Is there still a market for PDAs?

I have to say: I recently switched to an Android phone from a WebOS device, which I switched to from a Palm TX.

I’m seriously considering going back to the TX. It was easier and faster to get basic ‘PDA’ data: Calendar, To-Dos, etc. It was also *much* easier to *enter* that information. (Many of the better programs for getting to the data that I’ve found don’t even ofter a way to enter it: It’s assumed you get do that someplace else.)

Part of this is just that it takes way to much attention to type on my Android, no matter what keyboard I use. My Palm Pre was better, even with a poor keyboard. But I can type on my TX nearly as fast as I can on my desktop, and using almost the same amount of attention.

I like the Android phone for a lot of things, but as a PDA device, it’s a disappointment.

The Samsung Note will be available in the US in the near future and may be the solution. Android, but with a stylus…a real stylus.

I use an Android phone, with the Graffiti keyboard and Note Everything for text or ‘drawn’ notes for a more Palm-like experience. I sometimes think about getting a PDA again, but honestly- the ability of my Android to interface with Google and other cloud-based apps means that I can work with most of my stuff at pretty much any computer I am at- too much of a benefit to give up.

PDA fans might consider some of the Android-based prepaid plans that offer little talk time, but unlimited data for about $45/mo.

about apple’s updates, remember they have for example disabled the appstore for ios 3 devices , so i wouldn’t be so confident on OS updates from apple on long-term

As many PDA-ists I started with Palm and moved between the Palm and Microsoft mobile operating systems, having numerous iPaqs, Handsprings, Sony’s and of course Palm Pilots and the TX.

Today, I do not carry a phone, but the iPad Touch is a fantastic PDA replacement. The screen at 3.5inches is slightly smaller than the 3.7inch Palm TX, but resolution and speed and number of applications is superior. Web browsing is infinitely better than the Palm. The one downside is the syncing. How I love the ability of putting a device into a cradle and it syncs everything in one go. With the Palms and the Androids, some will sync wirelessly automatically, for for many programs you need to open up the desktop app, and then the mobile app and sync – application by application – a definite inconvenience.

The apps are also better in my mind that the Palm/iPaq counterparts – but probably only because they are still developing the iOS and Android ones, whereas the others are discontinued.

I miss however the form factor of the Psion 5 with a large widescreen and a keyboard. You can still buy them now and again on eBay, but the screen is not worth the mention in comparison to today’s full colour touchscreens.

I do believe that Santa is bringing me a Galaxy Palyer 5.0. So 5 inches of Android. Some of the Bible apps I use are not as advanced as their iOs counterparts, but the 5 inch screen is the real clincher. And of course at $269 or less a good price. I could of course go for a phone, but I do not want a 2 year plan contract and buying one off-contract is a huge price.

So is the PDA still alive? Yes. The iPod Touch (4 inch in Q1 2012??) and the Androids. Better than the Palms and iPaq’s etc? Yes – infinitely. Some backward steps? Yes – syncing.

Similar to the Galaxy player (in some places sold as Galaxy S wifi) series, is the Sony Walkman Z. I think it showed up in the FCC test report site recently.

I recently got a Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 on sale at Amazon ($229, I think it is hovering around $239 at the moment, though it was on sale at BestBuy for one day recently at $209) and have been very impressed.

Of course, it is my first Android device and I am not a smartphone owner, since I don’t want the expensive data plan. The device is working out well for me, it’s light and portable and the screen has been easy for for my 50+ eyes to read, which has not always been the case with many 7″ tablets out there that I’ve looked at. I think it is because the Galaxy Player has slightly higher resolution than say a Nook Color.

So far I’m finding the Swype keyboard pretty convenient for note taking, and I am going to investigate the speech input thing. I’ve never owned a PDA, so I can’t speak to whether this is a good substitute, but I’m just thrilled so far.

