PDA’s introduction:-

Short for Personal Digital Assistant, a handheld device that combines computing, telephone/fax,

Internet and networking features. A typical PDA can function as a cellular phone, fax sender,
Web browser and personal organizer. Unlike portable computers, most PDAs began as pen-
based, using a stylus rather than a keyboard for input. This means that they also
incorporated handwriting recognition features. Some PDAs can also react to voice input by
using voice recognition technologies. PDAs of today are available in either a stylus or keyboard
version.
PDAs are also called palmtops, hand-held computers and pocket computers
As the capabilities of the PDAs continue to grow, the devices are in a constant state of change.
PDAs come in a wide range of capabilities as well as price.
The main purpose of a personal digital assistant (PDA) is to act as an electronic organizer or day
planner that is portable, easy to use and capable of sharing information with your PC. It's
supposed to be an extension of the PC, not a replacement.
Not only can they manage your personal information, such as contacts, appointments, and to-do
lists, today's devices can also connect to the Internet, act as global positioning system (GPS)
devices, and run multimedia software. What's more, manufacturers have combined PDAs
with cell phones, multimedia players and other electronic gadgetry.
A PDA can be used as a calculator, clock, calendar, for accessing internet, sending / receiving
messages, pictures, videos & emails, typing, word processing, playing games, video recording,
making documents and spread sheets and taking advantage of GPS etc. Almost everything that
your desktop computer is capable of handling.
Benefits of PDAs
Just about every PDA on the market will have the following characteristics and features:
Portable
PDAs are extremely portable, most can fit in a shirt pocket, or if you have a tendency to lose or
mislay stuff (like me), you can get a belt clip pouch.
Reminders
The ability to set reminders and tasks is especially good for
people with a poor short-term memory. Most models have a
bleeping alarm which you can set to repeat and warn you when
you need to do something.

Note taking
PDAs enable you to take notes in a form that will not only be
legible later on but keeps them organised as well. It sure beats
scribbling on post-it notes.

Keyboards
Keyboards are the easiest way to input data on a PDA. All PDAs
feature an onscreen keyboard which you tap with a stylus.

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 Synchronization
Synchronization keeps information current on PC and PDA; when you synchronise your PDA
with your computer the two machines communicate and swap information so that both have the
same current information. Most PDAs have the ability to synchronise:
 Email
 Word docs
 Excel
 Reminders and tasks
 Calendar/appointments
Additional Features
Other useful features available in the more expensive PDAs include:
Wireless internet access
Good for checking emails, surfing the internet and synchronising wirelessly wherever there is a
hotspot. ZDNet UK has a good articleexplaining Wireless networking.
Satellite navigation
There are various different satellite navigation packages available for PDAs: such as the
TomTom Navigator is available for both operating systems and is useful for people who suffer
from a poor sense of direction which is common amongst dyslexic persons.
Music and video playback
Most of the colour models are able to play a variety of music and video files.
Operating Systems
The operating system contains the pre-programmed instructions that tell the microprocessor what
to do. The operating systems used by PDAs are not as complex as those used by PCs. They have
fewer instructions, which require less memory.
PDAs and smartphones typically have one of two types of operating systems: Palm OS or
Windows Mobile. However, RIM makes a specific OS for its BlackBerry devices, and the
Symbian OS operates some smartphones.

Types of PDAs
Traditional PDAs
Today's traditional PDAs are descendents of the original PalmPilot and Microsoft Handheld PC
devices. Palm devices run the Palm OS (operating system), and Microsoft Pocket PCs
run Windows Mobile. The differences between the two systems are fewer than in the past.

Palm_PDAs
Most Palm devices are made by palmOne, which offers the Zire and Tungsten product lines. The
company formed in 2003 when Palm Computing acquired Handspring, Inc. Sony, which
produced the Palm-based CLIE, stopped producing PDAs in 2005.
Known for their ease of use, Palm OS PDAs have:

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  A vast library of third-party applications (more than
20,000) that you can add to the system (most devices
come bundled with email, productivity and multimedia
software)
 An updated version of the Graffiti handwriting-
recognition application
 Synchronization with both Windows and Macintosh
computers using the Palm Desktop
 Smaller displays than Pocket PCs to accommodate a
dedicated Graffiti area on the device (Some higher-end Palm
devices now incorporate a virtual Graffiti area in the display, resulting in a larger
display area.)

