Alright...I'm considering on getting a smart phone..simply because a decent PDA runs at the same price of a smart phone. Now, the thing that's worrying me is that I'm under the impression that in order for a smart phone to work as a PDA, you have buy the software and that you need to pay certain additional monthly fees? Ya know, I just want a device that I can use for phone calls, organizing contracts, and have a to-dolist/calender tools. With that in mind, would a PDA be a better option?
These days its difficult to specify where PDAs finish and Smart Phones begin as they offer very similar features. Traditional PDA product lines, such as the Palm Treo now has calling cabilities and many Cell Phone companies are now adding PDA functionality to their phones. Software is usually bundled with them and monthly call plans are similar to regular phones but may cost a little extra to buy intially depending on the contract you are signing up to. But now that regular phones have mp3 and camera functionality the Smart Phones aren't any more expensive to make. There are a number of smart phones available from different stables. The most popular are the Symbian based (an Open Source operating system a little like Linux) such as the Motorola A1000. http://www.motorola.com/motoinfo/product/details/0,,40,00.html No other software is needed, they can open Word, Excel files etc. and you can install freeware and licensed applications on it. There are also Windows based phones, for people who like lots of big Microsoft logos and native connectivity to Windows applications. http://www.windowsfordevices.com/articles/AT2468909181.html ...and Palms. http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treo650/ ..and I suppose Blackberrys fall under that category as well but are more useful when used with a corporate email system. Checkout www.cnet.com and work out what suits you best.
See, this whole e-mail thing confuses me. Suppose you already have a hotmail e-mail account, do you have to pay in order have your mailbox updated when a new message is sent? See, my hope is that I can continue having the current family plan without any additional costs.
I believe that there is an MSN Mobile service that would allow you to do that, though I've never tried. I would expect that to work OK with Windows based devices and perhaps have some functionality with 3rd party apps written for other platforms. What aspect of a PDA do you actually want? If its just synching calendar and contacts you can use Oulook with your Hotmail account and just sync everything up when you connect it. If you want to get email on your PDA/Smart Phone when you're on the move thats a little trickier and probably more expenisve.
I just want the basics...ya know, none of the fancy corporate stuff. I thought these things were cool because you would only need to carry the phone, but if you get a PDA, you gotta carry both around. But, if having a smart phone means that I need to pay additional plans simply because it says smart phone (the impression I'm getting from Verizon), it's not worth it then.