Home Office: Help With Handhelds

What to buy, how to buy; beware the world's worst headset.

Steve Bass

Sign up to have Steve Bass's Home Office Newsletter e-mailed to you each week.

Okay, I'll admit that up until this week, I was the one guy at PC World without a PDA. That changed when Palm sent me a Tungsten C; my wife, Judy, got the Tungsten T3. They're both 30-day loaners; I'll save my impressions about the two for a future newsletter.

More important, I want to tell you about the articles, columns, and charts I used to decide which handheld to try.

Check In With the Mobile Guy

One source of info about handhelds is a colleague, Jim Martin, and his Mobile Computing newsletter. I wish I had read it more carefully before I spent half of a Saturday trying to sync Judy's T3 with Microsoft Outlook. Jim dealt with the issue in "Put Outlook on Your Palm."

If you hate your current PDA and want to switch platforms, read Jim's "Move Data Between PDAs," in which he explains how to transfer data between Palm and Pocket PC handhelds.

Quick Review: Want to prevent your PDA or cell phone from sliding across, well, things it slides across (in my case, the console in my van)? Slap a customized-for-your-device Egrip onto it. I've got one on my mobile phone and it works as advertised. You can find one at the company's Web site for about $10.

Dig This: If you're going to do wireless, watch where you're going. Okay? [small image]

Shopping for a Handheld?

Your first stop is "How to Buy a PDA," which is where I started. This four-page article gives you the big picture. You'll learn how PDAs work, compare the specs for various makes and models, and get shopping tips.

If you're looking for a crossbreed, a device that combines a phone and PDA, you need to check out PC World's "Top 10 PDAs." You'll want to spend some time with the chart, which lets you do your own comparisons.

Right about now, you're probably craving the latest PDA news from the gigantic Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. We have plenty, including "CES 2004: Picks and Pans," where we report on the brightest--and dumbest--products in the show. For a full account of CES, check out our CES News Items page.

A GPS Navigator for Your New PDA

For the last week, I've used the TomTom Navigator (dumb name, smart product), a nifty Global Positioning System receiver for the Palm Tungsten T3. The pricey Navigator has saved me hours of driving hassle. I swear, if I use my Palm for just one thing it'd be the TomTom Navigator.

Listen to this: Judy and I were driving along Highway 101 to a spot we've been to dozens of times. The freeway sign--and our experience--said get off in two exits. The TomTom Navigator patiently suggested we head off the freeway one exit earlier. (We expected the female voice to get more insistent when we ignored the advice, but it didn't.) The end of the story? We discovered that the Navigator's suggestion would have cut five miles from our trip.

So far, the Navigator has been terrifically useful; watch for more details in a future newsletter. You say you want more info right away? Read Tracy Capen's CES report, "GPS Tools Add Multiuser, 3D Support."

The Bluetooth version runs about $350; a wired model is roughly $250. Go to TomTom's Web site for pricing and availability.

Downloads for Your Handheld

I imagine some of you are gamers (no, I didn't say lamers) and can't get enough puzzles, games, and other high-end brain ticklers. Denny Arar, aka The PDA Pundit, shares her secrets in "Games PDAs Play."

And as a newbie Palmer, this came as a surprise: The PC World Downloads section has a pile of free stuff I can use to fill up my Palm's memory. The editors promise it's all useful.

Dig This: Baffled by what type of headset to buy for your mobile phone? I found a smart product with a universal adapter that'll make any phone 100 percent hands-free.

Before I sign off, I want you to spend a few minutes with "What PC World Editors Want for Christmas." It's a fun piece because we let ourselves go.