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?"

Just keep this in mind...

[jbarr]

I'm not going to recommend any specific PDA, but I do have this bit of advice: Don't let the technology cloud your need to remain organized. It's so easy to get sucked into the features and capabilities that you often forget the real reason to have a PDA. I wrote an article about simplifying my PDA use [jimstips.com] wherein I describe how I "stepped back" to using a Palm Z22 instead of the latest and greatest whiz-bang PDA. You see, for me, I was so easily distracted by the "stuff of the PDA" that I found that I was spending more time tweaking, playing, and hacking my PDA than actually using it productively.

After a few months, in retrospect, I am now craving a higher resolution screen and more memory, but the surprising reality is that my Palm Z22 really works, and really works well...for me. And that's the key. Find what works for you and stick with it.

So regardless of what you choose, try to keep the perspective of simplicity.

-Jim
http://jimstips.com/ [jimstips.com]

None of the above

[Just Some Guy]

There's a pretty tight competition for "best portable organizer" right now. Although the leader [43folders.com] is extremely powerful and flexible, many love the simple elegance of the up-and-comer [moleskine.us].

Seriously, after fighting through multiple PalmOS devices, each having a prettier display and more manufacturing defects than the one before it, I've taken my own advice above. I prefer the latter for its sleek lines and excellent performance, although the former still has my respect for its near-infinite adaptability.

Palm OS

[vga_init]

I've had a Palm Pilot for the past few years. It's stable, compatible, and is the best organization software I've ever used. Pocket PC's with Windows CE (or whatever it's called these days) tend to cost a bit more, and sure, I think the operating system is more robust and flexible, but this is a device where simplicity is a feature. Also keep in mind that PalmOS is fully programmable (you can download the development libraries after registration--available for linux), and there exists a wealth of apps for it. On wi-fi enabled units, you can get such things as browsers and ssh clients (more then enough to satisfy the geek in you). PalmOS is also compatible with lots of linux apps (eg evolution plugins)

Also, regardless of bells and whistles, it's a solid organizer--everything you need is right there in one package. In fact, you can get a cheap Zire without dropping more than $99, and you'll get all the organizing goodness of PalmOS (no features barred, same interface) as well as a generous 32mb or so of RAM (how many people do you know?). That cheap model won't have a fancy pants screen or play mp3's, but you bet your granny's knickers you'll be organized. Feel like spending a little more? Get a Tungsten E2--plenty of RAM, gorgeous screen, media playback, SD slot, and enough features spared to allow you to keep things simple and straightforwad and the price tag low (eg no wifi or bluetooth, but doesn't your cell phone do that? Or your laptop? Or...oh hell, just check your schedule).

Whatever you choose to buy, you won't regret it. To those who need them, a sturdy organizer is worth its weight in gold, and Palm knows how to make that work. They also how to please your geeky self.

Re:Consider Symbian.

[Anonymous Coward]

I have to agree and disagree with this statement.

I personally don't care for symbian, but there is a huge amount of value (for me) in having my PDA be a part of my phone.

I've tried palm's, which I liked, from the first Pilot, to the Clie UX-50, and the biggest failure of every one, was that I would _sometimes_ leave it home, because of some reason or another.

I'm now using Windows Mobile on my Cingular 8125, and so far I've been quite happy, mostly because I _never_ leave my phone at home. But my work PC is Windows, so that's where I sync.

Nokia 770 and Google account

[frankmu]

i'd get a google account first. it has email, chat, voip, calender, word processor, spreadsheet, etc. then get a nokia 770 to access it. wireless access is pretty easy. there are alot of free access points called "Linksys". good luck.

Look at a Dana from AlphaSmart

[pieterh]

I bought a Dana [alphasmart.com] a week ago, as a writing machine. It has:

  * B/W landscape screen
  * Full-size keyboard, one of the best I've ever used, on any computer
  * Standard-sized rechareagble batteries (3 x AA)
  * Runs 30 hours on one charge
  * Two SD slots
  * Infrared
  * USB connection for printer
  * USB connection for synchronisation, also charges the device
  * Wifi

The screen works in direct sunlight, and also in dim light. The only drawback is that it does not fold in half, but in compensation, the device is extraordinarily robust. Almost unbreakable. And you get that lovely instant-on Palm response.

I'll probably get a second smaller Palm to act as a lighter clone, since I can easily sync the data between the two.

Re:Just keep this in mind...

[computechnica]

I love my Tapwave Zodiac: you get a nice 4 inch screen, Stereo Speakers that are quite loud, 2 SD card slots for 8Gb of total (2x4Gb SD cards when used with Fat32 Driver) storage, Bluetooth, and a 4-5 hour play time. Use Core Media Player and pocketDiVXencoder for video. You can encode movies down to 200Megs. Bluetooth GPS. I Use LJZ for Console emulation of GB, NES, SNES, Gen, NGP, WS,and TG16. There are also some SD games(Doom,DukeNukem,SpyHunter,Galactic realms, and Legacy). There is also a free version of Quake and Hexen avaliable. Also there is a version of SCUMM VM.

Its also a Palm PDA so you have a Office suite with Document To Go, and a few Web browsers that work with a Bluetooth Phone. Sync with Outlook(not my choice, thats what the USAF makes us use). It also nice because you can play MP3s while running other applications with very little slow down.I can also take my SD card from my camera and view the pics and vids with out any reformating. Its hard to call this a "PDA", its trully a small tablet computer. --

Zodiac Fat32 Driver [nerys.com]
IR Keyboard [geeks.com]

Re:A few things

[solid_liq]

This reminds me...

Anyone want to wager on when VMWare and/or Xen and/or some other virtualization project will be made available for PDAs? If you say never, you have no business reading Slashdot.
Seriously, the hardware isn't that far from being able to run PalmOS and Linux concurrently. I'd love to see this. At the very least, you could have your home gaming vm and your work vm, so the two wouldn't intermingle.