Notwithstanding its being a third-world country, the Philippines has always been a country of gadget-lovers. Take the cellphone for instance. Almost everybody has one. From the business tycoons of Ortigas or Makati, merchants in Binondo, even streetsweepers could be seen thumbing with abandon their way to SMS land.
But even the most gadget-crazy Filipino could only carry so much devices on his pocket, bag or attaché case. For most, some trade-offs are in order. Should one carry my MP3 player instead of that 5-megapixel digital camera, or the cellphone instead of that personal digital assistant?
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| Palm Tungsten-W | |
Good thing that some engineers had this bright idea of creating multi-function devices, and in the process came up with digital cameras that play MP3 files, camera phones, and PDA phones.
Technews presents a look at some PDA phones available in the local market today.
Palm Tungsten-W
Discontinued by its vendor palmOne since April 2004, the Palm Tungsten-W PDA-phone probably
remains available at dealers' and carriers' stores. Running the Palm OS 4.1.1, the Tungsten W comes encased in plastic and has a serious, business-like demeanor. A tri-band GSM/GPRS phone, the Tungsten W is capable of fast data transfer and other wireless data capabilities. Not bad for a 24,000-peso, soon-to-be-extinct PDA phone.
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| Eten P300 | |
Eten P300
This 67 x 117 x 23-mm PDA-phone is powered by a 200-MHz ARM 9 processor, and comes with built-in GPRS/GSM wireless connectivity. Equipped with a 640 x 480-pixel camera, it includes 32MB of ROM and 64MB of user-expandable RAM. Its color display comes with a maximum resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Running the Pocket PC OS, it comes with a bundle of Pocket editions of Microsoft applications including Outlook, Internet Explorer, Word and a host of other PDA and entertainment software. (www.trendsmobile.com)
Treo 600
Dubbed as a smartphone, the Palm OS-based Treo 600 from Handspring
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| Treo 600 | |
comes with the usual roll of smartphone features and 24MB of memory to back them up. Its organizer capabilities include a Calendar, Contact List, Memo Pad, To Do List and Advanced Calculator among others. Capable of synchronizing with Microsoft Outlook and Palm Desktop applications, it offers e-mail, text messaging and access to the Internet. (www.handspring.com)
XDA II
Powered by a 400-MHz Intel Xscale PXA 263 processor, the XDA II PDA-phone from O2 runs Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC, phone edition, and includes Pocket editions of Microsoft applications Outlook, Word, Excel and Windows Media Player. Equipped with a 3.5-inch transflective 65,536-color LCD and a VGA camera, it comes with 128MB of SDRAM and 64MB of ROM.
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| XDA II | |
Coming with an integrated personal digital organizer, the XDA II is a tri-band phone with GPRS class B, and boasts of built-in Bluetooth, SMS/MMS messaging, and Internet. This 48,500-peso PDA-phone also comes with handwriting recognition. (www.myxda.com)
Sony Ericsson P900
Toting several improvements on its older sibling the P800, the
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| Sony Ericsson P900 | |
P900 from Sony Ericsson is a triple-band PDA-phone that plays MP3 audio and MPEG-4 video files. Taking its PDA duties seriously, the P900 offers e-mail and mobile messaging. Coming with an on-screen keyboard and touchscreen capability, this 41,000-peso handheld unit also snaps still photos and records videos. (www.sonyericsson.com/p900/main.htm)
