Re: Replacement PDA suggestions

In article news:<1142801919.708962.264180@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, I
can't do that Dave wrote:
I have Garmin iQue and love it ...

Is this the PalmOS iQue PDA/GPS box? (The 3600?)

it but I want to be able to send and receive email when traveling.
I need a low cost pda with either wifi or bluetooth. I don't know
anything about bluetooth other than it is a wireless system.

If your iQue is the device I think it is, I believe it has infra-red
communications, but not Bluetooth or WiFI. If you want to keep the iQue you
will need a mobile phone (cellphone) or a modem that can communicate with
the iQue via infra-red (and suitable software - such as Eudora (free) on
the iQue).

If your iQue is a different device (or I'm wrong) and it does have Bt then
you could use a cellphone with Bluetooth to do the same thing.

The main advantage of Bt over ir is that you don't have to keep the ir
ports of the phone and PDA pointing at each other while they are in
communication. ir is more widely supported, though, and uses less battery
power.

Are bluetooth hot-spots widely available?

Bluetooth is a "Personal Area Network" technology, it has a range of only a
few metres. The idea is that it allows wireless communication between
devices that you carry with you (phone, earpiece, PDA, etc.) not between
your devices and any external network. You'd typically use Bt to connect
the PDA to the cellphone and then use the phone to connect to the world.

So, no, there are no Bt hotspots.

Finally any suggestions on pda to do either or both protocols? My cell
phone does not do emails and I have to stick with it because of work
use, paging etc.

What local communications does your cellphone have? ir? Bt? If you have
neither of those on your phone you will need a complete EMail solution not
using the phone. Something like a Palm T|X, which has WiFi will let you use
WiFi hotspots where they exist. If a WiFi solution will not answer, you
will need to buy a second phone.

If your phone has ir you can use it with the iQue, as above. That's your
cheapest solution as you don't need any new kit, just some (free) software.

If your phone has Bt and the iQue hasn't you could change from the iQue to
(say) a Palm T|E2 or T|X, both of which have Bt (and ir), and come with
VersaMail software that will let you do EMail using your phone. These
devices don't have GPS, though, so you'd probably want to get a Bt GPS unit
to use with them. There are several of these available (including one
marketed by Palm).

Note that it is possible to obtain an SD expansion card that supports WiFi
communications, but I don't believe these are supported by the slot in the
iQue.

Cheers,
Daniel.



.

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