PDA Reviews

One, it looks the best out of all of the PDA's. It has a sleek, futuristic, design, unlike the Jornada, for example, which is just plain black.

Two, the stylus can store inside of the body, so there is less of a chance of losing it and you don't have to carry it around separately.

Three, It has an Mp3 player, which is one of the main reasons I picked it over the Palm and Visor, in which an Mp3 expansion costs as much as the PDA itself.

Four, the writing area is retractable and there is an on-screen keyboard; the Palm and Visor don't have the keyboard, and the writing area takes up precious screen space.

Five, the processor is an Intel Strong ARM 206MHz; the other pocket PC's only have 133MHz or lower, and they're not Intel, which is the best and most reliable processor.

Six, it doubles as an E-book, you can read books on your iPaq with Microsoft Reader and download them from numerous websites, even a thesaurus and dictionary; the Palm doesn't have this feature and the Visor expansion is expensive and you can only choose from a selection of four books.

Seven, one of the most important factors in my buying the iPaq is the color screen; the resolution is the best out there, especially compared to the color Palm and Visor PDA's, which are expensive and have very low resolution. Not much of an improvement from a Game Boy.

I went through excruciating research on the other PDA's before I decided on the iPaq, visiting Casio, HP, Visor, Palm, and Compaq. The Palm and Visor I ruled out immediately after seeing the capability of the Pocket PC's. I looked at CNET, Epinions, and PDA Buzz, and went to my local Best Buy, CompUSA, and Circuit City. I saw that it got high praise from many electronics and technology magazines, such as Best of the Year from Popular Science.

It took me 2 weeks before my final decision. That was two weeks too late, into the middle of the Christmas shopping frenzy. Almost every retailer was out because of the popularity of the iPaq and on eBay, it cost around $600-$700. I finally snagged it at a Brandsmart USA, it was the last one.

A very useful feature is AvantGo, which is included. You can load your favorite web site onto your iPaq for viewing anywhere. Also, you can read the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USAToday, you can play Jeopardy from SonyStation, you can access Yahoo(with movies, news, sports, stocks, etc.), and thousands of other sites.

There are many games and lots of software that you can download for it, like Flight Simulator.

I am very happy with my iPaq, and I would suggest it to anyone. It's good for the music lover, disorganized person, businessman, etc.

The brilliant and well-lighted TFT display is easily read under any cirmcumstances (even bright daylight), and the touch screen and stylus pen make standard (short) input hassle-free. Handwriting recognition is very good, can be adapted to your personal hand. For more significant amounts of text, a fold-up keyboard should be used (but for serious word-processing, better use a full-fledged notebook instead).

Not only windows can be run on this little machine, it is also LINUX compatible and can be used for serious UNIX Systems Administration using wireless add-ons.

Special Linux version available: best of them, LISA Systems' iPAQ that comes pre-installed with mLinux 1.0 for advanced users. A highly interesting special for System Developers and IT pros. ... The free Open Source LINUX Operating System is now available to palmtop computers!

iPAQ with Windows integrates easily with MS-Outlook. The LINUX version supports synchronisation with appropriate LINUX applications. Either way, you get a highly professional palmtop computer connecting to your desktop and existing infrastructure.

1935 has everything e355 has except that
it uses a slower processor, but i dont use it for
intensive computing. it is a lot smaller. it is battery life
is quite good....very happy to swtich to 1935

Hopefully this review will give a student a little insight into this "student" view of this.

Pros:
1. Great speed.
2. Works right out of the box.
3. Excellent battery life (3.5 to 4hrs continuous running)
4. Crisp display. (especially for video playback)
5. Smooth buttons that feel pretty nice on your fingers.
6. Good price for the quality you get
7. The speakers on this player play audio in the best way i have heard for a small speaker unit. You would not believe that a pda could do so well with sound. It plays my mp3s, wma, anything and don't forget the videos.
8. It has a SD card slot so you can expand the memory at any time. the SD card slot has a dummy card that protects it from being damaged by dust or other particles.
9. Quick charge time. Good size storage built in, 64mb.
10. Windows Mobile 2003 is much much much more stable than its predeccessor.
11. It's much much much thinner than many other pda's i have reviewed.
12. It's much more resiliant to 'falls to the floor' than the Dell or Ipaqs for example. I'm a teacher. I can guarantee you...running around the class will lead to a fall on the ground. It has a metallic covering. (no shaking inside!)

Cons.
1. Sometimes if you use up close to 90% of the memory, it stalls.
2. The 'record audio' button is placed near the top so sometimes taking it out you may mistakedly begin recording. (this can be disabled though so it is not really a con)
3. It does not include the ability to 'go wireless' for internet. You can still access the internet though but you need to be connected to your computer. I did not need wireless internet just yet. When it does become ubiquitous...maybe then i'll go for something else.
4. The battery is not removeable. By the time this actually becomes a problem I'll be getting a new pda..about 2 to 3 years from now.

THis is an excellent PDA is you do not need wireless internet access right away.
I would recommend it with all authority people out there.

Another problem with this product is getting these sheets to lay down smoothly without any air pockets. You are supplied with a credit card-like applicator, but if not applied perfectly the first time, you can go over and over the thing and the bubbles still remain.

