 For that reason, she was going to wait to get a Palm. In my most patient and diplomatic way I said, "Puhleeze". Here are the facts of the matter. If you don't have a Palm, you are missing the simplest, easiest, and most beautiful application and electronic device out there on the market today. Period. End of story. Don't wait around for the "convergence of cellular and PDAs". Let's be clear: unless you are a committed early adopter and revel in the early bugs and problems of all new electronic devices (in which case you probably have a really old Palm and should just hold tight to that until the convergence happens), go out, buy yourself a Palm today and live with it hassle free for the next three or four years while the bugs are worked out on the new wireless "convergence" products. Still not sure if you need a Palm (aka PDA, personal digital assistant)? Answer these simple questions: Do you have to keep track of any phone numbers? (You know from girls you meet at bars, on the street, in the parks, at the bookstores. . .) Do you need to keep track of any appointments? (These might range from seeing the dentist-icky-to seeing the girls you are meeting all over your city, town, hamlet, or village-very fun.) Do you need to keep a shopping list? A grocery list? A holiday gift list? Have you ever forgotten your anniversary? Or your beloved's birthday? While waiting at the bus stop or grocery store, or dentist's office, or anywhere, do you ever with you had a "grown-up" gameboy to pass the time? Have you ever needed driving directions to get anywhere? Have you ever needed to find a restaurant within walking distance from a friends house in New York City? Have you ever needed a cup of coffee in the morning in San Francisco? Do you write little sticky notes to yourself with vital information on them and then lose them? If you answered YES to any one of the above questions (and there are a gajillion more so if you answered no to all of the above questions, email me and I'll send you a more comprehensive list), then you need a Palm. Why should I get a Palm? Aren't there lots of other devices out there? Yes, there are lots of devices out there! You can chose one that reflects your own unique personhood. I will, however, advocate about the beauty of the Palm Operating System. There are two manufacturers who make devices that operate using the Palm OS: Palm.com and Handspring. To me, the coolest thing about the Palm OS is that it is simple. It is easy to understand how to get around among different parts of the application. Information is presented in an easy and intuitive fashion. In addition, the handwriting recognition software is excellent and it syncs to just about any calendar program that you want to use. So that is the OS that you are looking for, now figure out what kind of device you need. Wow! There are a lot of options. There sure are a lot of different devices each with their own particular selling point. My recommendation is first explore the two manufacturers of the devices. There is a nice graph comparing the many different models on the Palm site. Check that out. Handspring initially had the corner on the market for fun colors and high memory at a low price, but Palm is catching up. However, the fact remains if you want to look really hip and trendy you should seriously consider the Visor from Handspring. Their product review can be found here: http://www.handspring.com/products/vdetails.asp As I said, I don't think it matters what device your get. Chose one that you like and is affordable. These are my only bottom line recommendations: Get at least 4 MB of memory. That is how much I have and I use somewhere between 2 and 2.5 MB on a consistent basis. Sometimes I load up my palm to 3.5 or 3.8 MB and I am glad for the extra space. However, I am not compelled yet to really need more than my 4 MB of memory.
If you want to buy cheap peripherals (modem, keyboard, etc.), I recommend the Palm III (any flavor: x, xe, c.) Peripherals are always for sale relatively inexpensively at the major auction sites and all of your friends upgrading to a Visor or Palm V will give you their old peripherals.
Order it today. Time is a wasting! The next Word to the Wired will feature great tools for use with your PDA so get it today and watch this space for great tips and links! Do you have a favorite Palm story or innovate use for your PDA? Send it along to me at Julie@technodyke.com or ICQ me: 45820273.
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*Do you have great ideas for Word to the Wired? Feel free to email them to me at Julie@technodyke.com. You can also reach me on ICQ: 45820273. |
