vB Easy Archive - An Academic Device

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An Academic Device
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Posted by: F*SH

Hello

Been reading this forum for a while. I have a plan to upgrade all my technology sometime in the next few months. I'm a student with a large laptop and a Treo 600. The laptop I brought before coming to Uni and I assumed I'd be able to take lecture notes with it. Turns out it's too loud, heavy, has an inadequate battery life and is too hard to doodle on. So I've not taken that into lectures since. The Treo is a device I've always wanted.
The thing I want to do here is merge the laptop and smartphone. Basically, I need a device that:
- Can fit in a pocket or belt clip (don't mind about large, portable without a backpack is the requirement here)
- Has telephony functions (GSM/3G, not a big data user but this is going to be my new phone)
- Has a means to relatively easily enter text, doodle simple diagrams and write mathematical expressions (formulae)
- Has the ability to open and, ideally, edit PDF documents

That's about it. WiFi would be a huge plus, as all our lecture theatres have it. I have a familiarity with Palm devices but I'm not picky, I'll use a PPC or a Symbian or whatever device also. Tablets seem like a great for the lectures but generally have no phone functions, no always-on mode (don't want to have to boot the device to make a call!) and are always too large so far...

I wouldn't be half surprise if such a machine exists; I've given a hefty bunch of requirements there. If you have a phone that you can use in your lectures or meetings perhaps you can say how you get around the problems you might encounter?

Cheers

Posted by: Caiman1900

If you want to go with Verizon the Samsung i730 can do all that, it has EVDO data, WiFi, and the place to write directly on the screen in note wap. It has Microsoft Office so you can use MS Word for your notes and send then to your computer.

Posted by: lgreenberg

I'd look at the HTC Universal.

www.dweiniger.com

Posted by: F*SH

The Universal is tempting, but expensive. I'm guessing that's going to be unavoidable with my wants!

Does the Universal have software that allows you to edit PDFs? Does it have something similar to OneNote, a generic 'paper' application that I can type notes to, scribble diagrams, and write forumlae?

The Samsung is a CDMA device if I remember right, which sort of renders it useless for use in Europe..

Posted by: Caiman1900

The Samsung is CDMA, I didnt know you were in Europe.

Posted by: phillyslickster

The Treo 650 has tons of applications for free where you'll already have the formulas that you may or may not need depending upon your major. Also, the Treo 650 comes with documents to go (word, excel, and powerpoint). There's also an Adobe Reader that you cna get for free to use with the Treo 650. To enhance your typing speed in the classroom, you can get a wireless keyboard ($30 plus shipping with dans cellular accessories on ebay (all OEM products--I purchase all of my OEM products from him). You can hotsync the Treo 650 with your desktop and have all of your notes right there on your desktop. I'm using with Cingular service. You can get an unlimited Media Net (data) plan for $19.99 per month versus purchasing the unlimited data connect plan for $39.99 per month. It works the same.

For Doodling, you can add a free application called Diddle Bug.

I think that I've answered all of your questions, if not feel free to IM me.