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Article Excerpt
For business travel, I used to load my favorite soft-side briefcase with my laptop, cell phone, and the personal digital assistant (PDA) that handled my calendar, contacts, and other light-duty functions. (1) I loved that bag. I could stash the shoulder straps in a special compartment and it quickly turned into a nice-looking briefcase. Over the years, it has toted three or four laptops, several cell phones, and three PDAs. But these days, my bag and my back are taking a vacation from the load.
My latest PDA is a "smartphone" that performs all the tasks of my previous PDA, plus it has cell phone, Web access, and e-mail retrieval features. My Palm Treo 650 has largely replaced all the other equipment. Only three by four inches, it fits in my purse or a large pocket. Yes, I still occasionally need the power and functionality of my laptop, but not often.
My smartphone provides most basic laptop features, including a calendar, task lists, and programs that allow time and expense tracking. It runs Amicus Attorney, Adobe Reader, Microsoft Word (which I use to create and edit documents), and Microsoft Excel (which allows integration with my time-and-billing software). It has a calculator, a clock showing multiple time zones, Internet access, e-mail software, and even selected games. Because it is also my cell phone, I can quickly locate a client's name and phone number in a list of stored contacts and have the device automatically dial the number for me.
Every major market study of handheld devices indicates that smartphones (or smart devices) are growing more popular than simple PDAs. And the impact on the handheld industry has been significant. Consulting firm Gartner, Inc., estimates that over 15 million PDAs were shipped in 2005, surpassing the record of 13.2 million set in 2001. (2) If first-quarter statistics held for the entire year, at least 55 percent of those PDAs were smartphones.
Once, Palm--now Access Co., Ltd., (3) and Palm, Inc.--dominated a very small PDA market. Now, well-respected companies like Hewlett-Packard (HP), Dell, Research in Motion (RIM), Samsung, LG Electronics, Nokia, Sony, Siemens, Ericsson, and Fujitsu have also gotten into the PDA/smartphone business.
RIM's BlackBerry PDAs and smartphones use a proprietary operating system software (RIM OS), (4) as do Palm handhelds (Palm OS). Other devices--generally known as Pocket PCs--use Microsoft Windows CE or Windows Mobile. And more vendors are now using Symbian OS from Symbian Software. However, Palm OS and Microsoft's operating systems still power most devices used in the United States.
Making the move
Attorneys considering the move from a laptop or PDA to a smartphone have lots of options. My last PDA was a Palm Zire. I liked it, but I was tired of carrying it and my Samsung cell phone. So I looked for a single device, a smartphone that would work with existing files from my old PDA and Palm OS-based software--and not cost me a fortune.
Because I chose to go with another Palm product, I did not have to rekey stored data. I knew from experience with the Palm Zire that a new Palm device would work with my frequently used documents and that I could synchronize it with...
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