Preface

After so many years, there is still no clear evidence that using a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) is any better than just an old-fashioned paper organizer. Or is there? I’m sure many of you have contemplated whether it was worth buying a PDA or if it was better for you to just to stick to your Franklin Covey.

Even back in the days when PDA (Palm OS-dominated) was riding the crest of popularity, they were still finding it hard to convince the old-fashioned paper users to change to the digital way. It was a pretty equal battle between the PDA and paper organizers back then. This was partly because of the intuitive simplicity of the Palm OS organizer functions and on the contrary, the lack of proper marketing for these PDAs.

Fast forward to today. The popularity of standalone PDAs have slumped to the point they can be considered on the verge of extinction. That's not a slight on their evident usefulness. Rather, their extinction is due to the birth of PDA phones. Ironically, the same technology that gave birth to the PDA has advanced to the point it can be integrated into mobile phones, turning them into PDA phones. It is the advent of these new hybrids that rang the bell of doom for standalone PDAs.

The current de facto operating system for PDAs (with few exceptions) is Microsoft's Windows Mobile 2003. However, it is no longer used exclusively in the few PDAs left in the market. Now, practically all PDA phones are also using this operating system.

The integration of this operating system signified the beginning of the end of standalone PDAs. With PDA phones sporting the same operating system and PDA functionality, it's no surprise that PDAs are being eclipsed by these phones. In fact, the Dell X51V was the last notable PDA released.

With many of these PDA phones dominating the higher-end segment of the mobile phone market, it can be said that if you buy a high-end mobile phone today, there's a high chance it is a PDA phone. However, most mobile phone users aren't really PDA users and are probably more than content to stick with their pen-and-paper routine, if at all.

That may really be a waste of all that capability that you paid for. So, this article will help give you some insights into the current world of digital assistants and how they compare to the time-tested paper organizers. This may be the right time to finally go digital.