Which PDA?

[donkwon]

Hi forum,
I am due to go travelling in Jan 2006 for a year and i was wondering which PDA would be the most ideal for my situation. I have a few 'needs' and questions, I'm no sure if some of these are even possible but here goes...

1) I'm going to be taking a digital camera on my travels so i have non requirement for an in-built camera in the PDA. I am also going to be taking a lot of photos and videos etc whilst i'm away and i was wondering if it is possible to somehow send this type of contect to the PDA and later email to a convenient email address for storing?

2) I am going to require the ability to connect to the internet, compose text messages and make calls worldwide so a quad band function is a necessity. I'm also a little foggy on how you are charged for using these particular services, i assume a text message would be the same as from a normal phone - But how are we charged for sending emails from a pda? Are we paid for a connection duration? Or by another method?

3) I'm looking to cancel my existing mobile phone contract with o2 as i'm not sure wether i will be able to continue my free minutes and texts whilst i'm abroad. I was looking into Vodafone recently and discovered they have a 'Passport' service which means you are just just 75p for a connection to anywhere in the world and then your minutes are just deducted from your minute allowance on your tariff. (This seems like a very cheap option). Has anybody heard of this or another 'similar' cheap alternative. I know this isn't strictly PDA related but i would be grateful for any knowledge people may have on this matter.

I am very interested in the HTC TyTN PDA. I think it looks good, But i lack an expert opinion. Would this be suitable, or would another device be better suited to my particular situation?

I have a budget of £350+, Preferably nothing over £450 though.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks in advance,

Don.

[getsurfers]

Data calls can be very expensive whilst roaming abroad. Emailing most pics @ 1mb a go could easily mean your bill is in the high hundreds when it hits the mat!

Also the passport service is not worth the paper it's written on. I pay LESS than Voda when roaming on Orange. Even so, the passport only covers calls - NOT data! IIRC Voda charge a few £ per MB.

You are right that your free minutes can't be used in a country other than your own.

Your best option given your budget, is buy a dedicated PDA/phone SIM free and get a PAYG SIM for the country you are in for the call - if only calling locally. If calling back to the UK a lot, then check for the best roaming charges across all networks - remembering that any bundled minutes/texts are useless whilst abroad (you'll pay for everything!!!!!).

I'd also recommend a device with Wi-Fi for the data (normally cheaper locally than mobile data costs).


One final point. Makesure you have your network's contact details in case the phone gets stolen, and that your hol insurance will cover the device. Many will not, which means you also need to check if your home insurance covers it abroad.

[Martin Laverty]

Getsurfers covered almost all of your questions.

If your planning on sending photos back you need a handset that uses the same type of memory card as your camera. This would mean you can put the mem card into your phone and send them on straight away. Data charges abroad might make it expesive to do this though so I would definitely look at a pda phone with wifi. You would be able to go to anywher with a wifi hotspot every now and again and send all your pics by email. Wifi will be faster and cheaper in the long run for doing this.

Most networks charge for the amount of data you send roaming abroad will increase this so I would check with the network first about this.

The Tytn is an excellent handset and would cover all the requirements you mentioned. It uses micro SD cards and sell these card with SD adaptors so if your camera uses either SD or micro SD cards you would be able to send the pictures through your phone.

If you give me a call I can go over this in a bit more detail.

Originally Posted by donkwon

Hi forum,
I am due to go travelling in Jan 2006 for a year and i was wondering which PDA would be the most ideal for my situation. I have a few 'needs' and questions, I'm no sure if some of these are even possible but here goes...

1) I'm going to be taking a digital camera on my travels so i have non requirement for an in-built camera in the PDA. I am also going to be taking a lot of photos and videos etc whilst i'm away and i was wondering if it is possible to somehow send this type of contect to the PDA and later email to a convenient email address for storing?

