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Best PDA for College?
andyic3 asks: "College starts in a month. I've been searching for a very simple, tiny, modern PDA for storing due dates on. I've looked at the REX 6000, but it's too simple. I've looked at PocketPC's, but can't seem to find anything smaller than the old iPaq H1910. I've looked at Palm solutions, but can't find anything there. What's the best PDA for this application?"
Costs a buck at any store, doesn't take batteries, doesn't lose it's memory. I tried using a PDA for a while in college and I found I was always the last one out of the room because it always took so long to tap in my assignments. I found it worked a lot better to write them down in my notes for that class for that day then type them into a scheduling program on my PC back in the bat cave.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
The best PDA? Pencil and paper. No easier or cheaper way to write a quick note down, or to tear off a corner and give your phone number to that hot babe.
Can't remember a week of appointments, or a few irregular but important dates... is your diary that busy? Need to remember submission dates.. write them on a calendar in your dorm/flat, are you really going to work on something randomly during the day?
Find out why your memory is lacking or diary overly busy - remembering things shouldn't be such a problem. If it is reflect why so.
"There is no cost to writing down on a PDA" - no, not at all. Most importantly, don't let technology disable your inate abilities. Carrying a PDA may feel (self) important but try a role where you actually need one. You'll realise human memory is all important:
With 5+ meetings per day and having to reflect/relay them ad-hoc I can testify that a good memory is all that matters - constantly active, not reflective on what a screen states - a PDA really doesn't matter other than as a backup. Groupworking diaries really don't work unless you're constantly sync'd with others, and is probably out of scope and Blackberry is the only option.
I've been searching for a very simple, tiny, modern PDA for storing due dates on. ... I've looked at Palm solutions, but can't find anything there.
Obviously you're looking for something more than you're telling us. Unfortunately, this is slashdot, not the academy of mind readers.
For simple stuff like due dates, most mobile phones provide a simple calendar with alarms. The good thing too is that, unlike a PDA, it's unlikely that you will be without your phone.
If you've got to go electronic, I'd use a Palm m100. They're cheap as hell, and mine will get a month or two on a single set of AAA batteries.
Sync it every once in a while.
--saint
The best PDA for college is one which sucks for games, has a slow CPU, has no wireless capability, and can't play audio or video content. Something like a base-model Palm comes to mind.
It does what you need without tempting you to waste time with things unrelated to your school work. You can keep to-do lists on it, a calendar for class schedules, assignment due-dates, exam schedules, and college functions. You can use it to track school-related expenses. You can keep a contact list on it. You can get calculators, unit converters, spreadsheets, and other math-related apps for it.
There's a reason why the medical profession -- busy professionals -- standardized on PalmOS: It does what a PDA should without trying to be a notebook computer, video game system, and multimedia content player. It's small, rugged, lightweight, and inexpensive.
If you only need to store due dates, and have an alarm alert you a day before a paper is due etc., I don't see why a plain old Palm wouldn't work. Even a cheapie cell phone would work. I don't carry a PDA nowadays. I just store all my appointments on my cell phone, which I keep in my pocket.
My cell also has audio recording... so if I need to quickly store an idea or record a snippet, I just record it into the phone's buffer and transcribe it later. Many brilliant spur-of-the-moment ideas were saved this way.
I used to carry a Palm, but it was just too inconvenient to whip out during the winter (have to unzip my winter jacket, wait for the screen to warm up etc.) And any Palm is too big to stuff in my trouser pocket.
If you want a PDA to take notes... ah... now that's different. Nothing beats pen and paper for resolution, speed, and freedom of positioning. No tablet or PDA can beat the resolution of crisp handwritten text. Really.
If you have a good system for note taking, e.g. the Cornell note taking system, you don't need to resort to any digital means for taking notes.
If your handwriting is bad, improve it.
That little thing was a HUGE help. My schedule was very fragmented, and I'm slow to memorize schedules, especially when they're layered and alternating. Needless to say, I used my palm every day. Most days it would be the first thing I looked at when I got up in the morning (usually just to judge how much time I needed to get ready). I also looked at it between classes; it helped me figure out where to go and when I needed to be there.
That was the most important function to me. I also ended up making extensive use of the phone book and memo functions. The task list helped remind me of important assignments, but I didn't catalog all due dates on the thing.
I know palms are not the hottest things anymore, but let's face it; you especially don't want an entertainment machine. As other posters have stressed, you don't want wi-fi, games, videos, or other really cool programs. You want something to help you work. In my opinion, the palm does this well with good, solid core applications. I also use a GPL program on the side to calculate my gas mileage on my car (sourceforge does wonders).
A good thing to do is find an older palm. The basic functionality of palmOS hasn't changed much at all, and you'll get a great price on a small handheld if you go used/discontinued/refurbished/whatever.
Also, other posters mention the effectiveness of paper and pencil. Beware. I'm the type that's rather loose with papers. Things in writing can be difficult to keep structured and organized if you're me, and papers get lost all the time, not to mention that they are a hassle to carry. A PDA like my palm makes all my data microscopic, automatically organized, and easily sortable and searchable. I find this more convenient and portable than a pencil and paper solution. That's just me.
Find a system that works best for you, but I do definitely recommend a cheap palm. If you do in fact prefer Windows pocket edition for whatever reason (can you say nethack?), an older generation pocketpc is also a handy thing.
Hey, dunno what the heck you're looking for, but my palm m505 has served me well for the past year in college, and will forseeably for the next 3.
Has everything I need: morning waking up alarm, "appointments" which are my classes with 5 minute reminders, since I don't carry a watch, address book, memo pads, notepad functionality (still missing the printer to hand your number to a hottie, but I bet the next version will have it), and for deadlines, well, just make them as appointments with a week or 2 worth of reminders.
Not only that, but the palm's interface is well thought out, even though people are reluctant to learn grafiti to use it efficiently.
Seriously, either a palm will fill your needs with a tad of creativity on your side, or you're going to have to lug your laptop around to use your favorite calendar app everywhere.
This is from a CS major too, and there's no cheaper and easier way than to adapt your habits to a PDA's capabilities than the other way around.
---- I am certain of only one thing : I know nothing else.
This very well may be the most insightful comment I've ever read here. It's shocking how people want to shoehorn technology into the most basic day-to-day tasks. My opinion: if you need something to beep to let you know you have an assignment due, you're not ready for college.