Assistant assistance required

I need assistance to choose a new assistant. Initially I wanted an assistant that was young, nubile and smart. Able to take messages, screen calls and remind me about appointments as well as tail out when ripping and thicknessing, sand, sweep and feed board through the edgebander.;) A cross between an apprentice and a receptionist, something like one of the Makita chicks:p . But due to budgetary constraints and to avoid the ire of SWMBO I've decided that one of those PDAs (personal digital assistants) , you know little electronic organiser doodads would be safer and cheaper. So, never having owned one I don't know what features I need to look for, plus I'm also guessing there's a few sites/forums out there that test/discuss them.

Here's what I want it to do for me:
remind me about appointments/bills/events
keep all my contacts - phone numbers/addresses, who and what people are.
notepad
record voice messages/memos.

I'm sure they can do a lot more than this, so please tell me about what you find really useful about yours.

Features that I want:
Good battery life
Batteries rechargeable in car
batteries readily available? (ie Nicad penlites or alkalines?)
water, dust and shockproof:rolleyes: I know this is a big ask and probably not available, but I had to ask.
Easily connected to PC (USB port?)
Easy to use, intuitive interface.
Commonly available memory system (USB memory stick thingies?)

Now I guess I'm a lot like people that come here wanting to know what tablesaw to buy. I'm not after a buy brand and model XXX type answer though, what I'm after is what I should be looking for in a PDA. What do you find useful or frustrating, what features you couldn't do without, what features you wish yours had now that you've owned and used it for a while, and what do you use yours for?

Any and all help, advice and smart comments gratefully accepted.

Mick the technological cavemen

Well you got the young nubile and smart bit right, but I don't know anything at all about the other usefull features.:D
One thing I do know is that they are becoming like mobile phones, they will do just about everything short of making your coffee.....and I think they are working on that.
You have done the right thing in asking for advice, not that I can help much, because from my limited knowledge you can end up paying a lot of money for features that you will not use.
For example, I recently went to purchase a personal (as opposed to business) mobile phone. Out came the $795.00 do everything, I said I just wanted to be able to send and recieve phone calls and text, so out came the $85.00 model.

Judging by the number of people I know who have lost them by leaving them sitting somewhere, I suggest you get one that has a string to hang it around your neck.

One of the mothers in my lad's soccer club has one of these that has the mobile phone as well (probably cooks pancakes, brews beer and can coach your offspinner as well). It's rather fat though.

Wouldn't you be better off just taking SWMBO with you? (we need an 'evil' smilie)

Richard

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Originally Posted by Daddles

It's rather fat though.

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What? The organiser or the mother? :eek:

Mick, I travel a fair bit for work and manage an aircraft purchase and modification project. This requires lots of reminders, schedules and phone #s plus contacts. I use a laptop mainly, but it synchronises with a PDA over a cradle, internet or bluetooth. The PDA is wireless and allows me to link into the internet via the wireless network at home.

The laptop is also a home theatre, TV and stereo when I am in my other "home". Having all three synchronising was very important to me, and this combination is the first time I have got exactly what I needed.

The phone is also bluetooth and CDMA. This gives me broad coverage and it synchs itself whenever in range of the laptop, PDA or both. The phone will use the laptop for conference calling ie it links to the laptop speakers and microphone if I need to type and talk. Finally, the phone links via bluetooth to the car handsfree, allowing me to push a button for 1 sec then say "phone home" and it will, without touching the phone whatsoever. The phone is with me like a third leg, so it also has a radio (used when walking) and camera (which I find useful about twice a week for work - and w'work too)

The PDA was a great thing before I had the phone, but now I find the phone and laptop are probably all that I need. The laptop is a Dell Inspiron 9200, PDA is a HP IPAQ and phone is a Nokia 6255.

(looks up - oops, ya got me, I'm a geek)

Groggy, are any of them fat? :D

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Originally Posted by Termite

Groggy, are any of them fat? :D

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I'm being thick I guess - fat?


[edit] Oh I get it, sorry, not very witty today.

I use an HP IPAQ at work, and sometimes, at home too. Synch to pC via bluetooth or cradle or USB.

The only downside is that it always reminds me of meetings that I don't want to go to...

Cheers!

PS mine came with a 'free' camera - which is crappy enough to warrant being free...

Cheers!

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Originally Posted by Groggy

I'm being thick I guess - fat?

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Just my usual self. Read Daddles then my reply.:D

Darn it all Mick!! I thought I might have actually had a chance there for a second, then realised why I was out of luck -hmpphh! :( Could have done with a new job.:D

Good luck finding the PDA.

cheers
RufflyRustic

I have an I-Mate Smartphone 2 mobile phone - bought it through Grays Online $250 ORP $999.

Comes with MS synch software and shares info with Outlook including addresses, photo, video and more bells and whistles that I'm still learning. I'm retired now but would have loved a device like this when I was working. Now I'm just forgetful and it's a saviour at times;)

FWIW

Jamie

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Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

Here's what I want it to do for me:
remind me about appointments/bills/events
keep all my contacts - phone numbers/addresses, who and what people are.
notepad
record voice messages/memos.

