[chadbang]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-06-01-pda_x.htm

I guess the thread title says it all. I guess I shouldn't say "I told you so", but I've been saying this about PDAs all along -- that they're pretty much "gadgets" without a real strength (unlike cell telephones, which are surplanting the PDA as they add PDA-like features). I mean, like everyone else, when I first saw them I said, "Whoa, cool". But my next thought was a mumbled "useless". I couldn't help but feel a deja vu about all those nifty "electronic organizers" for your addresses and phone numbers that everyone sold during the 80s and 90s, and then finally dropped down to about $2 apeice of the street. To me, PDAs are pretty much tarted up versions of those. Maybe I'm not enough of a young professional that I need a contacts database and appointment scheduling (thank god). Of course, when they get souped up even more with high quality communications onboard, they'll be back...maybe. I just have a feeling smaller laptops will send PDAs to the gadget graveyard in the back of your desk drawer.

One of these days I'm gonna get myself organizized...

But not very soon.

 

[acs236]

I don't know. I use my PDA every day and love it. Sure, it's a glorified organizer, but that's exactly what I bought it for. It interacts seemlessly with my work schedules, it alerts me to my appointments, makes scheduling things simple, records "memos to self," allows me to play poker on the can (

), makes it easy to transfer documents, and tastes great with jelly -- what more could I want?

This probably says more about Sony's product than anything else. Not everyone needs to have a PDA, but for those that can use them effectively, they're great.

 

[bangraman]

Perhaps Americans are less organised than anyone else...

Seriously though, devices like the Blackberry seems to be taking over. I would love a Blackberry but I'm not sure the $5K cost of integrating it with my email set-up is worth it at this time.


Also, I'm not happy with the inability of organiserphones to lock the contacts / diary / notes portion of the unit while enabling unfettered access to phone (including phone number access of the contacts portion) facilities.

 

[3lusiv3]

I have used PDA's since I bought a 1MB US Robotics Palm Pilot many years ago. I have found my current Palm IIIc very handy and have used it for email, normal PDA stuff and even telneted into our work payroll server to fix a problem while sitting in a waiting room across town, much to my boss's surprise. I couldn't use a combined phone/PDA because I find them either too bulky or the screen too small. I love really tiny phones, but good ssize screens on PDA's.

It doesn't bother me that Sony are pulling out as long as Palm keep bringing out good products. It's hard to beat the Palm OS for PDA use but if an iPod with a bigger screen/touch screen and stylus could do everything my Palm does I would dump the Palm though.

 

[spaceman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chadbang that they're pretty much "gadgets" without a real strength (unlike cell telephones, which are surplanting the PDA as they add PDA-like features).

I wouldn't go that far. Walk through any hospital and you will see thousands of health care professionals making use of the "gadgets." I'm in health care, and use mine all of the time. I can store volumes of information (Merck, PDR, Taber's, A/P programs, calculations, etc) all in my pocket, and never having to search for a reference book. We can even synch with our mainframes to download/upload pertinent patient data. Sony may be out of the picture, but I think Palm and Handspring will be around for a while, I hope.

 

[mbriant]

Darn. I guess my Clie will soon be in storage with my BetaMax and Elcaset machines. I hope there's still room enough for my SACD player as well.

 

[averydonovan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbriant Darn. I guess my Clie will soon be in storage with my BetaMax and Elcaset machines. I hope there's still room enough for my SACD player as well.

It's a huge shame Sony is pulling out of the PDA arena. I love my old CLIE SJ30 and I was planning for my next PDA to be another Sony. They really helped push the Palm OS platform forward, if it wasn't for Sony, Palm would have continually moved at its glacial pace in developing the Palm OS and the platform wouldn't be where it is now. Palm One apparently makes crappy PDAs which have serious reliability problems, so I won't touch anything they make with a 10-foot pole. Handspring no longer exists. When my CLIE's LiIon battery dies I don't think I will replace the unit with another PDA. I don't use my PDA often, but when I do it is invaluable.

