Detailed PDA-purchasing advice needed.?

I%26#39;m in the market for a PDA. My plan (months ago) was to buy the Axim x51v from Dell. It ran MS, which I%26#39;m familiar with. I need it to check a web-based email (so wireless internet is a must) and to manage my web-based calendar. I%26#39;ll also store documents, etc. I learned today that the Axims are not being made any longer.

I%26#39;m doing research and am finding that the MS-based PDAs don%26#39;t have very strong battery power, and some don%26#39;t even have a battery that you can change out (you have to charge the whole PDA). I%26#39;m not familiar with Palm software at ALL, and would much prefer to use MS, but I%26#39;m wondering if there are any PDA experts out there who can recommend one over the other and explain why.

I%26#39;m looking at the Axim x51v (on ebay), the Pharos 325e, and the Palm TX handheld. Any thoughts on any of these three? I%26#39;m very open to suggestions other than these 3 as well, but I do NOT want a PDA mixed with a phone because I often need to be on my phone and PDA at the same time.

Answers:

I can understand your reticence to have a PDA/phone combo, but if you use a headset you can use all of the PDA features while you talk to your hearts content. I have a Treo 700P, and I must tell you that I am extremely pleased with it. The talk and standby times are superb, I have gone for two days without charging, and the PDA features are as good as it gets, but then I am a bit biased, I have been using the Palm OS for close to ten years now. I have tried PDAs with the Windows OS and I%26#39;ve found that they tend to be slower, and memory can be a problem, since all files in that operating system are much larger than their Palm counterparts.

The Treo also has a battery that can be changed. I put in a higher capacity battery, which, by the way, fits without the need to change out the back to make room. It also takes SD cards. I keep a 2GB card in the slot at all times, and can synch from my computer directly to the card to save working memory.

All in all, I have a lot of experience with Palm, and enough with the other OS to be convinced to stay with the OS I am using.

Good luck with your decision.

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