vB Easy Archive - Cheapest Bluetooth and wifi Palm? Help me from getting a PPC!

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Cheapest Bluetooth and wifi Palm? Help me from getting a PPC!
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Posted by: straysheepie

Basically the title says it all - I have a T610 and would like to pair it with a PDA via BT, and also have wifi so i don't have to lug my Powerbook to school all the time.

I've looked at a few PDAs but I'm very confused now... it looks like there are limited wifi options if I want to spend say, CDN$400-$500 for something that has both.

I really like the looks of the Clie TG50, but it only has BT and from what I understand you can't add the Sony wifi card?

I like the looks of all the Clies and would love to have one, but the UX50 is too expensive and someone said the NR (or was it NZ?) series says it's a brick with the BT and wifi add-ons - so it's possible but it might set me back a couple hundred bucks?!

Palm Tungstens look good too, although again no wifi...

It looks like I might HAVE to get a PPC (say the Toshiba e740 or ipaq) to have either wifi or BT and then buy a CF add-on but I don't like the looks of a mini-windows, plus I would LOVE to sync it with iCal without using missing sync because I have to pay for it

Any ideas? Should I hold off for a month until my birthday so my parents can kick something in, and will prices drop for new pre-Christmas stock?

Thanks for helping out a PDA n00b

Posted by: Killa-b

right now you can not add WiFi to ANY Plam based PDA besides the Clie's w/ CF card slot.

the SDIO Palm OS5 WiFi Driver is going to be released in about a month.

that being said you best/cheapest option would be to get a Palm TT or T2 then wait a month and buy a WiFi SD card for it.

other then that your more or less out of luck.

you may be able to get a Palm TC and add a BT SD card to it, but last time i looked the Palm BT SD card did not have OS 5 Drivers for it.

Posted by: straysheepie

Oh dear... that's not what I wanted to hear

I had my heart set on a Palm since the PPCs seem too much like Windows plus I hear all sorts of issues of them... then again, I use Windows sometimes so I guess I'm used to it.

Will try to visit an electronics stores tomorrow to see if I can live with PPC... *sniff sniff*

Thanks in any case

Posted by: Type[R]onin

If you must have both and want Palm OS, I think your best option is to get a Tungsten C. I have one and you can check it out at the meet on Monday if you like.

Reason being...it has WiFi built-in (and well implemented I might add) and SDIO Bluetooth cards are easier to come by than SDIO WiFi...probably cheaper too.

All the comforts of Palm and a built-in thumboard.

Posted by: Type[R]onin

Personally, I like PPC better...but that's just me.

Posted by: JamesAyers

I have the TC, and I've experimented with the T610 for a few days. The IR connection worked very well between my Palm TC and the Sony610. Gomadic.com has data cables that will connect the palm with the sony if you don't like the infrared.

One of the coolest things that I had fun with was the phone camera. I could take pics with the phone, (however the resolution wasn't all that great) and instantly beam them from the phone to my tungsten c via infrared. I miss that function now that I have a different phone.

TC has the wifi built in, as others have mentioned, and I've never been a fan of IR, but I was satisfied with what it did for me.

James Ayers
Oklahoma City

Posted by: Leung324

the lowest price i have seen for ux50 was $550. it is still dropping.

i would get a ux50 for built in bt and wifi. also a built-in keyboard and camera.

Posted by: straysheepie

The Tungsten C looked very attractive, and I like the idea of a keyboard (which is one of the reasons why I like the higher-end Clies so much), but it's such a shame there's no BT! I've also heard the TC doesn't do mp3 playback?

The BT would be very handy since I may go on unlimited GPRS soon, and if I do, well, it will be lots of fun with my T610!

Perhaps I *should* wait for the price of UX50 to drop... played with it at London Drugs and it looks soooo nice!

I don't want to get mugged by someone who recognizes how much it's worth, though

Plus I can't justify the price of it right now... arrrrgh

PPCs look so... Windows-ish to me and from what I hear there are more issues (b/c it's Windows?!)

