Wednesday
Oct242012
COTD: Flash vs. substance
Wednesday, October 24, 2012 at 2:55AM Excellent comment from Tom- I re-read your article about PDA's last night. What it really made me realize is how little I actually get done with the iPhone and iPad compared to what I used to get done on the Palm and Psion. I had databases and spreadsheets I actually could use to accomplish something. I tried to bring my inventory database over to my Mac from my iPhone a couple days ago for my annual insurance roundup, and I couldn't even get it into a spreadsheet. On my iOS devices I can do a lot of cool things, but like a lot of what I see in the world now it's more flash and less substance.
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Reader Comments (8)
It's interesting that one of the significant effects of the iPhone has been to diminish the PDA functionality.
Like Tom, I did a lot more on my PDA than I can do with my smartphones of late. I use my smartphone as a mobile access to data stored on my computer. The lack of a practical stylus limits what I can do with the device. On the Palm and early Windows mobile, I did much more.
I find that a limitation is that the ratio of my finger to the larger screen is higher than a resistive stylus point on the smaller screens. The on-screen keyboard takes up far too much space, and the ability to manipulate screen elements is also diminished by trying to use a finger or capacitive stylus. I am hoping that the Samsung S-Pen will give me the best of both worlds.
Also PIM related was the dropping of Task (to-do) items by the current platforms, although I believe that iOS has a native solution now, but Android is still lacking, and I'm not even sure about Windows Phone.
I imagine I would still be a Palm OS user if that whole ecosystem hadn't gone pear-shaped. I miss HotSync.
I do less, and find myself more productive for it.
I wrote most of my undergraduate dissertation on a Palm T3. Why on earth did I do that?!
I never could do that much on a small screen. But the iPad is a different matter. If I didn't know what was possible on a full laptop/desktop, I could be quite satisfied with just an iPad. Problem is that I know what else is available.
That is why I like android as I have been using spreadsheets etc on it ever since v1.6.
I have even built birthday invitations from my kids on the transformer.
We only really keep the desktop for editing pictures and videos and for business. The rest we now do with our phones or with the tablet.
I completely agree with David Green's point of view. The PalmOS devices were capable of much more in terms of productivity then today's devices. Now it's just about entertainment and storing media files.
And one could do so much more with the stylus. I had much more information on my TH55 screen to use than now with the finger thing. And that made the OS much more productive. That0s why the Samsung Note has na advantage over the others.
The Note II seems to me to be more in the spirit of a PDA; a productivity device rather than just a consumption device. If you look at the Samsung apps written for it you can see their focus. And split-screen is a big plus.
Here's a crazy-long but very thorough review: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6386/samsung-galaxy-note-2-review-t-mobile-
Carphone Warehouse is pushing the Note II pretty hard; it's on the cover of their in-store magazine and in pride-of-place in many of their stores (facing you as you walk in the door). My local Tesco has a board outside promoting the Note II. This thing is gonna be big...
The Note tablets are missing a trick for productivity, which is the keyboard. I was hoping to see Surface tablets with a built-in digitiser and stylus but I may have to wait a while for that.
The Note is the cover of CPW magazine , it's on a Tesco board - Bug B, it has to be , it won't fit on anything smaller.
With my Palm m515 or T3 I used to for work. It acted as my CRM system using Agendus. So productive and so powerful. Nothing like it on any platform now.
Gavin it's possible the iPhone was on there too; hard to tell ;op