Super mega fun gadget that does EVERYTHING?
December 3, 2005 2:51 PM Subscribe
What PDA or smartphone do I want?
So, I have been informed that I am getting a happy cool gadget for christmas! YAY! Here is a list of stuff I would like it to do, and then a price range. Used is fine and not having all these features is fine, too. Oh, deal-ifying tips (UK) are fine, too. Stuff is listed in order of priority.
1) Internet browsing capability in a normal wireless hot-spot without having to get some goddamn expensive data service. Email would be a necessity, web browsing great, the ability to run whatever, like log in to my actual SSH shell, would be MAGNIFICENT.
2) USB capability - not proprietary BS, but the ability to be used as flash memory and the ability to take whatever relevant peripheral I want to jack into it - wireless extendy nug-ule, USB keyboard, etc.
3) Good memory
4) Good battery life
5) Decent UI and ability to take a wide variety of various software, including stuff that Open Sauce communists have brewed up!
6) Phone crap
You might notice that the phone crap is the lowest thing on the list-o-crap. That's because it is. I already have a phone for phoning, and it's on a pre-paid plan. I will hopefully be using this Santa-forthcoming beast for organizing my ADD-ified brain and actually WRITING DOWN all the great ideas that I have.
I'd like to pay less than 200 GBP for this, and less than 100 GBP would be even better. Remember used is fine if it's trustable.
So, I have been informed that I am getting a happy cool gadget for christmas! YAY! Here is a list of stuff I would like it to do, and then a price range. Used is fine and not having all these features is fine, too. Oh, deal-ifying tips (UK) are fine, too. Stuff is listed in order of priority.
1) Internet browsing capability in a normal wireless hot-spot without having to get some goddamn expensive data service. Email would be a necessity, web browsing great, the ability to run whatever, like log in to my actual SSH shell, would be MAGNIFICENT.
2) USB capability - not proprietary BS, but the ability to be used as flash memory and the ability to take whatever relevant peripheral I want to jack into it - wireless extendy nug-ule, USB keyboard, etc.
3) Good memory
4) Good battery life
5) Decent UI and ability to take a wide variety of various software, including stuff that Open Sauce communists have brewed up!
6) Phone crap
You might notice that the phone crap is the lowest thing on the list-o-crap. That's because it is. I already have a phone for phoning, and it's on a pre-paid plan. I will hopefully be using this Santa-forthcoming beast for organizing my ADD-ified brain and actually WRITING DOWN all the great ideas that I have.
I'd like to pay less than 200 GBP for this, and less than 100 GBP would be even better. Remember used is fine if it's trustable.
Check out the Nokia 770. It's not a phone at all, but an "internet tablet". It's about the same size as a PSP, and connects to the net through a wireless network or your mobile phone.
It's also open source, running Maemo, a version of Linux.
posted by Mwongozi at 3:31 PM on December 3, 2005
It's also open source, running Maemo, a version of Linux.
posted by Mwongozi at 3:31 PM on December 3, 2005
Hmmm. This is a ticky one. I can't think of anything that covers all of your bases. Still, here's my thoughts:
The Treo probably isn't suitable due to lack of WiFi - the 600 (lots of these second-hand) won't do WiFi for love nor money. The 650 can do WiFi via SDiO but the expansion card alone is over a hundred quid. It will cover most of your other requirements. It won't take any plug-in USB devices without a fight, though.
In fact, your USB requirement is a deal-breaker for most devices; very few non-PC gadgets will support USB natively. Any laptop running Windows/Mac/Linux will accept them; I can't (off the top of my head) think of anything else with a standard USB port. So, if the ability to accept any USB peripheral is vitally important, your choice is restricted to laptops. And most sub-£200 laptops will be rubbish.
Other gadgets which come close:
Nokia 9500 / 9300i: I have the 9500 and it is my current comms gadget of choice. 802.11b WiFi, Opera web browser, excellent email client and the ability to install loads of extra software, including PuTTY. You should be able to get one for around £250-300 on eBay. You won't find any second-hand 9300i's since they were only released last week. The standard 9300 doesn't have WiFi.
