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Handhelds Portables

Best PDA for College? 115

Posted by Cliff from the yet-another-thing-to-carry-in-your-backpack dept.
andyic3 asks: "College starts in a month. I've been searching for a very simple, tiny, modern PDA for storing due dates on. I've looked at the REX 6000, but it's too simple. I've looked at PocketPC's, but can't seem to find anything smaller than the old iPaq H1910. I've looked at Palm solutions, but can't find anything there. What's the best PDA for this application?"
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Best PDA for College? More

Best PDA for College?

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  • A pocket notepad (Score:5, Insightful)

    by n1ywb ( 555767 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @04:39PM (#13288950) Homepage Journal
    Costs a buck at any store, doesn't take batteries, doesn't lose it's memory. I tried using a PDA for a while in college and I found I was always the last one out of the room because it always took so long to tap in my assignments. I found it worked a lot better to write them down in my notes for that class for that day then type them into a scheduling program on my PC back in the bat cave.

  • Don't do it! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Uber Banker ( 655221 ) * on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @04:43PM (#13288989)
    The best PDA? Pencil and paper. No easier or cheaper way to write a quick note down, or to tear off a corner and give your phone number to that hot babe.

    Can't remember a week of appointments, or a few irregular but important dates... is your diary that busy? Need to remember submission dates.. write them on a calendar in your dorm/flat, are you really going to work on something randomly during the day?

    Find out why your memory is lacking or diary overly busy - remembering things shouldn't be such a problem. If it is reflect why so.

    "There is no cost to writing down on a PDA" - no, not at all. Most importantly, don't let technology disable your inate abilities. Carrying a PDA may feel (self) important but try a role where you actually need one. You'll realise human memory is all important:

    With 5+ meetings per day and having to reflect/relay them ad-hoc I can testify that a good memory is all that matters - constantly active, not reflective on what a screen states - a PDA really doesn't matter other than as a backup. Groupworking diaries really don't work unless you're constantly sync'd with others, and is probably out of scope and Blackberry is the only option.
    • Pencil and paper also have games as well. : )

    • Wrong, wrong, wrong! (Score:5, Informative)

      by linuxwrangler ( 582055 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @06:43PM (#13290063)
      Find out why your memory is lacking or diary overly busy - remembering things shouldn't be such a problem. If it is reflect why so.

      Your mind is a terrible place to clutter up with stuff that needs doing. It's why you so often have that vague unease that you're forgetting something important. You probably are. However otherwise brilliant your mind is, it is probably lousy at general organizing and task management (remembering to buy new flashlight batteries when you are already at the grocery store rather than when you grab the flashlight to check on the strange noise at night).

      The trick is to find a organizing method that works for you - something that I had not done very well till recently.

      My sister got my attention by mentioning that, by her estimates, reading a book called "Getting Things Done" [davidco.com] and implementing many of its ideas had increased her consulting income by $20,000/year. I am rather leary of the managementOrganizationMethodDuJour but I read the book anyway.

      I found the book very valuable and especially appreciated the fact that, unlike so many methods that are closely tied to a particular vendor's books or software, this book says it's about understanding some basic principles. If you like Outlook, use Outlook. Palm? Great. Pencil and paper? They work fine, too.

      I can't duplicate the whole book here but the most valuable change I've made - and one which changed my Palm from the infrequently-used paperweight it had become into an indispensible tool - was to eliminate the concept of the todo list and implement the concept of the project and the next-action.

      The typical Palm user tries to use the thing by agonizing over due-dates and priorities and categorizing items as "work" or "personal", etc. Instead, use the todo feature as a "project" list where a project is defined as "anything you want to get done that will take more than one step".

      You will find that almost everything is a project and if you spend a few seconds thinking about the project you can identify the single next-action that will move that project toward completion. The "notes" feature in the todo list works very well for this.

      As an example, say your car windshield is cracked then "fix car windshield" is the project. A few moments of thinking takes you from "I need to find a windshield shop" to "Bob at the tennis-club mentioned he liked the place that fixed his" to "I'll call Bob" to "but I don't have his number" to "it's probably in the club roster". OK, the single next action that will move this project forward is to find Bob's number and the place that it can be done is at home when you have the club roster handy.

