The history of all my PDA’s - and why I got rid of ‘em.

I used to actually carry a floppy disk around with my lengthy to-do-it list. When a task was complete, I just cut the text, saved, and printed. What a pain in the ass! I them thought about going digital, and couldn't wait. The method I was using really sucked of course. Can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. So, I searched for an organizer with category sections for my to-do list.

Model: Sharp YO-160 Date Purchased: 11/11/1997 Price Paid: $45 My very first organizer. The Sharp YO-160. Wow, sure beats the diskette method. Had address book, to-do list and more. Just what else, its been a long time, so I don't remember. I got this from Circuit City, with an extended warranty. When this broke, I think the letters were getting hard to push, it was still under warranty. Returned it on 10/19/99, they told me I couldn't get a replacement. No longer available. Gave me a credit in full. Now I was free to pick whatever the heck I wanted. So my next choice... NO IMAGE Model: Unknown Date Purchased: 10/22/1999 Price Paid: $70 I can’t remember the name of this one. It didn’t last long at all.. Originally I was going to get one that had some kind of transfer cable to make it easier to transfer my diary entries over. This one didn't, but I didn't care because of the voice recording feature. Instead of jotting things down, I could just record them and type into the PC. It had several different voice boxes to categorize my digital memos. Pretty dumb now that I think about it today. Why say stuff into the recorder, and then type them over. Double the work. I read the battery statistics, and saw that batteries would need to be replaced every 2-3 months upon normal use, and it did not have an expense report feature which I used quite a bit in the old one...I was willing to give it a try anyway. This lasted until 11/10/99, because of problems with the unit. Upon changing the batteries in it, turning it back on just gave me lines all over the screen with a low voltage warning. Swapped them back out, with other ones, and same results. I lost all my information. That’s ok, didn’t care for it... On to the next. Model: Sharp OZ-730 Date Purchased: 11/11/1999 Price Paid: $109-$70 Credit After returning the organizer to the same store for a full refund (within 30 days), I got my replacement. The Sharp Wizard OZ 730. I remember thinking it was a little more pricey than I wanted to pay, but I may as well - it had my expense report feature that I needed, plus the serial cable transfer feature for backing up. When I saw that it played games, it was a purchase. Had everything I needed, and even a keyboard for making entry easier. I got the extended warranty on this too, since it worked out last time so well. I got bored of this organizer after 2 years, only because of the size. It was a little bit bigger than I wanted to carry. I could carry it in my back pocket, with it sticking out, but I didn’t care for the fact that I had to keep taking it out of my pocket to sit down. (Oh, what a pitty!). I accidently came across an organizer on the Internet that was the size of a credit card. After seeing that one, it was love at first sight. Had to have it - so small I can put it in my wallet. I sold this organizer on Ebay, and went off to get.... Model: Rex 3000 Date Purchased: 09/28/01 Price Paid: $30ish The Rex 3000! This one lasted for about about 2 weeks. When I got the organizer and tested it, found out that I cannot enter stuff directly on the screen. I have to do an update on the computer, and then synch it. That sucked! Lucky someone saw the tiny organizer and was interested in it. They bought it from me, for the full price I paid. I did research and found a newer model that had on screen entry... Model: Rex 6000 Date Purchased: 10/16/01 Price Paid: $100ish The Rex 6000! I couldn’t believe it had touch-screen entry on such a tiny device. I synch it by simply pushing it into the PCMCIA slot of my laptop. I can carry this in the front shirt pocket, or wallet - which I purchased one especially for this unit. I had my cell phone, my organizer and all other wallet stuff - and the wallet was still pretty thin. The battery life on this unit was the worst ever - maybe a month? It took CR232 batteries. I did some research to find bulk rates and thank god found some that were .50 each. On the newsgroups for this organizer, I found out that it also played games! I as truly impressed. For about 2 years anyway. My longest kept organizer. I grew bored of it because of its limitations. Sure it was great to pull out and amaze people, but - when my wife was not using her organizer, I picked it up - and saw what it can do. Much more than mine.... So, I gave in, and sold this one on Ebay, and took my wife’s. :) Model: HP Jornada Date Purchased: 3/17/03 Price Paid: $40ish Gave my wife $40 for this. Main reason I wanted it? Color. Play MP3s. Actually get REAL software instead of relying on others to create it like on the Rex. It was a nice unit, but - got bored of this QUICKLY - because of one main thing. Graphics. It was only 256 colors, and my pictures were looking like crap. I would have kept this organizer anyway, if it weren’t for an advertisement I saw that I couldn’t pass up.... I bought the next organizer, and already had a buyer for this unit. They bought it for $50 I think.... and I bought.... Model: Dell Axim X5 Date Purchased: 5/1/2003 Price Paid: $140 The Dell Axim X5. First of all, a pricetag of $140 was truly amazing to me. It had full 16 bit color. More storage than I needed with the 2 types of slots (compact flash and SD). I had to get it. To this day, its my current organizer, and favorite of them all. I get on the Internet on it with my CF card modem. Download emails. Play full color games. The best so far. I wondered what was going to be my next one, or when I will get tired of this! Which was, on 2/26/04, just 9 months later. Model: Dell Axim X5 Date Purchased: 2/26/2004 Price Paid: $220-$175 Thought the above one was the best? It was. I got the same thing. The Dell Axim X5 again, but the 400mhz model! Someone wanted to buy an organizer from me. I sold them mine, and bought the slightly faster one. The other Dell Axim was a 300mhz. I got this one because of the extra speed, plus it came with an infra-red adapter that I can use as a remote control to shut off TVs, VCRs, stereos, etc. Good to play a joke on someone. And it came with a 128 MB SD card. I sold my old one for $175. Good upgrade! I wonder what the next one will be!