Best PDA Option for MAC
Hey folks. I felt I needed to open a new topic for this.
I've been using apple computers since the 1980's and, even after marrying a PC-loving computer engineer, am devoted to the company's products.
I also have been using PDAs since the mid-nineties. I've had Palm, visor, Clie and even a DaVinci at one confused point grin. I spend a lot of time on the road, have an awful lot of lists and do a fair bit of writing.
My last solution was the Sony PEG-S360. Paired with missing Sync software and a Targus full-size foldaway keyboard (PDA in one pocket, keyboard in the other) I could maintain my contacts, lists and even work on short stories wherever I went, backing it up onto my mac when time permitted. A normal battery charge would power the grayscale unit for sometimes more than 2 weeks of heavy usage. It followed me through the OSX conversion and around the world (literally). I loved that little thing. Had some language dictionaries & even lo-res video games installed on it. I read 20,000 leagues under the Sea and Ovid's Metamorphasis on that thing. Bought 3 in a row as they broke from various accidents.
Admittedly, the connection cables/docking station were notoriously unreliable; lots of wiggling and praying for the unit to sync/charge. With the onset of iSync my memos disappeared from the palm desktop program and didn't seem to appear anywhere in the Mac OS. I found my To Do's (eventually) in iCal. On the Mac, my contacts appeared bereft of their carefully sorted Palm categories and any notes I'd attached to them. Annoying, yes, but everything remained where it was on the PDA, and that's where I needed that information most of the time anyway.
Well, the third S360 has died. I figure it's time to move on. Problem is, there doesn't seem to be a good solution for a user like me who cares little about multimedia; I just need a pocket-sized organizer with a long battery life that I can attach to a foldable keyboard when I feel like writing.
It seems everything out there has a battery-draining color screen and insufficient resources to run all pointless sound & video features included . . . IF it even works with a Mac.
And I realize that unless I find a solution, I'll have to re-sort all my contacts, consign my writings to lost (WHERE does iSync put memos & notes??!!) and give up on maintaining the illusion the PDA gave to those around me that I'm extremely well organized.
I'm so demoralized I've even started musing over whether Mac will ressurect the Newton, and that's a long dark hole I don't want to fall into.
I've been using apple computers since the 1980's and, even after marrying a PC-loving computer engineer, am devoted to the company's products.
I also have been using PDAs since the mid-nineties. I've had Palm, visor, Clie and even a DaVinci at one confused point grin. I spend a lot of time on the road, have an awful lot of lists and do a fair bit of writing.
My last solution was the Sony PEG-S360. Paired with missing Sync software and a Targus full-size foldaway keyboard (PDA in one pocket, keyboard in the other) I could maintain my contacts, lists and even work on short stories wherever I went, backing it up onto my mac when time permitted. A normal battery charge would power the grayscale unit for sometimes more than 2 weeks of heavy usage. It followed me through the OSX conversion and around the world (literally). I loved that little thing. Had some language dictionaries & even lo-res video games installed on it. I read 20,000 leagues under the Sea and Ovid's Metamorphasis on that thing. Bought 3 in a row as they broke from various accidents.
Admittedly, the connection cables/docking station were notoriously unreliable; lots of wiggling and praying for the unit to sync/charge. With the onset of iSync my memos disappeared from the palm desktop program and didn't seem to appear anywhere in the Mac OS. I found my To Do's (eventually) in iCal. On the Mac, my contacts appeared bereft of their carefully sorted Palm categories and any notes I'd attached to them. Annoying, yes, but everything remained where it was on the PDA, and that's where I needed that information most of the time anyway.
Well, the third S360 has died. I figure it's time to move on. Problem is, there doesn't seem to be a good solution for a user like me who cares little about multimedia; I just need a pocket-sized organizer with a long battery life that I can attach to a foldable keyboard when I feel like writing.
It seems everything out there has a battery-draining color screen and insufficient resources to run all pointless sound & video features included . . . IF it even works with a Mac.
And I realize that unless I find a solution, I'll have to re-sort all my contacts, consign my writings to lost (WHERE does iSync put memos & notes??!!) and give up on maintaining the illusion the PDA gave to those around me that I'm extremely well organized.
I'm so demoralized I've even started musing over whether Mac will ressurect the Newton, and that's a long dark hole I don't want to fall into.