I'm sure they can do a lot more than this, so please tell me about what you find really useful about yours.

Features that I want:
Good battery life
Batteries rechargeable in car

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I think you'll be searching long and hard to find one that isn't.

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batteries readily available? (ie Nicad penlites or alkalines?)

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this is almost certainly not an option. AFAIK they mostly use lithium ion batteries and dedicated charges

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water, dust and shockproof:rolleyes: I know this is a big ask and probably not available, but I had to ask.

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you can get a hard case for some models, saw one (case that is) this morning

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Easily connected to PC (USB port?)

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all that I know of do USB

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Easy to use, intuitive interface.

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your choice for operating system is Palm, Blackberry or Windows. I think all three operating systems come as PDAs (contacts, notes, Calander with reminders, etc) or PDA + phone. I've used the Sony version of the Palm Op system, works OK, I found it very intuitative and the hand writing recognition easy to learn. However, my wife struggled with the handwriting recognition and eventually bought a micro keyboard.

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Commonly available memory system (USB memory stick thingies?)

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tick

One thing, some PDAs loose everything when the battery goes flat or is disconnected. You have to religiously synchronise with your PC nearly every day to ensure that you have a back-up

hope thsi helps

ian

Mick,
Ignore all those flippant responses above. I don't know how this board functions when everyone seems intent on making jokes about serious subjects. :eek: I think I'll just type a really long post to spite them all!

FWIW, my long-felt and well researched feelings are below:-
Think about this PDA thing... it's just one more bit of electronic stuff that'll be out of date the second you buy it, and needs software updates and all that sort of stuff. My diary does the same thing, and I've been using the same style for 15 years. Whenever my contact database needs updating I use a rubber, and pencil in the changes.

Having said that, it also serves as the backup for my electronic one.

For about 50% of my time I work at a desk, so have all contacts and my diary duplicated on my machine. 390 names, addresses and email addresses, and my life on a screen that can be printed by day, week or month, which can be surprisingly handy. (A photocopy of my diary page would do the same).

In the office, everything is linked, email, word processing etc, so printing envelopes or writing emails is a one-touch scenario.

I use Apple's standard Address Book, and ICal, but the dreaded MS Outlook (no Express) does work just as well for both functions.

Now the fun bit: VERY VERY FEW people with PDA's use them beyond the first 6-12 months, once the novelty of writing on a touch pad wears off, and of those that do, I have met ONE that backs up all the data.

I could lose my diary, but I have a copy of most of the stuff (all but the weekly jottings in the sidebar, but I update that each week anyway), if I lose my diary, I lose a week at best, and $25.00.

However, EVERYONE I know also has a mobile phone.

I have a blue-tooth phone (Nokia 3230) which I synchronise with this stuff first thing every day, even if I don't think there are any changes. It forces me to review the electronic diary in particular.

All diary stuff is there, and can be added to if one can be bothered with the dicky little letter keys, all contacts there including addresses, which is surprisingly useful, a voice-note capability, and even more surprising to me, the 1.2mp camera works for note-taking very well. I really thought the camera was a gimmick I didn't need, but find it surprisingly useful on site as a recording device for all manner of things.

Finally, it's got a feature which I never thought I'd use, but have found myself plugging in a couple of times while waiting at airports: An FM radio and MP3 player!

So for me: Diary first, Computer Second, Mobile phone with the gadgets at a lot less than the price of a PDA.

Cheers,

P

Mick,

Being in the business, there are two i would recommend

1. I-mate PDA2k it is a CDMA phone which runs windows 2003, has word, excel, powerpoint outlook etc.. very easy to use as well as gives you excellent coverage. It runs lithium batteries, most units will need charging everynight. Suggest you also buy a car charger, metal case etc..

2. If email is your go and you would be suprised how much work you actually get when you reply to people in 10 - 15 minutes after recieving an email. Get a blackberry, has the features of outlook, but as i say is Managing Director proof, you can't delete the settings and once it is setup it will work for ever with battery life being about a week. Again get a car charger or for both get a proper carkit and don't be dangerous on the road.

The dell,hp,palm etc.. are great as simple PDA's but are you going to carry a PDA and A phone on a jobsite? How long to you through your PDA in the toolbox because it's to cumbersome?

I disagree with shaun!

Everyone I know who has one of those PDA phones cannot say anythign good about them. The screen is too small for them to be a good PDA and they are normally not very good phones. Also third party software (as is the case with windows and windows mobile) has a habit of causing hangups. This in my opinion should not be an option for a phone. If your phone has it's own proprietry operating system it normally works a lot better - the best operating phones are still the nokia's that came out before the colour screens - never hung! I also want a phone that I can make a call with as few button presses as possible - I dont want to take out a stylus and navigate a phone menu just to make a call!

Also disregard those people telling you that you need to sync with your PC every day because you can loose your data. Yes when the power runs out the PDA looses eberything. But every PDA I have owned has had software to backup it to the SD or CF card. Also these packages can be set to backup on a schedule so if you set it to backup every week (or every day if you want) then a power loss is not more disasterous then hitting the restore button!

