A New Toy

Hey, it's Christmas season, and I decided I needed a toy for myself. Okay, it really didn't go quite that way... Actually, I'm not really sure what prompted me to pursue this. I just know the notion of it has been on my mind off and on for some time now.

What did I get? A Dell Axim x50v PDA. Do I need a PDA? Hell no. Up until recent times PDA's were simply devices to keep people organized (after all, it stands for Personal Digital Assistant) when they're on the go. Although I've always loved techie gadgets (who doesn't?), I never could see spending the money on something that was basically a calendar, notepad, and storage device.

Then came wireless.

This unit has built-in wifi. I am able to connect with the internet anywhere there is a wifi "hot spot" using a regular ol' (albeit stripped down for pocket PC) Internet Explorer to surf the web. I also selected this one because the "v" designation means it has a built-in 16-bit graphics card and plays flawless video.


I just got the thing yesterday and still don't know all of it's workings, but it suffices to say that I'm very pleased with it. It was barely over $100 on eBay and the guy even bundled it with a GPS unit. I'll probably end up selling that to recoup part of the price. Besides, I'm a guy and as you all know, we never get lost...

I've been uploading games to it so far and I'm very impressed with it. The graphics are very good. The more I learn about it the more I like it. It also came with a nice metal case to keep it in so I can afford to be klutzy without killing it.

There is one version of this Dell Axim that's above mine, but I couldn't justify the extra price until I had a chance to play with one. From what I understand on the web Dell won't be making them any more. Other companies will of course, but for how long is anybody's guess. The reason being that cell phones have gotten so powerful and full-featured that they are doing almost everything these PDA's do. The touch-screen is showing up on lots of the cell phones now. That's okay because they just keep driving the price of these "obsolete" toys down, down, down.