My daughter uses my old Handspring Prism as a multi-alarm clock. I still use my Zodiac for its quick interface to Quicken (via PocketQuicken). I love WebOS, but my Palm Pre is on its last legs. Headed to iPhone 4S in the next week or two. It’s pseudo-multitasking will be so Palm-like, but the hardware will be sweet!

Oh for gosh sakes, its almost 2012 already. A single purpose PDA is as dead as the Dodo. This from someone who started with a US Robotics Palm and ended up with the HP iPAQ (still around here someplace).

What can you do with a PDA that you cannot do with a smarthphone? Be honest now, cause the answer is nothing. Datebook, tasks, contacts, web, apps up the wazoo and a phone? It’s Android for me.

I don’t totally agree with @Robert, but I do definitely feel like there isn’t anything my old Palm PDAs could do that I can’t do on my iPhone faster and easier. Plus, it took weeks of finagling and converting to get movies to play right on my Zodiac–now I can convert or download, and they all look great. Plus all the different eReaders. Plus: it’s a phone! Plus: Siri! Seriously, I wouldn’t want to go back; one device is what I always wanted, anyway.

In reviewing the options, you missed a critical function: synching to Outlook, something essential for me. I have a Palm T/X and a Centro, and I fear the moment when they´ll die. I am sorry HP dropped WebOS, so, my only future alternative now might be Windows Phone 8.

Wow talk about a walk down memory lane! I think I still have about 8 PDAs of assorted brands laying around. Two Dells Axims )one with WIF), three HPs 200LX- 95LX(missing somewhere in my storage)- OmniGo, a Sony SJ22, Palm M125, a Dana from AlphSmart, and something else… Oh a Newton! All still work except the M125 which is apart waiting repair for for the past decade
Yeah. the Apple Touch is the way to go for me at least, but I do miss the old days and every now and then I’ll fire up one of the old ones and play

@Thenikjones: The reason I had abandoned the idea of going the iOS route is that my understanding is that it synchs with Outlook email and Calendar fine, but that it didn´t -at least out-of-the-box- synch Tasks and Memos. Isn´t that right? I use Tasks a lot, so my thought is that going the Windows Phone route I am assured comprehensive synching with Outlook. Can you synch fine with iOS all “Big Four”: Email, Calendar, Tasks and Memos?

I now have an iPod Touch 3G.

Years ago, I owned a Casio Organizer. It was good for me: it listed my contacts and calendar. It allowed me to enter notes and list inventory items (but not “to-do” lists). In those days, it didn’t sync very easily with my computer. And it was a 1 way affair. I could not edit my computer Calendar and Address Book from my PDA.

One day, I dropped it on the garage floor when getting out of my car and … lost all my info. I held off getting another PDA – they were expensive and didn’t really satisfy my needs.

Since then, I had been looking for the perfect PDA … and finally bought an iPod Touch. And it just works great. I use it for workouts, I listen to music when reading or on the road, I connect to the internet, read newspaper/magazine articles. I’ve hooked up to my home audio system. I create shopping lists, to-do lists, inventory and expense reports. I use the camera daily … I just love how it syncs with my notebook.

I’ve been experimenting with utility, productivity and financial apps and I just love what the iTunes App store has to offer. I get unlimited Texting via TextFree with Voice. In fact, when in Canada, I used TextFree Voice instead of my cell phone, and this saves lots of $$$. I have no regrets with this purchase.

Wish I had this device (or the iPhone 25 years ago!).

BYW, I do have a cell phone and it would be nice to have just one gadget. But I really have a problem paying for the Smart Phone plan. If I were working, I would have an iPhone.

I started off with the PDA offered by Radio Shack back around 1997. I eventually bought a Palm Tungsten IIe. I still have it and use it to this day. I recently purchased an iPaq 210 (Nov. 2011) and a week later picked up an HP Touchpad. I love the PDA’s and will continue to use them. They are simple to use and basically, all I need are a few core apps. Address book, notes, Splash I’D and a few others. That’s it. I now use the iPaq as my primary music player (I retired my Zune80) and because it has WiFi (the Tungsten does not have WiFi). I use my Touchpad for several hours a day but the iPaq goes with me when I leave the house. And yes, it is separate from my Blackberry phone. Is there still a market for PDA’s? Yes… As long as a phone is built in. But I will never give up my PDA’s and will continue to use them until either they or I kick the bucket. -Koa-

@Julie
I figure $17 is about the price I’d pay for dinner (at the burrito joint in town) and a movie (matinee). The PDA will keep me off the streets for a few nights while I mess with it on an old Win98 laptop I’ll need to dust off
Group therapy?

Tell you what; someone come out with a SD-card cellphone radio for a Palm TX with accompanying software, and I’ll gladly continue to use it until it disintegrates. Or even just provide updated cellphone syncing profiles; I think they released one update about a year after release?
throw in 802.11g WiFi (it’s getting hard to connect with 11b at times) and I’d be truly happy.

@Jlua,
I had a number of Palms – the last was the Tungsten E2 – and Task syncing was not great – you could only assign a single Category, for example. When I compare it to the Touch, it is inferior in many ways. I was never one who lived in Agendus or Datebook+ so had no problems with PIM software (given that I started using Toodledo) The web browser is far better, the screen is much better resolution, capacitive beats resistive any day of the week, and the usic playing is much better. Really, the Touch is the PDA of today; after almost 2 years of daily use I upgraded to an iPhone, but if I had to go back to Touch and basic phone, I would be happy.

@Doug, being English, I went through the pain of Psion throwing away their lead, only to go through the same thing with Palm. Arghh!

I have an iPod touch as well, and tried a number of ways to use it as a replacement for my Palm TX, including downloading some pretty impressive apps for it. Unfortunately, the end result wasn’t even close. Sure, the screen is much better than the TX, the browser is far superior, and the overall look and feel is wonderful. But, at the end of the day, it still can’t integrate all the databases together. As long as I can still buy TX models on eBay and have a reliable repair service, I’m going to stay on Palm until someone, someday, offers a product that can do what the Palm/Agendus duo can do. I’m not holding my breath.

Socket Mobile has a PDA that has the same layout as the HP iPaq 210 model but with more memory and better wifi. Their newest model, the Somo 655, will be released in June 2012 and the company is planning on supporting it for 5 years at least.

Sorry about the name duplication.
I’m still using my T|X every day. Like jdl50cc, Agendus is the key to my business. I’m not interested in synching to the cloud; my business has confidentiality requirements, and I feel much safer synching to my own desktop. I bought the T|X with my business in mind, and it’s worked wonderfully for that. Agendus is the only piece of expensive software I have; the rest was free or less than $10. I don’t have a laptop, and my T|X can do anything I need it to do. I don’t need it to make phone calls, nor do I need a $50 a month phone service. I do have a spare, and I think I should probably buy another one or two…they seem to be popular. Even so, I felt lost when I sent mine off to get a new battery last week.
I’d never owned a pda of any kind before I bought the T|X, and had no idea I needed one. It’s not just keeping my appointments and phone numbers straight…it’s the furthest thing in the world from a “single-purpose” pda. I routinely use it to make spreadsheets, and occasionally to draft letters. BTW, the T|X is fine for playing games, reading books, playing music and otherwise keeping me quite thoroughly entertained. I bought a keyboard for it long ago, but I only use it if I need to input large amounts of text.
I’ve shopped for new hardware, and the idea of combining the other functions with a phone does have some appeal, but the high cost and the lack of business function always turn me away.

@ Bob DeLoyd,

If you “really like the layout and form of the Palm Desktop,” then you will be absolutely floored by the Agendus desktop. It’s the Palm Desktop on steroids. (You’d think I worked for them, wouldn’t ya…but I don’t. LOL!) Download a free trial copy and check it out.

