How PDAs Work

The main purpose of a personal digital assistant (PDA) is to act as an electronic organizer or day planner that is portable, easy to use and capable of sharing information with your PC. It's supposed to be an extension of the PC, not a replacement.

PDAs, also called handhelds or palmtops, have definitely evolved over the years. Not only can they manage your personal information, such as contacts, appointments, and to-do lists, today's devices can also connect to the Internet, act as global positioning system (GPS) devices, and run multimedia software. What's more, manufacturers have combined PDAs with cell phones, multimedia players and other electronic gadgetry.

As its capabilities continue to grow, the standard PDA device is changing. In this article, we take look at the PDA -- where it's been, how it is converging with other devices, and where it's headed. We also examine how PDAs work and give you some pointers on how to select one.

Types of PDAs Traditional PDAs

Today's traditional PDAs are descendents of the original PalmPilot and Microsoft Handheld PC devices. Palm devices run the Palm OS (operating system), and Microsoft Pocket PCs run Windows Mobile. The differences between the two systems are fewer than in the past.

Known for their ease of use, Palm OS PDAs have:

• A vast library of third-party applications (more than 20,000) that you can add to the system (most devices come bundled with e-mail, productivity, and multimedia software)
• An updated version of the Graffiti handwriting-recognition application
• Synchronization with both Windows and Macintosh computers using the Palm Desktop
• Smaller displays than Pocket PCs to accommodate a dedicated Graffiti area on the device (Some higher-end Palm devices now incorporate a virtual Graffiti area in the display, resulting in a larger display area.)

Most Palm devices are made by palmOne, which offers the Zire and Tungsten product lines. The company formed in 2003 when Palm Computing acquired Handspring, Inc. Sony, which produced the Palm-based CLIE, stopped producing PDAs in 2005.

Pocket PC is the generic name for Windows Mobile PDAs. Their standard features include:

• Pocket versions of Microsoft applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook (note that some formatting is lost between Pocket and standard versions of documents)
• Synchronization with Microsoft Outlook on a Windows PC (synchronization with e-mail systems other than Outlook or with Macintosh computers requires additional software)
• Three handwriting-recognition applications: Transcriber, Letter Recognizer (similar to the new version of Graffiti), and Block Recognizer (similar to the original Graffiti)
• A virtual writing area, which maximizes the display size
• Windows Media Player for multimedia content

Smart Phones
A smart phone is either a cell phone with PDA capabilities or a traditional PDA with added cell phone capabilities, depending on the form factor (style) and manufacturer. Characteristics of these devices include:

• A cellular service provider to handle phone service (As with cell phones, you typically purchase a cellular plan and smart phone from the service provider.)

• Internet access through cellular data networks

• Various combinations of cell phone and PDA features, depending on the device (for example, not all smart phones offer handwriting-recognition capabilities)

• A number of different operating systems, including Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition, the Palm OS, the Blackberry OS for Blackberry smart phones, and the Symbian OS for smart phones from Panasonic, Nokia, Samsung and others