Greetings,

Welcome to "Muddyshoes Guide to PDA/Smart Phone Purchasing"

I'd probably start by making a list of the things you need your device to do rather than simply ask people what to get. The reason is that people will have different uses. Some require connectivity as their most important need, some want calendar and planning. Everyone will have a different answer but those reasons will be based upon their needs, not necessarily yours.

The main benefits of today's modern gadgets include:

- Phone/Voice Connectivity, i.e. the need to talk to people.
- Instant Messenging, i.e. typing messages live to people
- Email connectivity
- Web/Internet Browsing capability
- Phone/Address List/Contact Management
- Calendar and the ability to sync with network/desktop computer
- GPS functionality, i.e. where am I, how do I get to ... etc.
- Memory Card storage to hold extra data

Other minor functions include:

- Camera with still/video
- Voice Recording
- MP3 music player
- VIdeo/Multimedia player, movies, etc.

In addition, there may be third party programs that add functionality to your device, like Life Balance for example, and countless others.

Operating Systems.

The two most common operating systems right now for handheld devices are the Palm OS and Windows CE or whatever Microsoft's version is called today. Again, different people will tout one as being better than the other, but your decision should consider first:

- Do any of the special programs I want to use run on only Palm or Windows CE? It makes no sense to buy a Windows-based device if the program you want to buy only runs on Palm, and vice-versa

Hot Syncing.

Much of the benefit of these devices are their abilities to synchronize information to and from desktop computers, particularly when it comes to one's calendar, contacts and to-do lists. Now in order to do this, the programs that do the syncing have a lot to do. For example, you have an appointment at 4pm for a haircut. You change the appointment on your desktop to 5pm and then maybe change it later when you are out on your Palm to 6pm. When you go to sync, the software has to look at all the changes and often it will just duplicate all the appointments on your devices.

Sometimes in the sync process strange things happen. That's the nature of the beast and it happens with both, Windows and the Palm devices.

A third operating system is the Blackberry one. It's been a couple years since I messed with it and to be honest, it wasn't very friendly or impressive then. Perhaps it's changed now, but I would still recommend choosing either a Palm or Windows device just due to the massive amount of add-on software for them.

Price

With a standard Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) it's a one-time purchase. Decent color ones start around $150 now and my Palm Zire 72 cost around $200. Almost all of them have memory card expansion slots which will also hold add-on cards like GPS expansions, maps, dictionaries, and many others.

Smart Phones also cost around $200 or so but require renewing a contract for a year or two years depending upon the telcomm company. You can buy smart phones and cell phones on ebay from vendors who sell "unlocked" phones designed to work with multiple carriers, Sprint, or Verizon or Cingular, or whomever.

These phones are new and may simply require you to switch out the little electronic smart card from your existing phone to the new one. If you do buy from eBay, checkout the person's feedback rating to get an idea as to whether or not you will get a good deal. I bought new phones for my wife and I and they came within 2 days and worked perfectly. This way I didn't have to sign new contracts.

Cost

As I said above, standard PDAs are a one-time purchase. Smart Phones on the other hand have the typical slew of additional charges turning their $60/month 1,000 minute plan into a $100 plan in no time.

In addition to the basic monthly service to just make phone calls, they also try to entice you to get a data plan which is required to send emails, access the web, send messages, etc. The number of different types of data plans can be confusing so they push the unlimited plans which add about another $30-$40/month. Then they try to get you to get entertainment plans that provide access to news, weather, sports, just in case you can't stand to be away from your TV for very long. The data transfer speed is iffy at best with these services. You just have to decide if you need them.

A couple other things to consider

Breakage - If you drop your Palm Pilot, you just lose a copy of your data - It's still on your home/office computer. If you drop your Smart Phone, you lose all that, plus your ability to communicate.

Size- Smart Phones are bulky, fragile and heavy. When you go to the park for a day, do you really want to drag that big thing around? You can leave your palm at home and take your small cell phone with you.

Staying Connected - Do you really want or need to have instant access to all of your information all the time, and do you really want everyone you know to have instant access to you all the time? For some people in some businesses, it's essential. For others, it's just one more way to become sidetracked or to allow people to interrupt you causing stress and a constant restructuring of your priorities.

So, these are just a few considerations when looking to buy into some of this new technology. It's easy to get caught up in the hype and the fancy advertising which tries to convince you that you need it. But you have to decide for yourself.

I recommend starting by considering the list of specificially what things you need a device to do and look at my list above for help. Then, find a device that fits those needs. And *THEN* start asking people. Remember that sales people will try to sell you what's new and what's hot.

Hope this helps.

God, I love being on Adderall again ;)

Ron