Palm OS or PocketPC

Which platform do you prefer?

Reseraching phone/PDA combos for the Pres of our Co. Anyone have experience with this stuff?

 

You're asking... here?

 

The absolute best thing about Pocket is it's ability to synch (w/o extra software) to Outlook.

My contacts, in-box, calander and to-do lists stay current with every synch.

 

Re: Re: Palm OS or PocketPC

But are you ever LATE??

 

Re: Re: Re: Palm OS or PocketPC

Just cause it synchs don't mean I look at it!

Build a thousand bridges!!!

 

Dude, there are so many techno types on the board during the day. Where else should I go?

Also, the BBS has no dearth of opinion.

 

Well that much is true...

 

Re: Re: Palm OS or PocketPC

But Palms come out of the box w/ the extra software to do this so i really don't see this as an advantage.

I've been a longtime Palm user and unless you want to watch videos or listen to mp3s on your handheld, you dont' "need" the PocketPC. The PocketPCs do have higher resolution screens, but the Sony PalmOS devices do, as well.

I think the battery life is still quite a bit longer on the PalmOS devices. I know I can go weeks w/o charging my m515. I know of PocketPC guys that can't get through a day on a charge. There devices are not the ones w/ the newer ARM processors. I know that the newer ones are supposed to be better, I'm just not sure how much better.

Hope this helps.

 

Ok I will step up and be the geek that I am.

Palm OS has been around a long time and if all you are looking to do is sync with outlook and keep track of names and phone numbers than this is a great tool for that. Plus it will be much cheaper in it's initial purchase than and PocketPC device.

However to go much beyond the basics with the PalmOS usually requires third party software to do just about anything else. The good news is since it has been open sourced there is no shortage of good free or very inexpensive software to get things done.

Another plus to the PalmOS is the apps are generally pretty small and do not require large amounts of memory space. A little memory goes along way with the palm devices.

PocketPC on the other hand will be more user friendly to those who function primarily on a Windows enviorment. Close intergration with the latest generation of Windows OSes means it can do most anything your PC will do. Tranporting Word and Excel Documents are a snap. There are good apps written and some very cool devices that run on the PocketPC OS.

Lots of connectivity options with the PocketPC devices as well.
Infared, Direct Cable, and Netwrok connectivity options are all well supported. Software also seems be abundant and fairly well written.

Downsides are PocketPC devices are still pretty pricey. Applications require much more memory space than the equivalant Palm Apps. Availabilty of memory expansion is abundant but pricey. A 64 meg expansion CF card will cost you upwards of 80 bucks.

Battery life sucks ass.

Just for reference I am a current Palm user as I have a Kyocera 6035 Palm intergrated phone. Luckily since my wife works for Verizon Wireless and I am an IT manager for the company I work for I get to beta test alot of the new products that Verizon is thinking of bringing to market. I have been part of the testing for the Audivox Thera phone that Verizon is now selling but was not impressed with the overall performance of the product as it is merely a PDA with a built in Sierra AirCard for access to the wireless network. The product that T Mobile is marketing is a much more intergrated and user friendly product.

 

i have the new compaq, and it is badass!!

 

Have you used the Samsung I300?

How does the T-Mobile product compare to the Kyocera?

Do either the Palm OS or PocketPC support POP3 or would I have to forward email to the email account provided by the carriers wireless web email system?

The way the T-mobile and Samsung are setup are pretty darn similar considering the T-mobile is PPC and the Samsung is Palm. Right now, the Samsung device is winning out on ease of use due to voice dialing.

Decisions, decisions!

Thanks for everyone's help.

 

The Samsung is very much like the Kyocera as they both use the PalmOS. The only reason I would give the Kyocera the nod is the keyboard that flips up over the screen when not using the PDA funtions. The PocketPC Devices I am sure will have some form of voice dialing. How good they are well only time will tell.

All the devices can access your pop3 email accounts without the need to forward mail to your providers network.

 

PalmOS machines are cute, but they are very basic by comparison. For someone who is used to the richness of a Windows PC, the PocketPC is a better choices. The PocketPC-based iPAQ is the best handheld device on the market.

 

I don't know if "cute" is the word that I'd use. And I don't really agree with your reasoning for saying that the PocketPC is better. PocketPC devices really aren't that much faster (if at all) than PalmOS devices. Granted, there are exceptions since there are various speed processors used on different models. Only if you need the "richness of a Windows PC" is a PocketPC a better choice and that choice comes at the price of battery life.

Out of the box, both devices will give you access to your calendar, contacts, to do list, notepad, etc. You can read Word, Excel and Powerpoint files on the PocketPC. Most PalmOS devices come w/ an application called Documents to Go that can do the same thing. Both devices can be configured to read POP3 email. PocketPCs are easier to network, but this isn't a major concern for most users.

The only reason I could go with a PocketPC would be if you require the multimedia capabilities. If you want to play videos, or listen to MP3s. I don't think this is the reason most people buy handhelds. Remeber, all this performance comes at the price of battery life.

PalmOS 5 devices should be appearing on the market soon, too. This new platform will offer the multimedia performance the is currently available on PocketPCs.

 

I don't know either. Actually, I used "cute" because I was trying to be nice. The truth is I think Palm devices are trash-can material. Don't like 'em.

I admit my bias, and I'm proud of it.