I also got a Nokia 770 last month and have been pretty impressed with it so far. Doesn't have any phone capabilities (which isn't a deal-breaker for you) and no keyboard (which may be). Good WiFi support, excellent web browser and email client. Battery life is a bit iffy (less than a day with a lot of WiFi use) but I have a pre-release model and apparently the official versions have a higher-capacity battery. Again, since it's very new you may have trouble finding a second-hand model, RRP is £250.
Other options would include a Pocket PC with built-in WiFi and an external keyboard. A lower-spec second-hand WiFi-enabled PDA should be around £150, leaving you £50 to get a IR/Bluetooth keyboard. It's not as neat but it is within your budget, and covers all your requirements except the USB one discussed above. However, we don't develop for PocketPC so hopefully someone with more knowledge than I can give you specific recommendations.
Hope this helps - give me a shout if you have any questions.
posted by blag at 3:40 PM on December 3, 2005
The Treo probably isn't suitable due to lack of WiFi - the 600 (lots of these second-hand) won't do WiFi for love nor money. The 650 can do WiFi via SDiO but the expansion card alone is over a hundred quid. It will cover most of your other requirements. It won't take any plug-in USB devices without a fight, though.
In fact, your USB requirement is a deal-breaker for most devices; very few non-PC gadgets will support USB natively. Any laptop running Windows/Mac/Linux will accept them; I can't (off the top of my head) think of anything else with a standard USB port. So, if the ability to accept any USB peripheral is vitally important, your choice is restricted to laptops. And most sub-£200 laptops will be rubbish.
Other gadgets which come close:
Nokia 9500 / 9300i: I have the 9500 and it is my current comms gadget of choice. 802.11b WiFi, Opera web browser, excellent email client and the ability to install loads of extra software, including PuTTY. You should be able to get one for around £250-300 on eBay. You won't find any second-hand 9300i's since they were only released last week. The standard 9300 doesn't have WiFi.
I also got a Nokia 770 last month and have been pretty impressed with it so far. Doesn't have any phone capabilities (which isn't a deal-breaker for you) and no keyboard (which may be). Good WiFi support, excellent web browser and email client. Battery life is a bit iffy (less than a day with a lot of WiFi use) but I have a pre-release model and apparently the official versions have a higher-capacity battery. Again, since it's very new you may have trouble finding a second-hand model, RRP is £250.
Other options would include a Pocket PC with built-in WiFi and an external keyboard. A lower-spec second-hand WiFi-enabled PDA should be around £150, leaving you £50 to get a IR/Bluetooth keyboard. It's not as neat but it is within your budget, and covers all your requirements except the USB one discussed above. However, we don't develop for PocketPC so hopefully someone with more knowledge than I can give you specific recommendations.
Hope this helps - give me a shout if you have any questions.
posted by blag at 3:40 PM on December 3, 2005
Best answer: A Nokia 770 and a low-end Pocket PC are good options.
One not mentioned yet is the Palm Tungsten TX, which has Wi-Fi and can be bought new for about £200 if you shop around. It's targeted at people like you.
posted by cillit bang at 3:46 PM on December 3, 2005
One not mentioned yet is the Palm Tungsten TX, which has Wi-Fi and can be bought new for about £200 if you shop around. It's targeted at people like you.
posted by cillit bang at 3:46 PM on December 3, 2005
The i-Mate K-Jam looks pretty nifty. The USB thing may be an issue though (ditto with most devices of this nature), and not so sure on what software it will take - it's running Windows Mobile.
posted by djgh at 4:12 PM on December 3, 2005
posted by djgh at 4:12 PM on December 3, 2005
I've got a k-jam variant (Qtek) and it works like a charm (wel, once you change a couple of reg settings). A bit above your budget though (unless you want a monthly tariff, in which case its "free" on t-mobile web n walk with 12 months (of an 18 month contract) half price - Vario, get it online for £3 a month discount).
You can also get the new i-mate sp5, which looks quite swish and has wireless etc. The new nokias are looking even nicer, but eh, thats life.
I also have an Axim X30h which works fantastically as a pda - it even runs playstation games. You should be able to pick it up for something around £150 with a gps receiver. Which is a nice bonus. I get a 12 hour flight full usage watching moves etc with the extended battery (with which it is still under 200g). Works nice with bluetooth keyboards too. Get calligrapher for it and you can write at about 30-40wpm otherwise.
posted by Mossy at 4:49 PM on December 3, 2005
You can also get the new i-mate sp5, which looks quite swish and has wireless etc. The new nokias are looking even nicer, but eh, thats life.
