The Future of the PDA

An anonymous reader writes "XYZComputing is taking a look at the future of the PDA and what obstacles might stand in the way of continued popularity. From the article: 'While is hard not to appreciate the PDA's ability to change with the times, it appears that its heady days of mobile dominance are coming to an abrupt end. A number of factors are competing in the mobile products field right now, all of which are vying for the same buyers. The most formidable competition to the PDA is the smartphone, but there is also pressure from small laptops, the upcoming UMPC, increasingly capable cell phones, and a few other takers, like portable media players.'"

Comments

But there will always be buyers.........

[phillips321]

I know many people who buy PDAs purely for their gps capabilities

The PDA is dead! Long live the PDA!

[TimmyDee]

The UMPC, in its current form and price (and usability) will not be an issue in the "downfall" of the PDA. It may have the ability to sideline the PDA in some markets and applications, but those will be relatively limited. Onto my real point. . .

"Increasingly capable cellphones", as the summary puts it, will be the real challenge to the PDA. Many people bought PDAs to be electronic datebooks, address books, and the like. Some people felt it worthwhile to carry them, others (myself included) found it to be a hassle. Cellphones, on the other hand, are far more likely to make it into our pockets. The natural evolution was to add PDA-like functionality. So PDAs evolved into cellphones or cellphones evolved into PDAs. I would argue that there are examples of both (the Treo being a phonified PDA and Series 60 devices being PDAified cellphones).

My take home message is thus: The PDA is not dead. It has merely evolved thanks to the advent of widespread mobile phones. If we look at some current cellphones, many have more power than the original Palm Pilots. About the only thing they lack is a more sophisticated input method (that may be arguable, though, when T9 is compared to Graffiti).

Some manufacturers will still make "pure" PDAs, but the PDA is not dead. The PDA has merely evolved.

Re:PDAs Are Terrible, Where is Apple?

[Feneric]

If Apple were to release a new Newton (or whatever they decide to call it) that was nothing more than iCal and Address Book I would be happy. VERY happy.

With just those two features in mind one could argue that they already did, and it's called the iPod. It has both a calendar app and address book app that synchronize with iCal and Address Book on the Mac. My brother uses an iPod in exactly this fashion.

Mind you, I'm playing devil's advocate here. I don't think the iPod interface is well-suited for PDA type functions, and I'd much prefer something that learns from the Newton.

Re:New PocketPCs stink

[Formica]

Have you looked at the Loox 720? - VGA
- Bluetooth + WiFi
- 128MB Flash
- 520MHz processor
- USB host

So Fix the Thing with Free Software.

[twitter]

All of the problems you describe are fixed with Familiar or Open Zaurus. I can strongly recommend either GPE or Opie on Zaurus. They both have graffiti packages that are first rate, good browsers and personal information managers. Opie, as a bonus, has a media player that does ogg, mp3 and everthing else you can think of. The newer media player is using Xine as a back end and does streaming media. Flashing the Zaurus is easy to do. I'd consider a M$ PDA a brick before flashing. Sharp's original software is pretty good but the open stuff is better.

GPE does X and portable Gnome applications. You can use Dilo, which works better than the IE you describe, or mini mozilla, which is slower but resizes images and does other cool stuff. Xstroke gives you full screen graffiti and is the best handwriting recognition I've ever seen. The PIM stuff is supposed to sync with Evolution.

Opie is it's own mini KDE environment and works well. It's supposed to sync with multisynk, but also imports the normal kontact files with ease. Embedded Konqueror is not as good as minimo, but it works well enough. The interface is mature, stable and good.

The built in MMC slot is well used by both, and you can run both at the same time on Zaurus.

Cheers, you don't have to wait for Apple to give you a PDA.

Re:The Original UMPC

[GeoffP]

If she started using the drive on Windows, it may be in a Windows-only format. Backup the data and reformat it as FAT. This will allow it to be read from and written to on Macs and PCs.

PDA future = bright

[M0b1u5]

Disclaimer: I did not RTFA

However, I am currently in the market for a PDA for my mother to travel with, for 3 months, to Africa and Europe. She has just bought a nice new Digital camera with a 1GB SD card in it.

Here's why PDAs are important: SIZE AND WEIGHT!

For a 3-month trip, for a 70-year old woman every single gram of weight is important. A laptop is simply out of the question, as she'd throw the thing in the rubbish after 3 weeks, I'm sure.

What she needs is a device with the following attributes:

1) Small
2) Light
3) colour screen of at least half VGA resolution
4) hand writing recognition
5) WiFi
6) Bluetooth
7) At least 2GB of storage
9) Email
10) Web surfing
11) MP3 player
12) Diary/Blog functionality
13) SD card reader
14) Image slideshow
15) Screen orientation flip
16) Fast recharge
17) At least 6 hours battery life
18) Ability to open most "common" file formats: PDF, Word, Excel etc.
19) Voice recorder

Of lesser importance, and able to be performed by a different device are

1) Very small and light, yet full size keyboard
2) Ability to dial-up to the Internet via GSM or Analog cellular connection.

features which are currently not available but would be desirable:

1) Projector, such that the cigarette-packet size object can create a screen of 19" (or larger) size at resolution of at least 1280 mode.
2) Biometric security: finger print enables device after powerup.
3) User swappable battery - or preferably, methanol based fuel-cell.

Currently, I am leaning towards the PalmOne "LifeDrive" with 4GB of disc space, and the iTech Virtual Keyboard, which uses a low power laser to project the KB onto a surface.

I feel that these two devices, along with a bluetooth-enabled GSM cell phone (which she already has), coupled with the WiFi and Bluetooth offer a traveller unparalleled connectivity and productivity at a very low "footprint". When space and weight are considered, the PDA definitely has a niche, but in the future, as fuel-cells allow faster processors, it's only a matter of time til the PDA is a full-featured PC, with USB2.0, firewire, built-in cellphone, projector, and incorporates a VKB - all in a single device.

Can I order mine now please?

Let's see why...

[DoChEx]

Battary life is now counted in minutes on these things not days or weeks! They cost stupid money and it makes more sence based on battery life + cost to buy a cheap laptop as you get way more bang for your book.

You want one to cost no more then $200 with 4GB storage, screen large enough to play movies, last 3 days without recharge i.e. a weekend away. Small, light, sturidy. has USB to other devices not just to a PC. WiFi + Cell Phone + Skype Phone. Easy to develop for, (i.e. free SDK) Palm Pilots were the bomb to code. And that means you could get a small games device, but nothing to powerful, maybe SNES standard (sprite based, i.e. not 3D).

I'd buy one of them, heck that's what Sony should do with the PSP2 it would be great as it's about the right size for all of the above (although you would want 3d GFX in that case) + the fact it was a phone would be liker killer, then with the WiFi Video confrencing for kids... it would be nutz

12" iBook

[SgtChaireBourne]

Granted there are many benefits in a PowerBook, but I've found that the 12" iBook I had got close to 5 hours per charge for me. 14" probably is pushing it as far as the size requirements, but the 12" is a nice size for travel.