Ronan,
Speaking from a little experience (some bad), I would suggest an equally
important thing to consider before buying is what you intend to use it for.
I would say that I got a handheld expecting it to be the answer to
everything, all my mobile computing needs but, I've had to err... face
reality and practicality.
I feel that at the moment, there are two factors one needs to consider....
SIZE and
CAPABILITY
- these are actually inversely related to each other.
if you want and all singing and dancing machine, nothing will beat a
laptop, very usable, but ... certainly NOT hand held.
If you want small and convenient, a palmOS based machine may fit your needs
mainly because of its size and battery life. It's not particularly capable
AT ALL BUT... it can do scheduling, phone book, take notes, even check your
email and browse to a limited degree, run a few simple aps, calculate a
bit...
If you've a complex piece of software you want to run, aren't you better off
running it on departmental computers or your laptop?
There are machines in between these two extremes, which vary in the degree
they compromise size for usability. The microsoft wince/pocketPC platforms
for example.
*** I've found that if it's too big, you're not going to carry it around
with you and hence not use it. Also if you're going to have to keep charging
it, that's a bit of a pain too....
I have a lovely psion 5 which essentially can do everything a laptop can
(very nearly) - you can touch type on it too, but because of its bulk, it's
hardly used now. So I can't recommend anything with a keyboard for this
reason. I have a handspring visor which gets used much much more.
You might want to look at the Nokia communicator which combines a mobile and
PDA in one huge mother of a package (I think it's too big for a phone so I
don't like it but you get a PDA in it as well... I dunno).
Do check the input device before you buy be it a keyboard or stylus/grafiti
type thing. If you don't like it chances are you won't use it.
At the moment, I think you should try to go the cheap way if at all... get a
palm/handspring. They interface with macs. They are cheap and run for ages
on 2 AAA's. If you lose one, so what? They are cheap. They do the bare
minimum you need, scheduling, phone book, occassional note and email. Do the
stuff you can't do on it on your laptop or dept. PC....
My 2 (euro) cents...
Cheers
Robert Spykerman
CUH ED
Cork
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ronan O'Sullivan" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, January 18, 2002 12:56 AM
Subject: Handheld PC's
> Hello
>
> I'm trying to locate a handheld PC which is Mac compatible. Does any list
> member have any info on this?
>
> Thanks
>
> Ronan O' Sullivan
>
> SpR Emergency Medicine,
> St. James's Hospital,
> Dublin,
> Ireland
>
|