Do People Really Use Their PDAs? 814
TAL asks: "With Dell entering the market with their new PDA, the PDA market appears saturated. I work in a high-tech industry and I see more people carrying their PDAs than actually using them. At the same time, I see many people actually going back to their paper planners. I've ran the PDA gauntlet myself and have found that much time is wasted syncing, charging and reinstalling the software. Have there been any studies on PDA turnover? I think the PDA has become more of a status symbol than a useful tool."
I agree... (Score:5, Insightful)
So then I get a CE device from work. I thought I would give PDA's another chance. While this time, I had color and ethernet, and a decent media player, it fell prey to the same problems at before. I stopped using it within a month and it now sits in a drawer never to be used again.
I think PDA's are cool, but no matter how much I want to like them, they just aren't useful.
I agree (Score:5, Insightful)
Need too much discipline. (Score:5, Insightful)
Now if only I had a personal human analog assistant inputting everything into my digital one.
Not Really (Score:2, Insightful)
Sometimes (Score:2, Insightful)
Sometimes I'm fortunate enough to be working on one project with undivided attention. Then I usually don't carry my PDA -- it's easy to remember what I should be doing.
When I'm in my more scattered mode (meetings-R-us), my PDA is a godsend, keeping me on track.
In the past, I've always carried my PDA while travelling because of the address book feature. But I've just purchased a cell phone (Motorola V60i) that allegedly syncs to my Windows address book, so the PDA might not be as necessary for this purpose anymore -- we'll see.
palm Vx used daily for 3 years + (Score:2, Insightful)
I've used my palm Vx nearly everyday for last 3 years. The ONE thing keeps me using it is the rechargeable battery, and LONG battery life. If I had to run out to buy a set of AA every week I would have stopped using it. The Long battery life of 3 weeks on a full charge is great for extended trip. Palm Vx and mobile with infrared means I can keep checking emails quickly and easily.
Avantgo is another program for adding value. Free editions of all main magazines and newspapers. Defiantly payed for itself that way.(Economist, Wired, Guardian, BBC)
PDAs are useful for the right person (Score:2, Insightful)
You said it yourself (Score:5, Insightful)
If people carry them is because they use them. Sure, you can carry some gadget for a week for its novelty factor but if you don't use it sooner than later you will stop taking it with you.
Having said that PDAs are not for everybody. Unless you spend certain amount of time away from you desk and in need of contact information, scheduling or some specific application maybe a PDA is not for you.
Personally I love my XDA [t-mobile.com] especially because I have my email always updated anywhere I go. I don't use it as a phone very often but when I do it works very well although certainly not as well as a normal cell phone.
Not to knock PocketPC, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
On top of that, the PocketPC devices-- despite being way more powerful and generally cooler-- are much less suited to the basic tasks of a PDA (storing numbers, calendar, etc.) They're just too big, eat too much battery, and the software isn't as concise as Palm's.
I really thought my shiny iPaq would be a great replacement for my Palm and my laptop, with it's ability to handle an 802.11 card (and Ricochet back when that existed). Turned out that it was an enormous and inferior substitute for both, and it crashed a lot with the network card in. Now I don't use either, because I'm dissatisfied with the inflexibility of my Palm and the flaws of the PocketPC.
Theyre all missing something (Score:3, Insightful)
Carrying it (Score:1, Insightful)
Basically, the only thing I used my pda for before was storing numbers. Since I have a cell phone, I don't really need it anymore. PDA's generally have an advantage over cellphone in the synching department, but that's about it. They're way too cumbersome to take notes. And, now that most cell phones give you voice memos, you can leave yourself a voice recording of a telephone number or the name of someone you met, which is infinitely superior to using a stylus. The only improvement over that, would be voice recognition that would automatically convert a memo that contained a telephone number and a name into a contact entry in your cellphone.
Just not useful enough. (Score:1, Insightful)
As an organizer, I find that it's just not convenient enough. As a previous poster had pointed out, the interface is far too cumbersome (unless a real keyboard is added, which makes me wonder why I'm not carrying a sub-compact notebook at that point).
Entertainment is pretty much limited to games that aren't much better than the ones I play on my TI-89...so why carry another piece of hardware? I'd rather have a good calculator that plays lame games than a crappy calculator that plays nearly-lame games.
Portable net access is the only decent use of a PDA. Checking movie times and e-mail while on-the-go just turns me on. Logging into a shell is a bit of a pain however...
Personally, I'd rather shell out the extra cash for a decent cell phone and sub-compact notebook. Sure it costs more, but you get FAR more functionality.
