Palm vs. Pocket PC for GTD

[MDuffield]

Hi,

At the risk of starting a religious war (or even a heated discussion), I'd like to hear from people who have used GTD on both Palm and PPC and can give me some comparison.

I have been a Palm user for quite some time. I use my Palm with GTD, but not as successfully as I would like. It is big and clunky. What I would like to do is to purchase a phone/PDA combination device so that I the PDA will go with me where ever I go. That is not happening with my PDA (one device, ok, but I don't want to carry two).

I am thinking about a Treo, and also about a couple of different Pocket PC devices (ETEN M600/Torq P100w, HTC Wizard/i-mate kjam/qtek 9100).

I'd really like to have wi-fi, so that is a strike against the Treo. I could go with the Palm TX, but it isn't a phone so I am right back to where I started.

At the end of the day, if the PPC platform works well with GTD, then I will probably go that route.

Thanks in advance.

Mark

 

[TesTeq]

Maybe Nokia smartphone or communicator?

Maybe you should consider Nokia smartphone or communicator?

 

[webagogue]

both will work fine

There are absolutely no core advantages that either the PPC or Palm platform have for implementing "GTD." It is up to you to define what you want your system to do - which may not be core - and then decide what device you want.

 

[MDuffield]

Fair enough

There are absolutely no core advantages that either the PPC or Palm platform have for implementing "GTD." It is up to you to define what you want your system to do - which may not be core - and then decide what device you want.

Ok, are there any disadvantages to one or the other? For instance, I had heard somewhere that ActiveSync doesn't syncronize notes between Outlook on the PC and Outlook in the PPC.

Are there other issues that one should be aware of when making this decision?

 

[vegheadjones]

Plam for me

Hi,

I am sure that you can successfully implemnent GTD on both platforms, but I migrated to PPC after 4 Palm years, and went back in less than a year.

Yes you cannot sync OUtlook notes out of the box with PPC. I boutght a program (Phatnottes) to do this. Tasks don't sync from the Exchange Server, only from the desktop.

There were too many workarounds with PPC that I had to use. With Palm, press HOtsync and you are OK. That's what works for me.

 

[jrdouce]

Work arounds are work!

I've been on Palm for several years. I was more successful on the Palm III than on my Tungsten T due to significantly reduced Outlook support from Chapura (hot sync), and no Outlook support from Palm (until OS 5.2, which was not retrofitted to the Tungsten T.

I've spent a couple hundred dollars to get the right combination of add-ons, and it seems like a couple hundred hours keeping various versions compatible and in sync between home and work PC's. I gave up using my Palm at work, and I maintain independent GTD systems for work and personal life. I'm finally starting to get back on track.

In my experience, ease of use is critical. Work arounds are work. If you use Outlook I think you should opt for the OS that works with Outlook.

Please share your results. My next upgrade will be to a PDA-Phone. I'd love the benefit of experience.

 

[Max]

Fwiw

My wife has a Palm Zire 71 and syncs with Outlook at the touch of a button. No addons, work arounds, or headaches.

If I needed to buy one, I would get the Treo. But I don't need Wifi either.

 

[webagogue]

For what it's worth, I've been using a PPC for over five years (before they were called PPC's). I've been implementing various bastardizations of GTD for about 1.5 years.

If you use a PPC, you'll be married to Outlook. If you go Palm, you can use a whole helluva lot of other PIMs as well as Outlook. There are disadvantages here, but absolutely none of them affect your ability to implement the core of GTD.

Where it gets sticky is when you want to be cool and customize GTD to work for you. Go too far and you will cease to get things done because you'll constantly be tweaking your system.

I'm going off topic but take it from someone who wasted many months trying to find the holy grail implementation of GTD - stay simple. Find ways to make a limited tool set work for you and you'll save yourself pain in the long run.

 

[Loukas]

Hello,

I have experience with both the Palm and PocketPC platforms, and decided to share this with you.

I've been using a Treo 600 with Agendus for the last year and a half, implementing GTD. My approach is to do all the processing on Outlook (bigger screen estate, easier drag and drop, easier editing using keyboard) and synchronize to the Treo so that I can have all my Calendar, Tasks (NA), Projects, Notes, Contacts with me at all times.

