Alison writes:
Hi there,
I am a 2nd year med student getting ready for the wards next year, and my classmates and I are wondering what PDA or PDA/phone combo you would recommend. There’s so much information out there it’s hard for a novice like myself to come up with the best choice. Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
Hi Alison. There are really only 3 choices left for PDAs and it is really a personal decision which platform one prefers as each has its own strength and weaknesses. In no particular order :
1) iPod Touch. Nice slim design, able to run the ever increasing medical applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch. If you don’t have an iPhone and use another phone, then this is an option for you. Pros - nice browser with Wifi, lots of medical software. Some medical applications however e.g. UpToDate do not run natively on the iPhone/iPod Touch so you have to use the browser to access the web version. You could even tether your iPod Touch to a 3G phone if Wifi is not available. Some of the weaknesses of the OS like lack of copy and paste will be addressed in the upcoming OS3. The strength of the device is really in the multimedia arena but the organiser functions are weak. You’ll have to supplement note taking with third party applications like Evernote.
2) Palm TX. Runs on the venerable Palm Garnet OS. Has Wifi and Bluetooth and is a very capable PDA with strong organiser functions. You could also connect via Bluetooth to your PDA phone for Internet access if Wifi is not available. The main strength of the device is the huge number of PDA software especially medical ones. The downside is Garnet is considered “old” and it is unlikely developers will be writing new software for this platform. It has a few years more of life IMO and is a very good PDA with under appreciated multimedia functions. If you want to run Medcalc, Epocrates, Uptodate and tons of other medical software on a PDA, then the TX is a strong contender.
3) HP iPAQ 111 Classic Handheld is probably the only Windows mobile PDA left since Dell abandoned the PDA market. Windows Mobile like Palm Garnet have a huge range of useful applications readily available, including medical applications. Like the TX, if you wish to run Medcalc, Epocrates, Uptodate and the like then you should consider this. With Styetap you could also run Palm programs on WM. The organiser functions are decent and while not as good as Garnet, are still better than the iPod Touch. It’s also quite strong in the multimedia area.
Which would one choose?
Budget - iPod Touch wins. It retails starting $229 vs $299 for the others
Cool factor - iPod Touch wins. Slimmest of the lot.
Organiser - TX wins if you want a PDA to organise your life. The built-in PIM is the best. If you throw in Agendus on top of it, then it’s awesome.
Medical software - TX and iPaq have an edge over the iPod Touch for the moment but medical apps are coming out in large numbers for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
So which would you choose? Post your comment here. You could also place your vote:
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If Alison wants to consider a PDA phone instead then the answer to that question is more complex as there are many more options. I think I’ll leave this for another post but the choices will change as new models become available, including the highly anticipated Palm Pre. Keep reading this bloig 
from the Palmdoc Chronicles
PDA choices for medical students
Alison writes:
Hi Alison. There are really only 3 choices left for PDAs and it is really a personal decision which platform one prefers as each has its own strength and weaknesses. In no particular order :
1) iPod Touch. Nice slim design, able to run the ever increasing medical applications for the iPhone/iPod Touch. If you don’t have an iPhone and use another phone, then this is an option for you. Pros - nice browser with Wifi, lots of medical software. Some medical applications however e.g. UpToDate do not run natively on the iPhone/iPod Touch so you have to use the browser to access the web version. You could even tether your iPod Touch to a 3G phone if Wifi is not available. Some of the weaknesses of the OS like lack of copy and paste will be addressed in the upcoming OS3. The strength of the device is really in the multimedia arena but the organiser functions are weak. You’ll have to supplement note taking with third party applications like Evernote.
2) Palm TX. Runs on the venerable Palm Garnet OS. Has Wifi and Bluetooth and is a very capable PDA with strong organiser functions. You could also connect via Bluetooth to your PDA phone for Internet access if Wifi is not available. The main strength of the device is the huge number of PDA software especially medical ones. The downside is Garnet is considered “old” and it is unlikely developers will be writing new software for this platform. It has a few years more of life IMO and is a very good PDA with under appreciated multimedia functions. If you want to run Medcalc, Epocrates, Uptodate and tons of other medical software on a PDA, then the TX is a strong contender.
3) HP iPAQ 111 Classic Handheld is probably the only Windows mobile PDA left since Dell abandoned the PDA market. Windows Mobile like Palm Garnet have a huge range of useful applications readily available, including medical applications. Like the TX, if you wish to run Medcalc, Epocrates, Uptodate and the like then you should consider this. With Styetap you could also run Palm programs on WM. The organiser functions are decent and while not as good as Garnet, are still better than the iPod Touch. It’s also quite strong in the multimedia area.
Which would one choose?
Budget - iPod Touch wins. It retails starting $229 vs $299 for the others
Cool factor - iPod Touch wins. Slimmest of the lot.
Organiser - TX wins if you want a PDA to organise your life. The built-in PIM is the best. If you throw in Agendus on top of it, then it’s awesome.
Medical software - TX and iPaq have an edge over the iPod Touch for the moment but medical apps are coming out in large numbers for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
So which would you choose? Post your comment here. You could also place your vote:
If Alison wants to consider a PDA phone instead then the answer to that question is more complex as there are many more options. I think I’ll leave this for another post but the choices will change as new models become available, including the highly anticipated Palm Pre. Keep reading this bloig
from the Palmdoc Chronicles
PDA choices for medical students