PDA for Tech Savy Students?

Kichigai Mentat asks: "When I was a student in High School, I was quite disorganized. I found that a good organizer helped me out, and eventually got myself a reliable Palm m105. As I'm about to go into college, I'm considering picking up a new machine to replace my nearly-dead PDA. However, the selection seems to be either Palm OS, which I find rather limiting in terms of what you can and cannot do on the system (I LIKE being able to organize things into sub-folders), or Window Mobile, which isn't Linux or Mac OS X friendly. What sort of third-party options are available that work with existing PIM apps, will work without Windows, and won't cost an arm and a leg?"

"savvy"

[Anonymous Coward]

The word is spelled "savvy". Not "savy".

Thank you. Have a nice day.

A few things

[PunkOfLinux]

I can't remember who makes it, but the Zaurus line seems to be pretty cool. I know several people who have one, and they LOVE them. Also, you can get linux to run on a PalmOne device. Granted, it'll wipe the os... but... hey, if you wanna, go ahead.

Mac OS X solutions for Pocket PCs...

[Silas Palmer-Cannon]

There are solutions out there for syncing Microsoft PDAs with Mac OS X. Take a look at The Missing Sync at http://www.markspace.com/ [markspace.com] I have never used this solution, but I've heard good things about it from others.

Consider Symbian.

[GrpA]

Have a look at some of the Symbian phones out there. I'm lost without my Motorola A1000.

The nice thing about them is that they double as a telephone, and are about the same size as well.

Also made my Erricson and other phone manufacturers, and open source programmable... Lot of apps to D/L free or for fee as well.

GrpA

Re:A few things

[pruss]

One does not need to wipe the OS to run Linux on a PalmOS device. In fact, in newer flash-based devices, you don't even lose your PalmOS data. See www.hackndev.com

slim pickings

[juventasone]

The Symbian OS is primarly for smartphones [symbian.com], and unfortunately they usually make for lousy PDAs. But if you're still interested check out the Nokia E61 [nokia.com] or Sony Ericsson M600i [sonyericsson.com]. Same could be said about RIM's Blackberry OS.

There's also an plethora of quirky, mostly-discontinued embedded linux PDAs [linuxdevices.com], including the geek-famous Zaurus [sharpusa.com].

If you thought having only two major players for PDA OS's was unfortunate, Palm has started replacing the Palm OS with Windows Mobile on some of their own hardware [palm.com].

Re:None of the above

[Noksagt]

I dig the index cards--they're cheap & provide "random access" and allow for easier "beaming" to other people. Two downsides for me: 1)I like my paper gridded (though you can get gridded index cards). 2)Not durable enough (although you can get various coverings and briefcases, but most will make it less quick to access.

While the moleskines address those points, I never understood the fad. It is so completely overpriced & overhyped. I've received & diligently used a couple as gifts. The paper isn't all that great. The smallest moleskines are made of even cheaper materials & the larger ones aren't pocket sized. Art geeks shell out too much money!

Rhodia pads are also over priced, but not as sickingly overpriced as moleskines. They have a decently durable cover, can cleanly detach, and come in various sizes. The paper is the same as in or clairefontaine pads, but is gridded. It is heavy & stands up to more pens than the moleskine pads. I splurge on these, but honestly a few notebooks from a dollar store would be almost as good.

Re:A few things

[Infinityis]

I'll second that. I bought a Zaurus (Collie, 5500) on Ebay for $100, and it came with a wifi card, 2 compact flash cards, SD card, and charger + cradle.

Some of the nice things about it:

-Keyboard is built in under a slide-out panel, for those of us who don't like graffiti input methods.
-Trivial to flash with a new ROM (such as OPIE or GPE)...but I'd recommend either having two CF cards or a CF card reader/writer on your computer so you can get yourself out of sticky situations.
-You can either plug in the charger directly to the Zaurus or via the cradle, which add immeasurably to the convenience, because you can charge it an use it at the same time without being at your computer.
-Lots of nice programs for free, such as VNC viewer & server, PDF reader, etc.
-Headphone jack for listening to music, either from songs stored on the Zaurus or streaming from a computer connected wirelessly.
-The translucent plastic flip-cover can be removed easily.

Did I mention it runs Linux?

The only downside I've come across is that the battery life isn't the best in the world, but personally I rarely have problems with an empty battery. Also, it requires a little technical proficiency to get everything (like an internet browser) running well on the non-defaul ROM.

I can't speak for the newer Zauruses, but they look even nicer than the one I have.

Re:A few things

[Mr. Slippery]

The manufacturer is Sharp, and they no longer distribute them in the US.

However, there are distributors that import them and do the English language conversion, such as conics.net.

The SL-C3xxx clamshell models with built-in harddrives [on.net] rock. It's like having a laptop that was exposed to a shrink ray.

I installed KO/Pi [pi-sync.net] on mine as an scheduler/organizer, and use the provided "Hancom Word" word processor to maintain my journal and do other writing. I got a WiFi card for it, and I can even hook up my cell phone via it's USB port and do a SSH session from anywhere I can get a signal.

I think their success in Japan versus the U.S. is due to the fact that in Japan, the clamshell form factor seems to be very common for electronic dictonaries, while Americans are still looking for something that looks like a Palm Pilot. It's a shame and a crime that such a wonderful piece of technology, which draws admiring stares whereever I go, isn't more widely available in the U.S.

