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General discussion

PDA for new student

Jun 8, 2004 8:30AM PDT

I'll be starting college this fall, and w/out mom there to remind me about everything I need to do, I thought a PDA would come in useful. Any suggestions on what type to buy? I thought an MP3 player would be cool, but don't need a camera...I don't want to get too expensive, however...anywhere from $100-$250 is good! I was looking at a Palm Tungsten E, Palm Zire 31 & 72...any good?? ANY help would be appreciated!!

Discussion is locked

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Re: PDA for new student
Jun 14, 2004 5:40AM PDT

I'm also a student, and have a zire 71 which they no longer sell. I think the 31 is pretty much the same but without the camera. So far I find the 'to do list' and adress book the most helpful, and also Documents to go which I installed. Documents to go is basically microsoft word on your palm.
I would suggest the 31 for you. Its cheaper and you probably wont need the extra business oriented features of the tungsen line. As a student you'll probably just find yourself using the organizing tools, and maybe a few third party apps, like budgetbook (to keep track of your cashflow) and docuements to go. Better to spend the money on these apps you'll need, then the xtra zip for a Tungsen you probably wont.
I also considered a Tungsen E for a while. Also the lower end clies. But the satisfaction rating for Zire 71 was much higher. I think that after price, the satisfaction rating should be your next guide. Check out the reviews here on Shopper.com and see what people say.

(I know there's a clie that used to come for 199, with documents to go bundled. I'm not sure if its still around.)

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Beware the Clie.
Jun 14, 2004 5:51AM PDT

It's out of production now, so it's unsure what Sony will do about support and more.

Bob

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Re: PDA for new student
Oct 28, 2004 10:39AM PDT

If you can shell out alittle more, you could get a PDA with WiFi. A good idea, usually colleges have hotspots so you might want to consider that.

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Re: PDA for new student
Nov 4, 2004 10:27PM PST

in my point of view, zire 31 is the most cheapest colored PDA available in the market. but the thing is if your not used to write grafitti, youll going to have a hard time in learning grafitti (palm's writting recognition). also most palm models dont have wi-fi. one of the palm model have wi-fi but twice the cost of the price of pocket pc. On the other hand, pocket pc offers lots of variety of models that have wi-fi much cheaper than palm with wi-fi, but more than the price of palm cheapest model. hence, wi-fi is very important as a student to connect internet wirelessly (unlike palm) to do some research and assignment. hp offers pocket pc around $250(US), the price is worthy. but if you dont have enough money and budget tight, go for palm zire 31.

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Ire with Zire 21, 31...
Nov 4, 2004 10:32PM PST

My friend has the Zire 21 and another has the 31. Both lose the PDA contents sporadically and without warning. These are not the only reports I get about these 2 models.

If you get such and experience such data loss, be sure to exercise the possible 90 DAY WARRANTY before it expires.

The only thing that saves them is the Hotsync... But that's little consolation when you're on travel.

Bob