Pocket_PCs 
Pocket PC is the generic name for Windows Mobile PDAs. Their standard features include:
 Pocket versions of Microsoft applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and
Outlook (note that some formatting is lost between Pocket and standard versions of
documents)
 Synchronization with Microsoft Outlook on a Windows PC (synchronization with e-
mail systems other than Outlook or with Macintosh computers requires additional
software)
 Three handwriting-recognition applications: Transcriber, Letter Recognizer (similar to
the new version of Graffiti), and Block Recognizer (similar to the original Graffiti)
 A virtual writing area, which maximizes the display size
 Windows Media Player for multimedia content

Smartphones
A Smartphone is either a cell phone with PDA capabilities or a traditional PDA
with added cell phone capabilities, depending on the form factor (style) and
manufacturer. Characteristics of these devices include:

 A cellular service provider to handle phone service (As with cell phones,
you typically purchase a cellular plan and smart phone from the service
provider.)
 Internet access through cellular data networks
 Various combinations of cell phone and PDA features, depending on the
device (for example, not all smart phones offer handwriting-recognition
capabilities)
 A number of different operating systems, including Windows Mobile
Pocket PC Phone Edition, the Palm OS, the Blackberry OS for Blackberry
smart phones, and the Symbian OS for smart phones from Panasonic, Nokia, Samsung
and others.

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Different Available Modles:-
Hewlett-Packard iPAQ 200 / 210 / 211 / 212 / 214

Features
1. Big 4" 480x640 transflective TFT display
2. OS: Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 6 Classic
3. 128 MB SDRAM, 256 MB Flash ROM
4. 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0
5. 32bit Marvell PXA310, 624MHz CPU
6. 2200 mAh Lithium-ion battery
7. 2.97 x .69 x 5.27 in (75.4 x 17.5 x 133.9 mm), 6.6 oz (190 g)
8. mini-USB port, 3.5mm audio jack, CF I./CF II./MMC/SD/SDHC/SDIO

Pharos Traveler 535e/535PB/535+

Features
1. Vibrant 3.5” TFT color LCD 
2. OS: Microsoft® Windows Mobile® for Pocket PC Premium Edition 
3. 128MB Flash ROM, 64MB SDRAM
4. Intel Bulverde 312 MHz processor
5. Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, IrDA
6. 1200mAh Li-Ion Battery
7. 2.8in(W) x 4.6in(H) x 0.6in(T), 160 g
8. RS232 serial, USB 1.1
9. 3.5 mm Earphone jack, SD/MMC, SDIO Expansion Slots

DAP 2240X WE

Features
1. 3.8" 240 x 320 transflective TFT display
2. OS: Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 6 Classic
3. 64 MB RAM, 384 MB (NAND Flash) ROM
4. XScale - PXA255 @ 400 MHz
5. 802.11b, 802.11g, Bluetooth 1.2 
6. 3800 mAh NiMH Battery

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7. CF I., CF II Exp Slots, RS-232, USB 1.1 client, 12Mbit/s
USB B
8. 95 x 165 x 45 mm, 490 g

Nokia n810 WiMAX Edition

Features
1. 4.13” 800 x 480 px WVGA touch screen display
2. OS: Nokia Internet Tablet OS 2008 Edition Maemo 4.1 (Diablo)
3. 128 MB RAM, 2 GB internal memory
4. TI HS OMAP 2420 Processor @ 400Mhz
5. WiMAX 802.16e / 2.5GHz, 802.11b/g
6. 2.83 in (L) x 5.04 in (W) x 0.63 in (D), 8.06 oz (225 g)
7. USB 2.0, 480Mbit/s micro-USB
8. Nokia BP-4L Battery

Palm® Tungsten™ E2 handheld

Features
1. 320x320 Transflective TFT 
2. OS: Palm® OS® Garnet (v5.4)
3. Intel® 200MHz XScale processor
4. 32MB Flash Memory
5. MultiMediaCard, SD, SDIO Expansion Slot, Bluetooth
6. 0.59 in (L) x 4.5 in (H) x 3.1 in (W), 4.7 oz
7. Lithium Ion 1050 mAH Tungsten™ E Battery
8. USB Sync Cable with Multi Connector, Stylus

Toshiba HP iPAQ :-

The Hewlett Packard Company focuses on keeping people organized,

and that is what the PDA’s were designed for.  Many HP handhelds
come standard with Microsoft windows. 

