PDA Software Must Haves

[pmanson]

I've got a new PDA coming via ebay (HP H5550) which i'm planning to use TomTom and a speed camera database as per my current ipaq (3630).

But the question is what are the must have applications for the iPAQ?

A few games etc would be good to get through some boring lectures at uni lol

Thanks,

Phill

[pmanson]

Oh yeah can any one recommend a piece of software that can create an image of the iPAQ and a CF card at the same time?


Thanks,

Phill

[zumbruk]

I've got a 5550. Frankly, it's a piece of cack, although that's largely the fault of Windows Mobile (or whatever it's called this week). In the long list of niggles are;

- The Wifi is as deaf as a post. Getting a rubber plant between you and the AP can cause loss of connectivity.
- The batteries last hardly any time.
- Clicking the 'X' in a window doesn't actually terminate the app, it just sends it off to la-la land somewhere (I guess that's a deliberate design choice), but ...
- Leaving all the apps running for any length of time, overnight for example, means that when you next switch it on, it can take 90 seconds for the "Programs" menu to appear after you click on it.
- So you have to terminate the apps properly (Settings -> Memory -> Running Programs -> Stop) in order to prevent the switch-on weirdness.
- The N&A app sucks rocks. Compared to the one on the Psion 5MX, it's virtually useless.
- It's really designed to be a peripheral for a desktop, not a computer in it's own right. For example, there's no way to import data into the N&A book, you have to do it via replication from a desktop.
- I find the apps very confusing - I've lost a lot of stuff due to it filing stuff away in unexpected places.
- It crashes fairly regularly. At least once a day. (By way of contrast, my Psion 5MX has crashed once in nearly 10 years of constant everyday use.)

On the good side, the handwriting recognition is excellent, *way* superior to Graffiti on a Palm (I had one of those, too. It was rubbish, also.)

So, last night I bit the bullet and installed Linux (Familiar Linux with the Opie UI) on it. I'm already glad I did - it's turned something that's essentially a toy to allow you access your desktop files on the move into a real general purpose computer. The handwriting recognition looks OK, the wireless stuff is easy to understand and file layout is a lot more logical than in CE. I reserve judgement on everything else - I'm about to try and import my N&A book as a VCard file (Microsoft tools won't work with Psion VCard files, even though they are RFC compliant. Figures.)

Familiar Linux v0.8.2 h3900 tts/0

h3900 login:

[size13]

You could start here...

www.pocketpcfreeware.com

[fidgits]

i forget where i got it - but there is a great powerpoint viewer/editor for the Ipaq's...