PDA or Notepad?

[James Shaw]

I am kind of old fashioned when it comes to certain things. I like fountain pens to write with and jotter pads to write on. I have custom printed sheets done for my many hobbies (including CAP). I am curious about others and how they do this. I have bought clearance jotter pads at stores like Ross and TJ Maxx and had them printed as gifts for friends.

They have worked out  great because I can also put limited info on them and at 4X6 inches have alot of room to use. I use them for CAP when I am interviewing or need a quick memory.

[FW]

I have a computer, smart phone and PDA.  But when I need to remember something, I end up writing it down on a piece of scrap paper or a business card.  It's still easier than going through the electronic machinations.

[Tubacap]

I have most of my things in outlook, but I also keep a notepad in my back pocket all the time.  As soon as I'm near a computer, it gets put into the tasks bar of outlook.

[Al Sayre]

I have a computer, smart phone and PDA.  But when I need to remember something, I end up writing it down on a piece of scrap paper or a business card.  It's still easier than going through the electronic machinations.

Ditto.  Then I lose the scrap of paper or give away the business card...

[Eclipse]

Windows Mobile (T-Mobile MDA) user for about 2 years, various Palm PDA's and Treo's  before that going back to 1993, sync'ed to Outlook (and Palm Desktop before that).

I think that you either "get" the PIM paradigm or you don't.

A funny conversation with a friend of mine who is on the "don't" side.

Me: "You can't text-search a notepad..."

Him: "When you drop a notepad it doesn't break!"     

[JAFO78]

When it comes to writing things down to remember it old school.......notepad.

The batteries don't go dead..............

[NIN]

Writing always works.  Doesn't need batteries.

For CAP I carry a larger-sized Moleskine notebook and EVERYTHING goes in there.

I have a smaller pocket-sized one that fits supremely in my ACU leg pocket for ACA-style stuff.

[Walkman]

I tried using a Franklin planner for a while, never really got into it. When I got my first Palm Pilot, I went nuts. Now I have a Treo. Love it!

I think that you either "get" the PIM paradigm or you don't.

I agree. My wife won't use a PDA to save her life, I hate using a notebook.

One of the things I like so much about my Treo is the memos & notes. I take notes all the time (church, meetings, CAP, random lists to remember). I have them categorized so I can easily find what I want. They're all synced to my Mac, so I have them all the time.

However, as much as I like the Treo, I preferred the old Palm "writing" to the thumb keyboard. I was much faster with the stylus.

[mynetdude]

I tried using a Franklin planner for a while, never really got into it. When I got my first Palm Pilot, I went nuts. Now I have a Treo. Love it!

I think that you either "get" the PIM paradigm or you don't.

I agree. My wife won't use a PDA to save her life, I hate using a notebook.

One of the things I like so much about my Treo is the memos & notes. I take notes all the time (church, meetings, CAP, random lists to remember). I have them categorized so I can easily find what I want. They're all synced to my Mac, so I have them all the time.

However, as much as I like the Treo, I preferred the old Palm "writing" to the thumb keyboard. I was much faster with the stylus.

I found it hard to write/type on a PDA even if you could use the styli and the PDA script font you had to strictly follow for it to recognize your handwriting.  I too like the PDA idea, but I found it difficult because you had to go through the notions of getting it set to take your notes and whatever and then writing it, its not possible like a regular notepad even a small 4x6 notepad you can't freely write on a PDA like you would on a notepad.

I have been wanting to get a tabletPC for that reason, it is much bigger (and slower, or you can get a decently faster one for a ton more money!).  TPCs have a much larger screen, heavier but worthwhile IMHO.

I like the PDA because they are small and everything I want to know about something can be right there on the PDA synced to my PC and so forth.  I have eyesight that isn't getting any better, things are hard to see on it so if I want to read an excel spreadsheet... how do you expect me to see that?! Let alone I have a PDA (which I don't use anymore, need to sell it) I would surf the internet on it... very difficult to do again... size was a killer everything was 150% smaller than your typical PC monitor but I liked it because I could check my bank account while on the PDA and so forth.

I would so buy another PDA (the one I have isn't practical for my needs anymore) but I just worry that it will not be any better or possibly worse than what I already don't do/do with my PDA as it is.  I used my PDA as a TomTom driving directional map until I bought a different one because the new TomTom systems can read you street signs and the one on my PDA doesn't.

I have been looking at the Athena HTC 7500 which is a PDA, PC and GPS all in one!

OTOH I hardly write on notepads either during meetings ever actually, the second I look away from the speaker or look down at my notepad to jot something down my understanding of the meeting starts to be come disorienting to me (and no I can't use a recorder after I got busted for that ).

