Need opinions, PDAs, mini PC etc

**arch0nmyc0n** · January 20th, 2009, 03:17 PM

Ok I've not really been keeping up with this genre of technology. Anyone have personal experience to say who seems to be the best brand, model etc?

What I'm looking for is something that I can read documents that I've created with word (maybe open office?) or PDF files. I'd like it to fit in my hand and my pocket if need be.

Any suggestions?

**NooNoo** · January 20th, 2009, 03:59 PM

That case you want a windows based smart phone or umpc... the question is, how big is the limit for you? Oh and how much budget, you can throw some serious cash at these things.

**Richard1** · January 20th, 2009, 04:37 PM

Hey there, I have the Palm Treo and I love it. You can view PDF documents, view, edit and create Word and Excel Spreadsheets. I use it for telephoning, viewing the web, e-mail and music. It's pretty user-friendly and there are tons of free applications available.

There are three things I don't like about it. It's larger than an average phone. It won't fit into my front pocket. The newer ones like the Centro are smaller. The headphones aren't as loud as I'd like them. Are there any that are? The Internet is slower than I'd prefer. Other than that, no complaints.

You might also try an iPhone. I personally don't have one of these, I'd love to though. I have more than one friend with them and I get tired of hearing them rave on about it. They can handle Word and PDF documents as well. Perhaps when I upgrade next time I will try it.

**arch0nmyc0n** · January 20th, 2009, 06:12 PM

Well, depends on the features of the device... if it's got a lot of other things that I could find useful I don't mind spending more... what would you say is the spending limitations? like what is too cheap and what is too expensive?

I'll look into the centrio and never stuff from palm, last time I looked at their stuff was over 4 years ago. I even forgot they existed. Thanks.

I've really considered buying an iphone and it looks like this is another reason... but the documents I'd want to read would be stored on a usb drive or our local network.... or perhaps the phone itself? basically I have a lot of instruction documents that I want to be able to review anywhere in the plant. I would kind of like the idea of having a usb port of some kind to attach a usb thumb drive... has anyone seen this option available?

**NooNoo** · January 21st, 2009, 03:57 AM

Since you can get massive memory cards now, it would be on the phone... there is a usb connection to sync with a pc and most do bluetooth as well.

Let's start with how big the thing can be... must it be able to fit in a pocket? If so, how big is your pocket? here is a fair amount of umpcs

**Richard1** · January 21st, 2009, 09:55 AM

I've seen some phones with a mini-USB but never one with a USB 2.0 input.

Noo is correct about the memory cards they are the way to go. You can either hook the phone directly to most Windows PCs with the USB connection and transfer data or carry around a card reader with a USB connection. The latter method is sometimes faster depending on what phone you are using.

**arch0nmyc0n** · January 21st, 2009, 10:20 AM

I can easily see spending $1000 on something like this.

I went to palm last night and looked around and I kind of like the treo 800w but I'm not sure if my cell phone carrier supports those. I'll see if I get time to check that out today.

I like the idea of it fitting in my pocket, would be easier to bring it with me, but looking at that Sony NC10 mini laptop in your link makes me wonder how bad it would be to have something that size instead... it's still portable... and even seems to use regular windows.... and has a usb 2.0 port

It's so hard to choose... too many options...

The Treo has wireless lan support... does it support windows networks? cause that would be cool and I'd lean towards that if it did... I'll have to dig deeper...

**BOB IROC** · January 21st, 2009, 10:34 AM

I really like my iPhone and I have been looking into a good application that I can too view Office Documents and PDFs on my phone. Really do not need much editing ability but just to have them is nice. Found this free app called Mobile Files from a company called QuickOffice and it looks promising and even supports Office 2007 formats for Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. The Pro version for $10 gives some editing capability or so it says. From an all in one device (Phone, Web Browser, PDA, MP3 Player) it is a great device. Lots of free and useful applications as well as fun and pointless ones just to pass the time. As far a price goes $299 is not bad when you compare it to PDAs in that price range. Of course you are limited to AT&T (unless you jailbreak itt) and there is no MicroSD card slot or nothing which I wish it had.

**Richard1** · January 21st, 2009, 10:53 AM

The Treo 800w uses the Windows Mobile 6 OS. For wi-fi it uses 802.11b/g and is compliant with 802.11i.

Here is a review. and another.

**arch0nmyc0n** · January 22nd, 2009, 10:19 AM

Hmm, the Iphone can ready pdfs and docs... ok now I'm leaning over that way, I just wish it had a physical keyboard.... do you find the "virtual" keyboard to be difficult?

**BOB IROC** · January 22nd, 2009, 04:11 PM

Actually I think the touch screen keyboard is very accurate. Of course coming from a basic phone anything was better for texting than that. I have friends that say they prefer the physical keyboard over the touch screen one but I guess to each is own.

Natively I think the iPhone has limited support for PDF and Documents in email. I am able to view attached PDFs and Docs, XLS and even Docx and XLSX in my email from attachments.

As far as syncing documents to your iPhone there are a few applications that I have come across that can do that. The one I mentioned I was looking at earlier appears to require a MobileMe account which I am not going to pay $99 a year for. I am looking around for alternatives to see which one will work best for me.

**Zonie** · January 22nd, 2009, 05:50 PM

I personaly looked into the Treo, Blackberry, and settled on the Motorola Q. I found I can also purchase a larger storage card for it as well. Just a thought.