There is no doubt in my mind that this product will protect the Palm's fragile screen from scratches, but if you can't read the screen, what's the point? I discovered, however, it's very easy to cut the sheets so they just cover the graffiti portion of the screen, and this is the part of the screen that takes the most abuse from your stylus. Using it this way, you get the advantage of a textured writing surface (very nice) yet you can still easily view the screen. Furthermore, you'll get three of these mini protectors from each single sheet.

Keep in mind that if you choose to use the method of only covering the graffiti portion of the screen, and a coin or some other object gets lodged between the case and the screen, these protectors will do little to keep the rest of the screen from being scratched.

I think the textured writing surface makes this product a good bet for most users, and you can start with the entire screen covered and see if you can live with it. If not, cut the sheets (as described above) and I think you'll be happy.

Purchase decision - My impression from OTHER reviews and info for Magellan was great hardware, weak software but considering all pluses, minuses and price points and my usage: hiking, biking, back-country skiing, driving, boating, I chose a Magellan Meridian Gold, 32meg memory, and Mapsend Topo Sofware. Keep in mind there's a lot to choose from and yet none seemed PERFECT.

I've now had it for 2 weeks of vacation time biking, hiking, driving and land surveying in S. Utah. I monkeyed with this unit everyday, becoming completely familiar with it's usage.

The Good: Solid, durable hardware. The Gold has a great feel, is a good size and fits into any of my outdoor shirt pockets. It holds satellite signal extremely well in trees, 2nd story house, Utah canyons. Solid feeling buttons and rubber armoring are all great. Seems to do very well on batteries using roughly a pair or less a day. (I already have a charger and extra batteries from my digital camera and headlamps).

The Bad: Mapsend topo software at 1:100,000 is not really precise at closest level. However, the amount of built in software and downloaded maps are sufficient for my usage and I can imagine the memory and processor speed needed for 1:24,000 topos. Also on the positive side Mapsend and Magellan built-in software has a ton of info! It's great having altitude, moon/sun info, vertical trip projections, and much more.

The Ugly: Magellan's method of setting routes and backtracking is absolutely terrible for my usage. I am so annoyed with this, I would return it if I hadn't already used it 2 weeks. Here's the deal -

If you go out for the day and retrace your route exacty, or just set it for the car in general it works very well. But so does a few cents worth of flagging, popcorn, or the cheapest GPS available.

In reality, I usually go on a hike, bike, or ski in some type of semi circle and at some point want to return to my nearest backtrack point and THEN start backtracking. I want the unit to beep when I get near the next point and keep counting them down. In the canyonlands of Utah and backcountry skiing here in Jackson Hole, Wyoming this could really be useful.

However, this ONLY works easily if you exacty retrace your trail.

So... in everyday usage where you aren't going exactly back down your same trail (why have a GPS?) you have to build a route with the GPS and/or go through the user database and select the nearest backtrack points. And then if you don't keep manually going through the database and selecting the next point, it will just keep pointing back at the last one. This is ridiculously time consuming on a day hike and makes operating the GPS the whole excecise instead of enjoying the outdoors. THIS SEEMS LIKE IT COULD BE EASILY CHANGED BY MAGELLAN BY SOFWARE PROGRAMMING.

More ugly: Really ugly.

Okay, so you set waypoints along your way using the GPS. Great, it does this well with 2 clicks. But THEN what??? It's back to the problem above.

It takes SEVEN screen operations and even more arrowing buttons to get a single one of these into a route. This completely insenses me. I could walk around circles for a day and eventually catch up to my wife and find the car in the time it takes to make a route! WHY CAN'T MAGELLAN MAKE IT SO I SELECT ALL THE POINTS FOR A ROUTE AT ONCE!!!???? How about storing waypoints in separate databases to start with? Or using two buttons in a computer-like fashion to highlight and select?

THEN: after I've got a route made HOW ABOUT if the GPS allows me to select manual or automatic retracing???? In other words, I want to go on a trip and set waypoints along the way. (Remember this is easy) Then, no matter where I am when I want to return to camp, I dump all my waypoints into memory in a few clicks, point the way to the nearest, and as I approach each new one, (automatic mode) the GPS beeps and rolls over to the next (lower number) waypoint.

If Magellan would make route setting and retracing easy, this would be a real must-have piece of gear for all my trips. At present, it's an electronic toy to play with while walking on flat ground or while my wife is driving the car. To give it the benefit of the doubt is also perhaps a good last resort safety measure so that if I get really lost I know where the nearest town is.

The annoying part is it is so close to being great, but Magellan's software programmers apparently never leave the office!

One last word - I find the Gold a great decision over the Platinum for using less batteries, having less to break, not needing re-calibrated everytime you change the batteries (daily) and knowing I haven't paid even more for some hardware that is mostly a toy because of the software behind it. Plus, I wouldn't go somewhere I could really get lost without a basic topo map and compass!

Three Stars overall for amazing toy that gives you info from satellites in outer space!

It's got the latest CPU and OS which, while promising a lot, are actually slower and less capable than they ought to be. It's got a new screen, while bigger and brighter than its e740 predecessor, is not as bright and sharp as other devices such as the Sony Clie.

