How to Buy a Good PDA
Personal Digital Assistant or PDAs are helpful for you in keeping organized. PDAs can handle a variety of tasks from managing contacts to scheduling appointments, checking mails, accessing internet etc. This article intent to help you in selecting a good PDA.
1. Identify your Needs with PDA: First and foremost thing is to determine the needs of your PDA. Here you need to identify what all features you would like to have. As I said before PDA can handle a variety of tasks. Some of the features to be considered are
- Contacts and a good organizer
- Internet and Email Supoort
- Phone calls
- Decent Memory
- Good battery life.
Most of the PDAs have decent in-build memory from 32MB to 64MB. If you need more memory you need to go for handset which supports extendable memory. This can be used for storing songs and videos.
Most of the PDAs have battery life of 3-10 hours in a single charge. Use lighter screen settings for better battery life. Some of the PDAs also offer rechargeable batteries, so that you can keep a spare battery handy.
2. Select the OS of the PDA: Second thing to look for is the Operating System of the PDA. There is Pocket PC handheld devices which run on Windows Mobile operating system. If you are using Windows Mobile OS, it supports Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Windows Mobile also supports entertainment like Windows Media Player and other audio file support.
Another OS for PDA is the Palm OS, which are used by Palm devices. Although they do not directly support office applications, there are lots of third party tools to support these. Palm OS also boasts of other features.
Deciding between a Palm OS device and Pocket PC is one of the most critical decisions to be taken while buying a PDA.
3. Other features: Other features which can be considered while buying PDA are;
- Camera
- Bluetooth
- Wi Fi connectivity
- Audio and Video support
- Keyboards
- Expandable memory slot