All Quite On The PDA Front

[pdacrazy1]

This is driving me nuts. I can’t stand the suspense. Something has got to happen. I’m going insane.
What is going on?
NOTHING!!!!
I have never seen the “rumor mill” this quite on the developments of PDA’s or upgrades. Is this a sign of the future? Is this the start of the decline of the PDA empire?
Ever since Handspring and Palm became pa1mOne and Sony bugged out of the market, the ventures on PDA’s has been ever so boring or nonexistent.
After reading posting after posting on the Tungsten series and likewise on the Zire’s it’s hard to imagine what else could be wrong. Low battery life, bad touch screens, bad buttons; problems with the OS, non-upgradeable, no “universal” connector, no voice recorder, no WiFi, cheap cover. No one is satisified!
OK, there are a few of us who like the PDA that we have or have accepted its short falls.

But have we lost sight what a PDA is for?
Calendar (Datebook)
Contacts (Addressbook)
Expence
Memo Pad
To Do List

OK, just for fun I’ll through in
Document and spreedsheet support program
A utility program
A good financial/scientific calculator
A database program or 2
A conversion program
Dictionary and Thesaurus program

And, we’ll go a little further
Bluetooth
WiFi
MP3
Camera
View pictures and videos
Get e-mail
Surf the web

Where does it stop or end. Maybe it has. Just maybe the PDA has become a dinosaur and the “smart phone” is the new venture. What is next? Who needs a cell phone PDA combo?
MMMMMMM....add a removable drive you may just have a perfect PDA.

[Joel]

The latest rumor I heard is an Apple/Motorola phone... not PDA related but an interesting concept. ;)

[Reggie]

While I'm excited about the Treo 650 (GSM), I agree, nothing new for quite some months now...

Someone brought the concept of build-your-own PDA sometime ago. Now, that's interesting. :D

[zackepceo]

It's possible to build your own PDA using off-the-self parts, but not cheap.
You would need a 145x105 mm PC104 variety motherboard that you can get for about $250, Windows CE on a DiskOnChip chip for about $100 plus the cost of Windows CE, a battery with 12v and 5v outputs, and a small touchscreen plus controllers and cables for about $400. Then you would just have to make an enclosure, hook everything up, get a CF reader and attach it to it, have a big CF card for apps and media, and you can have a very big PDA that is only 300MHz and runs Windows CE (not Windows Mobile), but you made it. Not really an option.

[clie_wannabe]

well, could we be expecting a newsClie here in Japan (April is the start of a new fiscal year)

-@PIE@Loox

[clie_wannabe]

i meant “a new Clie...”

-@PIE@Loox

[strider_mt2k]

Hmmm, a NEWS Clie...
Maybe reporters could wear them in their hats! (Just kidding.)

I think the PDA as we know it is dead or dying out.

The next wave of integration will render the PDA as we know it as quaint as a pocket calculator seems to us now.

This is a good thing, but I feel the pain of knowing that the golden age of stand-alone PDAs has come and gone.

[zackepceo]

The next wave of integration will render the PDA as we know it as quaint as a pocket calculator seems to us now.

This is a good thing, but I feel the pain of knowing that the golden age of stand-alone PDAs has come and gone.
The same has been said about computers. I have a feeling that the non-cellular PDA will always have a place in the market.

[CroCo]

I HOPE the stand alone PDA will have its own place in the future! I like the idea of a smart phone, but then again...battery life would be really miserabel unless the batteries are improved.

I actually got my perfect PDA: clie TH55. Tablet style, big screen, long battery life, BT and WiFi...all I am waiting for now is palmOS COBALT!!!