Personal Digital Assistants
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Personal Digital Assistants
By: Rudolph Thomas
A PDA is a digital organizer, or personal digital assistant that can be comfortable held in your hand (it is also called a handheld computer). It is designed to fit in a pocket, run on batteries and be used while youre holding it (Computer Concepts, pg. 7). It can function as a cell phone, send faxes, read email and be used as a personal organizer. It uses among other things. PDAs use a stylus, or pen, rather than a keyboard. Its size, portability, applications and amazing range of features is what makes it so appealing.
The first PDAs were inexpensive pocket sized devices designed to store addresses and appointments. The first attempt at creating a commercially viable hand-held dates back to the early 1980s. The cost for such a device ranges anywhere from $80 to $500.
Todays usage of handheld computers or PDAs has become widespread around the world. The technology has been constantly improving and the applications have been expanding. Nowadays, a PDA can keep track of your appointments, access the Internet, play music, take digital pictures, and the list goes on.
Just like with desktop or laptop computers, there are several different brands of PDAs that give consumers a choice. Also like the bigger computers, PDAs use an operating system such as (Palm OS or Windows CE). Some PDAs have the following features:
Diary/scheduler
To-do list
Phone/address book
Notepad
Drawing application
Finance software
Calculator
Alarms
World time
File manager
Voice recorder
Data synchronization
Printer connection.
Email