How do you enter data on site?

[Karl E. Gerhauser]

Thanks for the info Dom. PDA screen is too small and 22 MB usable ram is weak. On your poll I'm that lone person that uses PDA and never tried tablet or laptop.

[Jeff Knight]

Originally Posted by kgerhauser

Thanks for the info Dom. PDA screen is too small and 22 MB usable ram is weak. On your poll I'm that lone person that uses PDA and never tried tablet or laptop.

Karl,
What software are you using on the PDA ? What PDA are you currently using ? The iPaq 4700 had a 4 inch screen and the new HP iPaq 211 also has a 4 inch diagonal screen with a high resolution screen of 480x640 and it is only $450. The text is actually bigger then on one of the UMPCs. I am not knocking the UMPCs since I do like the Samsung Q1 and that would be the one I would recommend for people wanting a full PC instead or a Fujitsu Lifebook. I just think people are giving the PDAs a bad rap more because of the bad software they are using on them or they have one of those 2.8 inch screen PDAs which to me is too small.

Jeff

[Brian E. Kelly]

Death of the PDA

[Linas I. Dapkus]

Originally Posted by bkelly2

Death of the PDA

Looks like they're becoming dinasaurs. I see why Dom isn't wasting his time developing a program for a PDA. I put mine to sleep and no longer use it for my inspections. I have a Smartphone but just use it to retreive e-mails when I'm out.

[Jeff Knight]

Originally Posted by bkelly2

Death of the PDA

Sorry guys...but their sales are actually increasing...and the diversity of the devices is increasing. The only difference is that a lot of the models are merging with cell phones...which makes sense. Compare the sales of all the PDAs/SmartPhones etc with UMPCs to see the real picture.

They said the same thing over 6 years ago....not happening. Microsoft would not be investing a huge amount of money into the newest Windows Mobile 6 (which by the way is a LOT more stable then Vista...and no viruses either)

HP and HTC are leading the way with the newest PDAs.

[Brian E. Kelly]

Originally Posted by Jeff Knight

Sorry guys...but their sales are actually increasing...and the diversity of the devices is increasing. The only difference is that a lot of the models are merging with cell phones...which makes sense. Compare the sales of all the PDAs/SmartPhones etc with UMPCs to see the real picture.

They said the same thing over 6 years ago....not happening. Microsoft would not be investing a huge amount of money into the newest Windows Mobile 6 (which by the way is a LOT more stable then Vista...and no viruses either)

HP and HTC are leading the way with the newest PDAs.

During the three months, vendors shipped only 728,894 devices, as mobile phones and converged mobile devices continued to appropriate many of handhelds’ previously unique attributes.

[Jeff Knight]

During the three months, vendors shipped only 728,894 devices, as mobile phones and converged mobile devices continued to appropriate many of handhelds’ previously unique attributes.

--

Exactly !!! If you read it right..it means that the PDAs are merging into converged mobile devices/mobile phones.

[Karl E. Gerhauser]

Karl,
What software are you using on the PDA ? What PDA are you currently using ? The iPaq 4700 had a 4 inch screen and the new HP iPaq 211 also has a 4 inch diagonal screen with a high resolution screen of 480x640 and it is only $450. The text is actually bigger then on one of the UMPCs. I am not knocking the UMPCs since I do like the Samsung Q1 and that would be the one I would recommend for people wanting a full PC instead or a Fujitsu Lifebook. I just think people are giving the PDAs a bad rap more because of the bad software they are using on them or they have one of those 2.8 inch screen PDAs which to me is too small.

Jeff,
3D inspection software w/windows mobile 5. IPAQ rx1955. The diagonal is 3.5, but across is only 2.25. My program memory is only 23.68mb total with 9.22mb free(pretty wimpy) it won't let me allocate any stg. memory(35mb) even though I have a 2GB sd card for stg. I was thinking about the post with Dom and I use an otterbox and if a umpc was put in a air and water tight box wouldn't it overheat? It rains way to much here to use one unprotected.

[Jeff Knight]

Originally Posted by kgerhauser

Jeff,
3D inspection software w/windows mobile 5. IPAQ rx1955. The diagonal is 3.5, but across is only 2.25. My program memory is only 23.68mb total with 9.22mb free(pretty wimpy) it won't let me allocate any stg. memory(35mb) even though I have a 2GB sd card for stg. I was thinking about the post with Dom and I use an otterbox and if a umpc was put in a air and water tight box wouldn't it overheat? It rains way to much here to use one unprotected.

