Could you perhaps use your column to give guidance on what to look for when buying a PDA, and what combos are available, for example PDA-phone and PDA-PC combos. I have read product reviews and magazines and, frankly, I am none the wiser as to what to buy. I have an old Palm Vx.
The other thing that baffles me is the concept of backing up. I understand what it means in principle, but when you review new software to back up an entire hard disk, where does it back it up to? Is it another drive partition or a different hard disc? How does Windows Back Up work? I run XP Home.
The industry is losing out on sales because I don't understand the products, and the sales staff at the shops are either too patronising to explain things - or don't know themselves.
Andrew Hardacre
Hong Kong
Your questions no doubt reflect what many people deal with all the time. The right PDA and how to back it up is one thing, while disk backup is a separate issue. Let's look at the PDA first.
It is impossible for me to say which PDA is right for you, but I can make some suggestions. The most important thing about a PDA is to understand how you would use it. Do you want to walk around with names and addresses and a little data to hand? The most basic PDA can deal with this. Even a decent mobile phone can handle this sort of thing.