Sunday, including PDA thoughts

[cellio]

Today we got together with my parents to celebrate mothers' day, our anniversary, and my father's birthday. We took them to Sunnyledge (I think that's the name of it), which does a very good Sunday brunch. Ironically, while the buffet usually includes a couple kinds of fish that I can eat (along with meat, which I can't eat, and other dishes, which I can), today the ocean-based offerings were shrimp, mussels, swordfish, lobster, and lox. So one out of five. :-)

My father recently got himself a PDA. I was curious to know more, because he has the same vision problems I do. He was constrained in also needing something Mac-compatable, so his choices were more limited than mine would be, but for one data point, his looks pretty good. He has a Tungston E, which has a crisp, legible display that can fit a fair bit of text in fonts I can read. The graffiti interface is also much easier than the last time I used one -- this was "Graffiti 2", and most of the strokes look like letters, rather than semi-thematically-related glyphs (like an upside-down "V" for "A", which I remember encountering before). I was completely unable to write a "k", and my attempts at "u" kept producing "v" instead, but I think a small number of hours of practice would actually fix that. And I could write resaonably quickly too without it getting confused, which had not been true before.

My father carries his in a shirt pocket. Women's shirts don't tend to have that pocket, and even if they did the placement would be, err, suboptimal, so I'd need to find something I could reasonably carry in a back pants pocket. I imagine this has constraints on size, heat-tolerance, and durability. (Or are there belt-based solutions?)

I'd also need to think about how I would end up using it; things like the calendar, address book, and standing grocery list are obvious, but can I use it as a text editor to, say, compose LJ posts or edit a D&D character sheet when I don't have a real computer to hand? I know there's a Hebrew calendar out there somewhere, and someone I know has a siddur for hers, both of which would be handy. I'd want some application that supports a table or database of all my books/CDs, so I stop accidentally buying duplicates; I assume that's straightforward. I'm going to assume that music applications are not feasible.

What do people who have PDAs end up using them for after the first few months? (I know that dglenn also asked this question recently.) What's involved in having web-browsing? (What do you pay in monthly service fees?) My father didn't have a browser on his, so I didn't get a feel for whether most web sites even render on such a small screen.

I'm not going to run right out and buy one, but I'm at least entertaining the idea now, which is a change.

Short takes:

Fun stuff: Anton Chekov's book-signing (and reading) in Union Square. Link from nickjong, who got it from Neil Gaiman.

Non-fun stuff: Soldiers in Iraq losing internet access, just in case they want to ship out more photos from prisons or something. (Link from insomnia; see also this one from tangerinpenguin and others.) Feh. Some of my coworkers are in Iraq right now (civilians, on a base, nowhere near prisons); if we stop hearing from them I guess we'll know why.

Comments

PDA options

[sethcohen.livejournal.com]

I almost never use my Palm any more, but at least it's not broken. I broke the first one by putting it in a pocket that it could fall out of. I'd like to say that I have more than occasional uses for it, but I don't.

I recommend Rhinoskin. Good stuff to hold your PDA and keep it easily available.

palm pilot foo

[geekosaur]

Web browsing is functional for sites that are mostly text and don't require Flash or Javascript (or Java, VBscript, etc.); graphics are at best spotty but (conveniently) Blazer 2.0's autoscale of weather.com's regional Doppler radar map is barely usable. (For me. For you I suspect it would not be.) I couldn't tell you about cost since my Treo is owned by the department so I never see any bills....

My killer application is DateBk5, which I've configured with custom views for bills, shopping list, and a "quick glance" planner view, among others. Desktop calendaring software is less than useful to me given the number of desktops I use during the course of a day (minimum 3) and the amount of time I spend away from any of them.

Text editors are available but Graffiti (even Graffiti 2/Jot) is not what you want to be using for editing text; buy a portable keyboard if you decide to go that route.

Databases are available; I was underwhelmed but I tend to ask a lot of databases (comes from ten years as a DBA :). There are also canned applications for music and book databases, etc. on sites such as PalmGear and Handango.