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Sony Clie

The company Palm introduced its first PDA in 1995.  The Palm
Company does not run off of a Windows based program.  Instead it
operates on its own system which proves to be very useful to its
owners. 
HP iPaq H4350

This new iPaq comes with 64MB of RAM. It iruns on Intel's 400MHz
XScale processor, and is enabled with a Wi-Fi connection which allows
you to to connect to the Internet. The sound is very good compared to
other PDAs, it has a transflective screen, and the battery life is excellent.
It can play streaming videos for 6 hours and 5 minutes on a single charge.
The operating system on this PDA is the new Microsoft Pocket PC 2003.
This PDA is quite expensive, though, running about $450.

Garmin iQue 3600

When I think of Garmin, I do not think of a PDA; I think of their GPS

system. And indeed, this PDA is equipped with it own GPS system. It has
a 200 MHz procesor, and it runs on the Palm OS 5.2.1 operating system.
It is also equipped with a transflexive screen that has 320x48 pixels. The
sound is good on the Garmin iQUe 3600. It took a long time to connect to
the satellite the first time, but on reconnections it was much faster. It is
also able to give you directions with a female voice. The battery life on
this PDA is not very good, but this is one of its few weaknesses. On one
charge the battery only lasted for about 3 hours and 45 minutes.

Toshiba Pocket PC e750

The e750 has a 400 MHz processor and 64MB RAM as well as an extra
32MB of ROM. It  also runs on the Microsoft Pocket PC operating
system. The e750 has the new transflective screen that has 320x240
pixels. It is equipped with a Wi-Fi card with fairly decent performance--it
can be up and running with wireless in an instant. Loading Web sites is
slow compared to a personal computer, but fast for a handheld. The
battery life is good, too:  it lasted about 3 hours and 55 minutes while
playing MP3s constantly. The best thing about it is that it only weighs 6.9
oz. 

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Toshiba Pocket PC e335

The e335 has an Intel 300MHz XScale processor. It is also run on the
Microsoft Pocket PC operating system. The battery life is excellent. It can
hold sound 4 hours and 16 minutes before needing a recharge. On just
regular usage the battery will last 8 hours. The screen is reflective and has
240x320 pixels. It only weighs about 5.1 oz which is better than its
counterpart the e750.

HP iPaq H5550

The iPaq has a 400MHz processor with 128 MB of RAM. Pages loaded

quickly for a handheld. Wi-Fi networking is easy on this excellent
handheld, and Bluetooth also worked great. While watching TV on the
handheld(using PocketTV), the battery lasted 3 hours and 25 minutes.
The downside is that it weighs 7.3 oz. It is equipped with Microsoft
Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket Pc Premium. The max resolution of the
screen is 240x320 pixels

Palm Tungsten E

The Tungsten E has a zippy 126MHz Texas Instuments OMAP 311 ARM
processor and 32MB of internal memory. It runs on the Palm OS 5.2
operating system. The battery life is about 3 hours and 30 minutes. With
normal usage, Palm says it should last about a week.

Dell Axim X5

The Axim boasts a 400 MHz processor. C/Net says they expected more
from this fast handheld than they got. It runs the Microsoft Pocket PC
2002 premium operating system. The screen has a max resolution of
320x240 pixels. Dell says the handheld's battery will last for 8 to 10
hours; however, in tests, the battery lasted only 6 hours and 22 minutes
while constantly using Windows Media Player. It weighs about 6.9 oz.

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Toshiba Pocket PC e350

The e350 has a 300MHz processor and a transflective screen resolution of

320x240 pixels. The e350 lasted about 3 hours and 51 minutes while
playing a movie. It weighs about 5.2 oz. and runs on Microsoft Windows
Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC.

Sharp Zaurus SL-5600

The Zaurus boasts a fast 400MHz Intel PXA250 X-Scale Processor. It

has 32MB of SDRAM and 64MB of flash memory. During testing, it
demostrated its speed by synchonizing 760 contacts and two months'
worth of appointments in 27 seconds. That is about 10 seconds slower
than the Toshiba e740. Its 3.5 inch screen shows 320x240 pixels. While
playing music constantly, the battery lasted 4 hours and 10 minutes. You
do not get as much as some of the other handhelds on the market for the
same price, however. The Sharp Zaurus runs about $408-$559.

