which handheld for me?

i'm looking for something that can be used for watching video files on the go, listening to music, viewing and editing office documents and wifi net browsing.

i've seen that the palm lifedrive has a 4GB hdd as standard, which really appeals to me, as large SD cards are quite expensive. are there programs for palm os 5.4 that will allow me to watch DivX/Xvid-encoded files? how do i transfer data to the palm, i.e. does it function like an external harddisk or do i need to install software on my PC?

any answers appreciated!

I think it's will be better to buy handheld on WM5, for example - Dell X51V. WM have more potential in future, and will be dominant on a market, so it will be more soft and more opportunities to grow. Large card are expensive, but answer to me - how much you will watch in single day? )

the dell is a bit expensive for my taste. how does the Acer N311 fare? i know it has crappy battery time, but i can sacrifice battery time to save a few bucks.

how is divx/xvid playback on WM5? any good free players out there?

AFAIK there is not only low battery time in Acer... It also have problem with its Wi-Fi efficiency, so I don't recommend you to save money on bad quality of a product.

Yes, free players also available. Buy handheld first ;)

i've checked out quite a lot of N311 reviews, all of which give good scores. it only really has 2 flaws - battery time (which isn't significantly lower than other handhelds in the same performance category), and sub-par video playback at high resolutions. my thought is to scale down any videos i choose to watch to a low res (i was going to do this anyway to save space).

i haven't read anywhere about Wi-Fi issues, in fact i've read the opposite here. could you be a bit more specific on what you mean by Wi-Fi innefficiancy?

other reviews here, and here

I've been noticed in one of the reviews, but maybe there was just an hardware defect. Ok, as you reviewed more info about n311 - don't see any obstacles then. Buy it, price is very good.

i went ahead and ordered it. hopefully it will arrive within the week. now a few questions:

1. What is the best mp3 player for WM5?
2. Is TCPMP the best video player?
3. Are there any other handy apps i should know about?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by morphid

i went ahead and ordered it. hopefully it will arrive within the week. now a few questions:

1. What is the best mp3 player for WM5?
2. Is TCPMP the best video player?
3. Are there any other handy apps i should know about?

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1. Resco Audio Recorder - dictaphone and mp3 player
2. Look for Resco Picture Viewer, Resco Explorer 2005, Haali Reader, tweaks2k2.net
3. I think so :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nethex

I think it's will be better to buy handheld on WM5, for example - Dell X51V. WM have more potential in future, and will be dominant on a market, so it will be more soft and more opportunities to grow. Large card are expensive, but answer to me - how much you will watch in single day? )

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I was about to second this, but it appears I'm too late.

You can get a good deal on the X51v, throw in a 4GB SD/CF card, and drag divx movies onto it (no conversion required) and you're good ot go.

I've noticed when I Benchmark 700MB DivX movies with TCPMP on my X51v I typically get 150-200% playback, so its got PLENTY of power to play those suckers.

i looked, but couldn't get a good deal on the X51v (i'm in sweden). the n311 has a very attractive features/price ratio, so i got it. as for reencoding - i was going to do it anyway to save space. i will be getting a 4GB SD card next month.

you wouldn't believe the bad luck i've had ordering this PDA. the first place i ordered it from charged my card, then called the next day to say that the PDA was no longer available anywhere in Sweden. i contacted Acer and they said they weren't going to market PDA's anymore, and that i should try ordering from a store in Denmark. i finally found a store in Denmark that shipped to Sweden. they had 7 Acer N311's in stock. Nice, i'll have the PDA soon i thought. no such luck. apparently they had an error calculating their stock supply, and they should have the product by the end of the week. at the end of the week they sent another email saying that the product had been delayed and should be in stock again in about 2 weeks for those that had already placed an order. 2 weeks! gah. two weeks pass, and i get an email from them saying that Acer Denmark are no longer marketing the Acer n311...

so i thought, i'll have to find an alternative. the Dell X51v is too expensive for my taste, but i thought i'd check Dell's website anyway. the very same day they had started offering a 15% discount on the X51v. wow, it thought - maybe they offer student discounts as well. sure enough they did, so now i'm up to a 20% discount. sweet! i went ahead and ordered it, and now i have an X51v on the way!