2) I am going to require the ability to connect to the internet, compose text messages and make calls worldwide so a quad band function is a necessity. I'm also a little foggy on how you are charged for using these particular services, i assume a text message would be the same as from a normal phone - But how are we charged for sending emails from a pda? Are we paid for a connection duration? Or by another method?

3) I'm looking to cancel my existing mobile phone contract with o2 as i'm not sure wether i will be able to continue my free minutes and texts whilst i'm abroad. I was looking into Vodafone recently and discovered they have a 'Passport' service which means you are just just 75p for a connection to anywhere in the world and then your minutes are just deducted from your minute allowance on your tariff. (This seems like a very cheap option). Has anybody heard of this or another 'similar' cheap alternative. I know this isn't strictly PDA related but i would be grateful for any knowledge people may have on this matter.

I am very interested in the HTC TyTN PDA. I think it looks good, But i lack an expert opinion. Would this be suitable, or would another device be better suited to my particular situation?

I have a budget of £350+, Preferably nothing over £450 though.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks in advance,

Don.

[donkwon]

Sorry for the delays, Been out of the office...
Thanks for the insight guys, Thats a great help. so you both suggest using wi-fi to connect to the internet and send content that way over email. I assume that way i will be just charged for my online duration and not for the amount of data sent over the connection?

Martin, the other thing is, my camera is a Sony, so it uses Sony memory sticks instead of sd cards. I could always routinely send a card back home when its full (I have 2) and get it sent back to refill it once again. (This would certainly be lot less time consuming).

I really like the look of the HTC TyTN, I suppose i just need to justify the £400 price tag, Is it really that worth amount of money? And do you think it will prove to be a worthy travel companion?

Getsurfers, your recommendation about getting a new sim for each country sounds like a good idea. I'd considered this before, but was never aware of prices etc. How much do you think a typical sim cost in each country roughly?

[Martin Laverty]

The Tytn is excellent I've got one myself its an excellent spec and phone size. The keyboard makes email and text very easy and it has wifi and bluetooth. You should be able to find a internet cafe with card readers so you might able to send pics that way. With wifi generally pay a acertain amount for an hour or two's access rather than by the amount of data.
When I was on holiday recently some beach bars were offering free wifi to entice customers.

Originally Posted by donkwon

Sorry for the delays, Been out of the office...
Thanks for the insight guys, Thats a great help. so you both suggest using wi-fi to connect to the internet and send content that way over email. I assume that way i will be just charged for my online duration and not for the amount of data sent over the connection?

Martin, the other thing is, my camera is a Sony, so it uses Sony memory sticks instead of sd cards. I could always routinely send a card back home when its full (I have 2) and get it sent back to refill it once again. (This would certainly be lot less time consuming).

I really like the look of the HTC TyTN, I suppose i just need to justify the £400 price tag, Is it really that worth amount of money? And do you think it will prove to be a worthy travel companion?

Getsurfers, your recommendation about getting a new sim for each country sounds like a good idea. I'd considered this before, but was never aware of prices etc. How much do you think a typical sim cost in each country roughly?

[getsurfers]

As Martin says, I'd use net cafes to send the pics home. Very few wont have card readers, plus it'll save you pics being lost forever in the post! Not a risk I'd be willing to take.

Another option would be to simply get a PDA with Wi-Fi and a CF port (I don't think anyone does a PDA with Mem stick slot - could be wrong!), then get a CF>Memory stick converter so you can use the wi-fi on the PDA to email home. Such as http://www.digitalera.co.uk/product/...d-adapter.html

As Martin also says, many bars abroad offer this free to customers.

Carphone Warehouse do either country specific SIMs (might have to order in, or go to larger stores) or their own global SIM. They're about £15-20 each with a little credit usually included.

[donkwon]

Thanks for your time guys, you've both been a great help.
I'd better start getting organinsed. I think my minds settled on the TyTN, Although i've just seen the new glofish, This also looks very nice.

Thanks again.

Don.