Sony Clie PEG-TJ25

The Clie has a 200MHz processor. It is run on the Palm OS 5.2 operating
system. The screen has a max resolution of 320x320 pixels. The Clie uses
the Sony way of storage with the memory stick. This handheld will cost
you about $179-$230.

Palm m125

This is the cheapest handheld that I have in my report. It runs about $75.
It does not do much compared to the other handhelds on the market. It is
run on the Palm OS 4.0.1 operating system. It has 8Mb of RAM installed
and 2MB of ROM installed. It has a 33MHz Motorlola processor. C/Net
wishes it would cost less for the product that you get. 

 
Operating Systems:-

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The two main types of PDAs are the Palm and the Pocket PC. Today there are fewer differences
between the Palm and the Pocket PC. There are other operating systems such as is found on the
BlackBerry but Palm and Windows are the most common. Or we can say that..

Although the choice of PDA device is increasing all the time, the struggle for dominance in the
operating system space continues to be a battle between just three protagonists:

 Windows CE

 EPOC, and

 PalmOS.

The operating system that we have seen in above given PDA’s are described below with the best
available features and with some drawbacks.

Until recently, the only choice you had was Palm OS or Microsoft's handheld operating system,
Pocket PC. Now there are a few alternatives:

Palm OS 
Used on all Palm PDAs and many others, including devices by Handspring and Sony. 

The key features of the current Palm OS Garnet are:

 Simple, single-tasking environment to allow launching of full screen applications with a

basic, common GUI set
 Monochrome or color screens with resolutions up to 480x320 pixel
 Handwriting recognition input system called Graffiti 2
 HotSync technology for data synchronization with desktop computers
 Sound playback and record capabilities
 Simple security model: Device can be locked by password, arbitrary application records
can be made private
 TCP/IP network access
 Serial port/USB, Infrared, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections
 Expansion memory card support
 Defined standard data format for personal information management applications to store
calendar, address, and task and note entries, accessible by third-party applications.

Included with the OS is also a set of standard applications, with the most relevant ones for the
four mentioned PIM operations.

Pros: Devices based on the Palm OS tend to be smaller, significantly lighter and less expensive
than their Pocket PC counterparts. If you want just a few tasks done very well, this is your best
choice. Palm PDAs are relatively easy to set up and have a long battery life. 

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Cons: Generally speaking they have fewer features than PocketPCs, but high-end Palm devices
such as the Palm Tungsten T5 have as many features as their PocketPC counterparts. 

Examples: Sony Clie, Palm Tungsten, Palm Zire, Palm Treo.(described above)

Windows Mobile/Pocket PC 

Pocket PC was developed by Microsoft as a PDA operating system. Older Pocket PCs run
Windows CE; newer devices run Windows Mobile. Microsoft doesn’t make the PDAs
themselves, but you’ll find this OS in a wide range of PDAs from brands including Hewlett
Packard, Dell, Acer, Fujitsu-Siemens and Casio. 

Pros: Pocket PCs tend to have more memory and functions than Palms. They often have
multimedia functions, digital voice recorders and lots of pre-installed applications such as Pocket
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook that integrate with your desktop. They also come with
Windows Media Player for audio and video files. 

Cons: Windows Mobile devices and Pocket PCs tend to be bulkier than Palms, use up batteries
more quickly and cost more. Not suitable for Mac users, who don’t use Microsoft applications on
their desktop computers. 

Examples: Hewlett Packard iPaq, Casio Cassiopeia, Dell Axim, Fujitsu-Siemens Loox 720,
Acer N50.

RIM BlackBerry 
You’ll find BlackBerry smartphones listed in eBay’s PDAs category as well as in the Mobile
Phones category. As well as working as mobile phones, BlackBerry devices provide email,
Internet web browsing and other wireless data access.

RIM has its own operating system for the BlackBerry, but the devices synchronise easily with
Microsoft Windows applications including Outlook. BlackBerry PDAs include the Siemens
SK65, Nokia 6810 and Sony Ericsson P910. For help in choosing the right one, see our Mobile
Phones buying guide.

Psion EPOC 
Psion was a handheld pioneer, but it stopped making PDAs in 2002. However you’ll still find
many Psion PDAs for sale on eBay. 

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Psion developed its own EPOC operating system for run its PDAs, such as the Psion 5MX series
and the Psion Revo. In the late 90s it formed Symbian, the operating system found in some
Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola smartphones.

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