      This leads to the other important change I made after reading the book. My projects are now organized by "context" - basically, where can I accomplish the next-action. The categories that work for me include "at home", "at computer", "at phone", "with wife", etc. For the example above, the project would start in the "at home" category. After I look up the number and scribble it in the note for that project I would move it to the "at phone" category and so on. A project at the "select paint color" stage might be in the "with wife" category. Whenever I need to go to a store I glance at the "errands" category and see what might be combined into the same trip. While the "priority" feature in most listing programs seems like a good idea it matters little if the absolute most-important item is to send an email and you are nowhere near a computer. But if you are waiting for your flight to leave you may be able to pull out your cellphone and use the time to move items in the "at phone" category forward.

      One useful category is the "waiting for" category - the rebate that will be coming in 6-8 weeks, the shop that told you that they will get a quote to you by Friday. When your project is on hold for some external reason you move it to "waiting for" and put a due-date in it. If you hav

  • More deatils (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anm ( 18575 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @04:44PM (#13288993)
    I've been searching for a very simple, tiny, modern PDA for storing due dates on. ... I've looked at Palm solutions, but can't find anything there.

    Obviously you're looking for something more than you're telling us. Unfortunately, this is slashdot, not the academy of mind readers.

  • FFS (Score:3)

    by metamatic ( 202216 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @04:45PM (#13289004) Homepage Journal
    I've looked at Palm solutions, but can't find anything there.

    Could you be less specific?

    Why don't you actually set out some of your requirements? Then you might actually get some useful answers.

  • Mobile phone (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Wespionage ( 751377 )
    For simple stuff like due dates, most mobile phones provide a simple calendar with alarms. The good thing too is that, unlike a PDA, it's unlikely that you will be without your phone.

  • The Hipster PDA (Score:5, Informative)

    by Karl J. Smith ( 184 ) * on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @04:50PM (#13289057) Homepage
    Index cards and a binder clip. Seriously.

    The Hipster PDA [blogs.com]

    To add some tech to it, use GTDTiddlyWiki [snapgrid.com] and print out the index cards.

    There is also a D*I*Y Planner [douglasjohnston.net]

    Make backups with a photocopier, or just type them in again and reprint.

    • I have gone off-and-on from using index cards as a PDA, from before it was called a Hipster & then after just to be trendy.

      It is fantastic--less distracting than an electronic PDA, no batteries to worry about, readable in BRIGHT daylight, faster data entry, and easier sharing.

      But, I find the cards get too banged up. There was some guy who wrapped his in sale cloth & that is a pretty good idea....but then you also lose the shuffability of the system & might as well get a notebook. There are als
    • The problems w/ paper are the synching / uploading to a computer (boring and tedious, potentially error prone if one is typing) and the re-arranging / re-use angle. Levenger's Circa (also sold as Rollabind) can help with the re-use, and I used such notebooks (just get a punch and a bunch of disks, pass on the over-priced paper) quite a bit in college, esp. for art classes.

      But, I really found my Newton to be quite a bit more useful --- the synching and the desktop client wasn't as nice as a Palm Pilot / Desk
  • The best system I found during my time at school was a simple small note pad. I know it sounds dumb, but the best system was just a 'due date queue'. Anytime a professor said something was due, I'd write it down. Anytime I accomplished anything, it got crossed off the list. Every once in a while I'd re-write the list to clear out all the junk built up between long and short term projects (or also, just try two lists). It works very well since most stuff you need to do is short term anyway.

  • Electronic. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by saintlupus ( 227599 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @04:54PM (#13289093)
    If you've got to go electronic, I'd use a Palm m100. They're cheap as hell, and mine will get a month or two on a single set of AAA batteries.

    Sync it every once in a while.

    --saint
    • I second this. My M100 has a ton of information in it, a game or two, and Eudora. There's still lots of space left. I used to use the IR to check email through my old Nokia phone. I just synced it for the first time in a couple months. If you simply want to keep track of task and appointment data, what more could you want?

      Of course, if the orignal poster just wants a geek solution, Tigerdirect.com has the Fossil PDA watch [tigerdirect.com] in stock if you want more geek. It's $80.
  • Perhaps the most effective PDA on the market. It has long battery life. It is easy to access. Its means of data entry could reach the dozens of WPM. There are various add-on attachments that make this PDA one of the most reliable products on the market. And, the tech support of the company is outstanding.

    http://merlin.blogs.com/43folders/2004/09/introduc ing_the.html [blogs.com]
  • When my cousin was away at college, he melted somebody's PDA in a microwave. He was suspended.
    So it's clearly a bad idea to have a PDA at college.