I also used the Treo to input N/A (or any types of thoughts) on the fly when out and about, and then synchronize automatically to Outlook for processing. I devised a system whereby all new Tasks inputed on the Treo would go into a separate category, and then I would process these at night to put them in the correct category.

I've recently bought a new MDA Vario (K-Jam, Wizard) under a new contract with TMobile here in the UK. Some of the things I was missing on the Treo were connectivity (GPRS, WiFi), a bluetooth headset, etc.

I'm very happy with the PocketPC platform. I've installed Activesync 4.1 on my computer which syncs all of my Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Notes, without any issues. I am even using bluetooth to do this, so I just press a button on the PocketPC when I am near my computer and it just does it (rather than connecting cables each time I wanted to sync my Treo).

I've also installed PocketInformant on the PPC, which is the equivalent of Agendus for Palm and gives many capabilities for filtering your tasks and calendar according to categories. I've also set my PocketPC to download email every half an hour (I don't need push email) using GPRS, so I have access to my email on the go.

Some of the points you may want to consider:
- Different screen size:
Treo is 240x240, the Wizard is 240x320, the JasJar is 480x640 (VGA). Similarly, most of the PDA's are VGA. How much screen estate do you need for your implementation of GTD? On the other hand, how pocketable is your device? "Pocketability" was highly important for me, as I want to take my PDA/Phone with me all the time - which means I have my GTD system with me 24/7.

- Keyboard:
Ease of data entry was paramount to me, for two reasons. I use my PDA/Phone to txt/email in order to keep in touch with the world. Furthermore, I use it as a capture device, I have mapped one of the hard-buttons (both on the Treo and on the PocketPC) to "New Task", so it takes me 1 click of a button to get to the "new task" screen and enter whatever task/next action I need to. If I needed to take out a stylus and fiddle with the onscreen keyboard each time I needed to input something I would lose 50% of this ease of data entry.

- One Handed operation:
Similar to the above, the Treo is king when it comes to one handed operation. On the PocketPC platform I can view all my tasks/next actions / appointments one handed, but need to use both hands if I want to enter something new because of the slide-out keyboard on the Vario. Not very convenient if you are on a bus or walking down the street.

==========

To sum up, I needed a change. Ι thought the Treo was excellent in terms of GTD, because of full synching, ease of use (one handed, keyboard) and the whole integration. This is a "mature" product that just works out of the box. It didn't have bluetooth however, couldn't multitask (not really), and no WiFi.

The MDA Vario is also a complete implementation, but since Windows Mobile 5 is still in its infant stages you may need to fiddle with it somewhat more in order to get it to do the same things (one button to Tasks, etc).

In either case, I would suggest you use 3rd party software such as Agendus or PocketInformant for your PIM needs, because they give you so much more choice in terms of filtering and getting exactly what you want on your PDA screen.

I hope this helps, sorry for the long post.

Loukas

 

[Delawaredave]

There's a lot of opinions.

I'd get a PPC over Palm. I've had both over years. PPC does everything Palm does - plus has the ability to exchange Word / Excel etc documents.

The Samsung i730 is an awesome phone - PPC, Bluetooth, Wi-fi, etc.

I would deliberately stay away from any "push" email like Blackberry's or Treo's - you will be a slave to trivial emails and your effectiveness will drop.

 

[CoachMike]

First, I want to correct one misconception--Treo is not a push email system at all. Treo uses a POP3/IMAP email client. It works just like Outlook does.

As for needing PPC for exchanging Word/Excel documents, I have a Palm and I've got Documents to Go on it and I can excange Word/Excel documents without any problems.

Just needed to correct those two issues.

 

[andersons]

Ι thought the Treo was excellent in terms of GTD, because of full synching, ease of use (one handed, keyboard) and the whole integration. This is a "mature" product that just works out of the box. It didn't have bluetooth however, couldn't multitask (not really), and no WiFi.

I'm a little confused about this. Back in the spring, a friend of mine bought a Treo with both bluetooth and wireless. It seemed like a great device. While at the beach, we used the wireless to look up a restaurant's menu on the web and then call for reservations. Unfortunately, bandwidth is very expensive, but that is a provider issue.

My friend likes the Treo so much that after he lost his first one by leaving it on the roof of his car and then driving off, he bought another one for $600. (Ouch)

 

[Loukas]

I'm a little confused about this. Back in the spring, a friend of mine bought a Treo with both bluetooth and wireless. It seemed like a great device. While at the beach, we used the wireless to look up a restaurant's menu on the web and then call for reservations. Unfortunately, bandwidth is very expensive, but that is a provider issue.

