PDA vs Electronic Ink
I’m thinking of getting a PDA, primarily for Reading and Word time. But barring me getting a really good deal on PDA I’m trying to decide if it’s better to hold out for an Electronic Ink device because of the longer battery life.
But what do all you PDA users think, do you use your PDA for much besides reading?
Anyone have any experience with Electronic Ink.
January 16th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I would go with an Electronic Ink device if all I needed was reading. If you want to keep track of finances while out, hold memos and MP3s as well as other documents and mail then go with a PDA. I personally am leaning towards a UMPC like the Q1.
January 16th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Yeah, UMPCs are cool but battery life is less then PDAs. I haven’t owned a PDA so I’m not sure what I’d use it for — so those are some interesting uses. I’m thinking to wait till someone else produces a Electronic Ink, In general the DRM and proprietary software and standards like Memory sticks that Sony uses bug me.
January 16th, 2007 at 2:26 pm
Yeh battery life is definitely something worth taking note of but if you consider that:
1.) You will probably park your device (whatever it may be) in it’s cradle after usage (or after a day out), you generally need probably about 3 hours of battery life max each day. And if you get a car charger well then you’re talking.
2.) PDA syncing and mail with encryption is a PITA, with a UMPC you can use standard apps.
3.) The new UMPC from Sony now sports a 32GB Flash Drive which improves startup/shutdown as well as battery life — look for this to be a standard feature in all new UMPCs by the end of the year.
4.) DRM and license hell is something that would drive me away from a “Reader Only” Electronic Ink Device.
5.) PDAs have the worst upgrade paths in history when it comes to new OSs and patches. — Pick your PDA from Dell or HP to ensure you stay up to date.
6.) You can run Linux in all it’s glory on a UMPC.
January 16th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
You forgot one
7.) You can run Mambo on a UMPC
January 16th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
I know nothing about the Electronic Link Device, but I’ve go a Toshiba PDA and it’s great. I use it for word time, but also as my to-do list, alarm clock, calendar, for apppointment reminders, etc. It’s one of those things that once you have, it’s hard to imagine not having it. I haven’t gotten mine working with Skype, but some people have and it doubles as a phone.
January 18th, 2007 at 9:31 am
I forgot to mention one plus for either a PDA or UMPC is the fact that you can run Infostore on either one.
January 18th, 2007 at 10:55 am
what about PDA phones or whatever the technical name is for them like an hp mobile messenger or the ppc6700 where they run WM5, run all the windows apps that everyone uses like word and such and has wifi. What is the down side of those as compared to PDA’s?
January 18th, 2007 at 7:37 pm
I’ve decided that I want a PDA that uses Electronic Ink.
Actually I’m even more confused.
PDA phones are pretty interesting as well though at a price. But what I’ve heard is that they aren’t very good at either, IOWs they aren’t a great PDA and you can get a lot more if you get a PDA without a phone for a lot less. And as a phone they are just huge.
January 19th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
A PDA that uses Electronic Ink is actually not a bad idea. I used to own a Palm IIIx [http://www.palm.com/us/support/palm3x/] back in the day which was a monochrome screen but did basically all I’d want from a PDA (except voice/mp3 playback). — I almost wish someone would come out with such a device maybe based on Linux with a good development package. Would be sweet!
January 21st, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Well I’ve had my little iPaq for years now and have used it almost solely as a reader. Well, that and solitaire and all the Popcap games. Linda and I both fight over it at word times etc, and since she’s been gone for a week with it in Canada I’ve discovered how much I’ve become used to it’s handy portability.
Oh, and I put the screen brightness at around 45 percent and get a good eight or ten hour battery life at a time. The readability is still good, especially in readers like uBook.
If it gets right down to it, I may buy another one. Though I’d get one with bluetooth this time.
Oh, and after talking with Kevin, as far as I know the infostore for PDA only works on WinCE2003. For now, anyway.
January 21st, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Actually, reading about the Sony Reader…. I want one.
January 21st, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Well, if it supports landscape mode. Otherwise forget it.
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Why is landscape important?
January 31st, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Well have you ever driven your car in Portrait mode?
February 1st, 2007 at 10:49 pm
heh. the thing I like most about uBook is you can switch to any angle, and I dunno, I’ve just always felt more comfortable with a sideways, wide reading screen. Reminds me more of a book and does make it easier to read if you’re say, lying in bed. It’s just a personal preference.