    If you're like I was, it'll be all you can do to stop playing Quake before the sun comes up so you at least have a chance of making it to your third class without hallucinating little blue dots everywhere you look.
    You don't want to have to keep track of a PDA.
    • I must have been a strange college student, because my PDA was pretty much my lifeline for a couple of years or so. It was compact and let me keep track of the following:

      1. Classes (which often changed by the day)
      2. Class assignments
      3. Meeting and major project schedule for work
      4. Meeting, contact info, etc for clients
      5. Personal things that I needed to remember

      I had a lot of things on my plate (70-80+ hours/week) and forgetting any of them could lead to Bad Things.

  • REQUIREMENTS (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Marxist Hacker 42 ( 638312 ) * <seebert42@gmail.com> on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @04:56PM (#13289120) Homepage Journal
    I agree with the first 5 comments- you haven't given us enough requirments. But given the one reuqirement you've given us, I'd suggest just about anything would do from a pad of paper to a Linux based self-programmed database application in MySQL- and everything in between.

    How about accepting a better list of requirements from someone who has both been playing with PDAs since the Newton and already graduated from college? This is what I wish I had in 1995- and this is what we have available today from a variety of manufacturers:

    A fold-up full sized keyboard for data entry that can fit in your pocket- preferably wireless (either IR or Bluetooth) so that it can be set up quickly.

    A good note taking application of some sort- it should accept both typed text and pen drawings.

    A good Todo List that links to the calendar in some fashion- to give you early warning of upcoming deadlines and allow you to prioritize assignments.

    A reasonable-quality voice recorder- if possible one that you can record up to 90 minutes on and still run the results through a voice recognition program to get text notes out. No matter how fast you are at typing or handwriting you will always miss something in your notes- automatic note taking would be a big plus.

    It should have a very large internal memory as well as interface to your desktop machine back at the dorm for backups- ideally every night before you sleep everything you need should both be on the PDA and your desktop machine- and best of all this should be automated.

    Anybody else have any other requirments for this young person? Anybody know of a ready technology that fits this list? I've got my own favorite right now (PocketPC HP Ipaq 2210 with Bluetooth Keyboard and Hitachi 2GB CF-form-factor Hard Drive) but I'm pretty sure there's a cheaper linux solution out there as well that also fits the requirements- and there are certainly better PDAs when it comes to the hardware buttons.

    • Voice recognition eh? I happen to use an iPaq 4150 and am going of to school soon, are there any voice recognition programs that actually work?
      • Dragon Naturally Speaking does a relatively good job of taking the WAV files recorded by the IPAQs and changing them to understandible, if not always gramatically correct, text. The problem is more one of memory. I'd suggest either SanDisk 1.0 GB SD cards (a few of them, perhaps even one for each class you're in) OR a Compact Flash Sleeve and a Hitachi 2GB or 4GB drive (about the same price). WAV files are uncompressed and therefore take a HUGE amount of space in comparison to just about any other kind o
  • I'm going to chime in here with the rest. A PDA isn't a college tool, it's a gee-whiz gadget for management types who have nothing better to do than spend company money. I was seduced by the Visor in college, I laid out the money, then proceeded to never use it for anything but the occasional game. Input is just too slow, and you can print one weekly schedule for the semester and never need to change it.

    Laptops are barely more useful. I have a tablet PC now and I imagine that it would have been somewhat use
    • Between classes, group meetings, and any sort of regular IM sporting event, keeping track of when the next group meeting can fit does become tricky to think of on the fly. I found a PalmV and a sync to OpenOffice to be invaulable my senior year.
    • They can be useful. My company gave me a T-Mobile MDA III because I have a lot of communication with suppliers. To my mind, it's a communications tool more than anything.

  • Treo 650 (Score:4, Informative)

    by infonography ( 566403 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @05:01PM (#13289150) Homepage
    Scoff about the size, but I just got one for $99 w/ plan from Tiger Direct. I needed a Cell and a PDA, it's now what I use 24/7. Students should consider the GSM versions, getting it cracked is cheap and on those trips out of the country it's gonna save you big.
    • Scoff about the size

      If you're carrying a Cell anyway, the 650 is only as big as the delta between a PDA and a typical Cell. Probably 50%, which is better than most other PDA's.

