[AUUG-Talk]: Re: [BUGA] Mobile phone/PDA recommendations?

[David Newall]

Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> I've done a bit of looking around, and to my immense disappointment I
> discover that most of the more interesting devices are
> Microsoft-based.
I think you'll find, to your even greater disappointment, that not only 
are the more interesting ones Microsoft-based, but they work better on a 
Microsoft platform than they would on a Linux platform.  In particular, 
Wince's handwriting recognition is superb.  Much easier to use than some 
half-arsed on-screen keyboard, and doesn't require you to learn the 
PDA's way like Graffiti-based units.  I played with a iPaq back when it 
was still Compaq who made them, and it really put me off PDA's because, 
if I couldn't have one running Linux, that worked as well as the iPaq, 
then I'd have just have to settle for the damned iPaq, Windows and all, 
and that frankly stuck in my craw.

I think your list is quite good, but I'd add that you need to place a 
high-emphasis on both screen and battery.  For example a Linux-based 
unit with perfect speech recognition would be of unacceptable utility if 
it only had a 320x240 8-bit-colour screen, or if it only worked for an 
hour on a charge.