So I just listen and then anything that comes by email my way is if anything I remember, meeting minutes aren't published (it was my responsibility until I couldn't handle it for the above notepad reasons and until I could no longer record meetings) so nobody has taken the responsibility to do otherwise.

So I'm not sure what to say... I have been doing just fine without a PDA though, I can logon to my email from any PC via a web interface, put in my tasks/notes and then when I go home I use a syncing software that will sync all my tasks/notes/contacts down to Outlook (it will sync all my email/email folders too).  Plus I have a laptop, and I do it there too so I don't really need a PDA though they are handy when I need a phone number or data that I can't get to right away.

I haven't made my mind up.... much less need to sell what I have.

[gistek]

I tried to live without a PDA. It worked for about 2 weeks. My children call it, "Mom's brain"

My new PDA, a Palm T/X has three text entry options. There's the old two panel method, where you have to write upper case in the divider area and hope it interprets the location correctly and doesn't return a number or lowercase; a three panel method where you're guaranteed to get the case right; and a stylus touch keyboard. I usually switch between the three panel and keypad method.

I do find it more difficult to take notes on the PDA than in a notebook or pad of paper, but I like being able to search for things.

I also use it for keeping a summary of my medical history. Since I have several allergies, and three medical problems, there isn't room to cover my medical issues on the form 60. So my form 60 contains a very brief listing of my allergies and conditions and gives instruction to see the memo note under Medical >History. The PDA is always with me. During field activities, I keep it in nested waterproof bags, and it is always on my person.

[Eclipse]

My PDA has a slide-our Qwerty keyboard to make up for the issues with screen test input, likewise Treos.

The Palm TX is a nice unit, though a bit expensive considering its not a phone (is there a SKYPE client for it to use with the broadband?).

I just picked an HP  tablet PC which, which in pad mode, is pretty much the same as my MDA, just bigger.  I'm looking forward to paper-less notes in meetings, but there is a learning curve to get up to speed.

There are many free-form drawing and notes applications (for all platforms) which simply record keystrokes as drawn and are functionally the same as a handwritten note - you lose the text conversion, but the speed is higher.

[Trung Si Ma]

I carry a PDA for adding notes, appointments, task, etc.  It's a windows mobile device that includes a Tom-Tom and has both flight planning and logging software on it.  I sync it with my laptop every time I sit down to use the laptop.

If I'm taking notes at a meeting - and can't use my laptop - I use paper and pencil and then transfer it to the laptop.

[gistek]

The T/X has inboard IR, Bluetooth, and WiFi. I'm trying out a chat client and will probably purchase a license.

I don't use my cell phone enough to warrant getting a combination unit. I did briefly consider getting the unit with GPS, but already have a small Magellan hand-held, and a new Garmin auto-mounted unit, so it was a bit more than I needed.

I also considered the Tungsten E2, but really liked the T/X better integration with Outlook and the WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities.

[SSgt Rudin]

I have a crackblackberry anything and everything goes on it, when I get home it all gets synced into Outlook. I had a notepad when I was in the Navy and usually still forgot to do stuff, this way my phone as well as my desktop annoy me when I need to do something. Added bonus:Brick Breaker

[floridacyclist]

I use all 3. A pad of waterproof paper in my pocket, a Treo 650 (inherited from my wife when she got her 755), and my laptop, which also connects to the internet through my kids' LG Muziq phone.

Whatever is handiest at the time.

[davedove]

I mainly use a notepad, but I don't have any heartaches about either.

The only caveat is to be sure you don't place all of your reliance on an electronic system in the field.  What will you do if it fails?  And believe me, somewhere along the line, it WILL fail.  As long as you are prepared for the worst case scenario, you're good to go.

[LittleIronPilot]

I am a techno-geek, but for field work, in the sun, etc. nothing beats an old fashioned notepad.

I do have a Blackberry, Dell Axim, and a laptop dedicated to CAP usage...but I still prefer the free flowing nature of a notepad and the fact that it does not take batteries!

[smj58501]

3x5 cards held together with a large binder clip. Easy to hand off to others, easy to organize like cards together in a stack organized with a paper clip or staple. Easy to file once you are done with them.

MS Outlook with FranklinCovey PlanPlus add in for calendar and task management.

[mynetdude]

I find it hard to use the PDA for note taking... but it is GREAT for carrying notes though so I won't be note taking. Infact I dislike taking notes A) my hand cramps up a bit B) I have a hard time understanding the speaker/person talking if I am looking down taking notes (heck even my head up and the notepad up as well just the fact taking notes deteriorates understandability for me.

That being said, I found this for note taking which may be interesting:

http://tinyurl.com/2tlf5f  <--- this device lets you take handwritten/paper notes while digitally transmitting to a PC, how well this works is unknown but then again if you want to take notes at the squadron you had either A) take your laptop with you and have room to put it...  B) hook it up to the squadron PC/laptop and hope 5 others didn't bring theirs with them to hook up to the smae PC

[Eclipse]

My new toy:


HP TX1410

The best of both worlds...