Yes, if you stretch the definition (Score:1, Insightful)
This is no trick, and I am talking about electronic solutions, not a clipboard with a calculator strapped on.
I'm talking about Casio databank watches. My first two both had body failures where the pins for the band are held in, but the actual brains never failed me. The models they started selling around 1997 have EEPROM so you can even change out the battery without losing the data. I've done it twice and it functioned as advertised.
Now they're hawking yet another version that will receive WWVB from Fort Collins to sync the time. Considering how much time my current watch gains in a month, it might just be time to upgrade again.
Four watches in 13 years doesn't seem so bad. Total investment? About $400, plus another $5-10 for those replacement lithium cells.
If you always wear a watch anyway, why not?
Sony Clie... (Score:3, Insightful)
I've been using my Sony Clie every day for the last 6 months. In the past I've owned 2 palms, a Newton, a cassiopeia, an ipaq, and the clie. The Newton was probably the most useful - except for the size. It's size made it nice to write on, but a pain to carry around (still a beautiful piece of technology though). The Ipaq has a great screen, but runs wince and I can't easily carry it in my pocket. The best organiser I've ever had has been the clie. It's got a nice clear color screen and fits in my pocket. The case is pretty scratched from my keys. It has been a pain getting it to sync with Linux, but it's working now. If you have a device running PalmOS, I'd defintely recommend installing DateBk5 [pimlicosoftware.com].
Absolutely (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:I'm carrying my PDA (Score:3, Insightful)
every once in a while when i need to remind myself to call someone, do something or be somewhere, the organizer in my phone is more than enough. it lets you set the event and its time, and the time you want the reminder alarm to go off.
to be honest, i'm not all that organized a person and i rely mostly on my memory, so that might be a reason why i didn't have much of a use for a PDA. i noticed that most geeks aren't exactly organized, what with the huge pile of papers and other misc items their desks are usually cluttered with. if that's representative of most of slashdot's reader demographic, then most probably the majority of slashdot users don't have a need for PDAs. most just buy it for the cool-gadget factor, in my opinion.
so before you go out and get yourself a PDA, ask yourself if you even have a paper organizer now. if you can live without the organizer, you definitely can do without the PDA, since the latter is just an electronic version of it.
Re:Usage (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually you could reverse the order and I wouldn't complain, they are both utter sh-one-t.
My PDA frees my time (Score:2, Insightful)
When I first got my Palm, it was my toy... but now it's my tool. I've been able to afford my PDA on a student's salary by always buying behind the tech curve (still on a Palm III, use WriteRights from Fellowes to preserve screen life). I only sync about once a month, and on full-backup (Palm overwrites computer)... that way I never have to ask myself "Now where did I put that phone number?" I could lose some data if my Palm dies, but there's always paper if I have to...
So I'm one of those people who keeps his public life in a little belt pouch on his hip. It frees me from having to keep it in my head all the time... in fact, the faceplate on my Palm III pretty much says it all.
"My other brain is organic."
Too much dependency on technology (Score:2, Insightful)
I stuck with a paper calendar on my wall for quite some time, but recently started using iCal for that, and the OSX Address Book for contact info. But I haven't found them causing any problems remembering things - probably because if I'm not at my desk I still have to rely on primitive technology (my brain). The only mobile device I rely on is my cellphone, and I find myself entering numbers manually more often than I use its phone book except for numbers I only call once in a great while.
Re:Why I Used My PDA and Why I Stopped (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:.....not a status symbol. (Score:1, Insightful)
Personally I never had a use for the things. I would prefer a pad of paper for notes and a laptop for full computer functionality. Not some hybrid organizer/game console to carry around as baggage.
It depends on lifestyle. (Score:4, Insightful)
I got one as a cheap bonus with my ibook during my senior year in college. I used it *everywhere*. Since I walked to and from everything I did, it was permanently inside my jacket, frequently synched with my newest music, always synched with my contacts.
Then I graduated and started driving to work every morning. The ipod immediately offered me nothing. Sure, it can play in my car stereo, but with a 20 minute drive, I may as well play MP3 CDs. I didn't use it for months.
Now I've got a new job where the commute includes a 40 minute ferry ride and a 15 minute walk, each direction, every day. I'd shoot myself without my ipod. But I never use the contacts/scheduling features because I can do all that with my PC at work.
