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I just got this...

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sedjtroll
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FastLearner
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I just got this...

I wrote a PocketPC playtesting app you could run on it assuming you can synch with your PC. It's designed to time the overall game, individual pieces (like "Instructions," "Round," etc.), counting things (three different count-up or count-down things you can tap), a place for notes, and a place to enter the players' names and their scores. It writes a little HTML file to your PocketPC which you can view on the PPC with IE or can view on your computer after synching.

However, I'm not certain it will work with your processor (the software I use to write it is for ARM processors and a couple of others).

-- Matthew

sedjtroll
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I just got this...

Well, since I was unhappy with that PDA, I returned it and got this:

http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/PhonesAccessories/PhoneDetails.jsp?nav...

MUCH more suited to my needs. Though I ALMOST sprung the extra cash for this one, which is admittedly cool, but not really what I need:

http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/PhonesAccessories/PhoneDetails.jsp?nav...

phpbbadmin
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Odd

sedjtroll wrote:
Well, since I was unhappy with that PDA, I returned it and got this:

http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/PhonesAccessories/PhoneDetails.jsp?nav...

MUCH more suited to my needs. Though I ALMOST sprung the extra cash for this one, which is admittedly cool, but not really what I need:

http://www1.sprintpcs.com/explore/PhonesAccessories/PhoneDetails.jsp?navLocator=%7Cshop%7CphonesAccessories%7CallPhones%7C&selectSkuId=samsungi500&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1476015&CURRENT_USER%3C%3EATR_SCID=ECOMM&CURRENT_USER%3C%3EATR_PCode=None&CURRENT_USER%3C%3EATR_cartState=group&bmUID=1083104155400

Odd, I would have stayed with the PocketPC model. What didn't you like about it? There's a lot of software available for it.

-Darke

sedjtroll
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Re: Odd

Darkehorse wrote:
Odd, I would have stayed with the PocketPC model. What didn't you like about it? There's a lot of software available for it.

The problem was that what I needed was a phone, not a PDA. In fact, my boss GAVE me a Palm Pilot once, and I gave it back because I wasn't using it. The fact is, that Toshiba 2032, while apparently very good at being a PDA with internet access, is a pain in the ass to use as a phone.

The Samsung i500 looked a LOT more promising as a phone first, PDA second, but I realized that I really have no interest in a PDA, and the much cheaper videophone I got is more what I actually need and a lot less money for it. To tell you the truth, I probably don't really care about the camera stuff either, but the cheaper ones all sucked anyway and this phone is pretty nice.

phpbbadmin
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Re: Odd

sedjtroll wrote:
Darkehorse wrote:
Odd, I would have stayed with the PocketPC model. What didn't you like about it? There's a lot of software available for it.

The problem was that what I needed was a phone, not a PDA. In fact, my boss GAVE me a Palm Pilot once, and I gave it back because I wasn't using it. The fact is, that Toshiba 2032, while apparently very good at being a PDA with internet access, is a pain in the ass to use as a phone.

Ahh that makes perfect sense. I feel the same way about Blackberries.

-Darke

Oracle
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Joined: 06/22/2010
I just got this...

Personnally, I hate the idea of my PDA being integrated into my cell phone.

There are just so many disadvantages. If you want to upgrade one, you have to replace both; this extends to losing your PDA if you want to change phone carriers. They are generally more expensive than a superior PDA and phone. You can't talk on the phone and use your PDA at the same time. As a phone it's not very good; it's a lot bigger than even a cheap entry-level phone, and you lose the hardware buttons, virtual buttons don't have a tactile feel which detracts a lot from the functionality, at least for me. There are places I go with my cell phone where a PDA or PDA phone would be too bulky.

If that device uses one battery for the phone and PDA, it could be a problem too. My PDA battery lasts for about 6 hours of on-time before it needs a recharge, my cell phone gives me a week of standby time. If I'm away from the charger for a few days or forgot to charge the PDA overnight, I might find myself without a PDA but I'll still have my cell phone working, which imo is much more important.

I don't see any advantages except that you only have to carry one device instead of two and even that is lost because the one device is so much larger than a cell phone.

Also, I prefer palmOS to pocketPC. The hardware is smaller and apps run faster. pocketPC is designed to clone as much of windows as possible, while palmOS is designed from the ground up to run on a PDA. Why does anyone want an MDI on a 3" screen? :)

I recently replaced my Treo 90 with a Palm Tungsten E. It's an amazing piece of hardware. I'd recommend that if you want a PDA and buy a cell phone that concentrates on being a good phone.