Hebrew calendars: I've been using KaLuach; there's also Penticon Luach but it apparently has some limitations on PalmOS 5 devices --- and while you can get it bundled with Penticon's Hebrew Support+, the latter doesn't work on PalmOS 5 at all. (Hebrew PiLoc does, but I haven't been able to evaluate it because it doesn't work with the Graffiti support (RecoEcho) for Treos.)

Music applications: PalmOS 5 devices can in fact run MP3 and Ogg decoders/players, and 3G data appears to be good enough for at least 24kbps streams. (WMA is almost certainly a lost cause, though; Microsoft is unlikely to release specifications to makers of devices which compete with their PocketPC platform.) Since my Treo is PalmOS 3.5, I haven't looked beyond that, but you should be able to find at least two players on one of the aforementioned sites. If composing/experimenting with music is what you're looking for, there's miniMusic NotePad and companion applications.

There's at least one web site selling siddurim for PalmOS, requiring TealDoc to read. You might also want to look at PilotYid for other Hebrew texts (most of which require one of the Hebrew support packages mentioned above) and other Judaism-related software and documents.

Belt pouches, and other carriers, for most of the Palm models are available from various third parties; PalmGear (above) should sell them. I wouldn't plan on carrying it in a back pocket unless you buy one of the hard cases, though; it's far too easy to sit down on it and break the touchscreen.

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

I did a little more reading about the soldiers losing net access thing. Someone else (http://www.lt-smash.us/archives/002870.html#002870) who's there investigated, and what happened was that soldiers were piggybacking Halliburton's wireless network and created their own unofficial internet cafe, meanwhile bogging down Halliburton's network. Halliburton's just plugging their security holes. There are official cafes, run by a completely different company.

On Palms...

[hopeness.livejournal.com]

caliban18 loves his Palm. Like everyone else, he uses it to keep his schedule and make shopping lists, memos, etc. What he does have that is a little different is a shareware word processor and a folding keyboard. He actually used his Palm as a mini-laptop during school, taking notes on it and then uploading them when he got home (the program can save in rtf or word formats, and apparently can even do spreadsheets). He takes it everywhere with him and therefore can write when the mood hits him (even out on a hike in the woods). It has been the best thing for him. The keyboard wasn't even that expensive; when folded it is almost the same shape and size as the Palm, albiet about 5 times thicker.
As to cases, before he got the keyboard he had a belt pouch, now generally he keeps both in a fanny pack (which he wears over his shoulder, not around his waist) or his backpack, depending on where he's going.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I use my Visor primarily for the Address book and the DateBook Plus programs, although I also find things like Vindigo to be very useful.

I'm thinking of upgrading as well, possibly to a Zire -- which still has more functionality in some ways than what I need.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

My Tungsten-E currently has EshSiddur and EshTehillim on it (that last being a recent acquisition.) Neither require a Hebrew reader, but EshSiddur only offers variations on Orthodox Nusach - Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Ari (Lubovitch). I find it both useful and cool because it goes everywhere, it changes for the day (adding Musaf and hallel, for example, on Rosh Chodesh, and al ha-nissim on Purim) and it has everything I need. Tonight it proved very useful - we were at a fund raising dinner with my inlaws, and the bentchers they gave out were in very small print - much too small for my mother-in-law. However, she *could* use the birkat hamazon on the Palm. I use the Tamar date program.

Otherwise - I have addresses, phone numbers and email addresses stored there, I have two games (Bejeweled and what seems to be Library of Congress of Solitaire games, so it's many, many games with weensy cards). I read fanfiction, and use iSilo to reformat them from either html or text files for the Palm. I also download novels (you can get a lot of classic ones for free on the web, since they're public domain. I'm currently reading Mansfield Park.) PalmReader comes standard, and it's possible to make the words comfortably large enough for my mother-in-law. I know. I've tested.