My friend likes the Treo so much that after he lost his first one by leaving it on the roof of his car and then driving off, he bought another one for $600. (Ouch)

He probably had the Treo650, which is the newer model than the one I had. That indeed has bluetooth. Internet access is dependant on the wireless provider (at least the speed is) and thus different from Europe and the US. The Treo 650 does not have WiFi and wireless access is mighty expensive here in Europe (almost 2$ per mb)

I considered the Treo 650 but read reports that people were having many issues with it. I decided to try out a Windows Mobile device.

In the end, both platforms offer similar solutions, however there are some advantages to using either one platform (Palm or WM). You need to weigh both and see what exactly are your needs.

Loukas

 

[stsanford]

PPC Here...

Have had various PDAs (over 20 different devices) for 12 years... I've also had over 7 different SmartPhones...
Palm: Simple, basic organizer. Easy to recover if there's a crash or you purchase a new device. Trend: Smaller market share and a more buggy OS than before begets a diminished experience from past devices as a whole.
Hotsync is fast (usually, but if you have a lot of conduits as I always wind up with, you can run into issues) and reliable, simple.

PocketPC - It's helpful not to think of it as a PDA as much as a micro-sized PC. You can multi-task (which you cannot on any Palm device) and you have generally better multimedia support. It is without a doubt more complicated.
ActiveSync is a real-time sync, the idea is that you put your device in the cradle and it's constantly being updated while being charged. If you get a Pocket PC device, do yourself a favor and get resync.exe (google it) for when it locks up (hey, it's a Microsoft program, it WILL lock up from time to time)...
Personally, I use a Pocket PC, specifically a Pocket PC Phone Edition, the Siemens SX66. I find the marriage of PDA and phone while certainly not perfect allows me to carry one device that has all of my information on it.

For your reference, the following is what I'm currently using:
Pocket Informant ==> Very powerful scheduling tool
BillRate ==> Time & Billing program
PocketMoney ==> Syncs with Microsoft Money.
vBirthday (freeware birthday program)

I don't directly use Outlook. I'm a GoldMine user, and have a separate, go-between program, DoubleLook (there's also CompanionLink) from COmpanionLink software which syncs GoldMine / Act! / Lotus Notes, etc. with Outlook.

Hope this helps,
Scott

 

[joeycan]

Treo 650 all the way

Hi I have been using my 650 for some time now, absolutely love it if I lost it I would buy another one in a second.

I don't know what all of the user complaints have been, (as I got mine after the lates update to the system). In my view it is a true multi task pocket device. I use it with my GPS and TOMTOM 5, my GTD implementation, MP3 player and not to mention an awsome e-mail device.

I think it is not paramount if the device has Windows Mobile or Palm, in my view battery life, reception, and ability to do one handed operations are most important. The OS is secondary.

 

[MDuffield]

Excellent! Thank you.

Thank you, everyone for your opinions.

Thinking about what I really want, I've narrowed it down to the following functionality:

Must be a good phone (preferrably quad band GSM, I travel in Europe alot)
Must have WiFi (because I don't want to depend upon GPRS/EDGE)
Must sync with Outlook in a reliable way

At the end of the day, I'm looking for a phone/PDA combination device that does WiFi and bluetooth (for hands-free mostly).

I don't really care about multimedia. I don't care about a camera, but if it is there, I will probably use it to capture stuff quickly and move it/translate it later (photos of a bottle of wine that I want to remember, photos of a white board after a meeting, etc).

I have been a Handspring Visor Prism user for quite some time, and an Apple Newton user before that. While I like the Palm, I think that the lack of a combined phone/WiFi device is a problem. The Palm TX is a great device. All it needs is phone functionality and I'm sold. I'm not crazy about wedding myself to a Microsoft technology, but I can get over that bias if it works.

There are many good suggestions in this thread that I will follow up on, including the Samsung i730 phone as well as several software packages that might work. I will heed the warning of one poster regarding the obsession of trying to create the perfect system. I don't want the perfect system. I just want one that works for me. My implementation of GTD is fairly simple and straight forward.

By all means, if there are other suggestions other there, please post them. I'll definitely post my experience with whatever device I end up with.

Thanks again,

Mark