Blah, blah, blah. The point is, PDAs, or any other such device, are useful if your life fits their uses. They don't conform to you. You shouldn't conform to them either. If you're a homebody, drive only between work and home, or home and the bar, your PDA isn't going to do anything for you. If you constantly find yourself not having your information when you need it, get a PDA. This is, at max, like 5% of the population.
Your entire life? (Score:3, Insightful)
Your whole life... Wow, and I can't even fit my entire Pr0n and MP3 collection on my desktop system with an 80 GB drive. Oh wait, actually that is my life. Now that is sad...
Re:I agree... (Score:4, Insightful)
With the Blackberry you don't. So with that said, I am a major RIM fan (I'd imagine that the Good Technologies or Danger devices ought to be about the same). People get addicted to the Blackberry: they call them Crack-berries.
When I had a RIM for my last job, I used it constantly. I responded to important emails as soon as they came in, religiously added people to my address book, and kept my entire personal and work schedule in the calendar (which meant, it popped into Exchange at work, too.)
For all its flaws, the one test of how useful it is is "Do I use it?" Hell, yeah. Constantly. Without having it now, I feel more than ever how my schedule, dinners with friends, my dragonlance game, birthdays, etc. was always at my fingertips and accessable.
OK, so what made blackberry different? The little minikeyboard was a better data entry system than a touchscreen. A jog dial means that everything has the same UI and you control it all from your thumb. The built-in wireless was slow, but communicated in the background constantly, so you didn't have to cradle except for recharges (once per week or two: I've had mine last for three weeks). The wireless coverage footprint is incredible, but the device continues to work fine withotu coverage... it just catches up when you pop back in. It is a durable device that you keep on your belt: it turns on when you take it out of its holster, then turns the screen off when you put it back in. No frills: no color, no music, no filesystem, nothing that drains power, makes the device more complicated, and adds 'coolness'.
That's the message. The more cool the device is, the more it trades away essentials. If you want an MP3 player, buy a dedicated device. If you want a phone, buy a phone. If you want a PDA, decide what you want to run. For me it was email, schedule, address book, and a memo to jot stuff down in. RIM was perfect. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
Paper is Cliche (Score:3, Insightful)
It's going to be very hard getting honost results on any poll about who uses them becuase 'the man' doesn't want that data to become public no matter what it says.
Personally, I use mine for all the stuff they market them for, plus reading eBooks and astronomy stuff. Given time a lot more people will have PDA's than computers, once they replace the need for a computer. They are already as powerful as some sucesful personal computers.
Really, I'm suprised slashdot would stoop to this level. Maybe it's a joke and I didn't get it?
M@
Not a job issue... (Score:4, Insightful)
The point is, some people don't like to be organized and others do. If you like to be organized, the first trick is to find a system that works for you. Any time management class will teach you that. What works for 95% of the world may not work for you which is why we have options.
Re:Constantly (Score:2, Insightful)
And you still haven't seen the problem yet? Need a cluestick?
Re:I don't know about "studies" (Score:4, Insightful)
That was easy for him to say: he sat in his cabin and wrote all day, and had Ralph Waldo Emerson's wife make cookies for him, feed him, and in general do all those day-to-day chores for which he had no interest.
(Really, I'm not making this up...)
Still going strong (Score:1, Insightful)
I still use mine. Not every day, but several times a week. I use it for addresses, phone numbers, appointments, outlineing ideas & notes (the only software I've bought for it does outlining).
I'm lost without it as my portable memory. I don't see the point in trying to put a whole PC into a tiny handheld - the interface is too limited & it sucks down batteries like nobodies business. The folks I know who've dumped their PDAs entirely are the ones who only ever used it to keep phone numbers, and they all have cell phones now (I don't - but that's my atavistic quirk), and their phone handles that.
I think cheap PDAs (< $250) will have a place for a long time to come for people who don't need to haul around a whole computer all the time, but need to keep track of more than a list of phone numbers.
Re:I don't know about "studies" (Score:3, Insightful)
If you don't storm castles, a catapult is of no use.
If you don't need to build something out of steel, you probably don't have an arc welder.
If you don't have to juggle too many pieces of information while driving/flying hither and yon, then you don't need a PDA.
I didn't have one when I was a student. I did have one when I was an SE. I don't have one now that I'm on a long-term contract with a single company, but when the contract is over and I need to have my calendar and more phone numbers than my cell can handle in my pocket beeping to remind me what I'm doing now, then I'll get another one.
Re:Usage (Score:3, Insightful)
DAmn straight. I use mine for keeping track of technical installation info at job sites (I install telecom systems), but the most important thing my Palm M500 provides is reading material while I'm taking a crap.