I would highly recommend looking at the new iPaq 211. It has a 4 inch diagonal screen with a 480x640 resolution. It is like night and day when compared to the rx1955. The program memory should never be an issue on a PocketPC unless you are trying to run multiple applications at the same time like playing Tetris as you are doing your home inspection and browsing the Internet at the same time. Our application takes up only 1.5mb of memory and with the 128MB of RAM on the 211 you won't have any memory issues whatsoever...and it has a 624MHz processor...it is a screamer and the navigation is instant...along with the handwriting recognition....it is the best handheld I have seen since the original Apple Newtons.

Yes...you are probably right on the UMPCs having heat problems if they are in a protective cover but I have to say that the Q1 is the first portable full PC I have seen that did not get so hot after 30 minutes that I was not afraid to put it on my lap. They stay relatively cool...that was one that was running XP and not Vista. Vista devices may be a whole new story since you have to have a faster processor again to deal with Vista which makes the device heat up faster and the battery die sooner.

[Karl E. Gerhauser]

Thanks for the info. On one point I will differ with you, My 3D single family template I built is 4.8 mb before filled out. My duplex template is 6.9mb. If I have both sitting in documents I can't use either. PDA runs out of ram.

[Jeff Knight]

Originally Posted by kgerhauser

Thanks for the info. On one point I will differ with you, My 3D single family template I built is 4.8 mb before filled out. My duplex template is 6.9mb. If I have both sitting in documents I can't use either. PDA runs out of ram.

That would be a software issue and not an issue with the hardware. I think the iPaq 220 would resolve that issue for you thou. Not sure why 3D is using so much memory....there is no reason to but you have to remember 3D came from the PC side.

[Bruce Thompson]

Obviously I'm the odd man out (no poll button for me). I set my laptop up in the kitchen and talk to it via a wireless mic as I go through the house. I can dictate or use pre-fabricated sentences. It also has a voice recorder for the odd note or two.

Photos sync up with some sort of time stamp thingy.

I have most of the report and photos by the time I leave the job. When I get home, I add more pics, research, polish and send out.

www.interspectvoice.com

[Jeff Knight]

Originally Posted by bthompson1

Obviously I'm the odd man out (no poll button for me). I set my laptop up in the kitchen and talk to it via a wireless mic as I go through the house. I can dictate or use pre-fabricated sentences. It also has a voice recorder for the odd note or two.

Photos sync up with some sort of time stamp thingy.

I have most of the report and photos by the time I leave the job. When I get home, I add more pics, research, polish and send out.

www.interspectvoice.com

Bruce,
We looked at voice dictation but the issue was that it took much longer to enter the data that way then tapping a dropdown menu that would insert sentences of text at a time...otherwise you had to memorize a huge list of codes and then you still weren't sure it actually put in what you wanted since you never see exactly what is getting entered until later. Sure..you can ask for it to tell you the available list but then that even makes it longer to enter data.
Now voice navigation is a different story and something we are pursuing...instead of me tapping on the "Garage" section to open it...I just say "Garage" and the "Garage" section opens up automatically on the PDA. It just makes it more hands free since inspectors like to use theirs hands a lot when inspecting...go figure...

Jeff

[Dominic J. Maricic]

Originally Posted by Jeff Knight

Bruce,
We looked at voice dictation but the issue was that it took much longer to enter the data that way then tapping a dropdown menu that would insert sentences of text at a time...otherwise you had to memorize a huge list of codes and then you still weren't sure it actually put in what you wanted since you never see exactly what is getting entered until later. Sure..you can ask for it to tell you the available list but then that even makes it longer to enter data.
Now voice navigation is a different story and something we are pursuing...instead of me tapping on the "Garage" section to open it...I just say "Garage" and the "Garage" section opens up automatically on the PDA. It just makes it more hands free since inspectors like to use theirs hands a lot when inspecting...go figure...

Jeff

We also stayed away from voice navagation, but like any software you can use windows or dragon naturally speaking with the program itself. The reason not to persue it was not only what Jeff mentioned (tapping is faster) but that the almost every one of the inspectors I talked to about voice software said they constantly ran into problems with real estate agents questions them about what they were saying as now everything they did was heard. That added even more time. so they eventually switched away. Obviously everyone's mileage may differ!

[Barry Adair]

Down here the "hand-held complaint department" stops anyone from telling an inspector how to conduct his/her inspections