[Dumb Blonde]

I currently have a HP iPAQ H5550 which is just about crapped it self, I am currently having trouble getting it to power up. In the event that I can't getting it working again. I am asking for suggestions and or recommendations on what is currently available if I need to purchase myself a new unit.

I currently sync to my home laptop wirelessly and work pc via a cable. While I liked the thought of the wifi capabilities I could never get it to work on my PDA.

I kind of came across the iPAQ accidently at a really good price, so I don't know what is the differences between PDA and Smart Phone's etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

[MTCONE]

Hi. I just signed up to reply to your post specifically. I highly recommend getting a Nokia N800 internet tablet. If you prefer slide out keyboards and weak GPS, try the N810.

But for the price, you can't beat the N800. It runs linux and is an incredible product.


I hope this helped.


Google results:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Nokia+N800

[Squashman]

I have a Palm TX which I do like but may not be the thing for you because Palm should be phasing out the Garnet OS. They are suppose to be coming out with a Linux based one. The nice thing about the Palm is its ease of use and the ton of apps that have been written for it over the years.

Too bad you can't wait a couple of months. I am waiting to see what Android will be like.

[macfan777]

What will you be doing with your PDA? That's really the key to choosing the right one.

If you're just going to be syncing contacts and calendars, checking email, accessing the internet, etc., I'd highly recommend an iPhone (or an iPod Touch if you can use WiFi). If this isn't within your price range or you need access everywhere and you'd rather not go with AT&T, just about any Smartphone device will do all of these things (keep in mind the web browsers on all but the iPhone/iPod Touch are really crappy.)

If you want music/movie capabilities, your clear choice is the iPhone/iPod Touch, but if you're going with another device, look for one with a decent processor and possibly even a video accelerator. VGA screens are optional here, but nice.

If you need to edit Word/Excel documents, Windows Mobile devices are the way to go. The iPhone/iPod Touch support reading these, but not editing. (Pretty soon, 3rd party software will very likely be available for this - it may be some time, though.)

If you want to run desktop applications (though very slowly at best) you may want to go for a full-fledged UMPC. I'd HIGHLY recommend getting one with XP (NOT Vista!) or, even better, installing Linux on it.

[Dumb Blonde]

I will be using the device to sync with outlook for contacts and calendars etc. I haven't previously used my current pda to connect to the internet very much because the only way i could get it connect was when it is syncing to my laptop.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions I will be looking into the different ideas.

[moniker127]

I suggest you look into getting a blackberry. You can use the blackberry internet service to sync your outlook data.

As for the difference between smartphones and pdas- smartphones are primarily designed around the voice and or text messaging features, and really only have data as an addon. PDAs are focused primarily upon data, and have voice as an addon. Many people elect to go without voice features on their PDA.

Also, PDAs generally have a full QWERTY keyboard (albeit with small keys) where as smart phones have a numerical keypad.