      Plus you can't 'tooth that cute co-ed down front with a pencil and notepad.

      Keeping a good calendar and to-do list is important for keeping on top of your college duties.

  • Zire 21 (Score:2, Informative)

    by feldhaus ( 813019 )
    I used to have a pen and notepad and swore by it for a while. Then I upgraded to a Palm Zire 21.

    It cost 46 GBP delivered (eBay) lasts weeks on a charge and is generally extremely useful.

    I use it for my to-do list (*so* handy to have it sort itself!), university schedule, contact list, friends' tea preferences, birthdays (HappyDays), (slow, emergency) web-browsing via my mobile phone (using EudoraWeb), SSH (TuSSH), a London Underground map (MapMap Lite), a dictionary (Noah Lite - not great but very handy and
  • I went 20 years before I got a PDA to track my appointments. I finally got a PDA for a "killer" ap. The blood meter module that could be attached. The schedule tracking is a nice to have, because it syncs with my laptop (which sits beside me on the desk here, and has a full size keyboard).

    Pencil and paper. Because you can never depend on the hot babe to have a PDA that you can beam your name and address to.
  • What's the best PDA for this application?

    What "application?" Recording due dates? Can't you just write them down? Maybe put them into a calendaring app on your computer in your dorm? High technology is not the solution to every problem.

  • Dawson's Creek Trapper Keeper Futura S2000 (Score:3, Funny)

    by infonography ( 566403 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @05:10PM (#13289227) Homepage
    Trapper Keeper, ready to ensorb. [cables reach out and grab Cartman monitor like a giant hand, and pull it towards the Trapper Keeper]
  • For the first Three years (before I got a laptop) I used a Palm V. Would suggest getting one if you need something cheap. Works for all simple stuff and can be found on ebay for like 35 bucks.

    If you got one I would also reccomend a collapsible keyboard (also on ebay for a few bucks) that made it great for taking notes.

  • Especially if you're doing any of the sciences where you need to write down mathematics and diagrams in a hurry during a lecture.
  • For everyone who's suggesting that this guy stick w/ a pad & pen, will a pad & pen beep 10 minutes before the submitter's next class?
    • If the submitter can't keep track of events without using some device, then maybe a Timex Datalink watch would be more useful. Otherwise, I never found it difficult to know when it was time of my next class...my college had period bells.
    • If that's the only matter of importance, a cellphone works fine. Pen & Paper is still the best for notetaking, unless you can afford a tablet PC. Even then, there's something to be said for Pen & Paper. Just because elctronics can do the job, doesn't make them the best tool. If more programmers went back to pen & paper occasionally, and avoided trial & error coding, the world would be a better place.

    • Re:zerg (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Monte ( 48723 )
      No, the notepad won't beep at a given time, nor will it play Solitaire. And yet, despite this severe handicap, hundreds of engineers managed to figure out how to put men on the moon and return them safely to earth, all without some goddamned gadget beeping at them on a regular schedule.

      I mastered the art of how to use a clock about the time I was five. It's not that hard, really. See, when the little hand is on the four, and so is the big hand...

      • Re:zerg (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Nick of NSTime ( 597712 )
        This very well may be the most insightful comment I've ever read here. It's shocking how people want to shoehorn technology into the most basic day-to-day tasks. My opinion: if you need something to beep to let you know you have an assignment due, you're not ready for college.
        • oh come on, What is it with so many folks pissing all over the desires of others of late?

          If you don't want to/can't help the author, shut the fuck up and read some other article on slashdot and stop bitching about how YOU fucking did it better years ago with no shoes, electricity, and only sand and a stick to doodle with.

          Next you're gonna remind us how you still walk to work, have no need for this fancy "Email" and "Internet" crap, and all your music is preserved in their original Wax Roll form.

          Ass h
          • oh come on, What is it with so many folks pissing all over the desires of others of late?

            Whereas if the submitter had asked which kind of buggy he could harness to 100 horses to for some major stump-pulling action, you would cast scorn and derision on the suggestion he buy a gas-burning truck.

            A solution is a solution, high-tech or no. Sometimes thinking outside the box is a Good Thing.

            Next you're gonna remind us how you still walk to work, have no need for this fancy "Email" and "Internet" crap, and all yo
            • ...you would cast scorn and derision on...

              Not scorn, so much, more like disbelief and only if he ALSO asked whether it was a good idea... there's a difference.... The Author didn't ask if we thought he should just use pen and paper. Going to college I think it could be assumed that he has used them before.