I also have an Axim X30h which works fantastically as a pda - it even runs playstation games. You should be able to pick it up for something around £150 with a gps receiver. Which is a nice bonus. I get a 12 hour flight full usage watching moves etc with the extended battery (with which it is still under 200g). Works nice with bluetooth keyboards too. Get calligrapher for it and you can write at about 30-40wpm otherwise.
posted by Mossy at 4:49 PM on December 3, 2005
The K-Jam is indeed an excellent device. But £500 is outside God's budget, I think.
Whilst browsing the Expansys site, though, I found this HP Journada 680e - it doesn't have WiFi built-in but does have a PCMCIA slot so you should be able to find a compatible WiFi card. For £105, it's a bargain.
posted by blag at 5:12 PM on December 3, 2005
Whilst browsing the Expansys site, though, I found this HP Journada 680e - it doesn't have WiFi built-in but does have a PCMCIA slot so you should be able to find a compatible WiFi card. For £105, it's a bargain.
posted by blag at 5:12 PM on December 3, 2005
You might also consider the Sharp Zaurus product line, which runs Linux. I've got a Zaurus SL-5500 (US$120 refurbished on eBay, plus US$25 for a Symbol Wireless Networker WiFi card). I haven't used it for e-mail, but it works very well for offline web browsing, and the PDA functions (address list, calendar, todo list) work pretty well for me. There's a large community of Zaurus users. Here's someone using SSH.
The big weakness of the SL-5500 is battery life. No USB support, either. If you're willing to pay for a longer battery life and USB support, higher-end models have them.
I also found it pretty time-consuming to get the wireless CF card up and running (learned a lot more about PCMCIA and CF than I ever wanted to know). Good for hackers, probably not so good if you just want to use it off the shelf.
posted by russilwvong at 5:17 PM on December 3, 2005
The big weakness of the SL-5500 is battery life. No USB support, either. If you're willing to pay for a longer battery life and USB support, higher-end models have them.
I also found it pretty time-consuming to get the wireless CF card up and running (learned a lot more about PCMCIA and CF than I ever wanted to know). Good for hackers, probably not so good if you just want to use it off the shelf.
posted by russilwvong at 5:17 PM on December 3, 2005
There's a subset of USB functionality for sub-laptop systems - USB-On-The-Go - I haven't seen it implemented in a retail device yet.
If your phone has Bluetooth, The Lifedrive might be worth a look at - It covers all your bases with room to spare and there's plenty of Free/free software available for the platform.
posted by Orb2069 at 5:27 PM on December 3, 2005
If your phone has Bluetooth, The Lifedrive might be worth a look at - It covers all your bases with room to spare and there's plenty of Free/free software available for the platform.
posted by Orb2069 at 5:27 PM on December 3, 2005
No price announced yet, but I'm looking forward to the Sony Ericsson P990i.
posted by IndigoRain at 5:40 PM on December 3, 2005
posted by IndigoRain at 5:40 PM on December 3, 2005
USB-On-The-Go - I haven't seen it implemented in a retail device yet.
USB on the go is in various devices for downloading photos form digital cameras, including the iPod photo and its successors.
posted by cillit bang at 9:27 PM on December 3, 2005
USB on the go is in various devices for downloading photos form digital cameras, including the iPod photo and its successors.
posted by cillit bang at 9:27 PM on December 3, 2005
With respect to phones, I think it depends on whether he wants to take out a monthly contract. You can get the k-jam for "free" on the web and walk ones that work out to about £20 with any time minutes and 40mb gprs. Alternately, you can pay £80 up front and get a £14 a month voda tariff with lots of off peak.
posted by Mossy at 4:37 AM on December 4, 2005
posted by Mossy at 4:37 AM on December 4, 2005
Response by poster: I've ordered my gadget - Palm Tungsten TX. exactly what I was looking for, and it should be here Wednesday, GOOOOOOOOODY!
posted by By The Grace of God at 1:23 PM on December 5, 2005
posted by By The Grace of God at 1:23 PM on December 5, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by By The Grace of God at 2:52 PM on December 3, 2005