And, as others mentioned, I have www.dataviz.com's Documents-to-Go, which is MS Word. I've written several short stories on it, using both a stylus pen and the wireless keyboard. I also keep a template for my Pakua reports there so I can start them when the sessions are fresh in my mind, before emailing them off to my teachers.

Quite honestly, I'm not sure how I functioned without it. And that's without my using email.

[siderea]

Swordfish is trafe? What's wrong with it?

I have an original Palm Pilot, on loan from the office. I love it. I used to carry a date book and a little ruled blank book (well, a series of such) in which to take random notes. (I'm always taking random notes.) Now I just carry the Palm, which is vastly better. I can catalog my notes as I go, so I can find things by some means other than rifling lots of little books. And there's a backup. I once had my purse and current little books stolen.

I primarily use the Palm for the datebook, phone book and notepad functions, but sometimes use the check list functionality and the calculator. I don't have wireless internet on it, I've never even loaded more software on it, and I still find it very useful. I carry it in a fanny pack.

I am planning on upgrading to a more recent model soon. I covet the MBTA's system-wide schedule application. No more carrying paper bus schedules! Also, I am thinking about learning to write my own palm aps, because I have some ideas...

Since carrying the Palm (well over a year ago), I've started compiling and using some personal information which I always thought it would be great to have, but I didn't want to have to carry more little books. For instance, I've started making notes about important things about food vendors -- both groceries and restaurants -- which are hard for me to remember at exactly that time I need that information most: when I'm hungry. I've started lists of restaurants organized by geographical center, so when I'm somewhere and starving and wondering "where is there to eat here?" I can look it up, along with useful information like "Thursdays is the corned-beef-and-cabbage special".

I use it for shopping lists; its very convenient that whenever I think of something I need to pick up, my shopping list is always right there. I have a list called "food I like to eat" because -- no kidding -- when I'm not hungry I forget, which makes grocery shopping a real challenge.

It's fantastic for notes for travel plans or event organizing. I have a note category called "Wedding" which seems to get a lot of use. :)

I keep all sorts of trivia on it, such as the shopping list for the dish I make for Thanksgiving Dinner, the dimensions of various of my furniture, a log of my blood pressure as taken at every drs. visit, handy IP numbers for when DNS is down, etc. Sometimes I take class notes on it, but Graffiti is slow for that.

[alienor.livejournal.com]

I have an iPAQ (pocket pc) and think it's great. In addition to graffiti, it has 'letter recognition', which is closer to actual real letter shapes, so it's easier to learn and use. There's still a learning curve (Richard gets tripped up on some of the letters), but it's pretty slight (he uses it only once every 3 or 4 months when I'm driving and there's no real paper in the car).

I've been trying to find a good database program, but I'm not happy with what I've tried. I want to be in the grocery store, type in the price and quantity, and be able to compare it with similar data points that I've collected (this is on sale here, but is it cheaper than at the other store that normally sells this item for less?). I've found an Access database online that someone wrote for this, and I may just have it spit out excel spreadsheets on a semi-regular basis for the iPAQ.

I've used it to compose LJ posts (using the PDA app for LJ), and it's easy and simple. I get tired composing long posts with the stylus, but I don't use it often enough to get a keyboard (I'd probably loose it between trips).

I don't have trouble with music, other than storage space (I have a slot for removable memory cards, but I haven't had the spare fun-money). But then, the model I got was top-of-the line when I got it (Nov 2002); I don't know how it compares to the current models or to what range you're looking at.

[jducoeur]

I had a Handspring Visor for a couple of years; I've since replaced it with a Handspring (now Palm) Treo, which is a PDA/phone. (Indeed, the Treo is actually my fourth palmtop -- I had a WinCE machine before the Visor and an HP OmniGo way back when.) Some opinions:

I concur that you want to get a keyboard if possible. The foldable Stowaway is really excellent for its size (and a marvel of engineering) -- not a great keyboard, but as good as many laptops in a folded form-factor not too much larger than the PDA. The Treo has a built-in keyboard, which I'm fond of for notetaking (significantly faster for me than Graffiti) but far too small for serious use.