[mynetdude]

My new toy:


HP TX1410

The best of both worlds...

are tablet PCs fast? I heard they are slow... and EXPENSIVE.

I don't use my laptop enough, and my PDA is still rather small.. I'd like to do away with my laptop and PDA and get a TPC to get more usability out of it.  I only use my laptop when I am not at home or doing something to support CAP otherwise.

I'm still trying to figure out my email/contact/notes/calendar issues with syncing... so if I went with a tablet PC I could at least install outlook 2007 and forget about syncing I'd have IMAP and everything I needed... heck I wouldn't need outlook then either because I could just use the web interface.

I'd still use Office though... perfectly fine.

[Eclipse]

Dollar for dollar they are more expensive than a similar machine without the tablet, but they are not prohibitive.

I did a fair amount of shopping and this was about the same price as other ones I was looking at in the range.  The IBM and Dell tablet systems, as well as the MODbook >are< more expensive.  This was about $1000 before tax. (Was on sale last week).

I don't normally buy consumer machines for work (this is branded as an "entertainment system" - yeah, whatever), but the feature list was too high to pass up for the price.  I was very close to ordering a Latitude for 1/3 more when I heard this thing's Siren song in the store. ("Get it now", did not hurt the sale, either.)

Dual-core AMD 2.2Ghz, 2Gb RAM, 250 GB HD, Lightscribe DVD burner, Bluetooth, 802.11n, and then all the features of the tablet.

I've only had it about a week, but am getting real used to the tablet idea, especially on the train - anything where you are mostly reading and pointing is perfect, and the performance is very good.

The screen is smaller than I would want on a "regular" notebook, but that's the point of the tablet - smaller.  It's size allows for reading an 81/2x11" document in portrait basically real-sized. 

I'm still working on training the handwriting recognition, but the more I use it, the better it gets.

I've also looking forward to drawing on it (its pressure, not Wacom, oh well).

On the downside, I'm not a real fan of the shiny screen, but a getting used to it (its real bright as the trade-off).  And Vista takes some getting used to, although I've stripped it down and out enough that there are no performances lags, thankfully at least its Home Premium, so most few features are missing.

It also gets really cool looks on the train and in meetings.

[mynetdude]

I'm looking to buy a WACOM similar device, but then again touch screen/pen screen isn't the same as WACOM tablets.

thats a pretty good system for $1,000 its got more than what my laptop has and that is plenty fast really. Yeah I'm not all too estatic about the shiny reflective screens... I find it that is the most stupidest annoying thing the computer industry has come up with as if they have no brains.  C'mon don't they know that when you are using a laptop you are subject to non standard/typical conditions such as sunlight, travel, etc? At home I have minimal light interference due to glare issues I have when traveling with a laptop that isn't an option for me... so a shiny screen is a big turn off to me and it pisses me off.

[JoeTomasone]

I use a laptop or (if nothing else) paper to capture classroom notes, a small pad or my iPhone to capture field notes.   The iPhone is always with me, so it's easy to rely on it.

[mynetdude]

I use a laptop or (if nothing else) paper to capture classroom notes, a small pad or my iPhone to capture field notes.   The iPhone is always with me, so it's easy to rely on it.

then you probably might benefit from a tablet PC or that nifty little note pen receiver technology I linked in one of my posts at newegg for $80+S&H. 

I'm looking at a few Tablet PCs... I can get some for less than $1k but to even get one with bluetooth I gotta stay within $950+ the last time I looked at getting one was almost 3 years ago they have gotten amazingly faster.

[JoeTomasone]

Nah - my handwriting is atrocious and my typing is both accurate and fast.   

[JesusFreak]

I prefer writing. I have a pretty good memory, but with all these things going around its hard to remember. As they say,"The pen is mightier than the sword."

[rross8085]

I use an ACECAD writing tablet that allows me to write on paper which then records the notes. they cna then be uploaded to my computer and either saved in written form or converted to a word document. The conversion software works ok, I have more issues with my handwriting. It converts printing, cursive, and even drawings to an electronic format.

[Short Field]

I prefer writing. I have a pretty good memory, but with all these things going around its hard to remember. As they say,"The pen is mightier than the sword."

As a staff officer, I was taught it is better to trust your longhand than your long memory.   

A 3x5 notepad in your pocket is a necessity during a base operations.  It lets you record key numbers like coordinates and phone numbers on the fly.  It also works well as you can write out the instructions you want the MRO to send to the aircrew and just leave it with them.  MUCH safer than just telling them what you want them to send and then walking off.