PDA Specifications – Keep them in mind, they may come handy some day.

Personal Digital Assistant or PDA, are essentially, small, handheld computers which were originally meant to be digital organizers, but have changed dramatically over the years. Gone are the days when they functioned purely for this purpose. Today, they have so many feature that it is difficult to say that they are just digital organizers. They have evolved way beyond that!

PDA’s or palmtops come with many features. Email, Internet browsing, clocks, computer gaming, video recordings, typing documents, address book, writing spreadsheets, radio, music and video player, touch screen and mobile phone are just some of the standard features you can get on a PDA nowadays. Advanced features like GPS, barcode scanners, Wireless Networking and WWAN cost more and are generally optional add-ons which come in specifications of higher end models. You need to decide what features you need.

The heart of the PDA is the processor, and you should be concerned about buying the fastest processor you can. Current speeds are from 400 to 633 MHz. Higher speeds mean more power so if all you want to do is browse the internet don’t dish out for a faster processor. Next is RAM, or how much there is. The standard is currently 64 MB, but it can go higher. Next comes the memory both on board and on the memory card. CF expansions cards offer many features like wireless networking. The latest PDA models are also coming with built-in hard disk drives.

A couple of them even have 4 GB of memory on board which is massive, and will probably suffice for some time to come. The most important aspect of the specifications after this is connectivity. How much connectivity do you really need? Look to see if Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are present as you will probably need these. Most come with infrared and normal LAN. All PDA’s nowadays double up as phones and have either the GPRS GSM solution or the CDMA solution where long range connectivity is concerned. Opt for the one you use or plan to use, as they are not changeable later. The Wi-Fi is the best way to go as it is the most common form of networking today.

The specs you need on your PDA should depend on your use and utility for it. Buy what you will use, and not what glitters on a brochure. Look around and be comfortable with the interface or operating software.