It IS quite expandable what with its SD AND CF slots (important for someone who already has several CF devices and memory from other PDAs and cameras!) Not to mention the built in Wi-Fi which means I no longer need to carry a CF network card.

Only issues I have are that I also bought a couple SanDisk 256MB SD cards which seem to be incompatible with this device for some reason and Toshiba merely said to check the SanDisk site for compatibility. Seems that SanDisk doesn't certify this combination so be aware of that. Also this device still has a one touch record button that always gets pushed accidentally keeping the device on and taking up memory with nothing. They really ought to remove that.

Otherwise, it's probably the best Pocket PC out there.

Featuring a new mobile processor, the most internal memory of any PDA, built-in wi-fi, dual CF/SDIO slots, and good battery life, the e750/e755 is close to being perfect. The compact and attractive form factor is a huge plus, as well. The new Intel processor is the star of the line-up. It's an updated version of the Xscalar processor, which wasn't getting good reviews due to lack of optimization options. The e750/e755 allows you to switch between two speeds, hence you can choose between higher speed or better battery life. Even at the lower speed, PPC apps feel quick and responsive. The battery is also user replaceable. What's left to improve for Toshiba is their lackluster customer support. Because their PPCs are made by an OEM in Taiwan rather than in their own plants in Japan, the build quality is still a bit lacking, but the e750/e755 seems to be better made than the e740, which was getting a lot of complaints.

See my e750 review for more updated details. [...]

I got quite the scare recently. I knew I had been using my Palm IIIx earlier in the day, but when I reached into my jacket pocket at the train station, it wasn't there. After a quick search of all my pockets I realized I didn't have it. I retraced my steps, but it wasn't in my office, nor in the Starbuck's where I got my coffee.

Fortunately, it turned up the next morning. The cab driver who took me to the station the previous day had found it in the cab and was honest enough to return it. Five minutes after I got my Palm back, I was online here at Amazon looking at cases. I finally decided that the belt clip case made the most sense for me, as the other cases would still risk falling out of a pocket.

The leather is very nice and seems to adequately protect the organizer from damage from inadvertent bumps. The belt clip holds securely. There are a couple of drawbacks that prevent this from being a 5 star product however. One is that it barely fits around the flip top cover of the Palm III. Makes it very hard to remove your organizer from the case. Also you have to take the case off your belt to get to your Palm. It would be nice if the cover were hinged the other way to enable removing the organizer without unclipping the case. Still the case does exactly what I bought it for, which is to keep my Palm handy at all times, without the risk of losing it.

But potential buyers should be aware that there are problems with the software on the card that need to be resolved if the games are to work properly. Zap!2016 can eat up your main memory, and Vegas Slots and Klondike can stop functioning altogether. See the Palm web site for details and solutions. Fortunately these problems are fixable, but I wish that these games had been tested more thoroughly before this card was released. The patch for Zap!2016 takes up 124 KB of your handheld's main memory, which undermines one of the chief advantages of this product, namely, that it frees up handheld RAM.

I would also have liked more games on the card. The card itself is a 16 MB MultiMediaCard, of which the games take up only 1.6 MB. The selection of games seems a little light and could be a problem if, for example, a buyer doesn't much care for a couple of games, such as the Vegas-style gambling games or the card games, and ends up using only a few games on the card. I personally would have liked a strategy game in the mix; others may find other reasons to quibble about the selection. Still, why so few games? Would more have pushed the price higher?

In sum, this game card is satisfying - I do use it quite often - but I'm not entirely sure it's worth what it costs.

However, the photo-viewing program doesn't allow you to zoom in or out. This is annoying because the Photo program just resizes the image to fit on the screen. That's disappointing. You also need an SD card to take advantage of the mp3 player, which requires another purchase. My last CON is the HORRIBLE graffiti2 that comes with it...NASTY. I found a hack online for converting it back to graffiti1, but it acts a little funny after converting it back. Oh well.

I was happy that both the mp3 player and the photo viewer both allow you to view photos on your SD card without a problem. The mp3 playback quality is great!

Overall, for the $149 price tag, you absolutely can't beat this deal. I would definitely recommend this product!

2. Very odd glitch that on occasion it will attempt to do a sync instead of turn on/off.

3. Mine did not work. I've got 5 computers in my apt (5 PCs, 1 Mac) and know how to use my Palm very well. The ThumBoard simply refused to work...it only wanted to sync. After a total of about 4-5 hours over 2 days of working on it (between myself, my boyfriend, and techsupport @ Seiko) it simply did not want to work. I could not get the Visor to recognize it. I realize this may be one faulty unit - but when the only place I can seem to find it is online, that is too much hassle to exchange items and hope that it works.

From what I've seen online, people love the design of this keyboard. If it works, you'll love it. If you can't get it to work (or it constantly syncs), you're just better off using Graffiti or upgrading to a PDA with a built in keyboard (Treo or Clie).

My biggest issue with this product is that I couldn't ship it outside USA. I had to ship it to a US address and then get it forwarded to Canada. Well I have it now, and you can't have it back.