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Personal Digital Assistants: a big name for some small devices.You can call them whatever you want--palm PCs, handheld devices,Bob or Sally. We'll call them PDAs. They've come a long waysince the original Newton, baby. Whether you're first on thelist for a model with all the bells and whistles or just looking tokeep track of your contacts while away from your desk, theseminiwonders can really take care of business.
Just a few years ago, your PDA choices involved either an AppleNewton or a Rolodex, but the features and price options have sinceexploded. Microsoft has busily propagated its Windows operatingsystem to include Windows CE for handhelds, kind of a super-low-calWindows 95. Most handhelds come loaded with this, the mainadvantage being easy synching with your Windows desktop OS.3Com's Palm Computing is the spoiler in Windowsville: Its PalmOS is compatible with both PCs and Macs.
PDAs started coming out in color just this year. Color makesthings pretty, but in a computer that's running on batteries,it can be a big power drain. You'll have to weigh theaesthetics against power concerns and whether you really need tosee Aunt Edna's phone number in some shade of puce. After all,despite recent leaps in PDA capabilities, including wirelessInternet access, their primary functions are as organizers andnotepads. What they all have in common is a touch-screen displayfor using either your finger or a stylus to control the PDA.
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