A Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), also called a palmtop computer, is a handheld computer. Being the size of a palm, it is compact and easy to carry wherever one goes. It carries out all the basic functions of a computer also. It can be used as web browser, a media player and mobile phone. Availability of Wi-Fi or Wireless Wide-Area Networks allows many PDAs to access the Internet, extranets or intranet.
PDAs are deployed for various kinds of applications across businesses and government organizations. Some of the commonly found applications are package delivery and supply chain management in warehouses, medical treatment and record keeping in hospitals, facilities maintenance and management and ‘wireless waitress’ applications in restaurants and hospitality venues. It is also deployed in meter reading by utilities, route accounting, parking enforcement, capital asset maintenance, and access control and security. Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) devices such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Smart Card Readers, Bar Code, magnetic stripes, voice recognition, biometrics and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) are being incorporated into the PDAs. This is to assist in identifying objects, collecting data about them as well as entering the data automatically.
Personal Manager Applications were only featured in PDAs initially. Normally this consisted of diary, appointment calendar, scheduler, address and phone book, a notebook program, To-do list, some games, Organizer, Calculator, World time and Alarms. To these were added the functions of the simple camera, editors, text readers and game emulation. Later such programs as handwriting recognition software, Notepad, common reference material, Finance software, Drawing application, Voice recorder, File manager, Printer connection and Data synchronization were added. More and more functions began to be enabled with Wireless Wide-Area Networks or Wi-Fi. PDAs could be enabled with even more applications accessing the Internet such as sending Email, browsing the web and online transactions in purchase and banking, downloading e-book and many more. Its functionality was further enhanced with the addition of such software programs as Word processor, Custom dictionary, Spell checker and Spreadsheet.
With more functionalities being incorporated, the PDA market is zooming. Newer and more sophisticated but user friendly models are being launched. Some of the PDAs in the market are Palm TX, PalmOne M515, Pharos 535e Traveler, Palm Z22, Palm TX Handheld, HP iPAQ 111 Classic Handheld, Nokia N810 Portable Internet Tablet and Palm Tungsten E2 Handheld. You can search for Palm TX review in the Internet for details on Palm TX.
An indispensable tool, PDAs now are able to manage your work space and your personal life more effectively and efficiently. Convergence of technologies makes it even more possible to carry out functions linked to PDA functions to better manage your finances, home, businesses, purchases, health and education amongst others.
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