I am thinking of getting a combination PDA and cell phone to help organize my life. I figure if it is a cell phone it will always be there taunting me so I will actually use the calendar unlike the paper ones I always tell myself that I'll use. I was thinking about A treo 600/650 or a blackberry 7100. Do you guys think it is worth the extra 40 bux a month added to my cell bill?

Is what worth $40/month?

That is the cost of the Data plan on to of the normal cell service. You can't have a sweet new device and not have all the bells and whistles!! You know IM, Active Synch with the exchange server, blah, blah,

I have a friend who has a blackberry. He loves it. He said that he could never go back to a phone without internet.

I usually just buy a world wildlife foundation planner from Barnes and Noble; I don't think I'd have the patients for a PDA. But I've never tried one.

It sounds like a good idea, though. You would never have to worry about forgetting it, and it could remind you that you've forgotten something important.

I love my PDA, a Zire 31, but it's just a PDA, not a phone, so it was a one-time purchase. I don't really like to do things that cost me a set amount of money per month. Bad enough I have to pay rent. I do have to remember to take it with me, but I generally do, and it's very useful.

Most PDA have an early end of life inside a drawer. The fact that it would be combine with your cellphone will help you to keep using it.

Most PDA have an early end of life inside a drawer. The fact that it would be combine with your cellphone will help you to keep using it.It also makes you twice as screwed if you lose it. :D (Or, if it breaks :eek: ) The fact that I had managed to keep the same phone for over a year was one reason I considered a combination phone/PDA. In the end, I got a PDA with the features I needed and just kept the same phone.

I have the Blackberry 7100 from Cingular. I LOVE it. I am, of course, very disorganized by nature. With the blackberry, I can all my contacts from Outlook and my calendar with me at all times. I avoid double scheduling. I am trying so hard to discipline myself into putting all of my little scraps of paper with numbers and addresses into outlook so they will sync to the BB. I am not at all worried about losing the phone/pda, every thing is synced to my laptop. It really helps as a step towards organization.

I am fortunate that my company pays for my phone and BB usage. Between the two, it's about $200/mo for unlimited BB and 3000 minutes.

Sean

I had an old Zire for a while but I returned it after fiddling with it became a distraction that got me more off track than when I used scraps of paper.

i have a treo 600. fortunately the 650 has fixed many problems. unfrotunately it came out after i got the 600. however, due tot he fact i bought insurance on it when i got the ph fr verizon, i call (b/c the data port broke, which was very flimsy, and to make short story longer, i did the usual adhd procrastination thing and didnt synch my phone before the port broke, so all my ph nbrs etc were locked in the phone. however on cool feature is the ability to beam data, so i could beam my over 300 nbrs to the new ph. however, true to my nature i saw a loose wire in the data port and instead of being logical and remembering that i need to power down when playing w/electricity, actually i did remember but put it off, anyway, needless to say i soon learned that i no longer had to worry about beaming 300+ nbrs anymore + pics, b/c they are now lost in the ozone. oh well.) bottom line is, the 650, oh yeah-praise...oh yeah i cant say the G word here, but anyway i get the new ph b/c the insurance co says they are out of the 600, and i am assuming the probs w/the data port had a big part in it. the new camera is better, etc. but the great thing is that it is a palm pilot built into the phoen. not total palm but definitely yes. so having both together is a cant say the G word-send for me. now if i cna only learn to say relevant info in 4 lines or less. i saw the blackberry and it looks awesome too. in short i think whatever one u get (the 650 is supposed to be one of the best) is a winner for ya as any little tool we get helps. i have 3 little PDA's incl a voice recorder that sit collecting dust. having this on the phone gets my attn enuff to use it. and if i dont put my appts in asap its my fault. that's my story and im sticking to it. good luck. :)

I have a blackberry which is great for emails because the buttons are easy to press and not slippery. the Treo I looked at had shiny buttons and were so slippery it was hard to work it.

The bberry is not as good as a phone. Ideal would be a treo with non metal buttons that were more slip resistant.

No. That sounds like a ripoff and timewaster.

A person with a distraction disability does not need another toy or money-sucker.

