I am planning to buy a PDA for my next trip.

Any advice as to what type is best suited for travel?
I plan to download RATP info, my hotel and restaurant research, maybe even a guidebook if I can download one.

Are new models scheduled to come up in the near future. My trip is scheduled for September, should I wait a few more months?

Any advice will be appreciated.

I use a $1.99 pocket notebook with a pouch thingy in the back cover for loose stuff. Fits nicely in a jacket pocket.

Found it at Target.

FREE BEER TOMORROW!

(You come in the next day: same sign.)

In other words: no matter what you buy and when you buy, it will be obsolete in six months.

I have a three year old iPAQ 2215 that does everything I want done. If you're looking at a model with the latest bells and whistles, be aware that they consume <i>power</i>, which is the most precious resource in a portable device. If you don't need it, don't buy it. At the very least, don't buy a built-in bell or whistle that you can't turn off.

My priorities:

Decent battery life. Mine will go for a day (or a transatlantic flight) without running down.

Hot-swappable batteries. I keep a charged one in my pocket (but I've only resorted to it about twice).

Lots of expansion slots. SD slot for programs and data, CF slot for memory or peripherals. I put a WiFi adapter or GPS in the CF slot, and load SD cards with various functions, such as: enroute (music, books, and games), touring (guides, street plans, and public transport), driving (road maps, points of interest, and facilities directories), flying (flight management system and airport directory, weight &amp; balance).

When installing a new program, ALWAYS load it onto removable memory, thus freeing main storage for running programs. I have found 64mb main memory to be plenty if I keep it uncluttered.

Robespierre will catch up to you eventually...

Rough Guides has a few e-books, or you can buy a guidebook that comes with a mini-CD (pdf file) which could be loaded to your PDA. Those books are under the title &quot;Directions&quot;... check on Amazon.com

I plan to travel with very light luggage (due to health concerns). Last month I carried two guidebooks, several maps, my typed research and it just became too much for me to carry. As it is, I pick up added plans and maps on sites. I also carried a small journal, even that seemed to add weight. I want to simplify but have needed information with me.

Depends what you need it for; if it's only for storing text files and such, you really don't need the latest and greatest. I just bought a Palm m100 off eBay for 10 pounds (about $17.50), including shipping, and it will do all of that just fine. If you want spreadsheets and pdf files and such, you'll probably want a PocketPC, but again, you don't need the latest and greatest. One thing to consider is whether you want rechargable batteries (which is pretty normal these days) or find one that takes standard AAAs; the cost of AAAs adds up, but it may be less than the cost of the inconvenience of your battery dying and not being able to use the PDA (also, it's one less charger to bring).

Thank you for your helpful replies.

Armed with this information, I am on my way to the nearest office depot to check out what will suit me best.

I recently purchased the Palm TX and I love it! I stored my Word documents onto the SD memory card, as well as other information. I got a great price at Circuit city - on sale right now http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/produ...cfkmdffhdfki.0 and I was able to pick it up at the store in town rather than having it shipped.

I also purchased the wireless keyboard to go with it. Will be perfect for my journal writing!


Monica

If you haven't left already, I would probably recommend against buying at Office Depot, as you will almost certainly not get the best price. Somewhere online will probably be the best; look at Amazon and newegg.com (both extremely reputable), eBay if you don't mind used.

What kind of wireless keyboard?

What kind of battery life are you getting from the TX, especialy if you turn on Wifi?

How is the browser?

Lately, there's been some hype about Microsoft Origami but it sounds like a $1000 device with 3 hour battery life.

Nokia 770 is an Internet pad, a bit underpowered but somewhat unique.

Monica, please learn how to use this:

http://tinyurl.com/pqlam

(By the way, I think Palm OS is living on borrowed time.)

I agree with PalmOS living on borrowed time now that PocketPC has finally gotten good (and with Linux for nerds), but it still does the basics the simplest of any of them, and Palm PDAs are often cheaper (plus old ones can still be useful, while old PocketPCs are usually pretty bad, past about 2003 or so).

Shows how technologically out of touch I am. Whenever I see a heading like this, I wonder if the OP needs advice about where to perform Public Displays of Affection. ;-)

No, I am truly searching for convenience now.

I am not that with it either. My knee jerk reaction was to go to Office Depot to check out the merchandise. Thanks grsing, you stopped me just in time.

Can you update the OS on an old PDA?

Because unless you can, it really doesn't matter if Palm OS goes out of business tomorrow.

The Palm PDA you buy today should last 3 years or whatever.

Can you update the OS on an old PDA? <b>Yes (to a newer version), but you can't change to another OS.</b>

Because unless you can, it really doesn't matter if Palm OS goes out of business tomorrow. <b>I think you mean &quot;unless you can't.&quot;</b>

The Palm PDA you buy today should last 3 years or whatever. <b>Yeah, okay. But if Palm <u>does</u> go out of business tomorrow, you'll have an orphan on your hands.</b>

(By the way: if all you want to do is display PDA maps, read e-books, and run <b>M&eacute;tro</b>, a Palm - even an old one - is all you need.)

elba: Office Depot (or Fry's, or Best Buy, or whatever) is a great place to try out the PDAs, see how they work, how they feel in your hand, how big they actually are, etc., just don't buy there (unless they have a sale on, but still compare prices).

wco81: Sometimes you can update the OS, depends on how old the PDA is and what the hardware supports, though, as Robespierre said, you definitely can't change from Palm to PocketPC (you can, however, boot Linux on many PDAs, though this is by no means the forum to discuss that).

As for having an orphan on your hands, as long as it's a good orphan, so what? If you're browsing the internet on it or something, I'd want security updates and all that, but I don't really care if it's just a standalone thing.

I don't disagree, but as soon as Palm says &quot;We quit,&quot; developers will stop creating new applications. True, you may not want any, but I'd prefer having the choice.

I agree, and if there are any important applications you use on a Palm that you continue to want support for, you'd be up the creek. Not sure that really applies here, but it does bear consideration (although of course, there is a huge range of palm software available now, and it'd be surprising if it all up and disappeared as soon as Palm stopped making its OS, more likely it'd be a gradual phase-out).

Well Palm has already said they're not going to develop a proprietary OS any longer.

They are concentrating on the Treo and smart phone markets, because standalone PDAs are dead.

And their plan there is to run a compatibility layer on top of a Linux kernel so that you can run all the old Palm apps.

But part of the package for something like the TX is it comes with a bundle of apps. specifically for that model, like taking advantage of its Wifi to provide a new email client. I believe there is somethign to let you access your PC through the wireless connection too.

I didn't know that about PPC OS. I thought when Windows Mobile 5 comes out, you had to buy a new device to get it. And certainly, any new features to support new hardware features will only work on new hardware.