by Anthony Khoo

Created on: April 16, 2008

As we continue to move into the technological era, our lifestyle is becoming undeniably more mobile, and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) are both an affordable and portable alternative to laptops and desktop computers. There are a wide variety of PDAs available on the market today, and deciding which one best suits your needs can be both a daunting and complex proposition.

The first thing to consider when buying a handheld PDA is what role and purpose it will play in your daily life. PDAs that specialise in wireless connectivity, business or entertainment have vastly different specifications and features, as well as different price ranges, and as such it is imperative that you have a clear purpose in mind when purchasing a PDA.

Wireless connectivity is a major issue especially for those for whose business or lifestyle revolves around using the internet. PDAs with wireless capabilities can access and connect to wireless networks, and use these to browse the internet. This allows users to check their email or commercial assets from wherever they are in the world, as long as they have access to a network connection with internet access.

Processing power is also an important specification in choosing the ideal PDA for your needs. This determines how fast the PDA will respond to your commands, and how quickly applications will install, open and run. It can be frustrating having to wait up to a minute to open an application or send an email. Consequently choosing a PDA with a powerful processor will cut back lag-times and make using the handheld device easier and more efficient. As a benchmark, a mid range processor speed would be around 200 Mhz, and this is the speed of many popular PDAs such as the Palm Treo 680 and Palm Tungsten E2.

If you intend to use the PDA for long periods of time, having a keyboard is essential and can result in your being able to type text much more rapidly. Whilst some PDAs have an inbuilt keyboard, other do not- and may require you to purchase a portable keyboard separately. As these separate wireless keyboards can cost up to $100 US, whether a PDA has an integrated keyboard can be an important issue to consider and can affect your price range significantly.

Price ranges typically vary according to the power and graphic quality of the PDA. Some PDAs such as the Palm Treo 600 will have low LCD screen resolution and while this will result in poorer graphics, it also reduces the price by about $50. Similarly, more powerful PDAs will boast larger price tags as a result of their extra functionality. As a general rule, business PDAs will require less processing power than PDAs that are used for wireless browsing or entertainment.

In conclusion, whilst purchasing a PDA can be daunting, carefully examining specifications such as processing power and wireless connectivity can help you choose the ideal PDA for you. In a world that is becoming increasingly mobile, PDAs can be the perfect device that will enable you to access vital documents and applications regardless of whether you are at home, at work, or in a different country altogether. Having a clear idea of what the PDA is for will enable you to carefully consider the features that a business, entertainment or multifunction PDA needs to have. It is also important to note that factors such as aesthetics and price are entirely a matter of personal preference, and must be taken into account when deciding on a purchase.

As the most portable and affordable computers on the market, PDAs are undoubtedly becoming an essential facet of our daily lives.

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