $100.  They were replaced by the m100 series a year ago, so i guess it\'s safe to say your new at this.  If your going affordability and best quality for your money, go for the IIIxe.  I own one and it\'s great!  I\'m getting a new palm, as well.

As for the IIIc, it\'s decent, not a abd choice.  However this palm is aging as well.  If your interested in color, I have a better choice for you.  For $450, you can get Palm\'s newest color unit. The palm m505, It\'s much improved, however the screen is dim.  16-bit colors(over 65,000), and in the Palm V shell.  It\'s latest and greatest, aside from one other handheld which I will get to later.

Now if color is not an issue but you want quality, definatly go palm m500.  However, it\'s $400, and for $50 more you can get the color unit.  The palm Vx, offers a lot of storage as does the palm IIIxe, but the vx has better overall performance.  The m500 is the best monochrome palm at this time.

Now here\'s just an overview of what I\'ve said:

Palm IIIe- Outdated, poor performance, go with newer m100/m105 series.  Palm doesn\'t even sell these anymore.

Palm IIIxe- When I got this last year it was one of the best, however with time it gets out performed.  This gadget which has 4x memory of the IIIe, packs enough memory for any palm user, it offers, a good overall performance and gives you the best bang for your buck.

Palm IIIc- Another wonderful unit.  It also is suffering from age.  However, it gives you everything the palm IIIxe offers with a nice touch of 256 colors.

Palm m100- This simply put replaced the IIIe\'s.  This fairly new model offers mediocre performance and limited storage.  This is for those who just have to have a palm and can\'t afford to go any higher.  No reccomended.

Palm m105- This is a pumped up version of the m100.  It offers a lot more storage and is comparable to the Palm IIIxe.  It offers slightly better performance than the Palm m100, but is not appreciable.

Palm Vx- Old, but a nice model.  Slim, very cool looking, very good performance, and lots of storage.  These are becoming cheaper, but are being replaced by the m500 model.

Palm m500- I put 400 above, the model number is actually 500.  They took a Palm Vx, spiced it up and gave it something palm has needed for a long time.  The palm has now achieved expandability.  In a war in which Sony\'s Clie, and Handspring\'s Visor had already had this, palm looked weak!  The tables have turned, and you have a wonderful piece of hardware with very good performance.

Palm m505- You take the greatest palm creation yet(m500) and you make it greater.  You give it color.  However, color is dim, so be warned.  But remember there\'s lots of it, 65,000+ colors.

Before I go on, I\'d like to say that I didn\'t mention any Handspring models because they are crap.  They stole Palm\'s software and tried to cheat them out of business, and now what happened, Handspring comes up with crap products.

Now, the pocket PC\'s.  Take everything you hate about a PC and put it in a palm handheld, and bam you got a pocket pc.

Cassiopia E-100- It\'s got all your "you\'ve performed an illegal operation" \'s, and your "you do not have enough memory to perform this operation" \'s.  It\'s one of the more frustrating units I\'ve worked with.  While it may have all the horsepower and flashy looks you need, it\'s vey buggy.  So please stay away from pocket PC\'s, it\'s a palm nightmare.

Hmm... remember when I said above that there is only one thing that could beat a Palm m505.  Well, I\'m about to reveal it to you.  

From the makers of the Playstation2,  Sony pround presents to you, the new Sony Clie.  With a hefty price of $500, you\'d think, it\'s way too expensive.  Sony offers something no other palm OS unit has. Quality Entertainment.  The Sony Clie pictured below, offers everything the m505 has to offer plus more.  The Clie gives you an MP3 player, a Digital Movie player, and a palm OS all in one.  For $50 more you get the palm that sets new standards.  Now, this is the unit I am purchasing.  Just look, it\'s wonderful...



So, my suggestion is.  For the best quality overall buy, go for the Sony Clie.  As some people may disagree, Sony makes quite possible, some of the best products on earth.

[nO-One]

I myself have an old Palm IIIx,which I plan to sell in favour of an iPaq.

I\'ve been drooling over one of these babies for quite some time now.

But if your just looking for something to take down notes with I\'d go PalmOS but here\'s my preference list.

• iPaq- Small compared to other PocketPC based devices,the most powerful aswell.
• Palm m505- Has the same shape as the much loved Vx,but inncludes a color screen and expansion slots,and PalmOS 4.
• The Sony Clié- Of all the Palm\'s this one comes the closest to having PocketPC features.
• HandEra 330- People might not really know about HandEra (formerly TRG) but they have one of the best PalmOS based PDA\'s,my favourite feature is the virtual graffity area.It also has alot of other cool features not normally included in PalmOS PDA\'s.

These are the PDA\'s I\'d recommend as of now.If you want Linux you could check out the Yopi and the Agenda VR3