PDA

A PDA, short for “personal digital assistant” and sometimes referred to as a palmtop computer, is a multipurpose electronic device that can be carried around, almost like a mobile phone.

PDA’s were intended to turn the portable laptop PC into a pocket sized workstation that enabled diary planning, internet access, multimedia applications and even facilities like satellite navigation to be accessed whilst on the move or outside of the home or office.

Over the last four or five years the PDA has almost disappeared – a result of advanced mobile phone technology which has seen cell phones with the functionality to do almost everything that a PDA does with the added value of phone access and camera and video camera functions.

Mobile phones are also able to use a massive number of applications (apps) that now far out number those available for the more powerful and potentially more versatile PDA.

So where does this leave the PDA?

This is a question which many feel has already been answered as both the sales figures and the numbers of manufactured PDA’s continue to decline rapidly.

Even so, the PDA can have a place and some of the more expensive models that feature large (compared with a cell phone) screens and offer GPS facilities can be perfect for ramblers and walkers or surveyors and engineers.

The PDA also allows you to take word documents, spreadsheets, databases and other MS applications with you, and memory/flash sticks ensure that extra data can always be carried separately and securely.

One problem that the PDA has always suffered from is battery time and, Like a laptop, it requires constant recharging. This is one reason why the less powerful mobile phone seems to have almost defeated the PDA in market share and as a “critics choice”. Even so, the PDA may still make a come back.