Honestly? Get a real PDA, not some distracting game/talk/msging toy.

I use my PDA to store notes, give me alarms 4x/day, reminds me of appointments, to do lists, stores music, has a headphone slot, no phone, no msging, etc.

You may want to add a WiFi option later. (eg to download mail, surf web, msgs.)



I have the HP IPAQ 2210 and am very happy with it.

This is what I am currently considering.
http://www.cingular.com/8125_consumer

This is what I am currently considering.
http://www.cingular.com/8125_consumerI just bought the 8125 and i absolutely love it. 1.3 Megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Wifi, GPRS/EDGE, etc..

First impressions are very good.. Love the size, weight and call quality. I travel between San Antonio TX and Boston MA and the signal quality has been excellent (actually better than my cellphone Motorolla v400) at both locations. The lack of external antenna has not been a factor as of yet.

Dont be fooled by the fact that its only 200Mhz... the Samsung OMAP processor is a multi core processor, so you cant really compare it to the 400+ mhz Intel XScales. Personally i find the responce times and loading times on the 8125 to be very good.

Speakerphone is not as good as my previous phone, but i will be installing an integrated bluetooth car kit.

If you are interested, im looking at getting one of these three:
http://www.parrot.biz/products/index.php?id=ck3000
http://www.parrot.biz/products/index.php?id=ck3100
http://www.parrot.biz/products/index.php?id=evolution

So far voice dialing works very well. I had to train it in a quiet location...

Have not had it long enough to comment on battery life..

A couple of recomendations if you get one of these:
1. download Opera Mobile or Opera Mini for it. Renders webpages better than Windows Mobile IE (IMHO). Im waiting for mini mozilla.. but its not really stable yet.

2. if you just want to surf the web on the device, you dont need to sign up for the $40 a month unlimited data plan. Sign up for "MediaNET Unlimited"... its $19.99 a month and runs at the same speed. If you arent going to be using the phone to let your laptop surf the web then MediaNET will do what you want.

3. find a better contact program. The stock one that comes w/ windows mobile 5, for some reason has done away w/ the sort by category on the main screen.. Its burried under a menu.. This feature is imperative for me.. I was thinking of switching to something like pocket informant anyways...

4. if you dont sync your pda, find a backup utitlity to backup the memory to the MiniSD card. It does not include one like previous versions of Windows Mobile. I run linux, and there is no sync for it just yet.

Thanks for the information, I have already ordered it.
I am aware of all these things from surfing howardforums.com (excellent phone site) I'll probably be overclocking it and disabling a bunch of the apps.
I am a bit bummed that I'm getting it just as the htc hermes is coming out but such is life.

Hey all,

I too, am going to get a PDA

I had a PDA that was a japanese dictionary primarily before, but it broke. I look back and realize I used it A LOT. Since I have LD, learning to use the japanese interface was too much of a challenge.

I have a new swank (in my opinion anyway) cell phone which I LOVE - but the memory in it is too small to handle enough memos and calendar entries. I also don't find the particular interface easy for me to use.

My friend's a cell phone rep, so I talk to her about the new "smart phones". She has a Treo 650 (I think, whatever Rogers is promo-ing right now) and really likes it.
It's a Palm OS.

I initially wanted to get the combo phone-PDA, but I think I'd want to have a better phone eventually. As well, I use the phone a lot, and would also use the alarm a lot... so the combo wouldn't be good in terms of battery life.

So I figure that I'll just get a PDA.

My reasoning is this:
-I used my monochrome PDA a LOT when I had it
-I have managed not to lose my cell phone (yet) -although I do drop it a lot, and I did run over it with my mountainbike screen side down and it still works fine
-I use my dayplanner VERY WELL and don't like to go anywhere without it. but it's now proving to be bulky and heavy, and my cell phone doesn't have enough memory

I think that having a PDA one time purchase will be fairly easy. I like having just my cell phone on me - it's tiny. A PDA-phone can only get so small...

