# Are PDAs dead?



## geepondy (Mar 7, 2009)

My sister was asking me about PDA info. I have casually kept track of them thru the years but never wanted one quite bad enough to purchase one. Upon revisiting the subject upon my sister's inquiry, I see on the Palm home page, only the Palm Treo phone. Likewise upon visiting the Sony website, I don't see any Clie's nor Dell Axioms (not sure about spelling).

Did these new smartphones kill the PDA? I know they are nice and serve their need particularly for business users but also come with hefty contract fees that put off the casual users such as myself and I would think perhaps a $200 PDA that doesn't require a contract to use might still have it's place.


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## coloradogps (Mar 7, 2009)

I think that smartphones did kill off PDAs.

If you didn't want a contract with a smartphone, go with the iPod Touch.

All the PDA features, calender, contacts, alarms, WiFi, etc....

No contract.


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## bullfrog (Mar 7, 2009)

Absolutely.

My blackberry killed my palm about three years ago.

It does everything and more.


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## ackbar (Mar 7, 2009)

Unfortunately the traditional PDA is dead. With most smartphones being able to do 100% of the tasks of a PDA 80% as well, most people won't be willing to spend the money and carry around an extra device.

I think that palm dropped the ball. If they had made a super durable budget PDA back in the day, I'd bet dollars to pesos that we'd be seeing a whole generation of school children with them. Think of the utility. whole volumes of books being carried around in a device that is less than 100g.

I for one won't forgive them for the shafting they gave me with the TX. The damn thing had a 50% chance of crashing when connecting to wifi :F


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## LukeA (Mar 7, 2009)

The smartphone is the device the PDA wanted to be 5-10 years ago.


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## StarHalo (Mar 7, 2009)

Yes, PDAs have been dead for some time now, though if you've really got to have electronic organization without phone capability, there's always the Apple iPod Touch, which is essentially a really powerful PDA..

It should be noted that while Palm has been superseded into obscurity by Apple/iPhone and Blackberry, they are about to release a brand new phone, the Pre, which according to iPhone-fanboy reviewers may actually have a better OS than the Apple, so stay tuned..


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## WadeF (Mar 7, 2009)

PDA's never seemed to do what I wanted them to do. I never used them as much as I thought I would. Then I got an iTouch and loved it so much I went for the iPhone since it added more capability. I see no need for a separate PDA now, since it basically is one with a phone.


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## carrot (Mar 7, 2009)

PDA's did it all before the internet became a must have for any sort of personal computing platform. Back then I loved my Handspring Visor, but by the time I got a Palm T|X the magic was gone -- not only did Palm let the platform stagnate, they failed to keep up with the times and got left behind. I carry an iPhone and a small paper planner with me nowadays and it takes care of everything the Palm used to... plus a heck of a lot more.


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## LuxLuthor (Mar 8, 2009)

I still use my two Sharp Wizard OZ-9600-II deluxe models with their whopping 512KB. Back-up/transfers with cutting edge infrared windows, password protected. These are the shizznit.


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## Big_Ed (Mar 8, 2009)

LuxLuthor said:


> I still use my two Sharp Wizard OZ-9600-II deluxe models with their whopping 512KB. Back-up/transfers with cutting edge infrared windows, password protected. These are the shizznit.



I had one of those! I think it's packed away somewhere in a box in my storage unit. It hasn't seen the light of day in at least 10 years.


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## LuxLuthor (Mar 8, 2009)

You better change the Lithium CR2032 backup battery. If it leaks....

It's funny to see all the old contact names, phone numbers, birthdays, lists that are still there.


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## xcel730 (Mar 8, 2009)

I'm still using a PDA. 

I have the HQ Travel Companion for about 2 years now. I use it to keep track of all my finances, play games, listen to music, and watch movies while traveling and I use the built-in GPS. It comes with TomTom Navigator, but I didn't really like it too much, so I purcahsed the Oncourse Navigator.


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## worldedit (Mar 8, 2009)

"Take the ipod touch if you dont want a phone..."

You can get any smart phone and dont use it as a phone. I dont like apple products.


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## TKC (Mar 8, 2009)

*I am still using my Palm TX. I have had MANY a Palm over the years, and feel that the TX is the best Palm, Palm ever made.*


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## Crenshaw (Mar 8, 2009)

I had a T2 at one point...where to even BEGIN with the problems....


