My wife is looking for a new PDA to replace a broken Palm Tungsten and is thinking of either the Palm TX or ipod Touch

How is the ipod Touch for basic PDA functions - contacts, calender and tracking expenses? Is there a way to import all of the info she currently has on her Palm desktop into the Touch?

The Touch would be more fun and more apps can we expected with the SDK, and Palm does not seem to be developing their OS, but will the Touch do as well on simple PDA stuff?

At this point in time, the iTouch is more an MP3 player than a PDA. That may change now that the SDK is out, but I can't see using my iTouch as a PDA replacement. I also find the iTouch virtual keyboard to be pretty inefficient.

I wouldn't buy anything with the Palm OS. Try Windows based PDAs

As a basic PDA the iPod Touch is just fine (I wish people would stop calling it the iTouch ).

It'll do contacts, calendar and notes just fine. It won't sync notes to Outlook though. Getting her stuff off the Palm onto the iPod shouldn't be too hard, just sync the palm with outlook, then the iPod.

I don't know of anything (yet) that'll do expense tracking unless she keeps it in a note.

But like the previous poster said; I wouldn't invest in a Palm at the moment, it's outdated technology that may not be around much longer...

@767 - that the Touch is mainly a media player does not mean it can't be used as a PDA. Graffitti is also pretty inefficient. That the Touch auto-corrects is helpful.

@gj - she mainly uses contact, calendar, to do, expenses. The windows PDAs I've seen do much more, at the cost of complexity and expense.

What windows PDA do you recommend?

@Scott - a problem is that she no longer has a working Palm. All of the data is in the Palm desktop app. Is there a way to migrate that to the Touch? An expense app would be nice - nothing good seems currently available. I wonder what the SDK will bring.

You should be able to export the data from Palm desktop as a CSV and import it right back into Outlook.

Microsoft have a knowledge base article with all the steps:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/810930

The (IMHO) best PDA (non VGA) on the market at the moment is the HP iPaq 111, but at $285 it's quite pricey. You can get an 8Gb iPod Touch for that price. That said; the iPaq is a pretty slick little unit; WiFi, Bluetooth, SD and all the apps you might need (Office, Outlook, IE). As a PDA it'll probably do the job better than the iPod , especially with all the available apps for Windows Mobile (that may of course change once apps for the iPod are ready).

But the main deciding factor is whether your wife wants to learn an entirely new device? If she knows Palm, stick with Palm. At the end of the day you want to keep her happy, and make sure she has something she feels comfortable using.

Question for the iPod Touch owners:

When if first came out I remember reading that you could not add notes, contacts, etc on the Touch. Or maybe it was you couldn't add them and sync them back to your computer.

Is this still the case? For me it was a deal breaker (not that I was planning on running out and buying one anyway)

When the iPT first came out, there was no software in place for Contacts, Notes, etc., but a couple of free (and one $20 paid) software updates since then (we're now up to V. 1.14) have added those.

I can't wait for them to integrate BT and the A2DP (stereo headset) profile; I've got a Jabra adapter that lets me do that (as well as seek between tracks and pause) but that's an addon and internal integration would be killer.

It is too bad that she is pressed to purchase immediately, as the v2 firmware is going to be a paid upgrade for the iPod Touch, unless Apple backpeddles on that decision. If nothing else, just figure the extra $$ into the purchase price to make everything comparable.

I had a Palm E2. I received an iPod Touch as a holiday gift (intended as a PDA replacement). There is no comparison.

The current line of Palms have poor build quality, a buggy operating system that crashes often, and a steadily weakening line of applications (with the exception of the datebook+ program which I miss). For the past year I was also unable to fix the screen which would go into an endless loop when I tried to calibrate. Sad because the original Palms were great. But no way I would buy another one now.

The iPod is a dream - everything works well and it has yet to crash. The email program is fantastic - all you need is a WiFi hotspot (soon to be free at all starbucks) and you can download emails from all of your accounts. And it is much easier to ping out a reply on the iPod than on a cellphone (though probably a little easier on a blackberry). There are also a nice mapping, weather and stocks programs. And of course the music, video and youtube, which are light years ahead of the palm in terms of quality and ease of use.

To answer your question, I had no problems importing calendar and contacts from the Palm, though you will have to first import them from your Palm into the iCal and Contacts programs on your Mac, and then sync the iPod with the Mac. But it was pretty seamless, all the data came out correctly organized, though you may have to fiddle with the alarms and tasks. As for space, I have loaded 150 photos and 120 music CDs (not to mention my contacts, calendar, etc.), and still haven't used even half the memory.

Negatives: (1) You can't sync your Notes, at least not yet. This is a huge minus for me as I don't want to retype them. But hopefully we'll see some 3rd party programs soon. (2) The touch keyboard can be a little frustrating as the letters are small (and I hear it's a real pain if you have long nails) (3) Short battery life could be an issue if you plan heavy use for videos, youtube and/or internet surfing (4) Internet surfing is not as great as it looks in the TV commercials, though it is 200% better than doing it on a cellphone screen.

Don't forget that if you get a Windows Mobile based PDA, you can generally get GPS routing software for it. Some of the newer PDAs also have the GPS chip and antenna built in, so you won't need an external receiver. And there is always the option of getting a Windows Mobile PDA with a physical thumbboard.