Anyway, the best way I figure is to ask around, but most importantly to fiddle with the store display models and find one that has an interface that really complements my thinking style before I drop the $200+ on such a tool.

things I know I want:
-stylus memo pad (so I can draw diagrams and maps)
-address book with a good system my brain can process for searching
-PC sync-able
-fold-out keyboard add-on possibility
-vibrate alarm mode
-MP3 on it (I don't like the image of having to carry MP3 player, PDA and cell phone at the same time)
-calendar/dayplanner with an interface that works well with my learning style
-drop-proof

for those of you who already have a PDA
-what functions do you particularly find useful???

please let me know!
Thanks!

I don't know if you will find any 'drop proof'. I recently bought a palm TX model and love it, although I still don't use it to it's full capacity. The standard programs that come with it are good - you can choose to sync with either it's own desktop program (what I use) or with outlook, which ever suits you. I'm pretty sure you can get bluetooth keyboards for it, but you'd have to check.

I haven't used it for this yet, but it's also great for watching movies etc. I've read on a lot of forums where people are buying it moreso for watching movies etc while commuting.

Battery life seems pretty good to me. It comes with a dedicated charger but can also trickle charge via the usb connector. You can also sync to your pc via bluetooth (slow I believe) or wifi. So none of this having to walk over to you pc and plug it in - you can sync when you remember without any extra effort.

And the big reason I changed - non-volatile memory. Whenever I forgot to charge the batteries in my old one (palm VIIx) I'd lose everything. I'd have to do a sync to get it back and anything entered since my last sync was gone (happened a lot). Now if it runs flat I just charge it and there everything is. I use the usb at home and the charger at my workshop.

Sorry for the long reply. My fingers just kept going. And I am palm biased. You will find these sort of features in many pda's now days. The TX is pretty cheap I think. Have a look around as some people love the palm software, others don't. And you know what it would be like for us if we didn't like the interface. Back in the drawer you go.

I use a Pocket PC HP IPAQ 2215.

-Mine has everything except the Vibrate, I beleive. There are up to 4 Alarms/day or 28 Alarms/wk.

-For MP3, i just use an SD card with songs on it. I can change music with syncing, or swapping the cards w/ my laptop.

-Colour screen.

I'm sure there are other, newer models out now.

HTH.

Hyperfocus- I've been looking at that phone for both myself and my daughter. I currently have a Blackberry 9100g and a Palm Lifedrive PDA. It would be so much nicer just to carry the one unit but the processor worried me. You haven't found any speed issues I take it. Also, with just the MediaNet, can you get your email regularly? Or do you need the data plan to use email frequently?

Hyperfocus- I've been looking at that phone for both myself and my daughter. I currently have a Blackberry 9100g and a Palm Lifedrive PDA. It would be so much nicer just to carry the one unit but the processor worried me. You haven't found any speed issues I take it. Also, with just the MediaNet, can you get your email regularly? Or do you need the data plan to use email frequently?Keep in mind that the processor in this machine is a dual core processor.

Slowdown has been minimal and as I understand it, the newer rom has caused a dramatic change in responsiveness.
I have the device and loved it.

took a bit of tweaking to make it do what I want but now it's a must have.

Does anyone use a Sidekick or Sidekick II cellphone as an organizer?

My daughter has had a cellphone since she was 12 (she's almost 21) and has never lost one, has used them alot and has most recently taken to IMs, text messages etc. She seems to be able to figure out how to do just about anything with her cellphone without ever reading the manuals. So I figured maybe giving her a "fun" PDA phone would allow her to keep her calendar, set alarms etc in a form that she would always have with her. She currently uses a dayplanner but it tends to get left at home, in the truck etc. Her phone is with her 24/7.

Good device or not worth the switch to T-Mo?

Does anyone use a Sidekick or Sidekick II cellphone as an organizer?

My daughter has had a cellphone since she was 12 (she's almost 21) and has never lost one, has used them alot and has most recently taken to IMs, text messages etc. She seems to be able to figure out how to do just about anything with her cellphone without ever reading the manuals. So I figured maybe giving her a "fun" PDA phone would allow her to keep her calendar, set alarms etc in a form that she would always have with her. She currently uses a dayplanner but it tends to get left at home, in the truck etc. Her phone is with her 24/7.