-It never synced properly
-It always crashed
- Crashing meant that everything was deleted, therefore i never used it to keep important contacts or notes.
- there was a LOUD inductor whine for some reason
- the screen became unresponsive
- the tap never happened where you wanted it to, even with the calibration
- terrible battery life.

Needless to say, i stopped using it.

Crenshaw


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## ackbar (Mar 8, 2009)

TKC said:


> *I am still using my Palm TX. I have had MANY a Palm over the years, and feel that the TX is the best Palm, Palm ever made.*



Are you kidding? The TX is far from the best palm. My TX would have a 50% of crashing when connected via Wifi. The Digitizer constantly needed to be recalibrated. How about the defective power switch?

I will say that the Palm III series was the best IMHO. It would run weeks at a time on a pair of AAA cells. worked perfectly as a PDA and not one of those monstrosities that try to do it all. Hell.. we still can't get a device that does it all the RIGHT WAY now. As much as I hate Palm now, I do have to say, their PIM apps are the best that I've ever used. I can't wait until GVM finally comes out of beta for the Maemo devices. Knowing my luck.. they'll just drop it after the last beta.


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## gorn (Mar 8, 2009)

My PDA isn't dead, it's in the other room next to my 8 track tape recorder.


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## LuxLuthor (Mar 8, 2009)

My Sharp Wizard has never crashed. It has never failed to transfer files to IR backup utility. It has a 100% error free track record. Of course, I have a set of the deluxe 512KB OZ-9600II models. 

It is the Shizznit.


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## Starlight (Mar 8, 2009)

I have had an HP 6945 for a long time. Cell phone, camera, PDA synchronized to computer, Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS and plug in 2G SD card all included. It works perfectly and has never given me any problems.


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## 2xTrinity (Mar 9, 2009)

I used a Dell Axim X50v for a few years. This was the first PDA with 640x480 resolution at anything close to a reasonable price. I'm somewhat obsessed with having high resolution/high dot pitch... unfortunately most companies don't like to sell high dot pitch screens as the number of people (like me) willing to pay more for them, are far outnumbered by the number of people who complain "the letters are too small!!!1" 

My main purpose was to be able to use it for word processing and notetaking without carrying around a full computer, as well as looking up reference materials like books, searchable dictionaries etc. For doing reading/word processing, particularly on such a small screen, having good resolution was a high priority. I also used it for viewing and editing digital photos.

The only difficulty is it was a major PITA to actually do almost anything. The Windows Mobile OS was never really meant for full computing, and even getting basic tasks to work properly required lots of messing around with kludgy software hacks. That meant while it was fun to play with but codln't really be trusted for any serious work... 

Now I'm considering gutting the 640x480 screen to use in a makeshift laser projector project...


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## LuxLuthor (Mar 9, 2009)

2xTrinity said:


> Now I'm considering gutting the 640x480 screen to use in a makeshift laser projector project...



You'll shoot your eye out.


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## Jay R (Mar 9, 2009)

I never wanted a smart phone for the sole reason that they are all too big. If I want to go out in shorts and a t-shirt I can slip my Samsung U600 into a pocket and there is no bulge or noticeable weight. In a back pocket you don’t even notice when sitting down.

I use my Sony Clie TH55 PDA for everything else. The TH55 was way ahead of it’s time. High res screen, WiFi and Bluetooth, video camera, dedicated media chip and enough apps to do anything you want. Has text to speech so it reads my e’mails to me as I drive and I can even wirelessly connect to my Sony camera and download live pics from the next room. ( Hmmm, a somewhat dodgy application if you ask me.) Bought it in 2004 and it’s still going strong. I still regularly use it as my alarm, photo album, calendar, book reader, video player, address book, news reader, game boy and GPS.
Only thing I stopped using it for was an MP3 player. ( Got a Meizu M6 for that.)


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## Cuso (Mar 9, 2009)

PDA who needs a PDA??? Go old fashion and remember your contacts numbers by memory..:thumbsup: Like me, my moms number is 787......................Hold on lemme grab my cell........


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## herrgurka (Mar 9, 2009)

Well, my first PDA was a Revo that is lying in a drawer somewhere. I really liked the Symbian OS but the synchronisation was so-so and I came to hate the hassle of schlepping around to many gadgets. Even my next PDA, an HP 3970 that I got from work, met the same fate as the Revo, last seen on top of some papers I have to grade when Outlook tells me to...... Great paper-weight, very high-tech 

I have to have a mobile phone anyway and chose one that's a compromise: it's a PDA, but not as fast or versatile as one. It's a mobile but a little bigger and bulkier than your normal slimlined mobile (but nothing too obvious compared to my old Nokia 3210). And it even serves as an MP3 and media-player, even though neither sound nor the screen are top of the cream. But I only have to carry one gadget and one charger!