Hmm. Comparing a unit with full graphics, full multimedia, full networking capabilities, MS Office mini-apps, etc. to a device that has either no or limited capabilities in those areas, and trying to claim the full-featured unit isn't faster than the stripped-down unit isn't really fair, is it? Seems to me that if the perceived speed of each unit is fairly similar, then the full-featured unit is the substantially more powerful one.

I do. I need full-featured. I don't watch black-and-white TV, I have a DVD player now instead of a VCR...you get the idea.

Did you read that somewhere, or is it part of the "Why buy Palm?" brochure, or something?

I get about as much battery life out of my iPAQ as I do out of my cellphone when using the iPAQ as a standalone unit. If I put a wireless card or a wired network card or my GPS jacket or my Powerpoint display card or a micro hard drive in it I expect the battery not to last as long, but it's a reasonable trade-off. Oh - but the Palm doesn't do most of those things, so it's off your radar screen. Sorry.

The only reason I could go with a PalmOS device is if I still ran DOS and didn't know that anything else was possible.

Yeah, the same old song and dance, "It's in the next release, available REAL SOON NOW. And it will work great, I promise!"

So if all that stuff is so unimportant as you clearly detailed in your post, why are you promoting it as an up-and-comer?

 

www.pdabuzz.com

 

Hmmm, what do you know about using a cell phone connected to a laptop for dial-up access? I know it's off the original topic, but I need to come up with a way to connect to the office from some unusual locations when I'm traveling to races...

 

OK, here's an opinion of an end user that has used a Palm Vx for the last 2.5 years.

The original poster was asking for advise, for the purchase of a unit by the president of his company. I feel confident that this end user is NOT a geek to the nth degree, and doesn't need the ability to watch DVD's, play MP3's, or project PowerPoint files onto a wall of a building in daylight. Maybe he just needs a quick way of accessing his recent e mail, contacts list, and calendar. If so, a basic Palm unit will suffice. I'd say the first thing Greg needs to do is to identify what his pres really wants it to do, versus what it CAN do. I mean, why would you buy a Humvee if all you are going to do is drive it to the tennis courts in your subdivision?

I've also seen many combo devices that have your cell phone, PDA, camera, and whatnot all in one unit. I'd never have one. While I may carry my cell phone most of the time, I usually only carry my Palm when I'm in the field, overseeing a project. Forget using one of those combo units for taking good photos ... the quality of images is probably only good enough to view on their 0.75" screen, and not on your laptop or desktop. I'd rather have my cell phone, PDA, and any other gizmo's separate.

My two year old Palm Vx supports e mail, contacts list, calendar, GPS software and hardware, and Delta's worldwide schedule application ... that's good enough for me.

If all the end user needs is his contacts list and calendar, the Nokia 7160 digital phone that has those features. It easily syncs with your PC.

 

I develop custom apps for both PocketPC and PalmOS devices. As a developer I always find it easier to add more features to a PocketPC app. It is totally doable on the PalmOS it just takes more effort.

There are more PalmOS programs out there because it has been around a while and you can find a program to do anything you would want or need. PocketPC hasn't been around long, and there are less programs available.

But if you are buying a device now, I would recommend a PocketPC. They are more pleasant to use, to look at, and each of its apps does more than the Palm counter parts. And the software will continue to be developed and it will eventually be the handheld platform to have. Until of course something new comes along

My first client was using Palms exclusively. My last 3 clients have been using PocketPC exclusively. Seem like most people are buying PocketPC devices.

The charm of the Palms are that they are much cheaper. But if it is for your company's president, I don't think a couple hundred $$ is gonna matter much.

And I personally find PocketPC to be more stable... I still don't like MS

 

PalmOS and WinCE follow two opposite philosophies. Which one is better depends on what you want to do.

The first philosophy says, "let's shrink the PC into something ultra-portable." Apple first tried this with the Newton, very revolutionary for its time. Microsoft followed with WinCE. Devices in this camp are built and designed to be small, general-purpose PCs. They have small versions of Word, Excel, etc. The advantage is that you can use WinCE devices for anything you can do on a real PC. The drawback is that WinCE devices tend to be slow, relatively bulky, with short battery-life, exactly because it tries to do "everything a PC can."

The second philosophy says, "wait, I already own a PC. Instead of trying to do everything a PC can do, lets do fewer things but do them very well." Enter PalmOS. The designers of Palm figured that no one in their right mind would want to go through the hassle and pain of creating Excel documents, for example, on a small handheld... you would use your desktop or laptop for that. Instead, they focused on things like long battery life, speed, reducing the number of "clicks" (steps) to access functionality, optimizing for most common tasks like calendaring, address book, etc.

Each "camp" have pros and cons. Take for example the color screen. WinCE devices had color screens first, to showcase its "multimedia" capabilities. That's great! But on the flip side, it meant battery life was reduced to less than a day, and the only place you could use these devices were indoors (color screens had too low contrast for outdoor use.)

On the other hand, for the longest time, Palm devices were only available in monochrome. According to Palm's philosophy, longer battery life and the ability to actually use the devices outdoors were more important than having a color screen. Instead of having a color screen, the new Palms featured super-sharp black & white displays. Most Palm users agreed, others threw away their Palms and bought color WinCEs.

Over time, these two camps are moving closer towards the center (today you can readily buy color PalmOS devices with built-in MP3 support, integrated digital camera, etc.) Still, the two sides inherently regard what a handheld should be from opposite spectrums... and only you can decide which one is more inlight with what you want.

-pk