PDAs have evolved into gadgets that organise, entertain, communicate and do everything that technology can possibly imagine in a more user-friendly way.
PDAs have evolved into gadgets that organise, entertain, communicate and do everything that technology can possibly imagine in a more user-friendly way
Here was a device that made life easy by keeping track of everything from schedules to appointments, contacts and even grocery lists. But that was a few years back.
Since then PDAs have evolved into gadgets that organise, entertain, communicate and do everything that technology can think imaginable for them in a more user-friendly way.
"The handheld devices market has developed greatly over the years. However, people are still looking for devices that organise and manage personal information including their address book, calendar, dairy and memos - basic functions of a PDA.
"Synchronisation with a user's personal computer either at office or at home also figures as an important need to secure information in an emergency such as a battery crash," says Stuart Maughan, Regional Manager, PalmOne, Middle East and Africa.
"Today, consumer demand has inspired technology to transform handheld devices into more powerful versions of the original devices.
"People now want personal information management as well as multimedia features that allow them to play movies, or listen to music in addition to viewing or editing their documents.
"As a result, new devices have a higher memory, storage up to 4GB, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS/GPRS as well as multimedia features," he says.
PDAs are now sleek and ergonomically designed to suit the active lifestyles of their owners.
In addition to coming equipped with operating systems such as Windows Mobile Pocket PC, Palm OS and Symbian, these powerhouses are packed with processor speeds that go up to 624MHz, have up to 256MB of memory and weigh up to 220 grams.
They use touch screens and alphanumeric keyboards and come with enhanced handwriting recognition software. They also have rechargeable batteries against the replaceable ones of yore.
Most PDAs carry external expansion slots to accommodate additional storage in the form of CompactFlash cards, Secure Digital cards, or Memory Sticks.
These slots can also hold add-ons such as cameras, MP3 players, phones, and GPS receivers.
Colour TFT screens have made monochrome displays archaic as one now has better viewing and sharper VGA resolution - a must for browsing the web, viewing photos, playing games and watching movies.
However, it's the wireless email applications that make the gadget a real winner.
According to the US research firm Gartner, Inc, worldwide PDA shipments totalled 3.6 million units in the second quarter of 2005, a 32 per cent increase from the corresponding period last year.
Gartner's analysts attribute this performance to the popularity of wireless PDAs as well as attractively priced products.
In fact, during the first quarter of this year, 55 per cent of the shipped PDAs included ones with integrated wireless or cellular functionality.
Companies such as RIM Blackberry, PalmOne and Hewlett-Packard are also reaping the benefits of putting in years of research and development to enhance their products and incorporating features such as built-in wireless, higher storage capacity and more user-friendly design elements.
Technology has evolved to the extent that the lines between phones, PDAs, portable computers and multimedia players are fast disappearing.
Most of the above-mentioned companies and several others such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and others now market converged devices such as smart phones, which offer applications and functions that their predecessors could not, including cellular functionality.
"PDA technology is moving more towards converged devices. The growth in the PDA market will be seen mainly in the smart phone and wireless handheld segments as consumers try to integrate their voice and data communication capabilities in one device," says Vishnu Taimni, Category Manager - Notebooks & Handhelds, HP (ME).
However, that doesn't spell the end of the good old PDA. According to Maughan, "There are two aspects to the PDA market: the smart phone segment that is definitely growing rapidly as well as the handheld segment, which also has potential in this region."
For die-hard PDA fans, Palm has the Zire 31, an entry level PDA. While this has the regular PDA features, it is targetted at the consumer market.
Business models include the Tungsten E2 and T5 that have built-in Bluetooth technology, 32MB and 256MB non-volatile memory respectively, and multimedia capabilities among a host of other features.
The LifeDrive Mobile Manager is a brand new product category. It has a 4GB hard drive with LifeDrive smart file management as well as built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
"HP has a range of innovative products including models such as t
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