iPAQ Review

But this iPaq’s real distinction is its wirelessness. It’s the first palmtop that can connect to the Internet and other gadgets in four wireless ways.
For distances up to 30 inches, the iPaq can beam information, like your electronic business card, to another palmtop using an infrared transmitter. For distances up to 30 feet, it has built-in Bluetooth circuitry (more on this in a moment). For distances up to 150 feet, it has a Wi-Fi antenna. And for transmissions around the entire planet, the iPaq has one other trick up its sleeve: it’s also a cellphone.
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The iPaq is more successful communicating with, for example, a Bluetooth cellphone earpiece; you can talk on the phone in your pocket without any telltale wire sneaking down from your ear. In fact, that’s one way to exploit all three wireless modes simultaneously: wear your Bluetooth earphone to make a phone call while surfing the Net, uninterrupted, over a Wi-Fi connection. That feat would be impossible for any other self-contained palmtop.
When you have long messages to write, or when you’re just feeling a twinge of BlackBerry envy, a tiny keyboard attachment (included) snaps onto the iPaq like a high-tech boot. As Stuart Little keyboards go, this one is pleasant enough - it even makes little typewriter sounds as you type - but it adds bulk, it’s not backlighted and it’s another piece to lose. A hidden or flip-out keyboard, like the ones on some cellular smart phones, is a much better solution.

Do You Need a Handheld Computer?

Why would you want a handheld computer?

First, handheld computers provide unprecedented convenience. No matter where you are when you get that brilliant world-changing idea, you can jot it down immediately in your handy digital notebook.

Second, handheld computers provide great help in staying organized. When an employer or an instructor gives you an assignment, you can add the assignment to your digital task list, including the assignment's due date and priority level. Then, you can check your task list frequently to be sure you're on track to complete the tasks that are due soon, or those you've identified as high priority. If you need to look up someone's phone number, you can check your digital contact book.

The University of South Dakota is the only U.S. postsecondary institution to require the use of handheld computers by all of its undergraduate students. At other schools, this requirement is for individual courses or for specific departments or degree programs. PDAs are used in the classroom as a tool for collaborating with other students and groups ("beaming" information around in the class), for taking wireless tests, and for tasks where portability is beneficial, such as gathering scientific data in the field.

Most handheld computers fall roughly within the $250-500 price range, but some units cost much less and some cost much more. Factors that influence prices include whether or not the display is color, the resolution of the display, whether or not the device supports quality sound output, and whether or not it has wireless capabilities for Internet and e-mail access. The amount of RAM (memory) is a major determination of price, too. Ask yourself:

Will you be a power user?
Will you want to use lots of applications on a regular basis?
Will you be intrigued by the cool free stuff that's available and want to download and try it, just because it's free?
Will you be playing games or listening to MP3 files?

If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, you should consider purchasing a unit that has as much RAM as possible. Low-end units are available for around $30, but these have very little RAM (some have less than 1MB), and are pretty limited in the applications they can run. High-end units with all the bells, whistles and gizmos cost over $1000.

Why do I need a password for my PDA?

It's important for mobile office professionals to have password protection on their PDA's. While it may seem a pain to some, just imagine if your PDA is lost or stolen. Whoever has found it or taken it now has access to all your information quickly and easily.

Password protection is not perfect but it just may deter someone from stealing your data.

Also remember to change your password on a regular schedule.
A few moments of effort on your part can save you a lot of problems later.

PalmOne Tungsten T5

It's no secret that the market for standalone handhelds is shrinking, but with the Tungsten T5, PalmOne is betting that there's still room for a plain old power PDA. The T5 is not a smart phone. Nor does it have Wi-Fi--unlike nearly every other PDA in its tax bracket. And it borrows its straightforward design from the workhorse Tungsten E series (rather than the T3 that it supplants with its fancy slider). What the T5 lacks in flash, it makes up for at least partly in function. It has 256MB of nonvolatile flash memory, a great display, and Bluetooth, and thanks to new software tweaks not found on other Tungstens, it is also a capable MP3 player and thumb drive. The T5 will be available in stores on November 3 for around $400. Meanwhile, PalmOne will drop the price of its other business-friendly handheld, the Tungsten T3, to about $350.

