Any vBAdmins here use PDAs/Smartphones??

[Mel]

Here's how I have my stuff setup:
» All email (via catch-all) is forwarded to my cell phone (via text message)
» PM Notifications are turned on, thus notify me by text message
» New Registrations are turned on and notify me by text message
» My "business" screenname for AIM has IM Forwarding, so when I'm logged off and someone messages me, my cell phone notifies. I'm also able to respond via text messaging.

Any of you other guys have a "geek" setup?

Right now I have a Nokia 8265 (AT&T), which is nothing special, and an iPAQ 3600 series (no wi-fi). I'm debating if I should upgrade to one of those new Microsoft Smartphones or a an upgraded, sleeker, sexier wireless iPAQ.

Any suggestions??

 

[wizard1974uk]

If I had the money I would have a whole load of gadgets. I would definetly get a PDA.

 

[Ogden2k]

I have a PDA at work. An iPaq and a crappy Palm Vx. iPaq is very handy and cool.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

If you want a great smart phone, skip the Pocket PC and go for the Handspring Treo 600. I'm a big fan of Microsoft and Pocket PC but the only smart phone with a good qwerty keyboard and internet access is VERY LARGE and uses the old Pocket PC operating system... When I realized this, I looked into the Treo 600 and found it's almost half the size and extremely functional. I've got the 4 instant messengers (downloaded a cheap program) REAL internet access and email from as many POP or web accounts as I want (downloaded a cheap program)...

It's the hottest PDA/Smart Phone out there right now...

 

[movielad]

I have an imense hatred of mobile phones. It's bad enough being able to be called at home by work (I work in a busy VFX film post-production company in London), but to be called outside of that is just annoying. I also hate people travelling back from work on the train saying things like "I'm on the train!" fifty billions times over.

That said, I did have a Nokia 9200 Communicator once, but found it to be far too bulky to carry around and the keys were too tiny. Sony/Erricsen have a nice range of phone PDAs out now which are very attempting (any excuse to be a hippocrite and start using it on the train <grin>), but ultimately still pricey for me.

Regards,

Martyn

 

[Ksilebo]

Alright, going to have to disagree with Sal here. I bought a Treo 600 through Sprint, and it was a piece of trash in my opinion. The screen was low res, nothing works with the SDIO slot, no Bluetooth, no WiFi, the headphone jack has issues, the browser has issues with JS, the camera has bugs (blue spots will appear after a few seconds), not too many apps for anything other than OS 5 work... I think I covered it. I really wanted to give it a chance, but I had a thing about hating Palm OS anyway. What put the nails in the coffin was my friend buying me a HP iPAQ h5555 after clunking about with my old iPAQ. I almost instantly ditched Sprint and got a Sony-Ericsson T610 with T-Mobile, which has Bluetooth. So, if I want to browse a few sites, I just dial out from my iPAQ which connects wirelessly through Bluetooth to my T610 and BAM. INTARWEB access. I also prefer Windows Mobile 2003 and the way it functions a lot more than PalmOS. Your mileage may vary, but I'm really anal retentive about my gadgets.

EDIT: Small note, that MS Smartphone by Motorola doesnt have a touchscreen, so it'd be T9 text entry. I dont think I could stand that. The new iPAQs are very nice, even the tinier ones that have both WiFi and Bluetooth. I just like my top of the line one.

 

[Mel]

Yeah, the current smartphone offered by AT&T is only T9 text entry. But when I think about it, I'm not inputing that much data into my iPAQ anyways.

One thing that really intrigues me about a wireless iPAQ is I live in the city of Cerritos, CA, which some of you might have heard has plans to be completely Wi-Fi'd area. Its a cool thought but I'm questioning how much I'll actually use it.

 

[Ksilebo]

Well, within the range of my parent's WiFi station, I was walking all around the house and getting perfect signal, and it was nice controlling my laptop's instance of Winamp on their Bose stereo. That was really cool. Also getting a movie time while in the basement on the phone with a friend, that was convinient.

The iPAQ can also have voice over IP with the right software, that means really cheap calls to people while you're in range . My 5555 has the speaker and microphone is the right places too. Might want to check it out.

