What are PDAs

A. PDAs are the latest gadgets to hit tech-land. PDA stands for personal digital assistant and has taken over the filofax to become the indispensable tool for organising one's personal and business life. Also nickname pocket PCs, personal digital assistants are small and often lightweight. They generally come with a range of software facilities, including a personal organiser, a calendar, a clock, maps, word processor and spreadsheet.

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Q. What's the difference between a palm size PDA and a hand-held PDA

A. Palm size PDAs are a lot smaller and designed mainly for personal, as opposed to business use. Because they are small, they tend to be a lot cheaper than handhelds. However, the software difference between the two devices is what truly sets them apart; handhelds generally offer a wider range of software applications, including, in some cases, web-surfing capabilities. Unlike palm size PDAs, handhelds tend to be more robust, and come with a larger screen and a full keyboard. Psion is the dominant producer of handhelds, while Palm and Handspring are the leading brands in the palm-size market.

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Q. How popular are PDAs with the public

A. The PDA market has enjoyed huge growth over the past three years. Palm's sales figures for September to November 2000 showed that the company had achieved 100% growth for the fourth consecutive financial quarter. This is phenomenal growth for an IT company, particularly in the current e-business climate. The demand for palm size PDAs is slowly gaining on the enormous success of handhelds over the past few years, and as technology becomes more sophisticated it is certain that the popularity of PDAs is set to grow.

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Q. What are the best PDAs on the market

A. The Handspring Visor Deluxe is famed as the best PDA palm size on the market, mainly for its snazzy design and innovative software applications. With a huge national advertising campaign surrounding it, the Visor Deluxe is the most popular palm size on the market and is well suited to personal use. Another very popular PDA on the market is the Casio Cassiopeia EM500. Praised for its ergonomic design and large screen, the EM500 is the favourite among business users. As far as handheld PDAs go, Psion has for many years dominated the market. The reason for this is simply that Psion produces the best handhelds on the market. The Psion Series 5mx is the market leader and has been for a very long time. It is stylishly designed, compact, software intensive and reasonably priced. At the lower end of the handheld market is the Sharp ZQ-770. Priced at only �85, the 770 straddles the line between a personal organiser and a PDA. With its silver plastic finish, full keyboard and silver screen, this device is ideal for basic, personal use.

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Q. Which features should a customer be looking for in a PDA

A. Most good quality PDAs should include such facilities as an address book, a calculator, clock and time-zone guide, a memo pad, a 'date book', an expense diary, email facility, word processor, spreadsheet and a 'graffiti' pad. It should include a software that allows you to connect and move data between your PDA and a desktop or laptop computer. As standard most PDAs come with an electronic pen that allows users to hand-write directly onto the memo pad or graffiti pad. Most quality PDAs also come with a microphone to allow sound and voice recording.

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Q. What can consumers expect from PDAs in the future

A. PDA technology is expanding fast. Within the next three years, consumers can expect to see the wider availability of colour screens, longer life batteries and smaller devices. However, as is already taking place, PDAs are slowly merging with other technologies such as mobile phones. In the future, customers can expect to see the marriage between mobiles and PDAs complete. The Nokia Communicator 9210 as well as Microsoft's Stinger Smartphone are expected to become hugely popular in the next�two years. The future will also bring with it a greater choice of vendors and a wider choice of PDA designs.

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By Christina Okoli