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Ideal PDA Feature Wishlist?

Posted by Cliff on from the talk-about-those-cool-ideas-you've-thought-about dept.

RichiP asks: "My memory is so poor I forget friends' birthdays and appointments I made a day ago. I sometimes have an idea I want to jot down but that I end up forgetting when I finally come upon pen & paper. To help myself, I was thinking of purchasing one of those integrated PDA and cellphone devices (first the Handspring Treo then another by Samsung), but I've always felt that these devices were still far from ideal. I was wondering if the Slashdot community would share their wishlist of features for what they believe would be the ideal Personal Digital Assistant. Features for input, processing and output are all welcome. Perhaps the device I want may be years from becoming commercial. Given the right ideas from input from others, I might be able to come up with my own device or start an open project geared towards it." Even if you do feel that PDAs have a limited lifespan, if you had a chance to add a feature to a PDA (especially if you felt it would increase the lifespan of the PDA), what would it be?

6 of 477 comments (clear)

  1. Build in screen protector by jockm · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I have seen too man scratched screens over the years. I would like to see some kind of integrated, and replacable, screen protector.

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    What do you know I wrote a novel
  2. Cheap. by Glytch · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I want them dirt-cheap and mass-produced, like calculators.

  3. A feature-rich PDA... by strredwolf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ... should really be a hand-held computer.

    640x480 screen, extensible (by yanking it out) to 800x640
    Integrated pinhole camera
    Runs Linux (duh), w/compile-on-PDA
    64 megs operational memory, as-much-as-it-can-take storage memory
    Grafitti or similar writing system, with add-on keyboard (a la GoType)
    IrDA access
    Extension capability via high-speed, low pinout interfaces (more than one).
    Battery lasts for about three weeks under heavy usage.

    --

    --
    # Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
    $Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
  4. What I'd want... by AtariDatacenter · · Score: 3, Interesting

    City-wide flat-rate wireless internet access with real web browsing at a 640x480 minimum resolution.

    There is so much I could do if I had a web browser in my pocket all the time, and I wasn't nickled and dimed for using it.

  5. Start with the Newton by HaveNoMouth · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Start with the best features of the Newton ("soup" data management for programming, killer handwriting recognition, screen rotation) and add
    • At least a GB of nonvolatile memory (why is it that my digital camera can accept a microdrive but most PDAs can't?)
    • 802.11
    • Firewire
    • MP3 player
    • Color screen with MPEG-4 player
    • Microphone for voice recording to MP3, preferably with voice recognition but could be downloaded to desktop PC for VR later.
    • Wireless short text messaging/email with ability to use its wireless modem from a computer when I need a bigger screen
    • Microsloth-free
    I guess what I'm looking for is the bastard child of a Newton and an iPod with a few extra bells and whistles.
  6. Remote Storage by dangermouse · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I want three things from a PDA:

    1. Wireless connectivity
    2. Small amount of memory, for caching
    3. The ability to store my data somewhere the hell else

    I enter data, it gets synced (transparently) over the Internet-- first hop wireless-- to my server. Do it through my cellular carrier, I don't care. I read data, it gets cached locally unless it's updated. But there's no need to cache everything locally, so don't load my PDA up with expensive memory.

    Do this, make it reliable, and make it cost less than $100, and I'll probably buy a couple and just leave them where I might need them-- one at work, one in the car, one at home.