[MLB-WIRELESS] PDA Suggestions?

[Gabrielle Harrison & Paul van den Bergen]

At 03:15  4/02/2004 +1100, you wrote:
>Hi People,
>
>Not that I am in the market for one,  but I would be interested in knowing 
>what
>are the best PDA, Pocket PC's etc for Wireless playing as well as other 
>stuff?

*slaps head in wonder*
if you don't intend to get one, why ask?
Mmmgggrrrrhhh!!

sorry, must be something I ate...

first off, the PDA you get will depend on the application you have in mind, 
so it sort of makes sense to have a need for 0one to be able to determine 
what is best for you... some want an all in one PDA phone MP3 photo storage 
and chip maker. Others want low power and WiFi. others want a portable 
computer.  All have different optimizations.

secondly, no portable device will ever be as good as a fixed PC. notebooks 
have advantages over PDAs and desk tops over notebooks.  once again, it 
depends what you want.  to make matters worse, batteries are not getting 
much better.  We are at about 1/10 the energy density theoretically 
possible for chemical systems, but Moores law lets PC power double every 18 
months... with appropriate increases in power use. (actually, power 
dissipation is a major limitation in chip design.)

Third, the PDAs and laptop market uses CPUs several generations back that 
have been power optimized.  the difference between two offset exponential 
growth curves is an exponential curve, so PDAs and laptops cannot but get 
further and further behind PCs....  even if you don't worry about power and 
batteries. So really the only reason to own one is if you need to go 
portable.  I predict that it won't be too long before it is better to have 
a PDA that has just enough power to run a screen and the wifi connection 
and all the processing will be done on a server somewhere...

>Which ones can be used with sound, video (if at all). What would one 
>expect to
>pay on the 2nd hand market?

see comment about exponential growth... why get a second hand one again?






   ########## Paul van den Bergen
####  #    # Glen Waverley VIC 3150 Australia
   #   ###### gabpaul at melbpc.org.au
   #   #      ph/fax. +613 9886 3160
   #####      



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