PalmOne Life Drive

[whiteflip]

Is it worth $425-450 plus keyboard and mem card and AIM software (that must be purchased...)

http://www.palmone.com/us/products/m...ers/lifedrive/

[S-uper_T-oast]

Joking aside, that things pretty nifty. I think we are finally getting to the point in technology were these types of devices can work more or less seemlessly and on the same level as their counterparts, desktops/laptops. Now while I'm not sure if this is the best one available since I haven't really researched it, but if I had 500 clams I wouldn't mind investing in one of these handy dandy things.

[Myxomatosis]

Depends how much you need/use it. I wouldn't use one.

[whiteflip]

Sure I COULD use pen and paper for my check book and penicl paper for school notes and a cd player for music with cd-rs and a 5 dollar tide table for a tide table and my cell phone for voice notes and a laptop for internet... I like the integration. Still I would like to try one out or here from someone who has.

[SSJ4 Gogitta]

I'd rather have this.

[ScorLibran]

As much as I depend on them I wouldn't consider $500 too much for a multifunction PDA/entertainment device. I've spent as much as $800 on one before (a Sony Clie NZ90, which I later sold to Bilbo, actually).

That device looks pretty cool. A 4GB hard drive in a PDA is a big step up from the previous standard of 16-64 MB of built-in flash memory. And since it runs Palm 5.4 and comes with Pocket Tunes, you can install MCA on it and play Vorbis-encoded music (that's what I do with my current PDA, running Palm 5.1).

I wouldn't buy this one though simply because it has no compact built-in or snap-on keyboard (or rather, "thumb-board"). I hate "Graffiti", Palm's stylus shorthand app. It's just not fast enough for my needs. And yes, as odd as it seems, I can enter data much faster with a thumb-board than with any written shorthand. The add-on touchtype keyboard won't do for me either, as I'll often need to use it standing up in a conference room.

When the time comes to replace my current PDA (an old Sony NX-70V), I'll get something like a Treo PDA/cellphone combo, once they make one that also supports Blackberry and Bluetooth. My company is providing me with a Blackberry device in a few days, though, so I'll probably just get a plain cellphone with Bluetooth support next time around since the Blackberry has all the PDA functions I'll need.

[whiteflip]

The universal keyboard is perfect for me in the class room environment. And PocketTunes does play Vorbis but I've heard other Palm programs have better audio quality. Also the premium pocket tunes apperantly can stream shoutcast... oooo. It will be 2-4 weeks before I make a final decision.

[Atmo]

Originally posted by SSJ4 Gogitta
I'd rather have this.

I wouldnt mind one either. They are bit pricy though.

[whiteflip]

I bought a Tungsten E2 with a one gb mem card, wifi card, hard case, and keyboard. Plus some a gratis software... I'm quite happy with it. I thought it was plastic but it feels like aluminum.

[Warrior of the Light]

I bought a 1995 sharp IQ-8920 for a few bucks from a friend.
[ image ]

I type faster than it can handle sometimes and it has no backlight, but further I'm not missing anything on it.

[added:]
I'm waiting until mobile phones and PDA's are fully combined before I'm buying a new one

[whiteflip]

Originally posted by Warrior of the Light
I bought a 1995 sharp IQ-8920 for a few bucks from a friend.
[ image ]

I type faster than it can handle sometimes and it has no backlight, but further I'm not missing anything on it.

[added:]
I'm waiting until mobile phones and PDA's are fully combined before I'm buying a new one

Ugh there are several fully functional PDA phones on the market already. The Treo 650 is awesome. There are some good pocket pc based ones as well but I would think the Palm devices have better battery life. Just an assumption there though.