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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 Hipster PDA
To add some tech to it, use GTDTiddlyWiki and print out the index cards.
There is also a D*I*Y Planner
Make backups with a photocopier, or just type them in again and reprint.
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
Speak for yourself. There are members of this forum that are mind readers. For example, I read your mind right now. You are thinking "What and idiot is he!"
See!
What those who want activist courts fear is rule by the people.
Scoff about the size, but I just got one for $99 w/ plan from Tiger Direct. I needed a Cell and a PDA, it's now what I use 24/7. Students should consider the GSM versions, getting it cracked is cheap and on those trips out of the country it's gonna save you big.
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
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.
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.
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.
Your mind is a terrible place to clutter up with stuff that needs doing. It's why you so often have that vague unease that you're forgetting something important. You probably are. However otherwise brilliant your mind is, it is probably lousy at general organizing and task management (remembering to buy new flashlight batteries when you are already at the grocery store rather than when you grab the flashlight to check on the strange noise at night).
The trick is to find a organizing method that works for you - something that I had not done very well till recently.
My sister got my attention by mentioning that, by her estimates, reading a book called "Getting Things Done" and implementing many of its ideas had increased her consulting income by $20,000/year. I am rather leary of the managementOrganizationMethodDuJour but I read the book anyway.
I found the book very valuable and especially appreciated the fact that, unlike so many methods that are closely tied to a particular vendor's books or software, this book says it's about understanding some basic principles. If you like Outlook, use Outlook. Palm? Great. Pencil and paper? They work fine, too.
I can't duplicate the whole book here but the most valuable change I've made - and one which changed my Palm from the infrequently-used paperweight it had become into an indispensible tool - was to eliminate the concept of the todo list and implement the concept of the project and the next-action.
The typical Palm user tries to use the thing by agonizing over due-dates and priorities and categorizing items as "work" or "personal", etc. Instead, use the todo feature as a "project" list where a project is defined as "anything you want to get done that will take more than one step".
You will find that almost everything is a project and if you spend a few seconds thinking about the project you can identify the single next-action that will move that project toward completion. The "notes" feature in the todo list works very well for this.
As an example, say your car windshield is cracked then "fix car windshield" is the project. A few moments of thinking takes you from "I need to find a windshield shop" to "Bob at the tennis-club mentioned he liked the place that fixed his" to "I'll call Bob" to "but I don't have his number" to "it's probably in the club roster". OK, the single next action that will move this project forward is to find Bob's number and the place that it can be done is at home when you have the club roster handy.
This leads to the other important change I made after reading the book. My projects are now organized by "context" - basically, where can I accomplish the next-action. The categories that work for me include "at home", "at computer", "at phone", "with wife", etc. For the example above, the project would start in the "at home" category. After I look up the number and scribble it in the note for that project I would move it to the "at phone" category and so on. A project at the "select paint color" stage might be in the "with wife" category. Whenever I need to go to a store I glance at the "errands" category and see what might be combined into the same trip. While the "priority" feature in most listing programs seems like a good idea it matters little if the absolute most-important item is to send an email and you are nowhere near a computer. But if you are waiting for your flight to leave you may be able to pull out your cellphone and use the time to move items in the "at phone" category forward.
One useful category is the "waiting for" category - the rebate that will be coming in 6-8 weeks, the shop that told you that they will get a quote to you by Friday. When your project is on hold for some external reason you move it to "waiting for" and put a due-date in it. If you hav
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"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis