Mobile surfing + organiser - PDA or phone

[andyvdg]

I wonder if someone else might already do this.

I want to replace my Psion 5mx which I use for taking notes and as a diary (synced with my PC). I also wouldn't mind changing my phone as well.

What I would really like to do is have a device I can also occasionally surf the web on the move - and I mean the real web not some poxy portal - for sites like BBC news, streetmap, Pistonheads etc. I think I need a GPRS connection - WiFi would be good as well.

So the question is - is there a phone which can do all of this successfully e.g. P900 Sony-Erisson or is it better to get a PDA (which one?) bluetoothed to a GPRS phone ? I was impressed by the handwriting recognition of one device (I think an HP ?) a couple of years ago as it read my joined up handwriting with no training, so I don't think a keyboard is necessary anymore.

I need to get some new gadgets for Xmas!

Cheers,

Andy.

[onedsla]

My company are currently investigating Blackberry's which will hopefully replace PDA's and mobile phones for our exec board. You can buy them on contract very cheaply - probably worth a look.

[chim_girl]

I have an Ipaq and a Nokia 6310 (bluetooth). This combo does everything you've requested, including handwriting recognition. Having said that, if I needed to record a large volume of information, I would buy a keyboard as the recognition software can be a little frustrating. However, the ability to store handwritten notes (without them being converted to text) is fantastic.

The internet browser is very good and not 'too' slow if you take the images off. You can also sync regular pages for offline viewing. I get the BBC news headlines downloaded every morning before I leave for work. Sometimes I even remember to look at them!

I've also bought a sat nav package for it and use this daily. It isn't perfect but it gets me to most places without much trouble.

Overall, this has to be one of the best gadgets I've ever bought!

Oh yeah, and most importantly, I can post on PH from it !

[fatsteve]

If you want decent a half decent screen for surfing then go for a PDA (preferably a PocketPC based one - I feel dirty). Your connectivity options are then:

1. Bluetooth PDA + Bluetooth phone (or bluetooth dongle to your PC, you can then surf the net within 50 meters of your PC - ie in the lounge)
2. Wifi, you need to be near an access point (either you're own, connected to say broadband). Also there are a few wifi ISP's emerging (like BT OpenZone), which means if you have a wifi enabled device and you're in 'the zone' (ie within range of an access point) then you just pay as you go in terms of net access.
3. Could try the O2 XDA, this is a PocketPC with a built in phone, so it's similar to 1. but it's a single unit.

Probably the easiest option is the PDA + mobile phone connected with bluetooth, generally because most PDA's and mobile phones have bluetooth. If you go down this option opt for GPRS too, this is a faster way of connecting to the internet (as opposed to the standard data GSM method). Although in my experience it's not that much faster, bit like 56K modem vs 128K ISDN.

Steve

[simonrockman]

The Blackberry is the best solution for corporate email, but it's not a phone or a PDA.

I'd go with the iPaq/Bluetooth solution, even though I much prefer Symbian to Microsoft. If you really want one box look at the SonyEricsson P900.

Simon

[fatsteve]

Ah, beaten by Chim_girl.

I would also second the Ipaq as the weapon of choice since it's very expandable, I'm running:

Navman GPS (sat nav)
PCMCIA card adaptor with a 5Gb hard disk full of MP3's and DivX's (save reading the paper on the train!)
Plus GPRS net access with my brick-like Noikia 7650

Also (IMHO) the date sync works better with MS Orifice thay say a Palm or HandJob Visor and alike, which is essential if you're using it as a planner.

I'm biased, but the iPaq really is the daddy of gadgets particularly the new 54XX ones with bluetooth AND wifi. Although they'll hit your wallet a bit harder than a Casio or Toshiba PDA.

Try www.expansys.com, I seem to spend most of my hard-earned there. They're also very competitive pricewise.

Chim_girl : Did you get your Kazza working through your f/w in the end?

Steve

>> Edited by fatsteve on Friday 21st November 15:24

[andyvdg]

Thanks guys! Well it looks like nobody is advocating the P900 strongly. And as handwriting recognition will be the killer app for me I think it has to be a PocketPC (shiver, especially coming from a Psion). And as you can post to Pistonheads chim_girl I'm sold!

Someone told me that the Blackberry doesn't allow attachments in email ?

I like the idea of adding a GPS now you've mentioned it Steve! I guess you can buy some navigation assisting software for it - I supposed thats what Navman does.

Mmmm. Toys

What's the best mobile operator for GPRS then ? I'm with O2, and not overly impressed with the GSM coverage, and I couldn't see from their website they allow restriction free web surfing (they mention their portal). Vodaphone specifically mention you can surf anywhere so I'm wondering about changing to them. Any thoughts ?

Cheers,

Andy.

>> Edited by andyvdg on Friday 21st November 16:10

[fatsteve]

Andy,

Yes the Navman package is a hardware / software package, it's a iPaq stylee sleeve and a version of TomTom navigator. There doing the old Navman 3000 (what I have) for silly money now since it's an obsolete product, have seen it for about £150!

I'm with O2 and their mobile web package seems OK. I think it's very dependant on where you are in the country. There's no restriction as such, you pay for a tariff and if you go over your allocated transfer then you pay extra (same concept as 300 free minutes etc).
Would check out the coverage first before you make the decision.

Steve

[roadsweeper]

Hmmm... you've all got me wondering now! I was all set to buy a SonyEricsson P900 with a Vodafone contract (I'm on a Siemens C35 with 02 pay as you go at the moment!) as a get a 20% discount off the phone, plus 20% off line rental and call costs for life.

However, everyone seems to be advocating a separate phone and iPaq. Can some of you please detail the advantages and disadvantages of the two solutions relative to each other? I guess the iPaq/phone combo is a lot more expensive, but I did like the sound of the hand-held SatNav!

Thanks.

[fatsteve]

roadsweeper said:

Hmmm... you've all got me wondering now! I was all set to buy a SonyEricsson P900 with a Vodafone contract (I'm on a Siemens C35 with 02 pay as you go at the moment!) as a get a 20% discount off the phone, plus 20% off line rental and call costs for life. However, everyone seems to be advocating a separate phone and iPaq. Can some of you please detail the advantages and disadvantages of the two solutions relative to each other? I guess the iPaq/phone combo is a lot more expensive, but I did like the sound of the hand-held SatNav! Thanks.

Simple answer for me having separate phone and PDA is so that I can leave my fragile expensive iPaq at home/office when on the piss, have already cracked one screen in a drunken stumble!!

[roadsweeper]

fatsteve said:

Simple answer for me having separate phone and PDA is so that I can leave my fragile expensive iPaq at home/office when on the piss, have already cracked one screen in a drunken stumble!!

Fair point, I hadn't considered that!

[davidd]

We use P800s and they are pretty good, I'm trying to find an excuse to upgrade to a p900 (smaller, lighter).

The handwriting recognition is easy and works well, the sync is fine the email works well and browsing with opera is very good. There are lots of apps, it is smaller than most pdas the battery will last a week (if you use a task switcher).

I could go on..

We went through the same thing, so we have phone and pda or smartphone. In the end we picked the P800. I kept my T68 to use at weekends but I never have so I've just sold it.

Hope that helps

D.

[page3]

Just got rid of my P800 which I found to be a spectacularly poor PDA and an even poorer phone.

I now have a Handspring Treo 600 which I'm finding excellent.

Moral: Make sure you decide exactly what features are important to you and get a device that does them. Don't be sold on pointless 'sales' gimmicks you don't need and won't use.

[roadsweeper]

davidd said:

We use P800s and they are pretty good, I'm trying to find an excuse to upgrade to a p900 (smaller, lighter). The handwriting recognition is easy and works well, the sync is fine the email works well and browsing with opera is very good. There are lots of apps, it is smaller than most pdas the battery will last a week (if you use a task switcher). I could go on.. We went through the same thing, so we have phone and pda or smartphone. In the end we picked the P800. I kept my T68 to use at weekends but I never have so I've just sold it. Hope that helps D.

Hi David

Thanks for your help. One of the major things I want to be able to do is synchronise (I noted your comment on this) my contact list, task list and calendar with MS Outlook on my laptop, the laptop being bluetooth and infrared enabled. How effective is the P800 at doing this (I will presume the P900 is as good or better). I'm wondering if a PDA running a Microsoft OS might be better suited for synchronising with Outlook?

Cheers.

Lee.

[andyvdg]

Following on from the advice given here, I've been looking at PDAs and phones the last week or so. I had a look at the P800 in the flesh - no P900s seem to be in stock - and it looks like a complete brick compared with the other phones you can get. Also for me, the screen is way too small for what I want. So I think a separate phone/PDA is the right solution for me. Also you can upgrade your phone/service later on if bandwidth rates increase e.g. a get a 3G service in 2005, without having to change your PDA.

Looking at PDAs, the limiting factor seems to be the screen size. 240*320 is common, although Toshiba have just brought out a VGA screened PDA (same dimensions) at 640*480. Also I think I would want a display which would work in landscape mode as well as portrait. I think I may hold off to see what the Toshiba is like and whether HP will come out with a higher resolution screen as well.

Cheers,

Andy.

[mr_tony]

I'm have been running a p900 now for 4 weeks, and so far I'm pretty impressed with it.

In terms of acting as an
appointment book,
notepad,
jotter
phone book,
mobile email platform,
camera
mp3 player
doc viewer
web browser

it's fine. Sync with outlook is easy and unproblematic.
Handwriting recognition takes a little while to adjust to, but I find it usable for most things. I've discarded the flip from mine, and installed a few 3rd party apps to manage the screen lock and other things too.

Email on the move is great, and the web browser happily lets me read and post on pistonheads with a reasonable speed while I sit on the train. Word documents are handled reasonably well too.

Only major downer is batterylife, it's only good for about 4-5 hours of solid use on one charge. And if you want to use the video recorder that will munch through the battery in minutes.

It's never going to compete with a 'serious' pda on power, only 128Mb storage on a memory stick + 16Mb internally isn't going to conquer the world. However, it's a good alrounder for the cash.

[davidd]

roadsweeper said:

Hi David Thanks for your help. One of the major things I want to be able to do is synchronise (I noted your comment on this) my contact list, task list and calendar with MS Outlook on my laptop, the laptop being bluetooth and infrared enabled. How effective is the P800 at doing this (I will presume the P900 is as good or better). I'm wondering if a PDA running a Microsoft OS might be better suited for synchronising with Outlook? Cheers. Lee.

The P800 (and 900 I assume) comes with a deskstation which plugs into the usb port of the PC. You then have a fiar bit of control over what you want to syncronise be that everything, just updated stuff, which contacts folder etc.

It works well on bluetooth (the sync stuff). Also it is possible to us bluetooth as a gateway and then connect to the internet via a pc running bluetooth and get proper speeds and avoid the gprs connection.

D.

[davidd]

andyvdg said:

Following on from the advice given here, I've been looking at PDAs and phones the last week or so. I had a look at the P800 in the flesh - no P900s seem to be in stock - and it looks like a complete brick compared with the other phones you can get. Also for me, the screen is way too small for what I want. So I think a separate phone/PDA is the right solution for me. Also you can upgrade your phone/service later on if bandwidth rates increase e.g. a get a 3G service in 2005, without having to change your PDA. Looking at PDAs, the limiting factor seems to be the screen size. 240*320 is common, although Toshiba have just brought out a VGA screened PDA (same dimensions) at 640*480. Also I think I would want a display which would work in landscape mode as well as portrait. I think I may hold off to see what the Toshiba is like and whether HP will come out with a higher resolution screen as well. Cheers, Andy.

Ah but Andy, you will get a P800 on contract for very little money, as services increase you can get another one.

I guess it boils down to your usage. We all have laptops so mobile computing is hardly a problem. I use the P800 to check email on the train (or in the car if I am a passenger), attatching to office systems to diagnose problems, tasklist, diary, contacts amd alarms.

Compared to a phone and a pda it is hardly a brick.

If I needed a lot more processing power then I would consider a PDA, I would say though that I'd have to spend a fair wedge of cash to get something to make the difference.

D.

[mr_tony]

davidd said:

.... The P800 (and 900 I assume) comes with a deskstation which plugs into the usb port of the PC. .... D.

900 does come with deskstation.
BTW only hardware difference between 800 and 900 is screen size / no of colours. (And a much thinner and better looking case). I'd agree with everything david said too.

[roadsweeper]

Thanks to everyone for your help. I was particularly interested to hear that you can connect to the web with the phone via a laptop. Since I already have a laptop (and need it for my work) I don't think I can justify (or need) a separate PDA.

P900 it is in January.

Thanks again.

Lee.