Help picking out a (new) PDA

[TimothyC]

Ok, so I'm looking at getting a new PDA for personal/school use, and after some looking, all I can find are: An HP iPaq 211, or an iPod Touch.

I don't want a smartphone because I will not have the finances to pay for a monthly voice and data plan (I have a pre-pay phone at the moment, and wifi will be available at home and at school), but I do want to be able to check mail, pull up documents (generally MS Office or GoogleDocs), and listen to music (on the bus to and from school), without the bulkiness of a laptop, or the distraction of having a full PC with me (which has led to problems in the past).

Any suggestions?

[General Zod]

What kind of budget are you looking at? The iPod Touch seems like the most obvious gimme, though the battery life can be a bit lacking depending on how much you use it. I can't really say anything about the iPaq.

[TimothyC]

What kind of budget are you looking at? The iPod Touch seems like the most obvious gimme, though the battery life can be a bit lacking depending on how much you use it. I can't really say anything about the iPaq.

Upper end of my budget is about 400 pre-tax, and I need the device to last at least one day of use (6-8 hours) per charge, and the devices' lifespan should be a good 2-3+ years.

[Ryan Thunder]

I have a previous version of the iPaq, and I love it to bits. The interface is great, and it comes with Microsoft Office Mobile installed, which includes Excel, Word, and a Powerpoint viewer.

Another plus is that you can write programs for it and load them right on to it without having to get written approval from Apple to do so.

The battery lasts multiple days if you take care of it. I recommend charging it every now and then rather than, say, plugging it in overnight. Mine lasts for weeks between charges like this.

[Stark]

It lasts weeks between charges if you constantly recharge it?

[Ryan Thunder]

It lasts weeks between charges if you constantly recharge it?

No, I mean it can last for weeks at a time if you take care of the battery by avoiding excessively long continuous recharging.

Normally I just plug it into my computer for a half an hour a day or so, but I did a deep discharge on it and it took literally two weeks to run out.

Oh, using the wireless drains the battery like nothing else though, just to warn you.

[General Zod]

The battery lasts multiple days if you take care of it. I recommend charging it every now and then rather than, say, plugging it in overnight. Mine lasts for weeks between charges like this.

The amount of time you leave it plugged in doesn't actually mean a whole lot you know. What counts is how much you let the battery drain before you plug it back in.

[Tritio]

The battery lasts multiple days if you take care of it. I recommend charging it every now and then rather than, say, plugging it in overnight. Mine lasts for weeks between charges like this.

The amount of time you leave it plugged in doesn't actually mean a whole lot you know. What counts is how much you let the battery drain before you plug it back in.

Speaking of which, what is the 'best practice' for ensuring battery life? To minimise the number of total charges to which the battery is subjected to? I am interested in getting an iphone and would like to take care to maximise it's battery life seeing as I can't change batteries.

[Stargate Nerd]

What service provider do you have for your pre pay service? Depending on that, you could just buy an older (1~2 years) unlocked phone for </~$400 and use it as your phone and PDA without worrying about data charges as most have wifi support.

[Sarevok]

Paying for expensive data charges matter only if you are using your smartphones for things like .

- Downloading files frequently.
- Viewing youtube.
- Internet radio.
- Voip software like Fring.
- Running torrent programs.

For normal internet browsing using the Opera Mini browser is ridiculously efficient. A page on this forum will consume between 4-20 kb usually. Email too can be efficiently handled by built in mail client or 3rd party programs. Chatting on msn, facebook etc as well is almost zero cost using programs like Nimbuzz.