 

[Wayne Luke]

I have an older Handspring Visor. It works great as a contact manager and a few offline tasks but it is old and discontinued now. Even the company has been merged with Palm to create a new company.

Currently, I am looking to purchase a new PDA. I don't want a smartphone or a cellphone with PDA like features. Heck, I don't even want a cellphone. I do want a PDA with some modern features like wireless access, color screen and Pocket PC. Tired of Palm, the OS doesn't suit my needs and the applications available don't suit my needs. I would rather use mobile versions of my Microsoft Office applications. Looking at the new iPaqs from HP but really haven't decided yet.

 

[Ksilebo]

The most aggrivating part about PDA applications is the amount of total crap that is released. Usually the very mentally challenged people who code and release some PalmOS apps charge upwards of $90 for something that does one function or task very poorly. Either that, or they make one application, they make it mediocre, and then as soon a flaw or bug or crash occurs they retreat into fetal position and whine about their crappy software. I'd show you evidence of this, but that dev went all around Treocentral's forums and deleted his posts. Quite a pity, they were pretty funny.

On the flipside, some PalmOS apps that are free actually deserve to be paid $100 for their function. Same with PocketPC ones. Fortunately, I havent run across utter animal excrement for PocketPC apps that causes a hard reset and firmware damage. So, I fully understand the dislike for PalmOS apps.

I too wanted to seperate PDA from Phone, because from my experience in technology (yes, I got into it all when i was 8..) when you converge devices, the overall quality of the device is divided by the amount of devices you're trying to converge. So, if you get a printer/fax/scanner/copier, you have a printer that cant print text worth a damn, a fax machine that never recieves anything, a scanner that blurs everything, and a copier that cant duplicate a white page. I'm overexaggerating like crazy, but I'm sure you can relate.

 

[Wayne Luke]

So, if you get a printer/fax/scanner/copier, you have a printer that cant print text worth a damn, a fax machine that never recieves anything, a scanner that blurs everything, and a copier that cant duplicate a white page.

You bought a Lexmark also?

 

[heynurse]

Hi everyone, my first post here, I think I am gonna love this forum, glad to be here.

I have Kyocera 7135 smartphone with palm os, I really like it, I basically only use it for the contact manager sync with my outlook contact files, a few MP3s, some photos,etc... So for what I use it for, I really like it.

I had the last version of this phone and I totally got hooked with having my entire list of contacts in my phone.

But I really wish it had bluetooth and wifi.

 

[Ksilebo]

You bought a Lexmark also?

LOL no my friend has one that he got for free, and his parents wont replace it with something that, you know, works. Also I've had my experience with HP all-in-one things.

 

[Shorty]

Am I the only one here with a Sony Ericsson P900?

Uses Symbian 7 with UIQ touchscreen.. and a mini version of opera which renders everything perfectly

I admin two other Vbulletin's as well as my own site, have a full time job, do webdesign/graphicdesign/coding as a contractor and PC/network builds/installation... so it's very useful have a phone with T9 and all the usual functions.. that syncs with my Outlook calendar, has bluetooth and a full PDA on it!

I have my laptop/tablet combo PC always with me, so when Im travelling or working away.. bluetooth and GPRS (or dialup!) work flawlessly. Can check my emails with the phones inbuilt client when im in a rush.. so I dont even have to get the lappy out.

It's the daddy of smartphones

 

[floris]

Nope sorry. I think browsing through a big browser on a big screen is just nicer for me. If I would have a smartphone or pda, it would be because I won it in a competition and I'd use it as a toy.

 

[Ksilebo]

The P900 is too damn expensive for me now. And, like I said, I like things seperate. I also have nothing for Symbian, nor do I have any Sony memory sticks.

I still kinda want one though...

 

[Ksilebo]

Nope sorry. I think browsing through a big browser on a big screen is just nicer for me. If I would have a smartphone or pda, it would be because I won it in a competition and I'd use it as a toy.

The point is to use it on a train/subway/bus/car or just plain on the go. Trust me, I'd shoot myself if I had to just use that screen all the time for browsing.