I love my iPAQ 4155. It''s last years tech (and priced accordingly) but HP screwed the pooch and didn''t make a current gen PDA in the same tiny form factor. Integrated 802.11b, Bluetooth, and an SD card slot.

I have a Dell Axim x30 I bought about 4 months ago and the thing has been amazing. It has bluetooth, wifi, the SD slot, a really great screen that looks good in sunlight (not perfect, but the most readable I have ever owned) and it isn''t too expensive. I iPaq''s from HP are supposed to be awesome too, but I compared their features and price to Dell and the Dell won.

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/axim_x30_high?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

Uhm... All I can say is: I bought one a week or so ago. First time with a device like this. I bought higher end. Well... if Dell can be considered High End. Axim X50v. I absolutely love the resolution of that thing! It''s a geek-toy. There''s no way to justify a true VGA resolution on a device to check messages and track appointments and stuff. This thing is just amazing! I spent just under $500 dollars thanks to a few deals at the time and a generous 30% discount coupon from MSN (though the software bundle (Atari Retro Games) STILL haven''t shipped and are on backorder until Who knows when).

From my experiences so far: Wireless Rocks!! Just the OPTION of ''checking something out real quick'' without having to run to a station or laptop. I don''t own any Bluetooth devices so I don''t know if it rocks or not, but I''m debating getting a bluetooth Keyboard as a Christmas present for myself (as long as I can amnesiate myself enough to forget that I have already gifted myself with the goshdarned PDA! Darn my large quantities of expendable income!). Depending on the style of PDA and battery options you get make sure that the case will fit!! I purchased a Rhino case (hard aluminium thing) AND a higher capacity battery. The bigger battery changes the units profile so it won''t fit in the case.
Figure out what you want to store/take with you on the PDA. I decided to try things out first so I didn''t order the extra memory chips. Now, thanks to the awesome movie/video capabilities of this thing I''m looking to lug around a few gigs worth of content for those Longer Days when I need some southpark/family guy/Ghost in the Shell Standalone Complex/Cowboy Bebop/Monty Python/Blackadder/Sealab 2021/The Oblongs/Tripping the rift running in the background to maintain my sanity. Which leaves me in the aweful position of wading through the quagmire of vendors/reviews/standards for all the ambiguous storage methods available to the hapless consumer! Prices for a 1 gig SD chip (the size of a US postal stamp) range from $60 to $500... sometimes for what looks like the same goshdarn chip! Reviews range from horror stories to rave reviews. I''m scared... so I''m holding off on it. Where was I?

I did do some research on various models and price ranges (though I mainly looked at purchasing new) for the portable digital assistant market. The web has some great sites, but I''d keep my eye on who is advertising. Many sites seem to offer nothing but glowing reviews (just so the companies will keep sending them free stuff!).

Bottom line: Would I recommend the Axim X50v? Yes! But be prepared to download some 3rd party software to do things like Watch movies and listen to music. Maybe the promised OS patch will get it up to speed... but if not the community will provide!

BTW. I realize that the X50v is probably an elephant gun compared to what you are looking for, but it''s the only point of reference I have... and if you could only see how wonderful it is to check your e-mail... clear your schedule... Watch a couple chapters of the Lord of the Rings... check your e-mail again. All while sitting outside your bosses office waiting for her to get off the phone.

BTW Under no circumstances download Nethack onto your PDA. EVER! It''s not worth it! I did NOT buy a $500 productivity device just to play Nethack... but I do. *sob* I even... I even let my brother play HL2, because I needed (NEEDED) to level up my gnomish tourist! Let me be an example!!! Stay away!

All depends on what you need - I highly recommend going w/the 4155 Ipaq if you want to save bucks or the x4705 if you have the money to spend... They make phones running the Pocket PC OS as well, but they are a bit bulky and tough to use... Asus and Dell make good quality PPC''s as well, but HP Ipaq''s are by far the best for screens and brightness, but they are pricey... Define what you are looking to do and go from there...

Hey Rezzy, are you the Rezzy from Evilavatar forums?

Myself, I am getting by just with my phone. It''s SonyEricsson K700i. Has a nice large screen. I can synchronize appointments in it with my Outlook at work using an IrDA adapter. Can also edit phone numbers and upload/download stuff (pictures, scraps of text like trains schedules, mp3 snippets) using either IrDA or Bluetooth (at home) using the excellent freeware app caleld fLoat''s MobileAgent. Also has GPRS support, so checking my Yahoo email is really quick. With all that, it''s still very pocketable and compact.