Posted by: karibOS

Wirelessly posted (UPG1 UP/4.0 (compatible; Blazer 1.0))

i'd save up for a UX50. if i had more patience

Posted by: Scott R

As Killa-b said, the SanDisk Wi-Fi SDIO card is supposed to have Palm OS5 drivers available in about a month. Surely you can wait that long, no? If they meet that deadline, you can buy that card for around $90 US through eCost. You could then use that with a Bluetooth Palm OS device. In that case, you may want to add the Tapwave Zodiac to the list of Bluetooth PDAs. You can get the cheaper 32MB model for $299 US.

Scott

Posted by: chix

Quote:

Originally posted by Scott R
As Killa-b said, the SanDisk Wi-Fi SDIO card is supposed to have Palm OS5 drivers available in about a month. Surely you can wait that long, no? If they meet that deadline, you can buy that card for around $90 US through eCost. You could then use that with a Bluetooth Palm OS device. In that case, you may want to add the Tapwave Zodiac to the list of Bluetooth PDAs. You can get the cheaper 32MB model for $299 US.

Scott

Could the SD Wi-Fi card be used with Tungsten W?

Now here's a tough one.... If you can use Wi-Fi card with T-W, could you also use the Bluetooth card at the same time?

Thanks

Posted by: Scott R

Quote:

Originally posted by chix
Could the SD Wi-Fi card be used with Tungsten W?

Now here's a tough one.... If you can use Wi-Fi card with T-W, could you also use the Bluetooth card at the same time?

No to both. AFAIK, SanDisk is only working on Palm OS5 drivers. The Tungsten W is running OS4. And even if someone did make an OS4-compatible Wi-Fi SDIO card, you wouldn't be able to use it at the same time as the Bluetooth card, because the Tungsten W only has one SDIO slot.

Scott

Posted by: chix

Wishful thinking... When will there be a PALM device that satisfies everybody?

Posted by: edeab220

Quote:

Originally posted by chix
Wishful thinking... When will there be a PALM device that satisfies everybody?

OS 6

Posted by: larryganz

The tungsten W should have been named the "C" for "cell"

The tungsten C should have been named the "W" for "wi-fi"

just my 2c worth...

Also, a couple of weeks ago I had a iPAQ 5455 with Wi-Fi and BT that my brother sold me for $400, and I got rid of it within 1 week I hated PPC so much, and bought a Tungsten T3 in its place. It is so much better even without the Wi-Fi, although battery life sucks as bad... Combined with my T616 and unlimited internet via BT, I don't need the Wi-Fi.

Posted by: larryganz

PS: This 5455 had all the updates from HP on it.

Posted by: karibOS

Quote:

Originally posted by chix
Wishful thinking... When will there be a PALM device that satisfies everybody?

no device is perfect.

Posted by: starkisttunalov

Quote:

Originally posted by straysheepie
Basically the title says it all - I have a T610 and would like to pair it with a PDA via BT, and also have wifi so i don't have to lug my Powerbook to school all the time.

I've looked at a few PDAs but I'm very confused now... it looks like there are limited wifi options if I want to spend say, CDN$400-$500 for something that has both.

I really like the looks of the Clie TG50, but it only has BT and from what I understand you can't add the Sony wifi card?

I like the looks of all the Clies and would love to have one, but the UX50 is too expensive and someone said the NR (or was it NZ?) series says it's a brick with the BT and wifi add-ons - so it's possible but it might set me back a couple hundred bucks?!

Palm Tungstens look good too, although again no wifi...

It looks like I might HAVE to get a PPC (say the Toshiba e740 or ipaq) to have either wifi or BT and then buy a CF add-on but I don't like the looks of a mini-windows, plus I would LOVE to sync it with iCal without using missing sync because I have to pay for it

Any ideas? Should I hold off for a month until my birthday so my parents can kick something in, and will prices drop for new pre-Christmas stock?

Thanks for helping out a PDA n00b

Well you are in LUCK

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