RS2 JIM

iTrader: (5)

Hi there,

I own a small shipping company with 7 staff. We have an on-call service where we are able to respond to any requirement our clients may have at any time. As the company's only 18months old we've been very careful with expenditure and have just made do with the equipment we had.

However, the company's making some money now and i'd like to implement the use of a device that will receive all the office emails etc when we're not there so that the on-call person can review and react to them as neccessary.

The scope of what i'm looking for would be:

Ability to send/receive emails and all the usual types of attachment (Word, Excel, Adobe)

Ability to send Faxes (using Winfax Pro if need be)

Compatible with office network for updating emails (Dell server and Desktops)

Compact

Durable

Good Battery Life (ideally not needing charged on a daily basis)


The question is; Am i looking for a small laptop or a PDA?

I'm fairly clueless on the PDA front as the closest i've got is the original Blackberry but i believe some of the newer PDA's run on Windows and can handle pretty much anything the Laptop can. Is this the case?

Is anyone able to suggest some Laptops or PDA's i should be looking at that will do the job i'm after?

Cost is no longer a major worry but i'm still wary of our spending so nothing wildly extravagant!!

I look forward to reading your replies.

Many thanks

James

swaussie

James,
My first thought was Blackberry but you have one so I assume you know what it is and isnt capable of. My next thought was have you checked out any of the new "smart" phones that are available these days? Microsoft has a bit of a blurb here for their product running MS software

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobi...e/default.mspx

and on the palm side I have seen one of the new TRIO 650's in action and they seem pretty useful

http://www.directmobilephones.com/ha...650_index3.htm

Also here is a link to the IPAQ from Hewlett Packard. It will give you an idea of what these devices that run Microsoft Windows Mobile software are capable of

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en...60-430120.html

HTH.

boxst

Hello

You are not going to get the functionality you require from a PDA. I have an Ipaq to experiment with mobile learning (anyone have any experience of this?) and although it has Windows CE it is just painful and fiddly. It's much easier to whip out a laptop and do whatever work is required.

The problem from your post is that you will not get the battery life you require. If your employees are in their car, you can buy a laptop charger that will charge from the cigarette lighter.

Steve

RS2 JIM

iTrader: (5)

Many thanks for the replies guys.

I've read them through and added to the research i've done elsewhere i think the only sensible option is to go for a compact laptop. As i'm fully kitted out with Dell's so far i thought it would be sensible to stick with that theme and have spoken to Dell about the D400 with a few upgrades.

It seems to meet all my requirements other than the battery life which i seem unable to pin Dell down to! However, as suggested above, a car charger will be suitable for the occasional emergency charge if need be.

Thanks again for the advice. I'll let you knoe how the guys get on with the new piece of kit!

Cheers

James

gregh

I wrote this for a customer once....

PDA: Can be used where the users wishes to syncronise calendar, contacts, email, tasks, notes and office files with a desktop computer for quick access whilst travelling. Suitable for light data entry, with an optional thumb keyboard allowing moderate data entry. Ideal for applications that need simple point and click filling in, or simple diagrams/drawing. Can be used with a mobile phone and wireless LAN to pick up email and Internet browsing whilst travelling. Maximum storage with memory cards is around 4gb. Screen size is small, weight is low. Ideal applications are mobile email, personal information managemet, sales force automation, bar code scanning, presentations on the go and mobile customer relationship management. Battery life is high.

TabletPC: Can be used where the user is mobile and doesn't have access to a traditional flat surface where a laptop will be used. Useful for keeping handwritten notes or making drawings on screen which can be shared with other users of Microsoft Office products. Screen size is medium. Ideal for medium to heavy data entry tasks. Ideal applications include data entry in a warehouse/factory, point and click applications. Can be combined with mobile phone and/or wireless LAN for access to email and the internet. Can syncronise PIM information but is slower to access than PDA. HP utility uses a CF card for quicker access to PIM. Screen size is medium, weight is medium. Battery life is medium.

Laptop: for use by a mobile user, who has access to a flat surface where the laptop can be opened up and rested on. Suitable for medium and high data entry, medium graphical work. Can be combined with mobile phone and/or wireless LAN for access to email and the internet. Can syncronise PIM information but is slower to access than PDA. Screen size is large, weight is medium to high depending on model. Battery life is low to medium depending on model.

regards,

greg