[vox] question for PDA users

[Rob Rogers]

On Wed, Oct 01, 2003 at 11:16:57AM -0700, p@dirac.org wrote:
> hi all,
> 
> a friend recently told me that he went from a graffiti based PDA to a
> mini keyboard based PDA (basically he went from palm to a treo).
> 
> he said he liked the keyboard much better: the keyboard is faster and
> more convenient than graffiti.
> 
> i'm _only_ interested in hearing from people who have used both keyboard
> and graffiti based PDA's:  which input method do you think is faster and
> more convenient?
> 
> i'm predisposed to disregard my friend's claims; can't imagine anything
> better than graffiti.  but then again, i said the same thing about RPN
> calculators once upon a time.  and i'd never go back to a non-RPN
> calculator.  so i'd like to hear a few peoples' experiences...

I started out with a Handspring Visor Edge, and when it started having
problems less than a year later, the Treos were out and the Visor's
weren't available anymore (at least at Best Buy where I bought the
Visor, and had a replacement plan). Having paid for the replacement
plan, they had to upgrade me to the next best model available. I think I
had the Treo for about 3 days before I decided to return it, and pay the
difference to get a Palm m130. Maybe I just didn't give myself enough
time to get used to the keyboard, but I found it quite awkward compared
to graffiti. I think my biggest problem was punctuation. I do a lot of
graffiti entry (probably too much ;)) and getting at most (any?)
punctuation took a minimum of 3 keypresses.

My wife didn't mind the keypad as much at the time, but she also used my
palm quite a bit less, and wasn't nearly as proficient at graffiti. I
think that may be the key factor. If you use graffiti, and like it a lot
(which it sounds like you do) I think the transition may be a little
harder. From what I've seen, I like the Zaurus keypad a little more than
I did the Treo, and I'm seriously considering that as my next PDA
purchase (although the new Palm's are looking nice too).

HTH,
Rob