              Wax Rolls are EMP proof.

              But they sound like shit.

              And if we would start forward thinking instead of relying on old war fighting tactics, maybe we wouldn't NEED something to be EMP proof. Now
          • The parent makes a good point: if you want to do a lot of free-form writing on the cheap, your best bet is to cover your desk area in butcher paper. Get a stick from the campus green and light it on fire, until it burns down to a charcoal tip. Profit.
        • if you need something to beep to let you know you have an assignment due, you're not ready for college.>

          That's hooey. I'm a senior now, and I'm focused enough in an english major that I generally just have a few large papers to turn in during the quarter that are easy to remember. But, back when I was a freshman, taking generals all over the place, I would sit down at the beginning of the quarter with my syllabi and put all of my assignments in as Calendar events in outlook, set alarm notifications 24

    • After two days at college, I had my class schedule memorized. I don't get why one would need a PDA for that.

      Party on Friday? No way I'd forget that either.

    • If it's Windows Mobile you'll be lucky if it beeps at all, they're really unreliable when it comes to waking up from standby.

      http://www.mtekk.com.au/browse/page826.html [mtekk.com.au]

      "A known problem with WM2003 is that the first alarm of the day can be rather unreliable. Users regularly report that the first alarm of the day doesn't always trigger until the device is turned on by the user, whereupon all outstanding alarms then trigger immediately."

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @05:24PM (#13289370)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • I use my T-Mobile Sidekick II to keep due dates. And not only is it a pretty good cell phone, but for 20 extra bucks a month you get unlimited data services. This means AOL IM, web, email, and SMS. It saves me trouble on a few fronts; I only have to carry one device, and I get about 90% of the functionality I could ever need out of a computer from it too. You can even get a telnet/ssh client for it!
    • what kind of battery mileage do you get? My girlfriend has been bugging me about her computer, she just hates "wires". Me, I love wirez... I am thinking of confiscating my machine I gave her back and getting her something like what you have. She's more the telephone talker and occassional web browser type, so maybe that would work, and it has to be cheaper than a new laptop, etc. I like the unlimited data part as well,also, is it possible to use it as a modem connected to your pc? What kind of data ports do

  • I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for, but storing due dates is the most basic function that any hendheld device can perform. Even my cell phone does a pretty good job with that.

    Are you looking for some specific function beyond basic scheduling?

    I know that this does not answer your question, but I've used PDA's for similar functions and found that I was much more efficient with a scheduling book. YMMV.

  • Only storing due dates? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by zhiwenchong ( 155773 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @05:32PM (#13289445)
    If you only need to store due dates, and have an alarm alert you a day before a paper is due etc., I don't see why a plain old Palm wouldn't work. Even a cheapie cell phone would work. I don't carry a PDA nowadays. I just store all my appointments on my cell phone, which I keep in my pocket.

    My cell also has audio recording... so if I need to quickly store an idea or record a snippet, I just record it into the phone's buffer and transcribe it later. Many brilliant spur-of-the-moment ideas were saved this way.

    I used to carry a Palm, but it was just too inconvenient to whip out during the winter (have to unzip my winter jacket, wait for the screen to warm up etc.) And any Palm is too big to stuff in my trouser pocket.

    If you want a PDA to take notes... ah... now that's different. Nothing beats pen and paper for resolution, speed, and freedom of positioning. No tablet or PDA can beat the resolution of crisp handwritten text. Really.

    If you have a good system for note taking, e.g. the Cornell note taking system [westshore.edu], you don't need to resort to any digital means for taking notes.

    If your handwriting is bad, improve it.

    • There is actually a type of paper that supports the Cornell method. Froggle on 'law-rule'. The left margin line is 2.5" from the left. A tad bit expensive, so I have made my own PDF of the format and print out as needed.

  • This is a question you should ask yourself.

    Most people don't need a PDA. There have been extremely few times in life where I've been presented with a situation where a PDA would have solved a problem.

    What kind of grammars are you looking to parse? Are you sure a DFA wouldn't do just as well? They're a lot cheaper you know, not to mention a lot easier to manage. Sure, your language set is limited, but then, do you REALLY need to understand all context free languages?

