PDA: Looking forward to the rainbow after the rain

When you hold a cell phone in your left hand and a laptop in your right, do you still want to buy a PDA? According to the survey by the CEConline website, nearly 40% of the people chose "not willing", and more than 60% chose "willing", which is still the majority (see the bar chart).

Since Apple launched its first PDA in 1993, PDA has experienced rapid development around 1998, and by 2002 it has entered a historical downturn. On the one hand, the increasingly perfect and intelligent functions of notebooks and mobile phones can almost replace the information processing functions provided by PDAs; on the other hand, as traditional IT gifts, PDAs are gradually replaced by fashionable digital cameras, MP3 and other products.

However, PDA manufacturers have not stopped. Today's PDA products have added many new elements: compared with traditional PDAs, entertainment and multimedia functions have been enriched, and multi-application products have appeared constantly; the introduction of integrated products has made the boundaries between PDAs and mobile phones more and more blurred. However, will PDAs with new features usher in a rainbow after the rain? We will wait and see.

Entertainment PDA

Nowadays, multimedia digital consumer products with strong entertainment are more and more popular among consumers. However, due to different personal preferences, their preferences for digital products are also different: some people like to listen to music, some like to watch movies, some like to take pictures... Is it possible to have a product that meets the digital needs of different consumers at the same time?

Since 2003, the Chinese PDA market has set off a wave of product function integration. PDA products have changed from simple personal information processing tools to information terminal products and multimedia entertainment products. The launch of the Asus A730 is an example.

According to Xue Jinfeng from ASUS, this product has three strong selling points: a built-in 1.3 million-pixel high-definition camera, which can support a variety of shooting methods, as well as unlimited DV shooting functions, and can pass personalized photo albums. Save the shooting content; the 3.7-inch VGA monitor is equipped with a resolution of 640*480, which is both a large viewfinder and a photo frame, which can maximize the display performance; Automatically back up data to CF card or SD card to prevent data loss due to battery drain.

Since it is impossible for a PDA to integrate too many functions, extensibility should be a must. In this regard, ASUS A730 supports CF and SD dual slots and USB connection, supports Bluetooth wireless network, users can expand the use space according to their needs.

Similar to the ASUS A730, the Dell Aximtm X50 also emphasizes multimedia functions. The difference is that the X50 is the first Pocket PC to offer Windows Media Player 10.0 Mobile. The software allows users to load playlists of music and movies, and even favorite TV shows. With it, users can watch or listen to digital entertainment anytime, anywhere, whether on the go or in the gym. In addition, Windows Media Player 10 software for mobile devices supports Windows Media Digital Rights Management 10 technology, enabling users to enjoy the latest subscription services such as CinemaNow, MusicMatch and MLB.com, and enjoy richer audio-visual resources.

According to relevant manufacturers, with multimedia PDA products, pen and paper, cameras, notebook computers, Walkmans, voice recorders, etc. can be discarded. It's hard to say whether it can really achieve this goal, but if you think entertainment is very important for a PDA, then these two products are still better choices.

Professional PDA

In addition to entertainment, professional development is also a major trend of PDA, such as PDA products for public security systems, catering and entertainment industries. This brings new challenges to manufacturers: because different industries have great differences in business models, business processes, etc., manufacturers must provide overall solutions from products to applications on the premise of fully understanding the needs of users. Professional application of products in specific fields.

In the field of specialized PDAs, HP has a relatively large advantage. Its newly launched iPAQ hx2000 series has become a favorite product for business people because of its strong security protection performance, super expandability, excellent flexible connection and rich system solutions.

Hewlett-Packard found that people's obsession with PDAs stems from their need to access data anytime, anywhere. As data is an important resource in the information age, security and reliability have always been regarded as a top priority. Therefore, the HP iPAQ hx2000 series particularly emphasizes the security performance of the product. In this regard, Zhang Yongli, general manager of the Mobile Information Products Department of HP IPSG Group, said that the series adds unique three security lines to the PDA with the help of biometric fingerprint recognition technology, HP ProtectTools protection technology and data safety safe technology, which can effectively protect equipment and Data is protected from unauthorized access, addressing the security concerns mobile professionals and companies have had in the past.

In addition, this series of products is specially designed for the needs of business people, using a dual wireless design that supports both Bluetooth and WIFI. In this way, users can enjoy the fun of high-speed wireless Internet access at home, in the office, or in a Starbucks coffee shop and other wireless network coverage environments. Using Bluetooth mobile phones, users can experience Internet surfing anywhere. It can also interconnect devices such as notebook computers, printers, and household appliances that support Bluetooth, and become the digital control center of the family.

Not only that, HP iPAQ hx2000 provides system solutions such as GPS. When the GPS card and the memory card are connected at the same time, it provides more storage space for the huge map software. I believe this function provides great convenience to those who like to travel by car or travel frequently.

In short, for the personal consumption market, entertainment and multimedia applications are becoming a theme; for the industrial market, industrial applications are becoming more and more mature, and the high-end professional PDA market is still optimistic.

Smart phone with PDA function

Smart phone is derived from PDA, which is a mobile information terminal product integrating voice communication, multimedia and handheld computer. In 1999, Motorola launched the world's first mobile phone A6188 with a touch screen and Chinese handwriting recognition input, and the smartphone was born.

Today, the functions of smart phones are growing day by day, integrating the functions of mobile phones and PDAs, positioned in the high-end market, and are in fierce market competition with PDAs. Here is a smart phone: Lenovo ET960.

Lenovo is the biggest supporter of smartphones, with more than half of the smartphones sold in China being produced by Lenovo. In addition to being able to make calls, the biggest feature of Lenovo ET960 is that it has preset a variety of personalized software. For example, picture browsing and portable drawing house functions, the former can search out all the pictures in the mobile phone and the memory card for browsing, the latter is equivalent to the drawing function of computer Windows.

The built-in backup function can back up contacts, schedules, to-dos and other data to internal memory or SD card to ensure data security. In addition, the ET960 is the first smartphone to cooperate with CCTV to provide genuine Internet TV services. Through the built-in Windows Media player 10, users can watch CCTV's news, finance, entertainment, sports and other seven types of programs anytime, anywhere.

ET960 adopts Tntel Pxa272 312MH2 CPU, memory is 64M ROM+64M RAM, built-in Bluetooth and infrared interface, SD slot supports SD/MMC card and SDIO function card.