PDA for school

[graduatestudent]

I will be starting grad school for Bioinformatics in September and need a PDA to keep track of my schedule, to take notes in class, and run some lab software. I was wondering if anyone has any advice. I am seriously looking into the T|T3 because of it's landscape format, good resolution, and being a Palm, the abundance of software especially freeware.
My major concerns is the battery life, and the lack of WiFi or a WiFi card (the Enfora is just too bulky for me). Should I wait for the T|T4 (who knows when that may come out) or is there a better PDA out there (I am ready to consider PPC if there is a compelling reason to deal with the stability issues, abundance of software, ...)

Thanks,
GS

[dsaroff]

Well, if battery life is an issue, you could always buy the Power To Go battery sled from Palm. I use it and it is great.

If you are starting Grad school in the Fall, the new Palms might not be out and we don't even know if they will have built in WiFi (I hope so).

You could also consider getting the Tungten C, which has built in WiFi and a thumboard. It has some of the best batter life of any WiFi device.

I have a friend who like his WiFi Dell Axim, but says the batter life is disappointing.

[applejosh]

With the Power To Go add-on (a bit bulky, but still doable), you can get a lot more life out of a T3. And according to rumors, a wi-fi SDIO card should be available from PalmOne this month or next. I personally am excited about this rumor, but unfortunately, PalmOne waited until I was in the process of getting a house, so I'll have to hold off for a few months.

[Ink Noise]

Get an hp iPAQ 4355, with Bluetooth and Wifi along with a built-in thumb keyboard (great for notes and emails). Plus it has a massive battery (1560mah) which gives me about 9 hours of plain use, and about 5 with wi-fi enabled.

Plus, it's a better component for someone who'd be typing a lot of Word documents on a PC for school with it's native file support.

[nantucket]

I'm in Grad school and work full time. I just got a Tungsten T3 and really like it. The features suit the needs of school and work nicely.

[imported_Vidge]

Originally posted by Ink Noise
Plus, it's a better component for someone who'd be typing a lot of Word documents on a PC for school with it's native file support.

At some point, you PPCrs have got to get up to speed on what is offered on the Palm side The T3 comes with Docs to Go, which has native file support.

nantucket - enjoy your T3.

[sylvangale]

I think he meant that the built in keyboard of the h4355 would be of benefit not the word processor.

Which I disagree somewhat.

In a class setting you need a folding keyboard if you are keying in entries.

Could you imagine thumb typing a lecture?
People would look at you like you were some nut.

PocketPCs do have handwriting recognition software built in which will recognize your printing and convert it into text

...and PocketPCs have Graffiti 1, built in.

You can pretty much find software that will make a PPC and Palm pretty much the same. What's important is the hardware, how long you plan on keeping the device, and what you are willing to spend.

If you want a PDA that will last you for years. Get a Pocket PC. You can at least rest assured that you can add features via SD/CF cards. You cannot have that assurance with Palm.

The moment Palm killed their Universal connector for their medium/low end PDAs they showed their intent. You will NOT get accessories for their low/medium end equipment easily.

No sled compatibility across PDAs and mediocre SDIO implementation that prevented SD card makers to add on bluetooth/WiFi to Palms that did not already have it built it (Case in point, the Tungsten you are considering).

With that said...

Tapwave offers a PalmOS PDA which has 128MB built in memory, built in bluetooth, and two SD slots. I would only recommend that Palm if a Palm you desire.

HPs h1900/h2200/h4000 series PDAs are the best of the PPC camp that you can find in a retail outlet.
Strengths:
h1900 - Size & Bluetooth
h4000 - Size, Bluetooth, Wifi. (model with built in keyboard.
h2200 - Bluetooth, CF slot.

[Ink Noise]

Originally posted by sylvangale
Could you imaging thumb typing a lecture?
People would look at you like you were some nut.

Don't know it until you've tried it It's actually very fast if you're used to texting people on a mobile phone, but if you wanted to look a bit more professional or get a better WPM, a folding keyboard would help matters.