    -Laxitive
  • Unless you're with a CDMA provider or can't live without a stylus, hi-res screen, 802.11b/g (at least until the N91 is out) and qwerty keyboard, Symbian smartphones are great.

    http://www.series60.com/products [series60.com]
    • Hey. I am a college student (UC Berkeley, Go Bears!) and I am using a series 60 phone right now (Nokia 6600) and have to say that the OS kicks ass....people always complained about Symbian being slow and unresponsive, but they are all idiots. The system will get slow only when you fill up the system memory with crap like songs, shitty ringtones, and images...but that is why a lot of these phones have a separate Flash card inside - so you can store your crap there and leave the main memory alone. On my 6600
      • Yeah, I've got a 6600 here too. The UI isn't that slow. The 6600 has a 104mhz CPU, the 6620 a 150mhz one, and the 6630 and up have 220mhz CPUs. For the original poster, I'd recommend getting an unlocked 6620 on eBay; they aren't much more than the 6600 and offer stereo 44.1khz sound on top of the faster CPU.
  • I'd get the cheapest handheld you can find, and not worry to much about the features. That way, you won't feel bad four months from now when you realize you haven't touched the thing in two months. You might also want to get one that comes in some kind of rubber sheath so it won't be badly damaged when you throw it against the wall. At the very least, if you go cheap you'll have more money to spend on the paperclips you'll need to perform the resets required after the constant crashes.

    Seriously, I know

  • Been there (Score:5, Insightful)

    by vga_init ( 589198 ) on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @06:14PM (#13289812) Journal
    My parents gave me a palm pilot for my birthday after I had graduated from high school. I had a month or two to get really familiar with it, and after that it was off to college with me.

    That little thing was a HUGE help. My schedule was very fragmented, and I'm slow to memorize schedules, especially when they're layered and alternating. Needless to say, I used my palm every day. Most days it would be the first thing I looked at when I got up in the morning (usually just to judge how much time I needed to get ready). I also looked at it between classes; it helped me figure out where to go and when I needed to be there.

    That was the most important function to me. I also ended up making extensive use of the phone book and memo functions. The task list helped remind me of important assignments, but I didn't catalog all due dates on the thing.

    I know palms are not the hottest things anymore, but let's face it; you especially don't want an entertainment machine. As other posters have stressed, you don't want wi-fi, games, videos, or other really cool programs. You want something to help you work. In my opinion, the palm does this well with good, solid core applications. I also use a GPL program on the side to calculate my gas mileage on my car (sourceforge does wonders).

    A good thing to do is find an older palm. The basic functionality of palmOS hasn't changed much at all, and you'll get a great price on a small handheld if you go used/discontinued/refurbished/whatever.

    Also, other posters mention the effectiveness of paper and pencil. Beware. I'm the type that's rather loose with papers. Things in writing can be difficult to keep structured and organized if you're me, and papers get lost all the time, not to mention that they are a hassle to carry. A PDA like my palm makes all my data microscopic, automatically organized, and easily sortable and searchable. I find this more convenient and portable than a pencil and paper solution. That's just me.

    Find a system that works best for you, but I do definitely recommend a cheap palm. If you do in fact prefer Windows pocket edition for whatever reason (can you say nethack [nethack.org]?), an older generation pocketpc is also a handy thing.

  • The Palm M500 (Score:2, Informative)

    by dave_n ( 414085 )
    If you are interesting in a palm, the M500 can be found on ebay for around $30USD. It's a great little piece of hardware, and can do everything that you need. It has 8MB of built-in memory, and you can expand that with a SD card, but I've never found a need for that as most palm apps are tiny. It's a greyscale device, but that nets you longer battery life, and frankly it is easier to read off of for long periods, aka reading ebooks. If you are considering the palm, you'll of course want some distractions
  • If your experience is to be anything like mine was....Budweiser
  • I'm loving my Tungsten C which I picked up used on eBay last year. I turned off the handwriting recognition long ago and use the keyboard for everything. It didn't take long for me to become proficient at typing fast with my thumbs. The built-in wifi is nice too.
  • I use a blackberry for college, and it works great. 7230 is $100 on ebay.
    • I have been out of school for a while, but I sure wish I had my BB 7230 back in the day. It makes entering appointments /dates easy, handles email (which is still a stable with college profs and instructors) extremely well. Does IM nicelt through third party software like Verichat, can do SSH, so connecting to your CS account is easy, and has a respectible memo pad feature.