Been there, broken a few

[wolf87]

I have quite a bit of experience in this regard. I had 3 PDAs in HS (Zire 71, Tungsten C, and HP 4350), a Treo 600 during my first 2 yrs of college, and now I have a Moto Q. Some advice on PDAs and smartphones for college:

• QWERTY is your friend. When going from class-to-class, there is no way you can use the handwriting input fast enough to get assignments down. Physical keyboards are best. Windows Mobile has the best on-screen.
• Don't worry about platform compatibility with a WM PDA. PocketMac (http://www.pocketmac.net [pocketmac.net]) is a great piece of software (used it form the HP 4350). It's actually more reliable than ActiveSync, in my experience.
• Personally, for storing class and assignment info, I prefer WM. Newer Palms with better calendar software may be better, but this is my experience with Treo 600.
• Consider a smartphone. It's a lot easier, especially for contacts. For example, I keep all of my professors' office hours in notes attached to their contact entries. Makes it really easy to access the info.
• Get a sturdy case. When you're running from one end of campus to the other, you will drop your PDA and/or phone. My failure to do so is one reason I now have a Q (who knew 5 drops onto pavement was the Treo's limit?). I like aluminum ones; then again, I'm a klutz.

If you have questions, feel free to contact me. Always glad to help a fellow student.

Palm OS is still the way to go

[Yeechang Lee]

As I posted just yesterday [slashdot.org], I've had a Palm OS-based PDA of one kind or another since 1997 when I was still in college, and just bought a Treo 700p. Every one has been a huge help in keeping me organized.

As a student I didn't find synchronization with a desktop PIM essential. I entered all my contacts and schedules on the PDA and used pilot-link on my Linux box for app installs and backups. Since I graduated and entered the workforce that's completely changed, but you have at least four years before you'll likely have to worry about that. Assuming you were the same way in high school, this gives you a bit more flexibility than I have in terms of picking a PDA; my need for Outlook synchronization meant I couldn't consider a Nokia 770 or a Zaurus, no matter how badly I wanted real Linux on my pocket device. My post from yesterday talks about why Windows Mobile and Symbian were out for me. That leaves . . . just Palm OS.

You mention cost. Brand-new Palm PDAs are as inexpensive as $99 for a Z22. Or, do what I did and get the Treo 700p; Amazon.com offers it for new Sprint or Verizon customers for as low as $250 after rebate and a two-year contract. Not a bad price for a combination of state-of-the-art Palm PDA and EV-DO-capable handset!

Nokia

[JanneM]

The Nokia 770 [nokia.com] looks really, really promising. It runs Linux and has a pretty active developer community.

If or when it starts supporting Japanese input I'm getting one myself.

Battery like...

[IANAAC]

You don't mention which model you have, but the latest models have MUCH better battery life. The earlier models (particularly the 5500) did have terrible battery life - with a wifi card I was lucky to get 40 minutes. 5600 improved to about an hour and a half.

The new C1/3x00 series, however, goes for a good five hours of constant wifi use. As mentioned somwhere in this thread, these newer models aren't sold directly in the US. You have to get them through a distributor, which will import and convert to English. I got mine from dynamism.com, but there other distributors out there, including for Europe.

Keyboard....

[evilviper]

Grafitti, Jot, On-screen keyboards, THEY ALL SUCK. When you're going to be writing more than a couple words here and there, you NEED a PDA with a keyboard, and the 1/3rd of a keyboard on a phone doesn't count.

I tossed my WinCE device after a month of struggling to do anything useful with it, and bought a Psion 5. I used it daily for the next couple years. Not just taking little notes, mind you. I would write-up entire multi-page reports, with the proper font, spacing, headers, etc. Then I'd often switch over to the drawing programs, sketch out a damn-good diagram, and insert it into the report, and print the whole thing out via one of 2 IrDA laserjet printers that were around. Not to mention that 2 AA batteries would power it for over a week of CONSTANT 24/7 use (one time, just before finals). And this was back when WinCE would go apeshit and screw-up or hang, if you just tried to italicize text.

These days, things have gone backwards. Psion became Symbian, and now you practically can't find any with keyboards, let alone B&W screens which work in direct sunlight, and run for about a month on a pair of AAs. And a tall narrow screen can't even compete with a wide (640x240) screen.

So there's my advice. Do your best to find a Symbian/Psion PDA with a B&W landscape LCD screen, full keyboard, slots for CF/SD, and standard-sized batteries.

It's a bit of a cop-out, I know, because you'll be lucky to find a new PDA with ONE of those features, never mind ALL of them.

And no, I won't sell you mine. The only thing my (now old) Psion 5 has against it, is lack of ethernet or WiFi adapters, which are indispensible today.

Re:A few things

[grahamdrew]

I actively used (and still have) one of the original Zauruses for a while, and although it was great when you paired it with a WiFi card and wanted to do some quick web browsing, email, or instant messaging it wasn't terribly good at PIM. Getting it to sync with anything but Outlook or Sharp's own app was a challenge at best. Strangely enough, getting it to sync with a linux box was harder than syncing with windows or OS X. It was a very nice mobile tablet at the time, but not a very good PDA. I had used a Handera 330 (PalmOS based device with a CF slot) before that and it was excellent at PDA functionality, but the mobile communications weren't great.

Andrew Beard