Is there a PDA/2Gb mp3 hybrid out there?

[David W Jackson]

I want to buy a 2Gb mp3 to stick all my Mandarin sound files on. At the same time, I'm in the market for a PDA 'cos I want Pleco. Does such a hybrid beastie exist? Anyone have any possible solutions? Appreciate any and all feedback.

[roddy]

Almost any PDA + 2GB memory card - sorted. I'd be surprised if there are any current PDA's without a headphone socket and mp3 playback - might be worht checking out which ones have best playback quality if you think you'll use this function a lot. I use a Palm TX and have a few SD cards which I keep various audio / video files on. Can put the same cards into a card reader so I can transfer files directly from desktop (can also do this via the PDA, but is sometimes more hassle), and my camera also uses the same type of card. Memory is cheap at the moment - you can get 1GB of storage for under 200Y easily.

[kudra]

I also have a palm tx. And it has been worth every penny. The wireless is worth the extra $US100. Currently I only have a 512 card, but a coworker got one at newegg a while ago and they threw in a 2GB card as a bonus [He may be a prefered customer though]. He now watches movies during his train commute.

The other thing is that you can play audio while running other programs, so in principle you can do David and Helen flashcard files while listening to the vocab section audio, or if you have audio for a text file, you could listen while you read it. Might be interesting to do with the CRI audio/text.

[tallynole]

the TX is a good option with an expansion card. Another consideration can be the LifeDrive as long as you get one of the newer ones because the early production units had quite a few issues.

[pazu]

I don't recommend you to buy the Lifedrive, it's big, heavy and slow (from some reviews on the internet). But I do think the Palm TX is great especially if you have free wifi around, it's quite easy to find free wifi here in Lhasa! But battery time can be short.

Kudra, how many hours can you use the TX with wifi? My friend could use it for around 3 hours only.

[flameproof]

Just note that PDA memory usually does not come on a USB stick. I would buy the PDA first, and then buy a matching memory chip that fits it. Check also the small print if the PDA hardware can support 2Gb (I think all do, but better check).

The Pleco memory requirement is not so high. I only run it on 128Mb external memory and have no problem with it.

[kudra]

3 hours -- That sounds about right. I think it depends how strong the signal is, i.e. it will probably drain faster if the signal is weaker.

It is not a problem for me since I can charge on a charger at work, or on my laptop at home. I don't actually sit in cafe's for hours browsing with the tx.

My typical use is parking outside a free wifi spot when the kid is asleep in the car and checking email, and browsing for less than an hour, or browsing in bed before going to sleep.

There is no free wifi on the train commute so I turn off the wifi reciever to conserve battery when using pleco.

[David W Jackson]

Appreciate all the input, thanks. Can anyone spell out then why there seems to be such a lot of posts intimating the Treo is the way to go? Seems a bit pricey. Surely I could pick up a PDA for a lot less somewhere here in Beijing - but where? Anyone know?

[David W Jackson]

Just found this on ebay.com.cn. I've only just starting learning chars so have no real idea whether this is new, I guess it is. Seems a steal at the price. http://cgi.ebay.com.cn/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330061440051&ih=014&category=14993&rd=1, 2Gb scandisk for 250RMB http://cgi.ebay.com.cn/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140040409706&ih=004&category=74827&ssPageName=WDVW&rd=1 Are there any compatability problems buying in China? Other pitfalls? Maybe this is looking like the way to go, unless someone knows a better place or deal to buy in Beijing?

[roddy]

Depends if you want a PDA and phone in one package, or if you are happy to have the two separate devices. Generally speaking I think dedicated PDAs tend to be larger and thus have bigger screens, which I prefer as I do a lot of reading on mine. Also, the camera on my phone gets a lot of use and as far as I know there aren't any PDAs / Smartphones which can take pics of the size and quality phones can (although I could be wrong there, haven't looked into it for some time). Plus I like to be able to leave my PDA at home if I'm going out to get rip-roaringly drunk, which I couldn't really do if it was also my phone. There's discussion of where to actually buy here.

Regarding SD cards - very much standard technology. The only issue is that some devices can only read cards up to a certain size, but I'd imagine anything on sale today would be safe up to 4G, certainly 2G. Do check when you know what device you are buying, but I'd be surprised if it was an issue. Memory still seems to be dropping in price - the 1G Sandisk card I got in July for 186Y is now coming up at 149Y on joyo.com.

If you are buying a PDA you might want to get your card from the same place - you'll probably be able to get the card cheaper that way and you can get it all done in one trip. Otherwise any electronics place, joyo.com, dangdang.com, ebay are all options. If you are only visiting Beijing I'd probably go out and buy one, save you waiting in your hotel for the delivery guy. Camera places and even larger supermarkets will have SD cards, but they often haven't caught up with the plummeting prices.

[mikelove]

4 GB would be a bit risky, actually. All but the newest Palms won't handle 4 GB cards correctly; the card would probably work, but you'd only be able to use 2 GB of it. This is because the filesystem that Palm OS normally uses to format SD cards can't handle volumes larger than 2 GB. The TX can handle 4 GB cards (or at least ours can), and I imagine that the Treo 680 and 700p can as well since they run the same version of Palm OS, but the Treo 650 (or at least our Treo 650) uses a slightly older version and can't deal with more than 2 GB.