      Really I liek the intuitive typing / symbol layout. It is easy to access lesser used keys. Much easier than when using a palm,or an

  • Palm Tungsten (Score:2, Informative)

    by captjc ( 453680 )
    I am just starting College as well. I used a palm all through high school. I highly recommend a palm over a PPC. I used mine for Assignments (with Four.Zero [commercial] laer to change to DueYesterday [free and better]), Calender (built in) and Games during boring study halls. For just the bare essencials, something like a palm 3xe would be sufficient [My second one]. I later upgraded to a Tungsten T and loved the extra storage space, color screen, rechargable battery and Storage Cards. I could do things l
  • Forget it. It could get stolen, broken, dunked in beer, whatever. Your school probably gives out free planners for each academic year. Get one of those and use a pen!

  • Palm does do college-useable stuff (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Goeland86 ( 741690 ) <goeland86 AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday August 10, 2005 @08:10PM (#13290645) Homepage
    Hey, dunno what the heck you're looking for, but my palm m505 has served me well for the past year in college, and will forseeably for the next 3.

    Has everything I need: morning waking up alarm, "appointments" which are my classes with 5 minute reminders, since I don't carry a watch, address book, memo pads, notepad functionality (still missing the printer to hand your number to a hottie, but I bet the next version will have it), and for deadlines, well, just make them as appointments with a week or 2 worth of reminders.

    Not only that, but the palm's interface is well thought out, even though people are reluctant to learn grafiti to use it efficiently.

    Seriously, either a palm will fill your needs with a tad of creativity on your side, or you're going to have to lug your laptop around to use your favorite calendar app everywhere.

    This is from a CS major too, and there's no cheaper and easier way than to adapt your habits to a PDA's capabilities than the other way around.
    • I wholeheartedly agree. I bought a Palm Zire 31 and it's been a godsend for keeping track of classes, due dates, contact info for study groups, quick notes when it's inconvenient to dig in the backpack, and a few games for those boring few moments before lecture starts or while waiting for the prof to show up for his/her office hours.

      The calendar app is great, and works perfectly to schedule everything. I recently entered my Fall '05 schedule into it, making it the fourth quarter I've used it. Classes ar
  • They love throwing crap in there as a value add to buying their books. One time, I got a PDA similar to what you're asking about COMPLETELY FREE (with my paid subscription).

  • Like many other post grads I found the note pad approach the best for remembering to do those tasks during the day and a desk calendar for those long term projects. Another tip, hold onto your syllabi. Most everything is right there from day one if your prof takes the time write a decent one. PDAs aren't for everyone. I was given an old one my last semester of college and while it was handy for the calendar function I was using it more for e-books to kill time between classes without carrying a ton of book
  • There is a PalmOS watch avaliable on the market. It's, if not the smallest Palm on the market (might be), the one that's easiest to keep with you.

    FWIW, though, I say bite the bullet and get a real Palm.

  • Buy the cheapest used pda you can find. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by munpfazy ( 694689 ) * on Thursday August 11, 2005 @01:09AM (#13292041)
    My advice - get a cheap used or after market model from a couple years ago. Carry it around for a few months and see if you use it and how much damage it receives.

    You may find that you use it constantly. Certainly true if your memory for names and numbers is anything like mine. If so, then you'll be in a position to make an informed choice when you buy the newest model in a few months. Informed, in this case, means that you'll know what features you'll actually use on a pda.

    Or, you may find that you never touch the thing. Then you'll have saved hundreds of dollars that you can spend on something you really will use.

    Or, you may find that you're the kind of person who destroys or loses several of pda's every year, in which case a constant supply of old cheap ones may be the ideal solution.

    You can find used palm-IIIc's for $25, aftermarket new ones for a little more. Or, if any friends of family are pda users, they may will just hand you their old model if you ask them for it. (I've gone through two models this way myself, and passed each along to other people when upgrade time came.)

    The only caveat is that the newer high(er) resolution screens are a lot nicer for reading lots of text. If you plan to view books on the thing, then the older models just won't cut it. (But unless you work in a cleanroom or you like to read in bed and you share a bedroom with someone who goes to sleep earlier than you, you may well find reading books on a pda isn't something you ever want to do.)
  • Trade the PDA dream for a pencil and paper. Pencil, Paper + a girl is so much better than just the PDA.

    No, you can't have both.

