PDA choices

[plum]

I've done a bit of searching and research on this topic, but I'd like to get your opinions:

Do you own a PDA with Palm OS or a PocketPC with a Windows based OS? Which would you prefer and why do you prefer it?

 

[pgp_protector]

Me, I like the PocketPC Os

1) More Expandable in My Oppnion
2) WEB/CHAT/DataBase/Word/Excell Built Right in
3) More Bang for the Buck

Note:
These are just my oppnions , your mialage may very.
No anamils were harmed in this posting.


Except for the ones I am having for lunch

 

[seebs]

Palm. I have a friend with a PocketPC; his wife has a Palm. The PocketPC machine (an iPaq) can be used in a pinch as a sort of miniature computer, but it's a totally awful PDA. The attempt to impose windows-style widgets wastes scarce screen real estate, and the reliability and battery life are not merely bad, but hilariously awful.

In general, a 160x160 Palm will have more usable information on screen than a 240x320 PocketPC. Get into the higher resolution palms, and the gap is even more noticable.

If you really want a neat toy, though, get a Zaurus. There's a lot to be said for a PDA with a shell.

 

[dotcomguy]

Palm. I have a friend with a PocketPC; his wife has a Palm. The PocketPC machine (an iPaq) can be used in a pinch as a sort of miniature computer, but it's a totally awful PDA. The attempt to impose windows-style widgets wastes scarce screen real estate, and the reliability and battery life are not merely bad, but hilariously awful.

In general, a 160x160 Palm will have more usable information on screen than a 240x320 PocketPC. Get into the higher resolution palms, and the gap is even more noticable.

The battery life has more to do with the device than the OS. You can't really make a comparison based on that.

As far as usability goes, I've found my PocketPC to be very usable, and much more powerful than the Palm I used to use. Outlook is vastly superior to Palm Desktop. Also, if you don't like the PIM built into the PocketPC, there are several alternative drop-in replacements.

Overall, PocketPC's offer many more options and capability than Palm powered devices do. You can find plenty of software to complement the device and expand it in many ways.

 

[seebs]

The battery life has more to do with the device than the OS. You can't really make a comparison based on that.

You can when the OS is imposing hardware limitations. There's a reason that my 33Mhz PalmOS device was faster than my friend's 200Mhz PocketPC.

As far as usability goes, I've found my PocketPC to be very usable, and much more powerful than the Palm I used to use. Outlook is vastly superior to Palm Desktop. Also, if you don't like the PIM built into the PocketPC, there are several alternative drop-in replacements.

Well, speaking for myself, I pretty much never, ever, ever, use the desktop stuff. I just use DateBk5; keep in mind that there's drop-ins on the Palm, too.

The difference in the structure of the UI is quite noticable, though. My friend's iPaq wastes a lot of space.

Overall, PocketPC's offer many more options and capability than Palm powered devices do. You can find plenty of software to complement the device and expand it in many ways.

Palm wins by a HUGE margin in "available software"... There are many thousands of Palm programs out there. I even wrote one once.

The fact is, the PocketPC devices are pretty cool toys, but the PIM software isn't as polished or well-thought-out as the Palm stuff. If you just want to have something say "bingdledy-bingledy-beep" when it's time to do something, a Palm will always win, at a tiny fraction of the cost. If you're looking at the high-end units, then at least there's competition, but in general, the same number of dollars will get you a lot more practical functionality in Palm land.

A lot of this comes down to PocketPC itself, formerly known as WINCE, being an abysmally badly designed system. PalmOS was designed for small, low-power, devices. WINCE was adapted from something designed without regard for space or power requirements.

It is not a coincidence that you can have more apps loaded on an 8MB Palm device than you can on a 32MB PocketPC.

 

[dotcomguy]

Well, speaking for myself, I pretty much never, ever, ever, use the desktop stuff. I just use DateBk5; keep in mind that there's drop-ins on the Palm, too.

I find it very useful to synchronize data between PDA and the desktop. It's also more efficient to enter things in on the desktop using a keyboard when possible instead of using Transcriber or an on-screen keyboard.

My friend's iPaq wastes a lot of space.

Don't palm devices still waste a huge amount of space for the 'grafiti' area? (I could be wrong, but the one I saw recently did have that area)

Palm wins by a HUGE margin in "available software"... There are many thousands of Palm programs out there. I even wrote one once.

I disagree. Perhaps there are more palm apps out there, but it's pretty irrelevant when you have 100 apps that serve the same purpose. There is plenty of PPC software out there that would satisfy most people's needs.

The fact is, the PocketPC devices are pretty cool toys, but the PIM software isn't as polished or well-thought-out as the Palm stuff.

I disagree. I found the PIM in the PPC much more functional than that of the Palm I used to have. Compared to the PPC, the Palm was too simple for my tastes. This brings up an important issue. In my opinion, if you want just a very simple PIM, then Palm seems to have that niche. If you want more power, functionality, and expandibility, PocketPC might be the way to go.

 

[pgp_protector]

In my opinion, if you want just a very simple PIM, then Palm seems to have that niche. If you want more power, functionality, and expandibility, PocketPC might be the way to go.

And IMHO sums up the thread

 

[Nikolas222]

I have a Tungsten T3. I have tried some Pocket PCs but they are somwhat complicated and not too user-friendly.

I like gaming better on the Palm OS because much of it is free and easy to find, although sometimes I wish I had a PPC for emulating Nintendo systems.

PPC is a little bit more "professional," but this only comes from the fact that is a Microsoft product, giving it a better reputation than it should have.

Palm all the way. PM me if you need help with the Palm OS, im a genius at that