PDA Freak Electronics Kid

Here is one more interesting find that will surely be appreciated by all the handheld fans out there: a PDA Essentials magazine.



This is a monthly publication containing reviews, buyers' guides, PDA tips, and even a CD with software for your handhelds, be it Psion, Palm, Compaq or any other major brand. I guess it's a must have for anybody seriously interested in PDAs - I am going to subscribe for sure.

Recently, a friend of mine whom I told of this blog has asked me if I was going to do reviews of different stuff for PDAs in addition to reviewing the handhelds themselves so I thought why not. I will be reviewing software, accessories, anything that deserves attention. Lt me start with a program that I personally find very useful. It is Microsoft Voice Command 1.5 for Pocket PC and mobile devices.


This useful application enables you use your voice for a lot of things - from starting a program from your Start menu to looking up contacts to playing a song to... you name it. Moreover, unlike most programs of this kind using phonetic speak recognition it can actually recognize anything you are saying and doen't need any "training". The benefits of this software are clearly seen - you can use it with your PDA while driving, it saves you having to use your stylus for many things, it basically turns your PDA into a true personal assistant that can talk to you and act on your commands. The weak sides - I have seen people saying they wish it could do more. Besides, if you need to do stuff in silence it is not an option either - other than that, I'd recommend it to anyone. OK< anyone who has a Windows-powered handheld as it's the OS that this program will run with.

The next handheld device we're looking at is HP iPAQ hx2795 Pocket PC. What first drew my attention to it is the fact that you can protect access to it using either your fingerprint or fingerprint combined with a PIN.

Other cool features it has are:

• Any kind of connectivity you can possibly think of - IrDA, Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11b
• touch-screen, five-way navigation button and stylus input sources
• 16-bit 3.5'' Active Matrix screen - great lively colors
  
• at dimensions 3 x 0.6 x 4.71 inches, it weighs only 5.8 ounces
• the operating system used by this PDA is Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0

This iPAQ will support all your Microsoft Office aplucations and synchronize the data with your PC. If you ned to store and view images on your PDA, it has HP Image Zone software for Pocket PC installed. If you have a Bluetooth-enabled printer at your disposal, you can wirelessly print any documents or images off your PDA. However, if wireless is not an option there is a USB 2.0 port.

While HP iPAQ hx2795 is a bit on the expensive side I think it's well worth the money if you need high connectivity, reliability and quality. It's a nice mobile office investment.

And the first PDA I am reviewing now is Palm TX Handheld.


Maybe it's not the best option out there but it's the first thing I looked at so I'm keen to lay out all its pros and cons. Let's see, it's got:

• a big screen (320x480) with 65K Colors
• Intel ARM Based 312MHz Processor - I guess that's ok for a handheld
  
• 128 MB of flash memory
• (I love this) Wi-Fi (802.11b) - built in
• Bluetooth - looks like a necessity nowadays
• its expansion slot that supports MMC, SD, and SDIO memory cards (good enough for me)
  
• Palm Desktop Software for Windows and Mac - hmm no Palm OS?
  
• only weighs 1.5 pounds

Considering the (relatively) low price, it can be a good option depending on your tasks.

So, I have been looking at different PDAs when I was considering buying me one and thought I'd summarize my knowledge and experience with them in this blog to help out others thinking of buying a PDA or a pocket PC or any other handheld device. Clearly there are tons of information to dig through if you want to select a handheld that is right for you and is the best value for the money you pay for it. I will be posting a review or a couple of reviews every day or so. Stay tuned for more!

Cheers,
PDA Freak Kid