I don''t think you need a full-blown PDA if all you really need is scheduling.

BTW I think Nextel offers a Blackberry too.

And where is TheGameGuru? He would sure show us how this whole PDA thing is done. He must have 7 of them, no less.

I''m a Palm guy myself and own a Clie T-665C. With Sony leaving the US market and putting their Clie line out to pasture, PalmOne has had to pick up the slack.

So far the most attractive model they have for me is the Zire 72. Not super expensive at I think $249 or so with rebate, but the only thing it''s missing is WiFi. It has bluetooth, and you can buy a wifi module for $129 that apparently gets better range than the internal ones in very expensive Palm''s, and that''s it.

The Palm OS 5 handhelds have a smattering of media players available too.

That said I really like the integrated everything in the iPaq lines, but having Windows all over it has me turned off. I love the speed and simplicity of the Palm bundled apps.

Is anyone actively using a BlackBerry? I have a Dell Axim X50 from a PDA perspective but I have the option of consolidating my phone and PDA through a Blackberry. From a PDA perspective I''m not too concerned (I''m well aware that the PDA capabilities of the Blackberry are not as refined as Palm or the PocketPC, but the integration with my email is worth the switch), but what I am curious about is using it as a phone replacement given the PDA form factor.

I''m constrained in the model of Blackberry -- a 7750 (CDMA) -- so it isn''t one of the nice new new ones that are more phone-like. Is anyone using a Blackberry 7xxx series as a PDA and phone? What is the phone like? Do you HAVE to use an earphone at all times? How comfortable is it? etc etc.

Thanks!

My client just got 20 of the 7750. My bosses use the older blue looking one. They are damn sweet. Our client uses Verizon for phone service while my company uses Nextel. The phone is good and have had no problems with it at all. You can use the blackberry as a normal phone, with a headset, or use the speaker for total wireless. As for comfort its fine for me. Just get a holster for you belt since it is quite wide.

I just bought my wife a PalmOne Zire 72 for Christmas -- she wanted the built-in camera. I got a pretty good price at Overstock - $225 - but it was open box. I''ll let you know how that turns out (though by Christmas, you''ll probably have made your purchase)

Sorry!

On a related note:
Just kidding.

Just to add something to the whole Blackberry/Phone PDA thing: I considered that route but decided against it. While having a phone/PDA thing in one seems like a great idea... I just find that with all the use I put my phone through in the course of a normal workday that I HAVE to charge when I get home. Some days I cut it very close. Adding the drain of a PDA to the mix would keep me running back and forth between my job and the charging station. Also, I use my cell phone for 95% work. I want the option of taking my information with me WITHOUT being connected to a ringer. *grin* The trend seems to be to converge all devices into ONE thing to lose/break/drain... But then... I also hate phones. I''d hate for my new geek toy to be tied to some telco that can define when where and how much I use my new gadget to its fullest potential!

See, now why would you go and do that to me? ""Oh, don''t look over here!""
""Where, over here? OH!""

Thanks. Thanks a lot.

Meh, not really.

I was looking at HPs website. What''s the story with these iPaq Mobile Media Companions?

INSANELY LONG URL

Aesthetically, looks cooler to me, and cheaper, and still has WiFi. What am I missing out on, getting one of these? It''s got to be SOMETHING.

Mine is one of the newer ""phone-like"" blackberries through T-Mobile. The web browsing is ssslooowww!!!!

But, everthing else works well. My main uses so far have been phone (great w/ or w/o headset), email (great, very fast, flexible), calendar (great, had to change some of my MSO settings), I have found configuring it to be easy and well thought out -- you can define the alerts (ringing, buzzing) for each TYPE of event individually. Which is great.

The tech who set up said that there were a number of games he could get me....

But, I would say that its best for phone/email/calendar stuff. The web browsing is useful, but only for basic things, like checking movie times, etc.

Are you walking about the Sidekick?

I have the color version of the first Sidekick and I also love mine. Granted the web browsing is slow (think 56k or a little worse), but good enough to look up actor''s names on IMDB while still in the theater (oh yeah! that''s who that guy is!) I''m also completely addicted to its built-in AIM client.

For me though, the deal clincher was over the air updates. Every so often they basically release a service pack of software updates and you update live over the air. How cool is that? You can also use the same service to choose and download additional apps, games and ringtones. Most are for a small fee that''s added to your monthly bill.

Is it a bad sign when you name your hiptop? In my case, ''Sid.''