Which PDA is Best for Me ?
I have been customizing and designing Contact Management Systems for over 15 Years, and one of the most asked questions is; What PDA would be best for me.
PDA’s (Personal Digital Assistants) were actually fist introduced by apple in 1993 but only started to gain popularity in 1996 with the introduction of the first Palm Pilot. Palm controlled over 80% of the market for years but now controls less then 10% of the market. Most of the new PDA’s sold today are part of smart phone systems that integrate PDA’s with Cell Phones and e-mails.
PDA’s are now divided into 4 major groups (Divided mostly by operating systems). The are the Palm OS (Palm, Treo, Handspring), Blackberry, Windows OS (pocket PC, HP, Q etc) and Apple (IPhone). All the PDA’s today have similar basic functionality. So if most have the same functionality which is the best PDA for you.
Actually the question should be what is the best PDA based on the way I work?
The questions you have to answer are;
No 1 Will your PDA be the only system you use or will it integrate with another system
No 2 If it integrates with another will it be a basic calendar system like outlook, or a contact management system like ACT!, Goldmine, Maximizer, Microsoft Contact Partner etc.
No 3 If you are out of the office a lot is it important that the system sync with your office systems while you are out of the office or can you wait to sync when back in the office.
No 4 Do you require an integrated e-mail system that e-mails will be controlled from your PDA or office e-mail system (etc. exchange mail server integration)
If your answer is No. 1 then your choice can be any of the PDA systems. Choose based on which one you like best. Always best to try each for a few days. The two best selling Smart phone PDA’s are Blackberry and Iphones.
It is important when understanding your preference for No. 2 is to understand the difference between a simple calendar system like Outlook and a Contact management system like ACT!. Outlook by design creates and manages all the activities and histories under your name. So for example all meetings are booked under your name.
A contact Management System creates and manages all activities against the particular Contact. So for example all meetings are booked under the Contact with a particular user. All history is kept under the clients name. An easy way of putting it, is that all Contact Management Systems are “Client Centric”
All PDA’s by default work the same way outlook does. The activity is set under the user name not the contact.
The important issue is that by default when you sync your PDA with almost all contact Management Systems the activities will be entered under your name. so in this case an activity you entered will be added into your Contact Management System under your name.
It is important for you to understand the differences and consequences. There are some systems that will add software to your PDA that will make it work like your contact Management System. Two examples are Handheld Contact http://www.handheldcontact.com/ and ACT for the Palm http://www.act.com/products/mobile/index.cfm these systems will make your PDA Client Centric.
If you answered in No. 3 that you are on the road a lot and require that you sync away from the office you will require sync software that allows you to sync wirelessly through the cell phone network. There are several systems that will sync with most PDA’s but theses will cost you a monthly fee for sync services. http://www.handheldcontact.com/ and
There is even one system today that will wirelessly sync for Iphone.
Finally if you require an integrated e-mail system mentioned in answer No. 4. You will require your PDA to integrate with your Mail servers. You can integrate your Exchange Outlook e-mils with Blackberries and Pocket PC’s. Blackberry has been a leader in this type of Enterprise solution.
Conclusion
I feel it is important to decide which of the four questions apply to you. (More then one may apply). Ask the questions, try the different solutions and understand the concequences before you decide on the PDA best for you.