 

[darkclouds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbriant Darn. I guess my Clie will soon be in storage with my BetaMax and Elcaset machines. I hope there's still room enough for my SACD player as well.

It's alright as my Clie has been gathering dust for a long time.

 

[Snake]

I think it depends upon the PDA in question. I have a WindozeCE machine and in my prior job I used it, like, 80 times a day. But I have a palmtop (keyboard), not a handheld (handwriting) which has full system capabilities - 56K PCMCIA modem, IE with standard ISP access and offline browsing, voice recording, Outlook, PCAnyWhere client, DOS, CF card, handwriting recognition, ICQ, MS Word, etc. My palmtop is essentially a micro-laptop, and that's exactly why I have it - it fits on my motorcycle.

I think part of the problem is the PalmOS. It does what it does very well, but it doesn't do everything. Web browsing and external connectivity is a royal pain. Sony was PalmOS and competing in a PalmOS market - against Palm itself and Handspring - where these companies could not seriously differentiate themselves with radical hardware or software bonuses because the OS itself was the limiting factor. As much as I hate M$, and the CE platform has problems (bloatware and during config can be quite unstable), once running it's generally stable and gives you lots and lots of features, I've got to admit. Great connectivity to your desktop apps, as well (again, once properly configured), some using standard files (.txt, .wav, .jpg, .gif, .htm).

Sony was selling PDA's which weren't significantly different than other Palms, but very beautiful and nicely integrated. But, I think, people wanted more out of those things and weren't getting it. I also have to agree with "PDA users don't upgrade" as mentioned in the article - I've stuck with my 660LX for many years and am quite happy. It's a tool gadget, not much more. Limited market in that, I guess.

 

[BlindTiger]

I hope they will get drasticly discounted. People are still asking too much money for their clies. I'm talking in the $400 mark.

 

[LTUCCI1924]

HI: I have a palm M 515 and bought a go type keyboard and received a word processor for free with it. WordSmith. Its a great word processor with a big spell check and thesaurus and syncs with MS word on my PC. When I leave my PC if only to go To another room or in the back yard I can type stories I have in mind. Last night I couldn't sleep so I went to dunkin donuts at 2 am and had a coffee and typed a children's story about a family of ducks. Then when I got home I synced it to my PC MS word for a final grammar check and formatting. The go type keyboard is great. At 10" wide and 4" deep. And great to type on. I put the go type and palm in a small shoulder bag and off I go with my shure E2 and a portable radio of course. I use my palm as a portable word processor with the go type keyboard and have a lot of fun just typing stories that come to mind.

 

[Edwood]

It's a bummer.

My Clie NX80 is the last most powerful Clie to be made for the USA. I wasn't really liking the direction they were going with their Clie's, but uh, a dead end is worse.

Man, hopefully Palm will carry the torch. Damn, looks like M$ is going to roll over Palm. It's a shame, I've had a Palm since the original Palm Pilot.

-Ed

 

[plainsong]

So now PalmOne is the only customer of PalmSource? Way to go Palm!

Seriously though, it's a shame that Sony is dropping out, but then again aren't they also dropping out of Sony-Ericsson? Their Clie line was always hampered by the OS they chose to go with. I was a happy Clie n770 owner though.

But for all the fun I have bashing Palm, we really do need the competition, but with them dropping support for other OSes (they used to have the Mac market sewn up), and loosing other manufacturers, it's really not looking good.

Note: This Palm bashing thing isn't without experience. My pda history is Jornada 680, Palm IIIc, Ipaq 3630, Sony Clie 770, Jornada 568, Fujitsu Loox, Tungsten T, Ipaq 2210.

 

[3lusiv3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by plainsong So now PalmOne is the only customer of PalmSource? Note: This Palm bashing thing isn't without experience. My pda history is Jornada 680, Palm IIIc, Ipaq 3630, Sony Clie 770, Jornada 568, Fujitsu Loox, Tungsten T, Ipaq 2210.

There are a few other customers for PalmOne. Just not very high profile ones.

What a range of PDA's you've been through. What a geek

Go girl! This one looks interesting:

http://www.amidasimputer.com/