Recommend a RPG PDA

[TheYeti1775]

Was thinking about getting a PDA for myself.
Primary use: Gaming of course.

Mainly want it to be able to view PDF's, Excel, & Word files.

I'm not talking brand new ones, I will most likely shop around the used market.
Unless of course I find a good deal on a new one.

So what should I look for? What kind of specs and all.
Probably setting my ceiling limit at $300 area.

If it can view Parus's SSA-X2 PDF file, I would call it awesome.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Raloc]

The *only* PDA that is good for gaming is the Zodiac: http://www.tapwave.com

You can get the Zodiac 1 from eBay for around $100. Now with Doom, Quake, Hexen, MAME, NES, GB(C), GBA, SNES, Sega Master System, Genesis, Gamegear, Wonderswan (Color), NeoGeo Pocket (Color), C64, TG16, ScummVM, Infocom, etc. All of those are free. A WiFi SDIO card was recently released too (the
Zod has two SD slots, so you can still have a regular card in while using WiFi). Has a very nice email app and browser too. Plus a few really good original, exclusive games.

Only PDA that has proper gaming controls. It makes a *huge* difference.

 

[TheYeti1775]

I like

I like it,
Didn't need anything that fancy but it does fit into my price window.

I mainly wanted it as a viewer and editor for PDF's and doc's for RPG'ing.
I'm assuming if it can handle all those games, it can do what I want it too.

Any other recommendations out there.

 

[Raloc]

Repligo handles PDFs excellently It comes with a full version of Wordsmith, which is directly compatible with MS Word. I believe it can also view Excel files, but I'm unsure on that. I've played most of those games, and know the developers that worked on (sometimes with me assisting) most of those projects.

 

[Ayrk]

Check out the Dell Axims. You can get a fully loaded x30, which is the second most recent PDA from Dell, for about $260. It comes with Word and Excel, Acrobat Reader, and there are dozens of gaming software available.

I have an X5 (even earlier version) and I love it. In fact, it was a recommendation right here on ENWorld that made me want to pick one up.

 

[TheYeti1775]

Cool beans.

Just e-filed off my federal give me my money back forms, so I should have my money in a couple of weeks to play with. So I have plenty of time for research, I'm not as worried about "Gaming" graphics as I am in memory (ram) and storage (harddrive space). About the most intense game I will probably run will be a card game, minesweeper, and all on it. Though I might try a few of them out on my 40 minute rides into work.
Here's a list of what I find important to what ever I get.

1. Storage ability - I have lots of PDF's.
2. RAM - Can quickily handle doing what I want, if you have seen Parus's SSA-X2 PDF character sheet with all it's calculations that would give you a good handle on what it would be doing a lot of.
3. Battery life - At home and work I can plug in easy enough, most of my gaming sessions are about 4-5 hours after an hour drive.

So really I don't need a lot, but apparently since I set a decently high ceiling of cost, you all seem to be showing me some top of the line stuff that I thought would be out of my range. Any and all suggestions, including older models short of an abacus, are welcomed. I have a few weeks to make my decision so plenty of time to compare what all I want.

Thanks again guys.
Bill

 

[WingOver]

The Dell Axim X50v supports true 640x480 resolution. You can switch between portrait and landscape mode. A buddy of mine has one and it looks sweet. Only problem is the text looks small because of the high res and small screen. But its very crisp and packs more info on the screen than I'm used to seeing on a PDA.

Only problem is that it's $499. However I've seen a slickdeals.net post on it bringing it down to about $365 before. You have to wait for a dell sale to get that price.

 

[d20fool]

Tungsten E

I use my trusty Tungsten E which my wife purchased off a seminary student from ebay for $167. I currently holds all the programs I use for DMing and for teaching, which are considerable. I have considered using it for storing PDFs, but that would take a memory card. Those cost money, which I don't have of course.

Be aware that PDFs compiled into palm form are just text, no graphics to speak of. I've been tempted to try it, but haven't done so yet.

Good luck and happy hunting!

d20fool

 

[Pasus Nauran]

2. RAM - Can quickily handle doing what I want, if you have seen Parus's SSA-X2 PDF character sheet with all it's calculations that would give you a good handle on what it would be doing a lot of.

One thing to Note:
Currently, no PDA-compatible version of Acrobat Reader supports JavaScript, and last I checked, only Acrobat Reader 2.0 for Pocket PC even supports interactive form fields. As such, an interactive PDF character sheet – such as my SSA-X2 D&D Character Sheet – the sheet can be read quite readily on a PDA, but you won't really be able to interact with it.