Oh, the handheld mystery. With visions of carrying the entire contents of my address book in an item the size of my hand, I jumped right in and bought a Palm with full color screen. The fact I can't use it in daylight, sunlight, or while I'm driving, can't fit it into a purse, can't get items entered quickly (still can't master that graffiti feature), or that it requires hot-syncing so regularly that between lunch and dinner I've double booked myself before I had a chance to hot-sync the data to my laptop might all be reasons why it sits, all too-often forgotten its dust-covered leather case that cost almost as much as the Palm itself. I use it when I remember to bring it. Well, it was a good idea.

I also cannot find the 'perfect' handheld. My problem is that I am tired of having so many devices attached to my hip, and I just haven't found a true combo device that I like. The phones with PDA functionality (Blackberry and many others) are too bulky to use as a phone and often lack a typical telephone keypad. Shrink the combo devices down, and they would be too small to use as a PDA. Wireless (Bluetooth, WiFi) is great on the handhelds, but I hate trying to use handwriting recognition to write email or documents. It is slow and cumbersome. Devices with integrated keyboards are better, but only make up a small percentage of the market. Finally, I also want standards. I use Outlook at home and the office, and I want it on my handheld. Ditto for Word and Excel. This is why the Palm devices just do not impress me right now. The size issue I don't see any magic fix for. I guess I just have to compromise and have a phone and a handheld, which is too bad.

And another thing.... what is it with these batteries? Can't anyone figure out how to make a device and/or battery that can get me through an entire day on the road?

IMO the single biggest problem with handhelds is that they are too hard to interact with. It's too hard to input data. If companies could overcome this (not sure how, voice recognition?) then I believe they would truly take off and the other stuff would iron itself out in time like it has in other industries.

I have been using a succession of Palm and Handspring hardware for about 4 years, but I also observe others' use and comments with a product manager's perspective. My observations:

- PDAs are not right for everybody and that's OK
- there are several good/very different reasons for PDA use in two categories: (1) horizontal - PIM, calendar, contacts etc; entertainment, MP3, games; mobile memory/filing (see DataViz note below) using docs generated on other computers; messaging, email, SMS, etc, (2)vertical - specific business applications, wirelessly networked or standalone
- which of these needs fits a person - or none - is completely subjective and situational; there are no "killer apps" or mass motives

For BB: Look into DataViz. They offer Documents To Go: programs that let you carry, view, and edit Word, Excel and even PowerPoint documents, (I carry several docs that I can beam to others' PDAs) and Beyond Contacts that replaces the Palm apps with something that looks and acts a good bit like Outlook. Great stuff.

Cheers. dj

Thanks DJ! I am going to check that out. The Tungsten seems to be pretty close to what I want, and maybe that app you mention would make it worthwhile.

I dont think Handheld will replace a laptop/desktop for email or office apps. Handheld in combination with wireless can be a powerful tool for accessing information anywhere anytime.