  • I found that for a lot of my consulting work keeping notes on plain old paper suits me best, however I make a lot of diagrams, notes and sketches. The beauty of it is you have a backup paper hard copy and another version which you can import into my computer where I get to add them to various items.

    There are two versions of this gizmo the 501 and 692. Major difference between DigiMemo 692 & A501

    • Max. Paper Size (L x W): 692 - 9.1 x 6.0 in. (232 x 153 mm); A501 - 8.3 x 5.9 in. (211 x 150 mm)
    • Built-in
  • I'm entering my 4th year of college(EEE student). I'm very happy with my PDA, of which I've used for the last 3 years.

    PDA [officedepot.com]

    And don't forget, most PDAs come with crappy stylii. I would go ahead and upgrade to a better stylus while you buy the PDA.one of my favorates [officedepot.com]
  • Pick up a cheap M100/Zire/TungstenE, whatever suits your fancy, then load it with DueYesterday from http://sourceforge.net/projects/nosleepsoftware/ [sourceforge.net] It'll track classes, homework, papers, grades, etc for you. If you're going to take notes during class, pick up a folding keyboard for it.
  • I use a Week-at-a-Glance academic day planner. It also has month pages where I can write notes like "OS paper" or "AI topic due." On the page for that week I write more detail like "AI topic due 5PM e-mail OK use template www.cs.blabla/~prof/ai/template.doc".

    Very visual, fits easily in backpack, can be sat on, does not crash or fail or consume batteries, is large enough to see all of October and excatly why the third week in October is going to suck. They also have a page for writing in your default we

  • Palm Zire 31 (Score:2, Informative)

    by KD5UZZ ( 726534 )
    If you don't need any extra bells and whistles a Palm Zire 31 is a GREAT PDA.
    I've had many PDAs starting from the Compaq Aero 1500, a few iPAQs, etc and I love the Zire 31 above all others.
    What it doesn't have:
    Bluetooth
    Wifi
    CF slot

    What it does have:
    SD Slot
    Color screen - but you can't read it in direct sunlight
    PalmOS 5
    VERY Small size
    Good battery life
    MP3 player - sound pretty good!
    IR port - was great getting numbers off my cell phone
    16MB Ram

    I use my 31 for ebooks, quick notes, tech manuals (PD
  • 1)Read the book Getting Things Done" [amazon.com] by David Allen
    2)Construct yourself a "Hipster" PDA [43folders.com]
    3)Buy a paper calendar

    No PDA or software can beat GTD and a hipster.
  • Stop laughing.

    If you really do want a PDA that can handle reminders *and* take decent notes, then the only real option is the Apple Messagepad 2100. You can pick them up on eBay for a pretty low price.

    Why the Newton?

    First, the user interface is designed around getting things done. Simple notepad-like gestures (ie: scribble over something to erase it) means that you don't have to deal with navigating menu systems to find things.

    Secondly, the screen is large enough to actually take notes on if you really wa
  • a 12' powerbook is basicly the size of a pda. if not that i'd go for the treo.
  • PDAs are totally useless, they're bulky enough to mean you don't always take them with you, they look conspicuous and getting them out to use is a hassle. You treat them too carefully, they're not robust, you look like a dick using them and they're expensive. Get a good smart phone (symbian?) instead, you can even get one with a big screen if you really want but the fact that its a phone also means you will never forget to take it with you and it has more than one function. Also ive never seen a PDA with a
  • Every year at my college (UNLV), they give out free weekly planners to the "new" students. The thing is that they really don't care and in the past few years they've quickly become the gold standard for keeping track of things.

    Plus, you're a college student. Go spend that money that you would have spent on a PDA on something more useful for college students, like a keg cooler or maybe a semester's worth of books (if you feel like it).
  • get a psion revo from ebay, very cheap and the plus model has: a keyboard! small enough to be small, big enough to type on. handy on the train/bus/bench and no messing with character recognition nicely laid out calendar with appointments and alarms word processor which auto converts to/from ms word docs on the pc spreadsheet that does the same with excel but the best part is: black and white screen no backlight (= good battery life) no bluetooth no wifi no camera not a phone i've had mine for about
  • Use Ipod + ipod linux and record the assignments.
  • Hi, I am also a college student and I think the Dell Axim x30 has the best value for money. It has wireless, bluetooth, IR, and is cheaper than the iPaqs. Plus, it is pretty slim and light . However, it might be overkill if the only thing you want it for is to keep track of due dates.

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