1. Amateur astronomy
Have you always wanted to know more about the night sky and you didn't know where to start? You can stop thinking about buying that pretty expensive big software guided telescope right now. The best way to make your first steps into amateur astronomy is through a PDA and optionally a pair of cheap binoculars. After a few nights out with these and you'll be able to distinguish constellations, stars and maybe even a galaxy with just your naked eyes. Plus you won't ever have to say "I wish I had my pretty expensive big software guided telescope with me right now" whenever you find a clear sky view away from the city lights.
Best PDA: Any PDA
Best software: PocketPC StarMap (free) or AstroNavigator II (commercial)
2. Dictionary
A PDA with additional software can easily double as a pocket sized dictionary. It can translate words to hundreds of languages and can even speak those foreign words for you so you can learn how they are pronounced.
Best PDA: Any PDA
Best software: SlovoEd (commercial)
3. Games
You can play any kind of game genre (even some mmorpgs got released) with your PDA. Some are better suited for the controls than others. There are hundreds of games developed specifically for PDAs that are quite good but usually they're not as "polished" as the similar ones for the portable game consoles. Don't worry because a huge amount of emulators and ports are available for free: Mame, Gameboy, Gameboy advanced, NES, SNES, Amstrad CPC, Genesis, Playstation and many more. My best pick is scummvm which lets you play the old legendary adventure games (lucasarts mostly) using your pen to "point and click".
Best PDA: Dell Axim X51v
Best software: scummvm (free)
4. eBooks
"Hey honey, turn the lights off so I can sleep". You won't hear that phrase again if you get accustomed to reading ebooks on your PDA. You can fit thousands of ebooks (around 500kb each) in a single 1gb memory module so you'll always have a book that matches your current mood. Although most books can be read fine on a PDA screen, the technical ones are messy. For example a programming book with source code and screenshots is quite hard to read on a 3 inch screen because of all the tedious horizontal scrolling you'll need to do.
Best PDA: Any
Best software: uBook (shareware with a nag screen every 10 pages)
5. Navigation
A PDA is very useful for finding your way in unknown or forgotten territory, with or without a GPS device. Many navigation software suites are available with a vast variety of maps to choose from. If you don't have a GPS device you can easily replace all your maps with one of these. But if you need something more than just plain maps, you'll need a GPS unit. With it you'll be able to calculate distances, speed and location.
Best PDA: Fujitsu-Siemens Loox N560 good gps, big screen, VGA
Best software: TomTom
6. Encyclopedia
You can download the entire wikipedia from the internet and copy it to your memory module. There are various versions of wikipedia available. Some include pictures, others include partial content and a few are snapshots of older versions. The version you'll get will mostly depend on the size of your memory module.
Best PDA: Any PDA
Best software: Tomeraider (commercial) More ways to view wikipedia
7. Universal Remote Control
If you've seen the movie "click" with adam sandler you know what a universal remote control can (almost) do. What you don't know is that you don't need one if you have a PDA. There are software suites that can emulate all the functions of a URC using your PDA's touch screen and buttons. You can even create advanced macros for your various devices. For example I've mapped my OK button to:
- turn off the tv
- turn on the projector
- turn on the hifi
- set hifi input to optical
- set 5.1 speaker mode on windows
- switch nvidia display output to dvi
- open mediaportal on my PC.
Best PDA: Any PDA with many hardware buttons, good battery and good infrared transmitter
Best software: NoviiRemote (commercial)
8. Music
Most mobile devices support some kind of music playback. A pda though has some advanced features that you can't find in every mobile phone or mp3 player out there. These include advanced library view, a voice recorder, equalizers, advanced visualization and sound manipulation. The size of a PDA may be a bit larger compared to mobile phones and compact mp3 players but all the extra features make up for it.
Best PDA: Any small sized PDA
Best software: GSPlayer
9. Movies
There are many portable movie players out there. Most of them have a 7" screen and a dvd reader. They can play most movie formats and have outputs for TVs and speakers. Some PDAs can do all those and fit in your pocket. The most important features a movie-player-PDA should have are 1.screen resolution 2.screen size. A vga PDA with quite a large screen beats all other compact movie playing gadgets like ipods and mobile phones. You don't even have to convert your movies to a special format in order to view them on the PDA. Just copy them to your memory module and enjoy!
Best PDA: O2 XDA Flame
TV-Out, VGA, big 3.6" screen, huge memoryBest Software: TCPMP (free) or Coreplayer (commercial)
10. Internet
The best use of a PDA hands down. A laptop is better you say?
Would you be comfortable doing these with a laptop?
- Surfing amazon.com for a book price to compare when you're in a book shop.
- Check imdb rating while browsing your neighborhood's movie rental store.
- Surf for sexy babes while taking part in a boring discussion about earrings.
- Check your digg.com story status while taking a dump.
- Read your emails while waiting for the bus.
If you are an internet addict, a PDA is the best gadget for you.
Best PDA: Any PDA with integrated phone
Best software: Opera mobile
