Hi Malteser,
Handhelds:
The fact that no other PPruNer's have seen fit to reply to your post could well indicate that this is an area where angels fear to tread ...
Be that as it may, welcome to the pursuit of the Holy Grail for the optimal handheld computing device. Be warned that it can lead to obsessive behaviour and can become a VERY expensive habit.
The problem with extremely portable computing devices is that they really focus a whole heap of contradictory requirements into one place. Need a device that gives you a colour screen, oodles of compute power and memory all into a package that fits into your pocket? No problem, we have this model where the battery is built in and lasts for five minutes! Or we do have this model with the external battery, it still fits in your pocket, but the external battery is the same size as your car battery - but it does last three weeks between charges! Get the picture?
Here are a few pros and cons and comments:
Windows CE:
Pro - instant on, Fairly crash proof
Con - Only way to update is to replace ROM or re-flash memory; Available applications limited (both in versions published and the "depth" of the facilities available in those that have been published); But "standard" applications (eg. stripped down versions of Word or Excel) are fine if you're only tinkering while on the run and don't want to design web sites with multi column frame layouts.
Screens:
Colour screens are very sexy, but they take a lot of juice (see too batteries); B & W screens not so energy hungry; Some screens very difficult to read in bright light; Small format screens (Jornada 420, Palm) not suitable for web browsing (but some sites will probably offer an alternative screen view for small screens - sameway that some sites (still) offer a plain text flavour as well as a graphics intensive flavour)
Batteries:
Battery technology is still the achilles heel of portable devices; The faster the processor, the more the memory, the sexier the screen, the heavier the drain on the battery; This means that most of the newer PDA's are using rechargeable technology. That means you've got to tie yourself down to an AC outlet, and the battery life on some of them is dismal (six hours isn't even a working day);
Input: Stylus based inputs for most anything that is intellectually-intensive sucks! Some of the PDA's offer an optional keyboard (there's one for the HP Jornada 420, and also one for the Palm - haven't actually seen 'em but I've read about them)
Synchronising Software: Be prepared to spend many not-so happy hours getting it to work (mapping fields on the PDA to your PC); Some of it's good, (particularly *after* you've managed to set it up), but some of it plain sucks (for example, when it decides that there is no device on the other end of the cable connecting the PC to the PDA)
Christmas Tree Effect: The ads and the slick salesmen are very good at telling you that it only weighs 500 grams and will fit in a jacket pocket. What they never bother to tell you is that by the time you've also taken into account the AC adapter (which invariably needs a bulky wall socket adapter for every countru you visit), the optional CD-ROM drive, the enhanced capacity battery pack, the optional keyboard, the various cables (serial, Parallel, mains, modem), the various PC Cards (memory, solid-state disk, modem, not to mention any manuals you might feel you need to take along, then you're using up a whole lot of space in your smart leather flight case ...
Anything you buy will be obsolete 3 nanoseconds after you've payed for it! Watch this space for all sorts of fascinating devices that will hit the stores Real Soon Now! How about the Ericsson R380 cell phone (the keyboard flips up to reveal a screen)? Or the Nokia 9000 PDA? Oh, and by the way, the HP Jornada 420 is now obsolete - it's now the Jornada 430 ... Get my drift? Read a fascinating article about a gadget about the size of a small clip board, 1 cm thick which is a web browser ...
My personal travelling stable (circus?):
(1) Palm III (runs off two AAA batteries - obtainable anywhere, does all my appointments and phone numbers, instant on, fits in my pocket, and can even, at a pinch, do e-mails which are uploaded and sent from my laptop as soon as I dock it; also, more or less forces you to actually backup your data to another machine, be it laptop or desk top)
(2) Toshiba Libretto 50CT sub-notebook (now obsolete) running Win95 (takes for ever to boot but runs all my favourite applications and is small enough to fit on the smallest table in cattle class - and believe me, some of them are truly tiny!)
Wish list (Santa, are you listening?): HP Jornada 680 (twice the price of the Jornada 420/430), Sony Vaio C1, IBM ThinkPad 240 (dream on ...)
Go forth, shove shekels on the shysters or dollop dollars on the dealers - and enjoy!
Flight Sims:
No Comment - I refuse to play games with a stupid piece of sand that invariably beats me
Ooops, of course, Flight Sims - not a game - serious stuff. My only observation is that one of the earlier version of MS FS actually made me feel quite sick ...
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Feline
(I Sit, I Watch, I Smile)