Jason

FastLearner
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I just got this...

I'd prefer both my PDA and phone to use Bluetooth, to allow the PDA to have net access when desired while allowing the phone to access info from the PDA.

PocketPC doesn't use an MDI, btw... it's just like a Palm the way you app-switch, etc. How do you see thePalm OS as faster? Lighter, yes, but faster? I have both a Palm and PPC and they both seem equally fast since PPCs have considerably faster processors.

-- Matthew

Oracle
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I just got this...

FastLearner wrote:
I'd prefer both my PDA and phone to use Bluetooth, to allow the PDA to have net access when desired while allowing the phone to access info from the PDA.

PocketPC doesn't use an MDI, btw... it's just like a Palm the way you app-switch, etc. How do you see thePalm OS as faster? Lighter, yes, but faster? I have both a Palm and PPC and they both seem equally fast since PPCs have considerably faster processors.

-- Matthew

The PDA and phone with bluetooth is nice. Do you still have to pay an extra fee to the phone company for data transfer? Last time I looked into that was at least a year ago and the data transfer was a fairly high extra fee. For how small the PDA screen is, I didn't think I'd get enough use out of it to be worth the monthly fee to me; the screen is fine for PDA stuff but there aren't (or at least weren't a year ago), a lot of sites that look good at 320x320.

As far as the MDI, a few minutes of looking at the MS site and afew pocketPC manufactures just led me to conclude their sites aren't aimed at people who know what that means. I remember winCE having an MDI that seems particulairly useless on the small machine I tried to use it on. The screen shots I just saw though look like there's a lot of wasted space emulating the look of windows. Like a larger bar at the top complete with an X to close it, tool bars, and a task bar. The screen is too small to waste space like that.

Before I bought my Tungsten, I did look at a few pocketPCs about a month ago in the store. The pocketPC was twice the price of the tungsten ($400 vs $200), had double the CPU speed (400MHz vs 200), 4 times the ram (128 meg vs 32 meg), and it's a much larger unit, but the pocketPC has a lower screen resolution; 320x240 vs 320x320. Mine has a square screen with a graffiti area below it, the pocketPC has a larger screen because the "graffit area" is part of the usable screen space, but lower overall resolution.

When I used the 2 of them side-by-side, the pocketPC takes 1/2 to 1 second to open a typical app, the Tungsten is instant as far as I can see. 1 second is not a lot of time, but it makes the unit feel sluggish and non-responsive. The file sizes for palmOS programs are a lot smaller. The look-and-feel of the pocketPC is like mini-windows; it looks like a fisher price OS just like XP, and wastes lots of screen space on the mini-windows decorations. The palmOS apps have 1 small title bar at the top and the rest of the screen is used by the app.

Jason

sedjtroll
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I just got this...

Oracle wrote:
Personnally, I hate the idea of my PDA being integrated into my cell phone.

What do you think of the other one- the Samsung i500 (A phone with a built in PDA rather than the other way around)?

As it is I'm really happy I decided to forget the whole PDA thing- it's just not something I need or use at all.

- Seth

Oracle
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I just got this...

sedjtroll wrote:
Oracle wrote:
Personnally, I hate the idea of my PDA being integrated into my cell phone.

What do you think of the other one- the Samsung i500 (A phone with a built in PDA rather than the other way around)?

As it is I'm really happy I decided to forget the whole PDA thing- it's just not something I need or use at all.

- Seth

I'm not familiar with it, but if it's phone sized it's too small to be much of a PDA. Also it's $450 if you lock yourself into a 2 year contract on a high rate plan. $450 buys a very nice PDA and cell phone with enough leftover for a pretty decent digital camera :).

I have a problem with the 2 year contract, because the monthly fees are only going to go down and services will go up (more data features). 2 years is an eternity in technology.

Forgetting the PDA in the phone is smart, but I would recommend a PDA for just about anyone. I bought my first one (a Handspring visor deluxe) primarily as an ebook reader, but I found the PDA features very useful too, and it's a great little game machine. There's a lot of free software for it at www.handango.com.

It's great to just pull it out any time I need to jot down notes and not have to scramble for a pen and paper to write a note I'll promptly lose anyway.

Jason

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