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TomTom has a pretty good UI, and I think that's what sells it more than anything.

Mapopolis http://www.mapopolis.com/ runs on Windows Mobile and Palm, and the updates to the actual software are free.

You get a year's worth of free updates to the maps, which are based on NAVTEQ maps (ie, Google Maps, etc).

While it's closed-source, they do have an open beta program they run which lets you try out the latest features and get suggestions put in. It's definitely more of a power-user's app, but with a free demo, you can't beat it. :)

(One important note about TomTom. You CAN NOT move it from one PDA to another. It hardware-locks to your pocket device. Mapopolis can fit itself and most of the United States on a single mini-SD, which is real nice for the iPAQ RW6515 that Cingular has with integrated GPS.)

#1 TomTom
#2 Mapopolis

Mapopolis comes in palmos and wince versions. If Nokia has any sense at all they would send them a couple of evaluation units.

I have even transcoded entire DVDs down to ~400 MB using dvd::rip, put them on my 512 MB SD card and have watched the entire movie on my PDA in Landscape widescreen. The resolution is excellent for a PDA and the 400 MHz X-Scale CPU is very quick. Battery life is OK, but with the BoxWave miniSync (w/Car and Wall adapters) I never worry about it.

The best part is the price of my setup:
$300 PDA
$80 Ericsson T68m BlueTooth Phone
$99 512 MB SD Card
$40 BoxWave miniSync + Accessories
$40 Iambic Agendus Pro
$40 SnapperFish SnapperMail Standard
$50 SplashData SplashWallet
$35 Mapopolis 1-year North America w/o GPS Support
$30 BlueNomad WordSmith
$15 MMPlayer
$12 ZLauncher
$10 PDAMill Solitaire
$0 OliveTree BibleReader+
$0 BigClock
$0 MyCheckbook
$0 HandyShopper
$0 HandZipperLite
$0 IconMgr
$0 SeaTraffic
$0 TuSSH
$0 upIRC (limited shareware)
$0 Warfare, Inc. (shareware demo)
====
$751

I actually paid $611 total for all the above because I purchased many of the software items listed above long ago for my previous PDAs, but the above is what someone would pay to buy it now.

None of those do street mapping or route finding, which is what most people need.

Of the handheld street mapping software that exists, Delorme's Street Atlas USA Handheld requires you to download its maps to the handheld from a Windows PC. As does Rand McNally's TripFinder software. Mapopolis is thankfully not dependent on the host PC, but is slow and buggy as shit (at least on the Palm).

8mb isn't a waste if you're using, say, Mapopolis with a few county maps, have a few HanDB databases cataloging your media collection, you like to have a wide variety of web sites available on the go via AvantGo or Plucker, not to mention the Kyle's Quest levels and Planetarium star DBs.

Jeez, why carry around a little computer if you're hardly going to use it?

In addition, I make some use of the addressbook feature (though I find I keep most phone numbers in my cellphone anyway). The todo list gets used quite a bit both for todo things and as a shopping list. I also like having a place to keep notes that I might want while I'm out and about. It's pretty rare that I use the PDA as an information capture device, mostly it's just a data viewing device.

Maps are another really great PDA thing. I my favorite map software is Mapopolis they have pretty good free maps and reasonable prices of more detailed maps.

Overall I'd say that it's a good investment, but I wouldn't want to put more than about $200 into one.

Ummm, ever hear of Mapopolis?

--CP