Ah, but not so! Agendus has a Windows Outlook Edition that syncs your Palm with Outlook. Actually, I use the regular Agendus Desktop but I’m giving serious consideration to trying MS Outlook and the Agendus Outlook Edition because the one thing I don’t like about my current setup is that my email (using Outlook Express) is not integrated with my contact histories. When I look at a contact’s history in Agendus now, I see all appointments, phone calls, and tasks, but not emails, which are becoming an increasing part of my client relationships. I’m told the solution will work. So one of these days I’m going to download the trial versions of Agendus Outlook Edition and MS Outlook 2010 onto my backup PC, and see if I can get a good results (using my backup Palm T|X as well.) I’ll report back if you’re interested.

I’m experimenting with Agendus for Outlook, and I’m not entirely pleased. It seems to triple all the appointments and contacts. I’ve only been playing with it since yesterday, but I think I’m going back to Agendus for Palm Desktop….

Thanks! Unfortunately, the Iambic community boards have all vanished, replaced by new, mostly empty, ones run by Splashdata. That means all the years’ worth of advice posted by Iambic techs is gone too. That’s a shame, because there was a lot of good information there.

Thanks! My first choice was to check out the community boards, but if I have to go to tech support, I will. If I can’t make Outlook behave as I’d like, I can always go back to the Palm Desktop version, which has never given me any problems.

Thanks for the the tip, jdl50cc. My triplication problem has been solved, and some other, lesser, issues are being dealt with.

Just wanted to post this update… CompanionLink did bring over the private Contacts from the Palm desktop. The setting for private data is on a security menu elsewhere on the device, and it took a while to notice that.

I attest that Bluetooth Hotsync synchronization works fine on Windows 7 to sync Palm with Outlook (I also use Chapura PocketMirror to keep my Tasks on separate folders, by Category). When my beloved Palms (I have two) die, my plan -or hope- is to move towards a Windows 8 Phone platform, since good, solid synching to Outlook email, Calendar and Tasks is a must-have for me, and my hope is that Microsoft will do a good job at that.

“I’m very disappointed with my lack of skills, intelligence, or good looks that is preventing me from finding a solution.”

I sincerely doubt that any of those are the problem. The problem is that Palm made a series of bad business decisions that resulted in loss of technological leadership and market share, and then deserted its clients with no upgrade or migration path. You’d think that with all the developers scrambling to write applications for iOS and Android, someone would conclude that there’s a large enough untapped market out there looking for a migration path from Palm. The newer devices leave Palm in the dust when it comes to hardware capability, but no one has bothered writing a software application that mimics or replaces the Palm functionality. It seems hard to believe that no one thinks there would be enough customers to make it worth the trouble.

@Julie: I guess this is the price to pay for “(semi-)ruggedization” – definitly the niche that Aceeca occupies. The main difference I see between a TX and the PDA32 is that it’s significantly thicker (other dimensions are about the same).
As for the big yellow ones, they sure look BIG.

Anyway, the 64-bit Win driver looks like a blessing for many current Palm Desktop users.

I finally moved on to what is a reasonable substitute for my TX: An iPod Touch.

I didn’t want to give up my excellent Agendus desktop, so I’m using CompanionLink to synchronize it to Google Calendar and Google Contacts (Gmail). My tasks sync to Google Calendar as well. I imported my memos into Notespark, which was easy. My iPod Touch then syncs with Google and Notespark through Wi-Fi, and I’m ready to go. Not having the calendar and contacts integrated on my portable device is a minor inconvenience, but the compensation is the iPod’s fast search functions, much better Wi-Fi browser, and many other applications that aren’t available for the Palm TX (e.g., Evernote.)

I learned something important during the transition process: Great organization habits, of which my Palm was a central part, are no longer necessary or even desirable in the age of powerful search engines. I used to organize all my mail in little folders on my desktop, and now I just leave them in the Gmail “All Mail” folder and can search through them faster than I could ever access the folders on my desktop, and I entirely skip the step of having to sort incoming mail. The same applies to the calendar. I used to use Agendus’s integration to find all my appointments with a certain contact. In Google Calendar, by comparison, I just search on the contact’s name and everything pops up instantly.

Farewell Palm TX. I knew ye and loved ye, but your time has come and gone. The iPod Touch is a better PDA in today’s world.

Has any tried CompanionLink software on their PC plus Deja Office on their Android device?

I have, but it was unsuccessful – I could never get the suggested fixes to work! The two way sync would not work, plus I lost a lot of data from my Palm Desktop. Fortunately I retrieved that from my Palm Tungsten T5.

Very simply, it allows you to continue with Palm Desktop on your PC and syncs with Deja Office. A brilliant concept.

I would love to hear from anyone who has been successful with CompanionLink.

Me again!

I note a number of posts about not being able to use Palm Desktop with Windows 7. But I have not had any issues at all with Palm Desktop 6.2 and Windows 7 – not at all.

When I was speaking with CompanionLink support about the problems in my previous post they often claimed that PD6.2 would lose data itself. Well that’s never been the case with me.

I’m a pretty tech savvy guy. I run an engineering company that addresses cutting edge problems. Been using a Palm since day 1, when I recognized that it was poised to be the hot item in PDAs, and exactly what I was looking for.

I used to get so many raised eyebrows from my “Apple” friends every time I hauled out the Palm. Seems that the iWhatever is supposed to do everything better than everything else, until you actually put it to the test. So I decided to put it to the test with an iTouch…after all, one day I might not be able to get a replacement Palm.

DejaOffice is still not what the old (Desktop 4.1.4) and Palm Tungsen T5 ARE today. The iTouch can’t touch the Palm for speed and convenience. It shows its “toy” heritage every time it is turned on. I would simply not trade the stylus for the crude typewriter interface of the iTouch, and syncing DO over WiFi is way less convenient (and less reliable, it seems) than USB syncing of the Palm. If I need a keyboard on the T5 (such as when moving can cause poor Grafitti character formation), I can still get that AND use the stylus for better control than seems possible w the iTouch. With the Palm and USB, I can sync to any computer that I care to put the desktop on. With the iTouch, I need WiFi.

With the stylus and the T5, I get fairly fine drawing skills. Many times, I have given directions to someone by drawing a map on the T5. Tried that lately w the iTouch? I know that there are iTouch mapping programs, but if you are out of WiFi, you’re out of luck w the iTouch screen and its child-crayon-sized lines.

I run a host of apps on the T5. I can turn the screen landscape. Can’t do that w the iTouch.

I see the iTouch as a sophisticated toy, but one that is trying to leave all that behind. Nice apps such as Google Maps.

Palm: Dateline 2013.02.03
Faster data entry w Grafitti.
Faster sync w USB, anywhere, any desktop
Works flawlessly with Palm desktop, still a hot runner in the PIM marketplace, AFAIAC.
Way longer battery life.
Better Tibetan singing bowl timer for my meditation
My wife and I can sync both Palms to the same computer, giving us each other’s scheds and contacts, WITHOUT the cloud!
PDFs, DocsToGo, iSilo.

(mumble, mumble…something about cold dead hands

~R~

@Thenikjones: Good point all. Each to his own…the blog seems to be asking for comment, so I thought that I’d add mine.
1. Landscape: I meant the main screens. I do run some apps landscape.
2. Someone stops me and asks for directions: I “get a map, [take a picture,] annotate with a pen and send the person a picture”? Seems easier to draw my childish drawing in a few seconds just to give an idea of where to go…of course, your point about sending it is a good one…OTOH, I don’t know how to annotate images on the iTouch, though I think that I could use, say, Google maps, and take a screen shot…but I’d already be done, using the T5. It’s not that I don’t appreciate moving forward — I did, after all buy into the Palm when it first appeared, and I have a rep for using cutting edge tools — it’s just that for me the T5 is easier and faster, and so is the Palm desktop, still one of the best PIM desktops, even if it doesn’t have the bells and whistles of its big brothers.
3. Good point about sending drawings if there is no WiFi…how do I do that with the iTouch when there is no WiFi? If I want to send something to another Palm user, I just IR beam it. Pretty old school, eh? Still no equivalent w the iTouch.

