With the advent of netbooks and their relatively cheap pricing, tablet pcs and other types of notebooks have seen their prices plummet. It's not surprising considering the current economical climate.
One such product is the Sony UMPC. At first sight, this seemed to be the perfect PDA that I've been searching for. Small, looks gorgeous, slide out keyboards, runs full windows programs, a usable quoted battery life and an added fingerprint reading function, so I don't have to type in the password on the small keyboard.
Then I realized that it was slow to resume. I appreciate the fact that it's running Vista, but while I am prepared to wait for a desktop to load programs, I am not so patient with a PDA. It just has to be almost instant on, so I can put the information in, switch it off and forget about it until the next sync. A PDA is such a device that should be near by, ready to capture any notes or pull information, just by reaching for it.
It's also a bit thick, but considering it's a real computer inside, I can live with it. However, one thing I can't live with is the battery life. Like most quoted battery life, you really have to divide it by two. If your going to use this as a ultra portable computer, then it's reasonable, but as a PDA, not a chance.
I realize that I have taken a blitzed view of the sony offering. It is labelled as a UMPC and not as a PDA, but I have often wondered, who are the UMPC users? Are they just lovers of gadgets?
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