Personal digital assistants (PDAs)

Can anyone recommend a good one that is not outrageously expensive?

Expensive is relative. What's your budget like?

I guess like 200-300€ (preferably ont he lower end of that)

I just got a SE M600i. It's not your traditional PDA but does offer quite a few of the things you might be looking for. Check it out.
It's also quite cheap at about 160 - 180 EUR if you buy it online (without sim lock or branding).

I use an iPaq 2490 (I think) which is absolutely, totally alright. Not sure of the cost.

It fulfills my needs. And it is reasonably stable.

I would have stuck with Palm Pilot but Palm seem to have lost their way a bit.

Hope this helps.

Save your money and wait a few more weeks for the new HP IPaq's

Not many other companies make PDA's anymore..

HP/Compaq = Still make PDAs
Palm = Still make 2-3 PDA, but their kinda old, execept for the newest one which now runs Windows Mobile 6 instead of PalmOS
Dell = Has gotten out of the PDA Business, but will resell (eventually) other companies PDA's (Prob HP)
Siemens-Fujutsu = Only has 3 PDA Models, all are over 2yrs old, SFC is also trying to get outta the PDA Business

All the other companies haven't released new models in ages. Most all companies are moving to PDA/Smartphones.
The big PDA/Smartphone makers (HTC) release new models of few months. I suggest you have a look at their
web site to see if any of their current models fit your needs. HTC recently bought out another big maker call Dopod.

HTC/Dopod are the makers of almost all the of PDA/Smartphones resold by carriers.

For example, the T-Mobile Dash and MDA series,O2 XDA series, are all HTC devices.

The newest models to hit the markets are the Touch (Rebranded as the T-Mobile MDA Touch) and TyTN II (Rebranded as the T-Mobile MDA Vario III)

The Touch is HTC's answer to the iPhone/iPod touch.. Cheaper and tons more features..

If your looking into something that can double as a PDA and a mini notebook, have a look at the Shift's data sheet
It runs Windows Mobile 6 and Windows XP/Vista. It's 2 devices in 1.

What do people use these things for? I have tried on a number of occasions to make use of one but always go back to the good old fashioned diary.

I only used to use mine (cheap low-end Sony Clie) as a backup for my PC-based contacts and calendar. Now that function is replaced by my phone.

But these days many PDAs come with wireless LAN and bigger screens, so they're probably more useful as internet clients than just contact and event management. Much quicker to connect to the WLAN at the airport using a PDA, than with a laptop.

Dunno about that tbh, and aren't they slow as shit on the net too, not to mention fiddly to navigate. Laptop wins hands down imo

Depends on your laptop I suppose.

My company-issued laptop has so much shit on it (PGP Desktop, Virus Scan, Norton Ghost, VPN Client, Firewall, etc) that it takes almost 10 minutes to boot up to a point where it can actually be used.

For something as trivial as checking my email I'd much prefer to be able to quickly connect with a PDA or phone.

What about these tiny laptops i always see people using? Anyone know anything about how good they are?

Really good, but you need small chinese hands to be able to use them. Fat fingered europeans have normal sized laptops

Have a look at the HTC Shift for a mini-Notebook/PDA solution.
or the HTC x7500 Advantage as a PDA/Phone (Rebranded by T-Moble as the Ameo)

By the time it takes you turn pull your laptop out, turn it on and get into a useable state, I'll already be online and almost done..

Dunno about that, mine is in sleep mode all the time so it's a simple case of opening it up and clicking the Safari icon. Two steps, total time 10 seconds. You'd have to be pretty fuckin snappy-ninja-fast to get everything done in that time

Yeah, true, but your battery isn't going to last long if you leave it in sleep all the time while you're travelling, unless you can find one of those elusive power outlets that they sometimes have in airports. And then you've got to carry the additional weight of your power adapter, instead of putting it in your check-in baggage.

Hibernate mode would be better, but sadly that doesn't work on mine any more because the PGP Desktop install broke it.

Thanks guys, especially Darkknight, this PDA update is very useful
I used a lot Palms in the previous years but progressively I quit it due to battery problems and long-term reliability. Now I rely more on web tools like Yahoo or Google notepad.

One beginner's question - the HP small print says this


So does this mean I can use it to go wherever I want on the internet or not, and also on my home network, or are these devices locked in to one provider (like some WAP phones are)? One of these things would be an ideal all-around-the-house remote control as almost everything has a web interface these days.

i would not recommend HTC. I got two of them wasted in the last 2 months. I am also not happy with their customer service

@HA
Its a PDA, Not a cell phone. No provider (Even subsidised phones) will control where you can/can't go when using WLAN.
However some provider will block VOIP. But this is all not valid. Does HP,Toshitba,apple controll where you go on the internet
when you use one of their laptops? No, didn't think so.

@Sharpe
I am on my 3rd HTC device in over 6 years (Natural upgrade) all devices worked just fine and never had a prob.
with any of them. Of course of you throw it around and treat it like crap its going to break. As far as support, hell
have you tried getting support from any maker lately? (Yes, even Apple) they all suck to a certain extint.