Remember: this is just my perpective…I’m fine with others enjoying their iTouches…

~R~

Up until last week I was able to synch my beloved Palm Centro and Palm XT to Windows 8×64 with Outlook 2010, via Chapura Pocket Mirror. However, I installed Office 360 last week, and that was the end of it. Now, Office 360 seems to be out-of-bounds (I get an Outlook version not supported error message) , so I am out of luck. In the next few months I am going to have to start investigating the iPhone and Windows Phone to find out if can get a minimal of sync functionality with Outlook.

@dcmonique
Yes, I keep and old XP desktop limping along, too, I have so many old PDAs from Palm, Sony and Dell that I lost count
I would be interested to hear your reasons why Apple devices are not an option, or not trying an Android device… I have an iTouch and Android tablets but still miss the simplicity and lack of distractions of the PDA.

After several months of experience, I still recommend the Apple iPod Touch as a Palm replacement. It isn’t perfect, but it does several things much better (such as WiFi, email and Web browsing, as well as access to lots of applications) than my Palm TX did, so I’ve concluded the trade-off is reasonable.

Syncing between Palm/Outlook and Google using CompanionLink is flawless for Contacts and Calendar. And the iPod syncs flawlessly with Google. Categories are maintained without a problem. It even syncs all my Agendus-related extra data in the files, so my Agendus/Palm combination works great. BTW, CompanionLink costs about $50. Cheap for the value it provides, IMHO.

The WEAK SPOT is the Tasks sync; it doesn’t work very well if done in both directions, and I was getting duplication and messed up dates. I have finally settled on the following solution: I sync Tasks in only one direction: PC to Google, and I have a free app on the iPod that syncs the Tasks to the Google calendar. (The calendar and the contacts from Google are already syncing with the iPod.)

I can see all my Tasks on my iPod. The problem is that if I’m on the road and I want to add a Task (a frequent occurrence), I can’t add it to the list because of the uni-directional sync. Solution: I send an email to myself with the Task, which takes mere seconds. Once I get back to my office and the iPod finds the WiFi, it immediately sends the email. So by the time I get to my desk, there is a short email from me for each Task I need to add to the master list in Palm. It’s inelegant, to be sure, but it works. And the ability to walk into anyplace with WiFi (e.g., fast food restaurants and coffee shops) and immediately update my email, contacts and calendar, without paying $30 per month for smartphone service, is fantastic. Plus, all the other apps I’ve downloaded onto the iPod (mostly for free) either replace or trump everything I had on the Palm TX.

I had to be dragged screaming and kicking from my beloved Palm. But it worked out, and I don’t look back. Well, at least, not much.

jdl50cc:

Thanks for your message. It sounds encouraging, since I certainly would favor going the iPhone route.

I thought I had read that the iPhone didn´t synch well Contact Categories with Outlook, but, from what you say, it seems that with the help of CompanionLink that issue is no longer a problem. One question: I read that CompanionLink comes with, and synchs to DejaOffice only. Is using DejaOffice acceptable, as opposed to using the native iPhone/iTouch Contact/Calendar apps?

