Hey guys,

I'm wanting to buy a PDA for my dad, he mentioned that he'd like one a few months ago when he came here to visit but im pretty sure never bought one.

Now he basically wants one ONLY for organiser i think. seems a rip off in my opinion...(just like a diary and stuff etc). I dont know the prices of PDA's in aust but here those sorts of things seem cheaper. I've seen a lot for like 300ish, is this sort of budget reasonable? any recommendatins?
I'd like it to have handwriting etc recognition (is that standard these days?)
doesnt need to have much storage memory for mp3s etc. it'd be good to have email connectivity, how much extra is that sort of thing?

so just email, organiser, handwriting, international warranty.

and on a side note, is there any...magical PDA that doubles up as sat nav ppl use in cars? obviously much more pricey i'd imagine.

thnx

So it doesn't need to be a phone?

Most PDA's with windows software and bluetooth should suffice. They will allow it to sync with outlook via activesync, but not remotely as it probably wouldn't have GPRS (I have a phone one so don't know too much about plain PDA's)

However to make it a GPS unit, you just need to buy a bluetooth GPS device (around $130) and get the software for it (Destinator, OZExplorer, TOMTOM etc.)

nup it doesnt need to be a phone cos he has a phone that integrates with the car already, doubt he'd want to change that.

so ur saying a normal pda will be alright that can support an additional GPS unit like you've mentioned? that will fulfil all those requirements?

As I said. Everyone in the office has the phone ones, but they all run Windows Mobile 2003. Which is installed on most of the PDA's I have seen come in.
It allows me to either activesync with my Outlook on my PC, so I can read mail offline, as well it alerts me of all calender entries, saves contacts etc. I can also connect directly to the exchange server via GPRS if I wanted to. By default also has Windows media player, games, Excel, Word.
The GPS software is pretty good, depending on what you get and what maps. But you jsut connect the GPS to the PDA via a bluetooth pairing and when you run the software it just looks for it and tells you where you are. Then it can be programmed to be like sat nav.

As long as it has bluetooth (To connect ot the GPS) and enough space on the unit to install the software. It should be fine. I'd also look for one that has SD expansion (Most of them do).

I'll try grab a video demo of the GPS stuff and post it later tonight if I can.

wow that sounds pretty sweet, all the stuff that i want.
got any model numbers as well mate?

the phone is probably the biggest obstacle though unfortunately... personally, i'd love something like that but its overkill for me lol

You've probably moved on from this now but I bought a Palm TX. I do a bit of organising with organiser and xl spreadsheets and have some high res images stored on it as well but I love the ability of them to store complete books (novels).
I have 8 full novels in mine (and only using 13% of my 128MB memory) and I can read anywhere and it fits in my pocket with it's leather cover and all.

I'm actually trying to find things I can do with it.
Wifi internet is great too if you can find a "hotspot". I know Harvey Norman have hotspots and I think Starbucks have them as well.

i recently got my pda/phone.. its awesome, got a o2 Atom..

use it as mp3 player/movie player (watch simpsons etc on the way to work in the train ) and as a phone!

love it