The T5's most notable feature is its gorgeous display. The 3.7-inch-diagonal TFT screen shows 65,536 colors and a sharp 320x480-pixel resolution. Similar to the Tungsten T3, the T5 has virtual Graffiti input area, which increases the overall viewing size of the screen. There's a convenient taskbar at the bottom of the screen that offers quick access to the Home page, the Find function, Bluetooth, and more. You can also switch from Portrait and Landscape mode with a single click. Below the screen, you'll find the standard four shortcut keys, easily identified by their icons as Home, Calendar, Contacts, and Files. The five-way toggle sits in the center, and its roomy layout makes for easy navigation.

free palm software

DockWare
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Desk calendar, clock and picture viewer for your Pocket PC, Palm Powered Handheld or Windows Mobile-based Smartphone. This is a freeware version of our popular
DockWare Pro.

FreeWallet
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Your most important info -- credit cards, passwords, usernames, PINs -- secure, convenient, portable and free.

Tipster
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A full-featured, free tip calculator. Calculate your tips, sales tax, and share of a bill. Impress your friends!

iPAQ Hot Tips

These are great tips for any level of user of an iPAQ to help you get more productivity. Got a hot tip for your iPAQ then let me know.

1. Save your battery.
Switch off unnecessary sounds and alerts. Go to Start -> Settings -> Personal (Tab) -> Sounds & Reminders. Switch off screen taps and hardware buttons, also may want to switch off events. Leave programs / notifications on as this is your alarm call.
Set the power off mode to less than four minutes. Go to Start -> Settings -> System (tab) ->Power. On battery power should be set to between 1 to 3 minutes until turning off the device.
Set the backlight to switch off and low power. Go to Start -> Settings -> System (tab) -> Backlight. Set turn off to one minute. On the brightness tab set the power level to Low Bright.

2. Quick add buttons
If you press and hold the calendar button it will jump to a new entry. The same thing works for contacts as well.

3. It's a free walkman
Download and install Windows media player 7 (free) for your desktop PC. This will allow you to convert CD's to wma files which Media Player can transfer to your mobile device. You then have a better version of an mp3 player.

Built-in and third-party security tools can help protect your PDA

Password, Please
Palm OS-based devices and Pocket PCs both come with a password protection option. Turning it on not only protects your data, but it might discourage would-be thieves from making off with your organizer. Of course, a knowledgeable thief could do a hard reset and start over again.

The Palm security application--found on the main menu of a Palm or Handspring Visor--lets you mark records such as addresses, calendar entries, or memos as private and then hides them. You can also assign a password to your device that unlocks and shows hidden records. Another password command lets you lock your device so that someone must enter the password to get to any application or data.

Pocket PCs offer a similar power-on password that locks the device until you enter your chosen password. Turning this on requires some navigation. Go to the Settings command, then the Personal tab, and select Password. Enter a password and check 'require password when device is turned on.'

Download and Secure
Downloadable third-party applications can extend and enhance the password protection built into your Palm-based device. Most cost between free and $20 and are available from PDA portals such as Handango and PalmGear HQ. One or both of those sites include this selection of utilities:

* A new security tool for the Palm platform, PDABomb, locks your PDA more completely than built-in tools. Developed by Asynchrony and available at an introductory price of $19.95, PDABomb enhances password protection by disabling all forms of data transfer--even the infrared and HotSync ports--until the correct password is supplied.

* A $9.95 alternative, OnlyMe, locks a Palm-based device whenever it's turned off. Similar to the built-in password feature, OnlyMe requires you to enter a password to access any of your PDA data. But even with password protection on, OnlyMe returns you exactly to your previous state, so a quick power off won't require you to drill back into the application or file that you were working on.

* For more customized security, TealLock replaces the Palm security application with one that offers personal options. The $16.95 TealLock includes shortcut-stroke activation; custom locking for screen, text, and images; and optional automatic locking. You can also set it to hide private records immediately when you turn off the device, or after a specified period of time.

* And if you only trust your own hand, try JotLoc, a handwriting recognition password protection tool available for $11.95.