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Idiomdrottning's thoughts on PDAs vs books
I’m seeing a lot of talk about retro Palm-style PDAs lately, but how about e-ink readers? Batteries that last a month, reading focused, fetch-and-keep approach to connectivity, readily available.
Ultimately, as far as I understand it, the primary purposes of using a PDA instead of modern stuff is:
* nostalgia (or the “nostalgia for what you missed”, which I totally get)
* hipster/weirdo cred (having a “unique thing”, like “cyberdecks“ a few months ago)
* a psychological hack to find inner peace
For me it's all of the above. I have and use an ereader off and on as well. I'm not advocating for everyone to use a PDA. I know I'm a weirdo. The appeal of the PDA for me is the somewhat more advanced capabilities without going overboard into full on computer territory. When compared to ereaders yes, the reading experience is clearly not as good. It is definitely a better ereader than a smartphone to me though.
The PDA feels like "just enough" portable computer to me. It is a lot more usable outside in bright light than a smartphone or other device with typical modern backlit display. Though not as good as an ereader. It can do quite a few useful things without all the cruft of a device with more of a kitchen sink approach. Ereaders do reading really well but their usefulness beyond that is very limited. Being able to slot the PDA into a folding keyboard and have a distraction free writing device that I can use outdoors and fits in my pocket is great. Input methods are the big downfall with ereaders. Generally an on screen keyboard (which I hate) as your only choice. Plus the software of ereaders is just not designed to let you do much else other than read books.
Can you do all the the PIM stuff that PDAs excel at just fine with modern devices? Absolutely. While maybe not a big deal to many, one thing that these modern devices have not matched or surpassed is the ease and quickness of doing these tasks. I can be entering an item in my todo, jotting down a quick note or adding something to my calendar in under a second. Hardware buttons and instant on responsiveness means for these important tasks this 20+ year old technology still outclasses the fastest smartphone. I realize that these tradeoffs that I value are acceptable to most people. But they are things that modern devices have stopped caring about and that's unfortunate for those of us that miss them.
For a good few years now I have had ideas kicking around about turning various devices into sort of PDA style things. Offline but with syncing capabiltites. I do enjoy my PDA running Palm OS but I would welcome some modern niceities like updated document format support and desktop sync software that works with today's sources of information. My ideal device would be a hybrid PDA/ereader. Pocket size, eink display, battery friendly way to connect a portable keyboard, reasonably capable but extremely efficient OS. That combination of capable OS without going too far, passively lit display and being pocket size is what I'm after. I know from experience that something that actually fits in my pocket will get a LOT more use due to that fact alone.