Also you asked for a PDA to use USB memory sticks - not possible because USB is a master slave relationship and PDA's are USB slaves and hence cannot 'talk' to another USB slave like a USB memory stick. That said there are SD cards and CF cards that your PDA can take for extra memory and they are priced the same as USB memory sticks.

Mick

I'm no expert on this stuff. However, I've found www.cnet.com.au to be a pretty useful site for reviews of lots of electronic items, including PDAs. It is certainly worth a browse. For example, they thoroghly recommend the 02 Xda Mini II. Look under both the mobile phone and mobile computing sections.

Hope that its helpful.

Trav

Notebook computer with MS Outlook 2003.
The calender function works well.
Back it up to a USB RAM stick. ;)

The reminders don't work if it's not switched on so if you need a reminder/alarm clock for odd hours, get a mobile with that feature.

I use MS Outlook 2003 on my desktop & a Nokia phone with an organiser.
I don't have them linked together but I think it is possible to get a phone with software that will link to MS Outlook but I'm not sure on that.

I had a Palm Pilot I bought back in 1997 & it was good BUT... on 3 occasions it locked up & had to be cleared & reloaded from the back up on my computer.... twice while I was on holidays:mad: . I don't use it any longer as it is not reliable. My wife had a newer/cheaper model & it was always fugging up & forgetting. It is sitting in the bottom of a drawer now too :( .

Michael,

I have a Sony PDA which I think you saw which I find very good. It is a Palm based PDA.

I have heard the Windows based ones regularly lock up and when you sychronise with your PC there have been reports of them wiping your Outlook contacts. I do not know if the source of this advice was from one idiot or many intelligent people. I do know of my bad experiences with Windows so I opted for the Palm.

I am happy with my choice. I know of quite a few MS Certified people who have also opted for a Palm based operating system.

It doesn't have a voice input to record memo's nor does it have a mobile phone, GPS or CNC router.

It does have Word and Excel on it plus a PDF reader and many other applications.

I'm like The Midgeman, had a PDA thingy, discovered I became a slave to it, went back to
#1-take everywhere diary
#2-Address book with all people in it
#3-large yearly planner on office wall accessible while at computer, office phone etc.

Works brilliantly for me, ahven't forgotten too many "high powered":rolleyes: meetingds lately.

Thanks for the replies all, I don't want a multi featured phone, I"ve lost count of the number of phones that I've gone through. This is why I started thinking about a PDA. I used to put a lot of info into my phone, contacts and memos etc. Then when the phone died I'd have to start all over again.
The trouble with diaries is that they won't squawk at you to remind you of things.
I don't want to cart a laptop around, too big, bulky and expensice and overkill for what I want. Also I can't really carry it on me so I will hear it when it squawks at me.
I currently use a digital phone and have a CDMA one for back up. There's places around here where there's digital but no CDMA coverage (and vice versa too and a few spots where there's neither) I've also just heard that theyr'e going to scrap CDMA in the next couple of years.

I may look into the phone option some more but I don't want to keep all my eggs in the one basket. Do any of the PDAs have a vibrating alert? Are their alarms very loud?

Mick (off to catch some sleep and then do some more PDA research)

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Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

Thanks for the replies all, I don't want a multi featured phone, I"ve lost count of the number of phones that I've gone through.

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I've heard you, but if you go through phones, you'll go through PDA's too!

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This is why I started thinking about a PDA. I used to put a lot of info into my phone, contacts and memos etc. Then when the phone died I'd have to start all over again.

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That's why I got the blue tooth with the sync capabilities. It's really not a problem anymore! Until I had that I had four numbers stored in my phone, I hate pressing all those little buttons!

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The trouble with diaries is that they won't squawk at you to remind you of things.

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But the phone will with the diary synched in.

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I don't want to cart a laptop around, too big, bulky and expensice and overkill for what I want. Also I can't really carry it on me so I will hear it when it squawks at me.

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Fair call except they are only a few hundred dollars more than a really good PDA!

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I currently use a digital phone and have a CDMA one for back up. There's places around here where there's digital but no CDMA coverage (and vice versa too and a few spots where there's neither) I've also just heard that theyr'e going to scrap CDMA in the next couple of years.

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About two to three years, if you are who you say you are, you'll kill a phone in that time anyway!

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I may look into the phone option some more but I don't want to keep all my eggs in the one basket. Do any of the PDAs have a vibrating alert? Are their alarms very loud?

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I chose the phone because I didn't want to carry round more than one basket!

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Mick (off to catch some sleep and then do some more PDA research)

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Good luck, and keep us posted on your decision eh?

cheers,

P

MIck,

There are some rugged cases for PDA's for people who want to take them into the workplace.

Checkout www.expansys.com.au they have a good range of PDA's and PDA accessories.

I would suggest that you buy a good screen protector film the day you buy your PDA - even the stylus eventually scratches the screen and they are expensive to replace. The best screen protector on the market is the ppctech ones!