XDA Exec?

[ffutures]

I was talking to some teachers at work about my problems with the mininote and desire for a pocketable computer, and someone offered me his old XDA Exec - it's the O2 configuration, e.g. unlocked, and I suppose that it's OK as a PDA with Wifi etc., but I doubt I can get up any speed typing on it. Nevertheless it'd be a big improvement over my current PDA, and I suppose I could put the Sim card from my current phone (orange) into it and use it for that too.

Any horrible problems with them I should know about? And realistically how much is it worth? price is something I haven't discussed yet.

Later: Never mind - there's something wrong with it, it keeps locking up for some reason. I shall have to look at other options.

Comments

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

Sells on eBay for $300-400, so around 150-200 UKP or so.

Might want to consider doing what we're doing, which is getting the iPod Touch. I'll be posting soon on how the wife and I will be using two of those, plus Twitter, Remember The Milk and Google to organize family, college and work. Cheap and easy to use, and unlocked.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I don't think I can type at useful speed on anything that hasn't got something like a keyboard.

The XDA turns out to be a non-starter anyway, see revised post.

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

What else do you need part from a bigger keyboard? Does it need to be a recent machine and have wifi? What do you plan to use it for?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Wifi definitely, bluetooth desirable. Basically, I want to be able to type notes at moderate speed, save files and transfer them to PC and Mac, carry it around with me when I'm out and use net cafes etc. without having to worry about lugging around a full-sized laptop. A netbook would be about ideal if not for size, I need something just a little smaller.

[ggreig]

I don't have the answer, but one thing it might be worth considering is getting a small device and a separate, folding keyboard. This is what I've done with a Palm for years.

Depending on the device you're dealing with, there are folding keyboards that connect by Bluetooth, IR or physical connection (though the latter seems to be going out of favour, presumably because the former two are more ubiquitous).

The biggest pro is having what is almost a full-sized keyboard, when folded out. The cons are having two things to carry (though they're both quite small), and it will drain your battery a wee bit faster.

It may or not be right for you; but I thought it was worth passing on as an idea.

If you do go for the folding keyboard idea, try to make sure you get one that's rigid when folded out - the early Palm ones didn't lock at the fold in the centre, which meant you needed a hard, flat surface to sit them on. I think rigid keyboards are more common now.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

It's a possibility I've looked at before with my little ipaq; the one I tried was crap, but maybe there are better ones around now.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

And I've just seen exactly the machine I want (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=8198552921644608896) except WAY too expensive and just a bit bigger than I would ideally like, hopefully some other companies will look at it and come up with alternatives.

[saranjeuhal.livejournal.com]

Look into the 7" Asus eee or compatibles. There are a lot of units that offer the same or better specs at a better price. I looked into a bunch of them myself before deciding to go down the road of using iPod Touches.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

The problem with all of them is that they won't fit into a coat pocket, which means that I can't easily carry them on a motorbike without padding them against vibration and other forms of damage and stowing them in the pannier boxes, or wearing something like a backpack.