Its too bad that this combo doesn´t do Tasks well, but there´s always the third-party alternatives, like Jason´s suggestion of GoTasks, or others, like Remember the Milk, although it would be nicer to keep all in Outlook…

I am happy that I can still use my Palm on Windows 7 Pro x64…read on…

Thought that I’d comment back…but don’t mean to be contentious…just discussing the matter…

DejaOffice notes: I have been testing it on and off for nearly a year, and I still don’t trust it completely. It is much faster now. I set the Palm Desktop as master, erase all records on the iTouch before syncing, and sync one way. I still get the occasional missing alarm, or duplicate alarms, but at different times. The vendor suggests that creating alarms on the iTouch might be the culprit. There are regular updates to DO and CompanionLink (CL), which is both good and bad: good, because it means that the vendor is responsive, and bad, because so many updates are needed. There is no notification of updates, as with some of my other products, so one must keep checking the website for updates. I find that I am better off if I do a clean and sync after every update, else DO doesn’t work correctly.

DO still doesn’t have all the search capability of the Palm.

As for what I need on the road, I make notes in the iTouch Notes…but they can’t be sent easily to the Windows desktop…

I’ve been using DocsToGo for many years on the Palm, and use it on the iTouch, too. Seems to work OK, but I have not done much with it because it is so tedious. I did create my own syncing folder on the laptop to use with it, and that went well.

I liked the email suggestion above, but when I tried to set up an email account, it seemed to require a password…I have a rule about that…especially after reading about hacked Apple account disasters…I don’t store passwords /anywhere/. I’d be happy if Mail would just send me to, say, gmail, with my user name filled in, and leave me naught but to enter the password. Maybe I didn’t look into it far enough.

I don’t really want the cloud, or Google Calendar, or…I’m kinda private that way. I do want to send calendar events and notes seamlessly to my wife, without using the net. Can’t. The USB cable sync that is so useful with the Palm…I can use it with /any/ Windows desktop, with no need for Wi-Fi. The down side? I gotta have the USB cable Sigh.

As you saw in my earlier post, my wife and I are able to a) sync both our Palms to the same computer flawlessly, and b) send each other memos and contacts at the flick of a stylus…so old fashioned, I know…but so convenient.

“but there’s always the third-party alternatives,”…that comment alone, used so many times with regard to the iTouch, shows it’s not ready for prime time. It’s true that there is a countably large number of apps for the iTouch, many of which I think are useful and very attractive. But what I want it the ease of the Palm for what I do /mostly/ with it.

I don’t think that the Palm desktop app is flawless, but I do think that 4.2 is better than 6.x. And better, for what I want it to do, than any of the several desktop PIMs that I reviewed that worked with the iTouch.

So I am happy that I can still use my Palm on Windows 7 Pro x64…the down side is that I then need to carry the iTouch and the Palm. The iTouch does some new things better than the Palm, such as all the new document formats and display styles. The Palm is stuck w what it had years ago. But I trust the Palm, and I don’t trust DO, and the Palm is more convenient than the iTouch. No iTouch Graffiti, handwriting recognition (this /is/ 2013, after all)…and I guess that I’ve said it all before…

I am using a USB driver from Aceeca down under (New Zealand)…

There /are/ pros and cons, and I certainly don’t want to make it sound as if those who prefer the iTouch to the Palm are mentally deficient. They are just making a different choice. I’d make it in a heartbeat if I could get the features on the iTouch that I like on the Palm. In fact, the iTouch has features that I wish were on the Palm, such as “flicking” and “zooming”. In the week view on the Palm, I can’t see any text to indicate what the events are, BUT I can select them and see them in detail. On the iTouch, I can see the events in brief, but can’t view them temporarily unless I edit, then cancel, them. Tradeoffs. It’s not all one way…it’s just that the Palm gets more points for my specific needs. Maybe…just maybe…if I got faster on “thumb typing” on the iTouch, it would gain a few more points.

I think that devices such as “smart” phones and pads will eventually evolve to be more useful in the ways that I want them to be. Meanwhile, I just see them mostly as expensive toys. Every time that I “upgraded” my mobile phone, I lost capability.

The last two commenters make me feel like getting out my Palm and downloading some software.