PDA or Cellphone or both?
So you still cannot decide whether to buy a new cellphone to replace your existing one, which has become a laughingstock among your colleagues? Your indecisiveness is well-understood.
You may need a PDA to enable you to organize your life better, to access the latest text or multimedia information, to communicate with e-mail and instant messages, to scribble notes or even to give a snazzy presentation.
If only they had invented a small projector for the cellphone that can project a virtual display and keyboard on a flat surface. Until they do, a cellphone will still limit you to a tiny screen and a tiny keyboard, which makes the tasks too challenging to perform on it. A PDA has a larger screen, and that alone is a strong advantage over a cellphone.
In terms of applications, just wait until the 3G is available. Because of the always-on connection to the Internet, a 3G cellphone can have all the functionality of a PDA.
For now, you will have to choose either, or a combination. On the market, is a growing selection of the PDA that also works as a cellphone. The Treo communicator from HandSpring was the first that really got the attention of the world as a true PDA- cellphone combo. Treo 270, the latest from Handspring, offers dual-band GSM capability, which enables you to use it around the world. Where a GSM service is available, that is.
The Treo has a tiny backlit keyboard that allows you to enter text. A rocker switch enables you to navigate around the color screen. Like all the other Handspring PDAs, it runs the Palm operating system. To talk on the cellphone, you will need to use the included headset.
Kyocera may not be a familiar name in Indonesia, but this Japanese company has been active in introducing high-tech products to the market. One of its latest products is the Kyocera QCP 6035 Smartphone. It is a Palm PDA, a Web access device and a cellphone. The only catch is that it is to be used on a CDMA-not GSM-network. You will have to wait until the CDMA service becomes available here.
A newer model, which is to be released later this year, is Kyocera 7135. Noteworthy are the separate display for Caller ID, a cellphone keypad instead of a keyboard and support for CDMA's 3G standard (CDMA2000).
Not very long ago, Siemens introduced their own version of a PDA cum cellphone product here in Indonesia. The SX45 is a Pocket PC-based PDA, and its cellphone functionality is based on the GSM standard. Coming with 32 MB of memory, it can be expanded with a CompactFlash or a MultiMediaCard.
Another upcoming strong contender will be the xda from O2 (www.mmo2.com). It is actually the fruit of a joint effort between British Telecom and Microsoft. Already available in Hong Kong today, this gadget is another Pocket PC PDA that is also GPRS capable. It does not have a keyboard or a keypad, but, like any other Pocket PC device, you can use its universal handwriting recognition or on-screen keyboard. It has a sleek design, but its screen is only capable of displaying 4096 colors, far less than what a Sony Clie can show off.
One thing that is common in more and more of these PDA and cellphone combos is the availability of MP3 player and, naturally, a stereo headphone jack. But, if you are patient enough, we will be seeing more and more gadgets of this genre on the market soon.
In the meantime, you may need to keep using your two hands to hold two separate devices that could actually do the same jobs.--- Zatni Arbi