Good device or not worth the switch to T-Mo?I would suggest reading about it at howardforums.com

For me, my cell phone PDA makes sense for the same reasons as it makes sense for you daughter.
But it requires a commitment on her part to actually force herself to use the options it provides.
For me I often dont use the functions even though they are right there.

get one of the htc devices: they are fantastic. www.xda-developers.com
Also, there's no reason to not get a pda that has a phone on it now. Why carry around two devices??? Sync that think up to your computer. You won't loose it. It's too important. (buy one used off ebay just in case)

And there's no reason for the data plan unless you need to be accessing the internet all the time.

I have a t-mobile sx66 w/ wm2005 :) and basic phone service.

I just got a moto Q and I'm pretty happy with it. I'm still discovering things I can do with it. One feature I like a lot is the ability to sync my OneNote files with it.

I have a T-Mobile MDA which is a pocket PC designed specifically for T-Mobile customers. I really like having my phone and PDA all in one because that way, I don't forget anything (I never forget my cell phone). I used to have a palm, seperate from my cell and it never worked. I always forgot one or the other.

Man, I got an IPAQ back about last November and used it for a good 2 plus months straight. Soon, I was ignoring the alerts and not checking it as often. Now I find I rarely use it. Sad really. I have a crappy Nokia and put in important notes in the calender. I really need something like an organizer and reminder but, who/what is going to remind me to check it?? :-D

That will forever be my problem. You can still ignore the alerts. I still use it enough though, just not as much as I should. The reason I still use a seperate pda and phone is that I don't always want to carry my pda with me (short trips to the shops etc) but I always have my phone in my pocket.

I still find the worthwhile pda phones too big for that. My mate as an imate jas-jam and it's just a little too big for the way I use them.

I too have a T-Mobile MDA (aka HTC Wizard, Qtek 9100, I-Mate K-Jam, T-Mobile MDA Vario, et. al.) running WM6 (as of two days ago) and I love it. I use it for contacts, appointments, and email. I would definitely recommend it if your company runs on Outlook/Exchange, since you can easily directly sync Appointments/Email/Tasks/Contacts using your data plan.

I know I can do a much better job of scheduling appointments, I probably don't schedule half of what I should, and I do not use a task list currently, but I'm trying to find a good solution. I've used Outlook tasks off and on, and the ToDo bar in Outlook 2007 helped, but I could never stick with the task list for very long. I'm currently considering taking a paper-based approach (which is a shock for me since I'm a completely technology geek). We'll see what works.

-Joe

I have tried both hi-tech and lo-tech methods, and they were both helpful. I chose my method of organization depending upon which medium I would come in contact with the most on a daily basis.

Pros of using Microsoft Outlook (MO) on my laptop in grad school:
- It helped me organize my highly variable and hectic schedule, to the minute in fact. I even scheduled 20 minute power naps here and there.
- I kept my laptop on all the time and used my laptop all day long to take notes, study, and check my email so I checked my schedule and list of things to do on MO frequently.
- The recurrent event option saved me time from rewriting repeated weekly events.
- The alerts reminded me to start on projects, eat dinner....

Pros of using the traditional paper method:
- My calendar is small (6X8) and portable so I can carry it with me to different meeting sites.
- My system is kept simple: I make a daily list of things to do, which I simply paper clip to the front of my calendar.
- For recurrent events, I just have a schedule for each day of the week, which I keep on a brightly colored clipboard (to help me find it when I've misplaced it) in my office. I flip a page each day to get to the next day of the week.
- I can drop the calandar/clipboard, and they will still work.
- I don't have to wait to boot either up.
- Sometimes, it's just faster to write in appointments then to have to find the right symbol, then folder, maybe name it, then have to use a stylus to type in each freakin' letter!

I tried using a PDA when they first came out and haven't had the urge to purchase another one yet, but the new technology sounds cool. I would be afraid of losing it because it's so small and expensive. I drop things all the time - I would break a PDA in seconds.

So, I guess you should choose the method that would be most practical, economical and least time consuming for whatever situation you're in.