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Do People Really Use Their PDAs?
TAL asks: "With Dell entering the market with their new PDA, the PDA market appears saturated. I work in a high-tech industry and I see more people carrying their PDAs than actually using them. At the same time, I see many people actually going back to their paper planners. I've ran the PDA gauntlet myself and have found that much time is wasted syncing, charging and reinstalling the software. Have there been any studies on PDA turnover? I think the PDA has become more of a status symbol than a useful tool."
I use mine all the time.... to read eBooks /:)
I used my PDA for a little while my freshman year in college (Palm V), I'd take some quick notes on it and use it to store schedules, important dates and addresses. Aside from that I used it for games during boring lectures, or to beam stuff to other classmates about the teacher =]
Now it sits in my deskdrawer and I don't use it anymore. Batteries, syncing, and everything else weren't problems at all. In the end it was too cumbersome to enter data (even if you knew it well), and the software offered was minimal.
I probably would have been happier with a Windows CE device, since they come with a much larger, easier to use range of applications. It's hard to say. But, I don't miss it much.
On that note, how much is someone willing to give me for an old Palm V? =]
What?
But I work in a large (50k+) high-tech company and NOBODY in my part of the world uses paper planners anymore. Even our over-compensated super-high-up VPs etc. use a combination of RIM, cellphone, and Palm/CE devices to stay on track. When you're quadruple-booked for meetings all day in multiple geographic locations, paper ain't gonna cut it.
;-)
My boss wouldn't survive without his blackberry! I make do with an iPAQ and sync when I get to my desk. The only way I get work done is that I don't have a cellphone or a pager. My boss keeps threatening to get me one and I respond with threats to quit.
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To understand recursion, one must first understand recursion.
I have no idea how I got along before I got one. Mine isn't even a good one, Just a Visor Handspring, 16-bit grey scale, but damn is it useful. With my Nokia 3360 I can connect to the internet via infrared on the pda and phone and use PalmVNC to control my servers from anywhere. Also, the the infrared is hella useful as a universal remote control.. Between omniremote and pmremote I never have to miss my favorite shows whenever I'm around a public TV. I also use J-Pilot + the Keyring plugin to carry a nice encrypted list of l/p combos and general server info. I jot down notes on it all the time. I can also use the phone book etensively. I don't really use the scheduler at all, cuz I have no schedule :)
:)
But the BEST use for my pda I've had so far is basically as a gameboy
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
The reason I've stayed with my now old-school Palm IIIx is because it's invaluable to me. It doesn't have wireless or color, but it has my life on it. I now don't forget to carry the appropriate piece of paper or list with me because I always enter these things into my PDA. I'm currenlty 2700 miles from my home, but my PDA has all of the information I might need for my work or personal use (family phone numbers, infrequently seen friends who I thought of seeing because I was near them, and I had there number). It's also got important work information and useful lists. I can pop into a record store and pick up a new album on my list. I can also pop up several useful astronomy applications and get some casual binocular observing in, and log the results.
My IIIx is very useful because it's simple, reliable and omni-present. I carry it everywhere.
C8H10N4O2 | Developer > Code
- Meeting schedule always handy even when I wasn't at work (plus beeping reminders).
- Todo list always handy (plus beeping reminders).
- Games to play during boring meetings.
- Email Inbox always available
- No more scrabbling for a pen when I want to get a girl's phone number
reason I stopped using itI just got a cellphone module for my Handspring Visor. That nice address book becomes much more exciting when you just hit a button to call the number.
~ Patrick