The most important piece of software I run is SmartDoc, but it isn't clear to me that that's still available -- Googling seems to indicate that it's been replaced by the far fancier QuickOffice, which I haven't tried. SmartDoc is a very simple little editor that uses the common Palm Reader format. It's important mainly because the built-in Memo function is limited to a puny 4K per file. So I use SmartDoc for larger files (including, eg, our CD inventory).

The Blazer Web browser is decent, although it works best on graphically simple sites. I actually deal with many of my smaller day-to-day databases by turning them into web pages -- for example, my Dinner Shopping List is a page with a precis of the ingredients for all of the usual things I make for dinner. Some conventional graphics-heavy webpages are usable on the tiny screen, although it's helpful if you know the page's layout, to help you decipher how things wind up getting arranged. (All non-JavaScript pages render, but some can be hellishly confusing.)

My Treo is a 300, which runs on Sprint. In general, I'm happy about the plan -- it's not dirt-cheap (around $40/month IIRC), but has plenty of cellphone minutes for my purposes, and unlimited Web access. So I find myself using it at the oddest times: for example, at the wedding this weekend, I wound up Googling around to figure out the address of the site so that the JP could fill out her form correctly. And I often find myself looking up the Eastrealm OP or Laws at various high-court events, when a question comes up. (Yes, I try to at least be unobtrusive.)

I always wear a beltpouch, so that's where the PDA gets kept. Indeed, the reason I specifically wanted a combo PDA/phone was so that it would all fit into the pouch (along with wallet, checkbook, pillbox, Altoids, change, etc).

One downside of the Treo 300: if you wind up out-of-range, it can eat the battery very quickly trying to find a signal. I've had to get into the habit of turning it off during work, since my office is a total dead zone, and it can chew up the entire battery in the course of a work day. And the battery dies very ungracefully: when it starts to run low, it sometimes begins to throw fatal logic errors, which cause the screen to lock in the "on" position, which kills the whole battery lickety-split, forcing me to reload the memory.

So while I like the machine quite a bit, I'd check the service in your area before committing. You do *not* want to be out-of-range for long stretches of time with this device...

[moose]

Right now I have a Sony Clie. If I had the money and there was service for it from Verizon, I'd get a Treo. The Clie doesn't have any 'net connections, but that's fine for now.

I use my PDA multiple times a day. What do I do with it?
- track phone numbers & other contact info
- track appointments and birthday [Datebk5 as others have mentioned is wonderful]
- jot down all sorts of quick notes
- keep track of my medications
- keep track of my *@(%-crazy periods
- keep track of my bank & credit card accounts -- when I make any kind of withdrawal or deposit I can update *right then* and not have to worry about forgetting or losing a receipt. I use "Pocket Money". It has a hookup to use various things for PCs/Macs.
- games. Lots of games. I have a ~25 minute bus ride to & from work. Some of these games kept me sane when I had to spend lots of time in bed with no tv nearby. Ok, "sane." but still...
- have a handy calculator that i can even use with my finger. this is so convenient it's easy to take for granted
- track blood sugars

& other stuff i'm probably forgetting...

[rectangularcat]

I love having my PDA (A Tungsten T) to track long stuff like my inbox and various spreadsheets and documents for reference. I also love the word search ability so that I do not have to worry about finding the stuff in different apps - it finds it for me.

I think I will get a keyboard soon as I find that using grafiti to be annoying on an extended basis. I type much better than I write nowadays and I find that I put off typing in the stuff in the right place (jot a note in notepad) so that I can do it properly at home on my computer (which introduces a host of other distractions).

I believe I've had a PDA since 1999, when I had my daytimer stolen which was quite traumatic. Going electronic with a back-up on my computer really is great. I've only had one hard crash so far and have migrated from my palm V to Tungsten T with no problems. I am paranoid about breaking the screen again though.

I find now that my to do list is daunting as I do write everything down (I have horrible short term memory)...