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## PurpleDrazi (Mar 9, 2009)

ackbar said:


> Are you kidding? The TX is far from the best palm. My TX would have a 50% of crashing when connected via Wifi. The Digitizer constantly needed to be recalibrated. How about the defective power switch?
> 
> I will say that the Palm III series was the best IMHO. It would run weeks at a time on a pair of AAA cells. worked perfectly as a PDA and not one of those monstrosities that try to do it all. Hell.. we still can't get a device that does it all the RIGHT WAY now. As much as I hate Palm now, I do have to say, their PIM apps are the best that I've ever used. I can't wait until GVM finally comes out of beta for the Maemo devices. Knowing my luck.. they'll just drop it after the last beta.



I really like my Palm TX. But Palm doesn't seem to be developing any more PDA only devices. I'm looking at a Blackberry Storm and my next device.

Francis


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## Mike Painter (Mar 9, 2009)

It was pretty obvious what was going to happen.
*I* said that people would not like to have to put the phone down to use it as a PDA so the PDA wold remain the king.
Like my gud spelling and granmer, I am never wrong about these things.
I also said that nobody in a smaller town would have a lot of use for storage places and that a local store would soon go out of business.
I came close on that one. It moved about 10 years later. [size=-4](To a bigger store.)[/size]


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## StarHalo (Mar 9, 2009)

Mike Painter said:


> *I* said that people would not like to have to put the phone down to use it as a PDA so the PDA wold remain the king.
> Like my gud spelling and granmer, I am never wrong about these things.



I don't know if you know who Leo Laporte is, he's the biggest call-in tech guy in the country with a syndicated weekly radio show, several online video programs, and formerly two television shows on cable all dedicated to all things computers and tech.

A few years ago he said that people would probably not move to an all-in-one device that would combine both the phone and the PDA and/or laptop and the digital camera..

So you're more in touch technologically than you think


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## Illum (Mar 9, 2009)

I've been looking to getting a multifunctional cellphone like the iphone et al. But I don't see that big of a jump in battery life from the old PDA to the new phones, in fact...the new phones seem to have relatively poorer battery life than pdas


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## Boy SureFire (Sep 21, 2009)

lovecpfIt's not a true pda, But my sony psp and mylo have some good functions, heck I'm typing this post on the mylo. I think sony had some of the best stuff out, But at one time I did want Palm TX. The thing I really care about is if I can read And post on CPF, and buy parts on CPFMP. Is that not what we all strive to do in life.


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## tebore (Sep 21, 2009)

I wouldn't say the iPod Touch is a good PDA. In fact it's a terrible PDA out of the box. 

It's a great personal entertainment device. You need to jailbreak it or load a few relatively expensive apps to make it a decent PDA. It would be a great PDA if I could sync it with my laptop via bluetooth but Apple has been stupid about how they implement Bluetooth. 

In today's age a PDA/smart phone should offer great connectivity, storage, entertainment, ability to view all sorts of files and content and edit it, save and send. The latter is lacking on Apple products but again if you're willing to jailbreak it that fixes a few things. 

The other thing is having to put up with iTunes. I wish I didn't have to use this bloated POS software. I miss the days when Floola could manage it. 

I have to say my iPhone 3GS has been the best pocket swiss army knife device I'd had in a while sure it compromises all round but in the big picture it's great.


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## John_Galt (Sep 22, 2009)

I still use my palm for, well everything I can't remember.


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## Search (Sep 22, 2009)

I'm not sure of the difference in PDAs and smart phones but..

I've got a Blackberry Storm. The operating system is comes with is utter crap. Every leaked, beta, and hybrid there after was full of flaws.

The latest leaked OS is one amazing OS that makes my BB act just like an iPhone.

I have to say, with full internet, email (my gmail account), everything a normal phone has, and a good calendar and task thingy it's pretty sweet.

It has a lot of stuff for business people if you like the touchscreen. I preferred it because it allows my pictures and movies to be larger and prettier.

I think they are alive. I could never go back to a regular phone. Just couldn't with all of the things I can now do in my pocket.

When CPF goes mobile and I've got a paypal app, I'm done with my computer


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## Jay R (Sep 23, 2009)

Search said:


> I'm not sure of the difference in PDAs and smart phones but..


