Handheld for my Mom?

[Mobius]

My Mom is heading off to South Africa, and then Europe for about 3 months, commencing in July. She has just bought a nice digital camera, with SD memory card. It's also USB 2.0

She has a laptop, but it is too bulky for her to travel with, and she doesn't want to carry something that size or weight.

She is 69 years old and has slightly arthritic thumbs, so anything with a thumb-keyboard is not possible.

What she wants to be able to do, is keep a diary, make notes, download her photos to the device, show them as a slideshow, and be able to use email, and surf the web. Wireless Wifi and/or bluetooth is preferred.

I'm not sure about Internet Connections though: is it viable to rely on WiFi hotspots in order to do her Internet thing? Or do you think she should also carry a GSM cellphone with bluetooth to act as a mobile modem for the handheld?

I had a good look round the 'net last night, and found the PalmOne \"LifeDrive\" ( http://www.palm.com/us/products/mobilem ... lifedrive/ )which has a 4GB micro-drive inside and seems like an excellent unit - almost exactly what she needs. I have a couple of questions - maybe you know the answers?

How's the hand-writing recognition on PalmOS? Isn't it some weird system you have to learn? I think it's nowhere even close to how good the handwriting recognition is on Windows XP tablet edition. Is that correct?

Could she plug a USB keyboard into the LifeDrive in order to type her diary? I found this item, which can be rolled up, and doesn't weigh much at all. http://www.dragonpc.co.nz/p.aspx?4519

Problem is, I don't think the LifeDrive has a USB port. However, here: http://www.palm.com/us/products/accesso ... 169WW.html is the proprietary fold-up wireless KB for the unit. Do you know of any other bluetooth keyboards which would work with the unit?

There's THIS
The iTech Virtual Laser Keyboard - it looks kinda cool. But it might be problematic to connect to the lifedrive if this support forum is anything to go by.
http://www.mobileplanet.com/forum.asp?code=118539

Anyway, if you have any bright ideas, wisdom or suggestions, please share them. Thanks.

[Isaac]

i used my G3 phone as a modem for a while and got speeds at about 115kbps... not bad. But the problem was it only works in certain areas, like major cities. Finding hotspots is even harder. Check out satellite modems... i dont know anything about them, but i saw some in the movie Jurassic Park 2.

[Mobius]

Satelite is all together \"too much\". A GSM phone would do the trick - and I am feeling more confident that Europe is very well serviced with WiFi hotspots, particularly in France, where she will spend about 3 weeks.

[CDN_Merlin]

For hand writing on the Palm, you have to teach it by going through a series of writing tests.

[fliptw]

For hand writing on the Palm, you have to teach it by going through a series of writing tests.

ha. It was never that intellegent.

Palm uses simple strokes that essentially your basic block letters, with some exclusive characters being cursive - all the models they sell now give you the option of using the entire screen to write with, not just that small spot at the bottom.

You should buy her a much larger stylus, as, well, PDA's where never designed with elderly in mind.

If you can't be with her in a store, so she can pick the one that fits her the best, she need to be able to turn it on, and that would be most problematic thing about modern PDAs

The ideal combination, would this for a keyboard - I don't think any of the portable keyboards would be ideal for her. Also, Palm devices don't come with bluetooth support for keyboards out of the box, you'd need third party drivers for that.

[Will Robinson]

Well if you're wealthy, this would be a great gift for your mom!
The tablet PC rules over the handhelds/PDA's if you find one small enough to not be a burden.

[JMEaT]

Your mom should get those arthritic thumbs looked at.

[Mobius]

Thanks JMeat - she's been having her thumbs looked at and treated for about 10 years now. She's not incapacitated in any way: she makes her living by making embroidered products and dying silks scarves, which all require good manual dexterity - it's just that repititive tasks like thumb-texting would be very bad for her.

Mom's 70, and will be travelling for almost 3 months. Given this, every single ounce is important, and as such, a laptop (I have a Titanium Powerbook) or a tablet is just out of the question: too large and too heavy. If I saddled her with either of these, she'd have thrown them in the trash after the first 3 weeks.

That's a great tip about the stylus - so if we go that way, I'll make sure she is comfortable with it.

The LifeDrive is looking like a real solid option for her, but we'll see.

[Isaac]

imageshack

It's even got a camera.