PALM vs PPC

What features are most important to you? Basic PIM/organizer functions? MS Office file compatability? Multimedia? Wireless browsing? Mac compatability? Cell phone convergence?

Things were a bit more cut and dried a few years ago, prior to the last generation of Palms, but now the feature set of Palm OS 5.0 and PPC '03 are very similar. You have to know what you really need in a device prior to selecting one.

Personally, my PDA du jour is the Palm Tungsten E. Very strong PIM functionality with mac compatability (especially with 3rd party Missing Sync). I play my mp3's on it on occasion during my commute and I can read Office and *.pdf files. Nice piece of equipment.
 
nojay said:
Personally, my PDA du jour is the Palm Tungsten E. Very strong PIM functionality with mac compatability (especially with 3rd party Missing Sync). I play my mp3's on it on occasion during my commute and I can read Office and *.pdf files. Nice piece of equipment.
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I just got a Tungsten E as well, last month, i swear by the thing. Before i had a Palm Zire Original (2MB of memory, no color screen), and loved it but hated the memory/color thing. I tried using a PPC, i could not stand the OS so-non-user friendly, and i used Palm OS before it is so much better.
 
I have a fairly new HP iPaq Pocket PC and I wish I'd gotten a Palm. Windows Pocket 2003 is really buggy.... hardly anything works right, and pocket IE renders sites really crappily and the letter recognition is unimpressive. Also there's more software for Palm OS and PPC isn't Mac-friendly. You'll probably need to get some third party software for 20$ or more if you want some limited mac compatibility with a Pocket PC.
 
I've owned two WindowsCE PPC's, one a WinCE 1.0, the next a WinCE2.1, and I can honestly say they are very buggy and mine tended to crash on a daily basis. For what is essentially a glorified pocket-organiser, this is extremely embaressing, and it makes you look very unprofessional if you have to fiddle with rebooting your PPC before asking for a client's phone number again.
 
I'd say to just go with the Palms. My Palm Zire 31 works fine as a PDA. Unless you want MP3 playback (get an iPod) and video playback functions (on a 3" screen??).
 
I'd say to just go with the Palms. My Palm Zire 31 works fine as a PDA. Unless you want MP3 playback (get an iPod) and video playback functions (on a 3" screen??).[/QUOTE]

are you still pleased with your zire 31? any problems with synching it with your mac. are you using panther. I've never had a palm and want to make SURE it is mac compatible like the person who started this thread, only I know I want to go palm but haven't decided which palm unit to go with.
 
ive owned both a ppc and palm machines, and i have to say go with palm. the UI is more intutive, faster, and all around easier to use. you get more for less money, because you are not paying for the microsoft name/features. if you dont need big multimedia support, palm is for you.
 
So I bought the Zire 31 and when I try to install the palm desktop I can't because I keep getting error messages. Now I have read on some of the Palm forums a "fix?" but that didn't work either. I don't understand how Palm can say their products are compatible with macs when one can't even download and install the Palm desktop. Then there are all the problems with syncing either with isync or even missing sync.

I have an ipod and although I am not crazy about not being able to input into it directly, it is ALWAYS ALWAYS reliable!! ALWAYS with absolutely no problems at all ever.

I guess that is the difference between apple products and those companies that "say" their products are "compatible." Too many forums with too many dis-satisfied customers when it comes to reading anything about either palms and macs or pocket pc's and macs.

oh well...

I'd be interested in any thoughts from dedicated mac users.

thanks for listening,

mark
 
Yeah, if I could have Newton OS 3 on my Clié, I'd like that. The Newton MP2100 is a _bit_ too big for my taste nowadays. ;)

But back on topic: If you've never used a PDA, both systems will be a bit counterintuitive, sadly AdmiralAK is right here pointing to the Newton... But I'd say Palm OS has quite clearly gotten the thought of how such a device is used right. I say:

If you want to use a PDA for PIM useage mainly: Get a Palm based PDA (Tungsten E, Tungsten T3 or T5 or Sony Clié TH-55), buy Missing Sync from www.markspace.com and download both DateBk5 and Agendus 8.01 Standard from handango.com. The PIM solutions included by Palm/Sony PALE to those applications. I hear both of them (DateBk and Agendus) are incredibly good, but users of one tend to hate the other application and vice versa. (I'm an Agendus man.) So if you haven't used either, I'd urge you to use both for a week and then buy the one that fits you better.
 
however, the treo 650 will be available shortly, with - among other things - double the screen resolution. wouldn't buy a treo 600 now, unless it's really, really cheap. which here in switzerland, for example, it isn't.
 
fryke said:
however, the treo 650 will be available shortly, with - among other things - double the screen resolution. wouldn't buy a treo 600 now, unless it's really, really cheap. which here in switzerland, for example, it isn't.
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yeah, i have read about the 650 extensively - it looks ok but
my 600 serves me just fine, and the 650 just does not have enough new features to make me want to upgrade.
I paid full price for my 600, and i plan to get my money's worth out of it before i retire it from use (read:give it to my wife - lol)
Also - the 600's should come down in price in 4 or 5 months,
making them a good deal for bargain hunters.
 
oh, well, i didn't mean anyone should instantly upgrade from their treo 600 to the 650, mind you! but this is about a 'first time' user, afaik. However, the thread starter doesn't seem to find his way back here, anyway. ;)
 
I wonder if anyone already has experience with the new Dell Axim x50v and if Pocketmac works with it. The Tungsten T5 is the alternative for me, but if the sync works, I'd prefer the Dell - it has the higher resolution and w-lan.
 
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