 
You can't make a call with a PDA. They came out before smart phones and were just little computers. Bit like electronic filofaxes.


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## Ras_Thavas (Sep 23, 2009)

I'm still hanging on to my Clie. I had to downgrade from the TH-55 to an older PEG-NR70 because the TH-55 has a cracked case where the hinge for the cover is.

You can still find Palm PDA's, but they are very expensive (Amazon has a TX for $349.)

I will probably get a Pre once they are available on Verizon.


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## Rexlion (Sep 23, 2009)

LuxLuthor said:


> My Sharp Wizard has never crashed. It has never failed to transfer files to IR backup utility. It has a 100% error free track record. Of course, I have a set of the deluxe 512KB OZ-9600II models.
> 
> It is the Shizznit.


Yeah, I agree those Sharp Wizards were pretty good. I bought a OZ-730 (I think) refurb on ebay a few years back and it was convenient & did the job well when I needed it. Then I got to where I didn't need a PDA that much any more and got out of the habit of using it, and it sat in a drawer. But about a year ago I noticed the ebay prices... so I listed and sold it for about 4 times what I'd paid for it. Wish I could do that more often!


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## KC2IXE (Sep 24, 2009)

PDAs? Of course they are around, and always will be - Oh, you mean the electronic kind 

(In camp counselor/people who deal with teens "PDA" also means "Personal Display of Affection" - all the way from say, hand holding all the way on up - often seen as a camp rule "NO PDA")


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## Jay R (Sep 25, 2009)

Ras_Thavas said:


> I'm still hanging on to my Clie. I had to downgrade from the TH-55 to an older PEG-NR70 because the TH-55 has a cracked case where the hinge for the cover is.


 
My TH55 also cracked at the cover hinge as few years back. I took off the cover and epoxied it back together and it's been fine since. You can barely see the crack.

If you still have the TH55 why not just get one of the leather covers for it that some companies made. You could probably still find some for sale on the net.


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## Mr_Light (Sep 25, 2009)

I am still hanging on to my Palm, awaiting the PRE to be available on Verizon.


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## TKC (Sep 25, 2009)

ackbar said:


> Are you kidding? The TX is far from the best palm. My TX would have a 50% of crashing when connected via Wifi. The Digitizer constantly needed to be recalibrated. How about the defective power switch?
> 
> I will say that the Palm III series was the best IMHO. It would run weeks at a time on a pair of AAA cells. worked perfectly as a PDA and not one of those monstrosities that try to do it all. Hell.. we still can't get a device that does it all the RIGHT WAY now. As much as I hate Palm now, I do have to say, their PIM apps are the best that I've ever used. I can't wait until GVM finally comes out of beta for the Maemo devices. Knowing my luck.. they'll just drop it after the last beta.



*Your TX may have been problematic, but mine never has been. Not one iota of issues.*


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## Ras_Thavas (Sep 26, 2009)

Jay R said:


> My TH55 also cracked at the cover hinge as few years back. I took off the cover and epoxied it back together and it's been fine since. You can barely see the crack.
> 
> If you still have the TH55 why not just get one of the leather covers for it that some companies made. You could probably still find some for sale on the net.



I would try to salvage it, but the screen is very dim and I have a hard time reading it.


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## mystixa (Aug 10, 2013)

I came across this site due to this thread. Why? I just revived my old sharp wizard like the ones mentioned up above. The thing still has all its data and all Ive done is switch its battery once about 6 years ago. Pretty darn amazing. I imagine the forums will bring this thread back up now that Ive kinda revived it. ..if anyone above that owns a wizard 9600ii is still around and sees this Id like to get in touch. Id really like to get a copy of some of the computer software that works with these things. I have a copy of 9000 link, which works well. ..but its about impossible to find any of the other stuff. Software from this period.. or anything really, is in a bit of a black hole in the internet. No support, no downloads, no manuals, unless you REALLY look hard, and sometimes not even then. ..any way, thats what I wanted to say.


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## StarHalo (Aug 10, 2013)

I wonder what you can do with the 9600ii's modem now..


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## Overclocker (Aug 11, 2013)

PDA's arent' dead. they're now called tablets


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## gadget_lover (Aug 18, 2013)

I had Palm III and a Palm TX as well as a Wizard 9600. I even had an HP handheld PC running the WinCE operating system. If you combined one with a Ricochet modem they were quite usable for a road warrior in the late 1990s. I added a blueooth GPS unit and was able to do some GPS functions too, but the GPS software was pretty crude.

