Technofile: It's the new year and time to get organised. What better way than to dump that frayed paper diary in favour of a digital version?
Many years ago, I enjoyed carrying around one of those tiny diaries which had a virtual encyclopedia inside, as well as a calendar and every length and weight conversion chart known to human kind. Stuck at the school bus stop with nothing to do, I could check my timetable in between working out the distance between New York and Tokyo. Halcyon days.
But those days ended when years later, it dawned on me that even if I did my best to fill the memory of my first ever 512k Psion digital diary with addresses and notes, it would never get any bigger - unlike my crammed and bloated Filofax, shredded to pieces and promising several hours worth of re-transcribing birthdays and anniversaries.
These days I wander around with a combined phone and PDA (Personal Digital Device) in the one device. But the humble PDA remains a staple for everyone who wants their phone to stay as a phone, rather than a glorified alarm clock.
One thing that sets PDA's apart from the simpler calendar systems on mobiles is that they are full-blown computers. You can play better games, plug in dictionaries, check email and even read electronic books. With a PDA you can synchronise documents with your PC and carry them around in a handier format, as many hold pocket versions of Excel and Word.
There are two main operating systems for PDAs: Palm and Pocket PC. It's possible to get Linux-based PDAs but they are rare and are not for the average user.
PDA handwriting recognition has come on in leaps and bounds since the early days when Apple pioneered the brick-like Newton. Both on Palm and Pocket PC, hand-recognition software is often the simplest way of entering information.
But you will need to be prepared to persevere with this - it's hard work using a small device such as a PDA for an extended period of time, like writing a letter. It's better for small notes. For the rest of us, all PDAs allow you to bring up a little keyboard to hunt-and-peck letters on.
On Pocket PC devices, the Activesync software will synchronise your contacts and calendar with your PC. On the Palm it's called Hot-syncing.
Where PDAs shine in the working world is in being able to carry documents like Excel around so that quick calculations can be made on the move. A friend who is a picture-framing specialist finds this particularly useful for working up quotes for clients.
One of the better budget PDAs on the market today is the Dell Axim x50v (Dell.co.uk, €438), which runs Pocket PC version 2003. It's a sleekly designed machine sporting a brilliant VGA display. Powered by an Intel 624Mhz processor, it sports 802.11b wireless internet access as well as Bluetooth.
You can even do presentations on it using the video-out facility.
Another nifty PDA is the Palm Zire 72 (palmone.com, €313), which has a whopping 1.2 megapixel camera inside a very slim, appealing shell, along with Bluetooth. It is not as sleek as the Dell model but has plenty of processing power.
The Acer N30's (acer.co.uk, €242) central loud speaker supplys surprisingly good sounds, although the lack of a five-way joypad is an omission.
The Mitac Mio 339 (€300) is lightweight and very slim, with a VGA still camera and, unusually, a flash but has no Bluetooth.
All in all, PDAs remain a staple of modern life, both business and personal. With synchronisation software, leaving your diary behind does not mean having to lose all the family's birthdays as well.
