How does a PDA work?

[KAZ]

Please can someone explain in very simple terms, how does a PDA actually work? Can you link it to a PC? how do they send and recieve E-mail? Thanks.

[LeMarchand]

Yes, they can be linked to a PC. Most of them allow you to synchronize the data on the PDA with that you have in(say) Outlook. As for how they work/email, I'll leave that to someone more technically minded than myself. If this is a lead up to "shall I get one?", if you already use a Filofax or lots of notes to yourself, it will be one of the best couple of hundred quid you ever spend.

[derbyram]

to send and receive e-mail you will either have to have it linked to your PC (at the time you wish to send/receive) or use either the infra-red connection to connect to your mobile phone or a bluetooth connection (most new PDA's have this or at least an optional add-on to enable it) to a bluetooth enabled mobile. It's not as complicated as it sounds and the manuals are normally very good at helping you set this up.

[tomd]

Have you considered a SmartPhone? If you want emailing capabilities it may be simpler than having a seperate PDA & Phone. I have a SPV Canary (http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/details.php?id=449
) that only cost me �56 sim-free. While it sends&recieves emails fine, (and replaces an iPod) it won't easy work with Word & Excel documents like a PDA would. It sends emails through standard pop/smtp servers connecting though Wap or any dial-up ISP, as would most PDAs.

[marla]

so that's what interpol were on about?