My current cell phone is so superior in every way. It's faster. It has a full time Internet connections. It understands what I say. It even reads my handwriting. It reminds me of things when I get to specific places as well as specific times. The software is actually pretty bug free and sophisticated.

I'm glad that the PDAs were there, because without them we might not have had smart phones. I don't miss them at all.



Dan


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 20, 2013)

mystixa said:


> I came across this site due to this thread. Why? I just revived my old sharp wizard like the ones mentioned up above. The thing still has all its data and all Ive done is switch its battery once about 6 years ago. Pretty darn amazing. I imagine the forums will bring this thread back up now that Ive kinda revived it. ..if anyone above that owns a wizard 9600ii is still around and sees this Id like to get in touch. Id really like to get a copy of some of the computer software that works with these things. I have a copy of 9000 link, which works well. ..but its about impossible to find any of the other stuff. Software from this period.. or anything really, is in a bit of a black hole in the internet. No support, no downloads, no manuals, unless you REALLY look hard, and sometimes not even then. ..any way, thats what I wanted to say.



I still have my original box, manual, receipt ($499.99 from Comp USA bought June 25, 1993), IR computer interface to backup to PC. There was Rupplynx, X-Link & couple other programs that worked with it. I never throw anything away. I still have the DOS backup program disks. Some of the software that the 9600-II used were on various insertable "IC Cards" which I have a number of here. Two that are handy are "Time Expense Manager," & "Money Planner." Each card has its own battery supply and memory to store various input/calculations if it is removed. 20 years later, this thing & these IC cards still work perfectly. Change the 4 x AAA cells every 2-3 years, and CR2032 every 5 years, and they are still working like new....pretty amazing really.


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## LuxLuthor (Aug 20, 2013)

StarHalo said:


> I wonder what you can do with the 9600ii's modem now..



Avoid NSA surveillance.


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## mattheww50 (Aug 20, 2013)

I still have most of my contact data on the original Sharp Wizards 256kb, the OZ9600. The oldest entries in the Calendar Ap are now 20+ years old. Keep the batteries OK, and these things seem to be able to last forever (and I do have a couple of the plug-ins). I like the security, and I also like not having to pay the absurd data charges the wireless providers want for data services that you have to have with your smart phone. So while smart phones may be wonderful, and are usable as PDA's, it is a very expensive PDA, and I don't trust the 'apps' not to volunteer my personal information for profit. I have no interest in acquiring a 'smart' phone.


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## Steve K (Aug 20, 2013)

I'm still keeping a Palm III alive, and using it for daily business. I sync it to my XP machine, which could keep chugging along for a couple more years perhaps. However, I have been poking around to see what could replace the Palm, other than a smart phone.

Not that I have any problem with a smart phone, but my phone requirements are pretty minimal, and I get by with a Tracfone for about $8/month. If they offered a good smart phone for the same rate, and just charged me the actual phone cost, I might consider it. 

I've read that some folks are using a variety of schedule and database apps on iPods in a way similar to a Palm. Any chance that a small tablet would be a cheaper way to do this? I'm pretty unfamiliar with what is going on with tablets, especially small ones. Staying out of Apple world would be desireable (for me, at least).


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## StarHalo (Aug 20, 2013)

Steve K said:


> Any chance that a small tablet would be a cheaper way to do this? I'm pretty unfamiliar with what is going on with tablets, especially small ones. Staying out of Apple world would be desireable (for me, at least).



iPod Touch; there are Android alternatives, but they aren't nearly as highly-rated.


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## gadget_lover (Aug 20, 2013)

StarHalo said:


> iPod Touch; there are Android alternatives, but they aren't nearly as highly-rated.



An Android tablet with WiFi will pretty much do everything an iPad or iPod touch will do. There are smaller tablets like the Samsung Note series that are like a supercharged PDA. They can be with found or without a cellular connection. 

A used android cell phone makes a pretty good PDA too. Just don't activate it. 

Daniel


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## Teobaldo (Aug 22, 2013)

I use my HP Ipaq HX4700 since 2007 without problems. Recently I was writing in it and now I'm charging the battery. It is a wonderful device and it has lasted much longer than I thought possible. It has an OS of 2003, but has never given me any major problems. I've written / corrected my three recent books on it. The one con is very large texts that are very slow to open and the videos have to be converted to the format of PocketPC, but for an old appliance that fits in your pocket I can not ask for more.

I hope soon to buy a tablet with Windows 8 to replace it.


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