PDA Buyer's Guide

When deciding which PDA is best for you, the most important thing to keep in mind is functionality. What are you primarily going to use your PDA for? Do you want just a basic PDA to use as a date book? Will you need a modem to download e-mail and other information from the Internet to your PDA? Will you want to play games in color on your PDA? Knowing what tasks you'll use your PDA for will help you decide what memory, operating system, and software you'll need.

One underrated, but vital factor in choosing your PDA is the display quality of the screen. If the screen is too small, too dim or hard to read, it defeats the purpose of having a PDA. A PDA's display should be easy to read in both incandescent lighting (usually found in homes) and fluorescent lighting (found in most offices). Most PDAs have backlit screens. Basic PDAs such as low end Palm PDAs or Visor Treos have monochrome screens that display images in four shades of gray, while higher end PDAs can come in as many as 64k colors. Screen resolution, which decides how sharp and clear images appear on a PDA is measured in vertical and horizontal dots per inch. A basic PDA may have a 160 by 160 pixel screen while a higher end model may offer a 320 by 240 pixel screen. When considering a PDA, functionality, amenities and user comfort are most important.