Gadgets and Gizmos

Acer C530 GPS PDA

Acer C530 is a powerful pocket PC; it operates on the latest Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, operating system and provides the full suite of MS Office applications, Pocket Outlook, MSN, Email, Word, Excel and PowerPoint Mobile.

Acer C530 - provides a multi-functional all-in-one GPS PDA solution in a sleek and lightweight form factor.

Featuring a top of the range PDA specification combined with the latest GPS technology, the C530 perfect for the mobile professional. The c530 is more compact than a normal PDA and is closer in size to a smart phone.

It also has a 2.8in screen rather than the usual 31/2in, although it still provides the standard 240x320-pixel resolution. The screen is very bright, and text is clear as long as you turn off Windows Mobile Clear Type. The huge short-cut buttons provide easy access to calendar, contacts and email, but the joystick is wobbly and imprecise. (more…)

Nokia N810

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet is lineup from the Finnish handset manufacturer. Featuring a large 4.1″ touch screen with 800x480 pixel resolution and based on Maemo, a Linux based user interface, Nokia’s Internet Tablets are slowly progressing from a geek toy to a consumer device. The N810 retains many of the hardware features of the N800, such as a built-in VGA resolution camera for video calling, hardware buttons for zooming in and out on the interface, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

The Nokia N810 tablet is being touted as a new phase in portable internet communication. Whether you are near a Wi-Fi hotspot or have your Bluetooth-capable mobile phone, you can take advantage of the N810 to make internet calls. The N810 features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard with touch-screen interface. There’s also a VGA camera for video conferencing. In addition, out of the box it lacks many of the features a lot of you are accustomed to in a handheld. It doesn’t come with a calendar, for example, and the N810’s address book is there to let you send people email or instant messages. You can’t put a street address into it.

The N810 may be about the size of a Palm TX, but it includes something the TX doesn’t: a keyboard. Because of its generous size this is one of the easiest to type on portable keyboards I’ve used. The primary disadvantage of the N810 running Linux is the lack of third-party software. There’s some, but if you’re a Palm OS or Windows Mobile user accustomed to thousands of titles you’re in for an adjustment period.
(more…)

HP practically invented the Pocket PC, and although this is its first stab at a PDA/phone, you know that support is going to be second to none. With a quad-band antenna, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and infrared, it’s as well connected as the Xda IIs. Three dedicated LEDs show the status of each connection, and bundled software makes phone and data set-up a cinch. Nice touches such as large volume keys along the side are a welcome addition.

It looks like a box with a stick-on antenna. The keyboard is a useless clip-on affair that makes the device even uglier than before and should be left in its bubble wrap. There’s no camera and performance is sluggish, with a seriously underpowered processor - though this does help to push the battery life up. A decent enough package, and reasonable value SIM-free, but it feels like a rushed effort and falls well behind the Xda in terms of both design and performance.

Practically being given away on contract ahead of the imminent launch of its replacement model, this stalwart is the cheapest way to combine a phone and a PDA.

A full PalmOne PDA, a quad-band phone and a qwerty keyboard have all somehow been squashed into this sleek and portable unit. The legendary Palm usability has been extended to the phone app, which includes excellent software for keeping track of texts and a booming speakerphone. The keyboard is surprisingly practical whether held in two hands or one, and cleverly doubles as a conventional numeric keypad for phone use. A decent Web browser is bundled and there’s a stack of third-party software on the Net.

This has the poorest screen on test, with a pitifully low resolution and just 4,096 colours. There’s also no Bluetooth - a criminal omission on a device such as this - and the bundled software lacks any office suite for Word documents or spreadsheets. The camera isn’t up to much either, and is the worst of the three in this round-up.

It’s dirt cheap and very user-friendly, but this much-loved handset is starting to show its age - hold off for the new version if you want Palm.

Asus PDA-Cell phone MyPal 8100 is targeted directly to the Sony Ericsson P900. MyPal 8100 uses the Operation System Windows Mobile 2003 Phone Edition, equipped with smart made buttons, under which is the bigger part of the display, making possible to have big display and also the PDA to be small sized at all.