PDAs
Introduction
A Note About the Current Transition of PDAs
- The PDAs discussed in this chapter are not going to include cell phones. As in: no camera phones, blackberries, etc. This is because those all fall under the category of cell phones, not PDAs.
What Are They?
PDAs are any handheld computer without a cell phone connected to them. They fall into different categories based on what their main function is. So while an mp3 player might have games on it, because it's main function is music (and it's controls are designed for music) it isn't considered a portable game console.
Most handheld computers becoming mulit-function devices, this is because while it's nice to be able to play games on your game console, it's also nice to be able to listen your music when you can't play games. Or be able to watch a movie. Or check your e-mail. Here are some of the capabilites of modern PDAs:
- video
- pictures
- camera
- calculator
- calendar
- word processing
- dictionaries/thesauruses
- clock
- games
- internet
- address book
- music
- spreadsheet
- e-books
- GPS
Handheld Computers
Handheld computers, other wise known as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), allow a user to access music, files, calendars, notes, games, videos, and the internet. Traditionally a handheld computer's main function is to act as a small work computer - viewing spreadsheets, taking notes, calendars, and now the ability to check e-mail.
MP3 Players
iPod
While in terms of the technology, iPods aren't drastically more advanced, they have provided the standard by which most other mp3 players operate. They have earned this standing because they were the first device that was able to integrate the interface on the player, the interface on the computer, and the online music industry.
Currently Apple has three types of iPods: the regular, nano, and shuffle. The regular uses a hard drive of up to 60GB and has video, pictures, games, and music available. The nano and suffle use flash drives to store data. The nano has music, pictures, and games available and the shuffle only has music.
4th generation iPod's also have the ability to serve as a boot disk for Mac OS X computers. Due to changes in the file format to allow Windows compatability, 5th generation iPods can not be used as boot disks.
Podcasting
Podcasting allows anyone and everyone to upload their own recordings - speaking or singing = onto the web for people to download for free. In the education world (that doesn't mean stop reading, this is actually pretty neat) this means that teachers and professers can record their in-class lectures and put them up online for students. This way students can double check their notes (they do help you know) and catch up if they came in late. It also helps the teachers know that their students are getting the material - or at least that their students have the resources.
Portable Games
Portable games have come a long way since their beginings. With the popularity of devices such as Nintendo DS and Sony PSP handheld game consoles are now able to play video, store files, and connect to the web. This allows for not only convinient multi-player gaming, but also phenomenal connectivity and portablity since they are lightweight and small.
Mobile Video
Most devices that are tailored specifically for video are not necessarily hand-held as they tend to be the the size of a small laptop. This is because they can only be as small as the medium they're reading off of, and the size of a DVD prevents them from becoming the size of a normal handheld computer.
However, devices such as the Sony PSP and the video iPod allow users to watch video the same way that they listen to music - by loading small digital clips of video onto the device. Because of this portable digital video is becoming more and more connected with mp3 players - their screens are the right size, they're getting larger and larger hard drives, and they've already got the user interface.