PDA/Mobile OS and PIM ===================== As you may know, I am a longtime Palm OS user. There was a break in 2007-2009 (I think) between the moment when I sold my Palm Vx and bought my first the Palm III (possibly I got the III in 2008, I'm not sure). I sold the Vx because if wasn't in well condition (screen, battery) and because the PIM applications for the Maemo OS on my Nokie Internet Tablet have became usable. I simply didn't thought that carrying of 2 devices with very similar role is feasible. And the Nokia 770 was more versatile because in that time its WWW browser was almost on par with desktop WWW browsers. It also awllowed me to relatively easily write C programs on the go (I never have managed to write any usefull C code on any Palm). The Maemo is less or more a standard Linux with X11, after all. The Palm III (it was IIIx) I got because I wished to have a device which is easy to use and which has replaceable battery (after the first one I have got a lot of other models). Step by step, I have started to use the Palm III on daily basis. In meantime, I used several other mobile operating systems: the Maemo (on Nokias 770, N800, N810), the Windows CE (on an early ViewSonic tablet) a MS-DOS on HP Handhelds, PSION operating systems (on Series 3 and 5 devices), Symbian (thought on phones only), OpenMoko distributions (including a SHR, a QtMoko), the OpenWRT on the Ben NanoNote, the iOS (on the iPhone 3GS) and the Android 4.x-7.x (on many devices: nVidia and Ainol tablets, a Galaxy Mini phone, the Gemini PDA). And of course the Web OS (on a HP Touchpad). I am not sure it the software on the PSION Organiser II can be called the Operating System, but I have been using this, too. There can be many uses of of mobile and handheld devices but I want only discuss the Personal Information Management (PIM) use. So a calendar/date book, contacts list management and to do. Some devices were not designed for such use (the Nokia 770, some of HP LX machines or the Psion Organiser II) but were adapted later. Use of the Organiser II (especially models with two-line LCD) as a calendar is a pain. No repeating reminders (the later IIs are not much better), no ToDo. The address book is simpler. One should use a standard database fucntions for it (then Save and Find functions). It might look crude but it is very functional, almost genial. The Psion Series 3 and 5 are much, much better. I never liked look of their calendar but all things (the addressbook and to do aplication) are practical and fucntional. When I got my HP 200LX the I was surprised how good their calendar is. There is also an excellent day overview (it's automatically displayed when one opens the device for a first time of a day). I even used one of the for my work, until the hardware died. Well, Nokia tablets. The 770 was shipped just with a WWW browser (excellent for its time and for a pocket device), a text editor, a calculator and a little more. No calendar, no nothing. There was great stuff adapted by the PimLico company (much later I learned that they also made Palm stuff) which made the device usable. I was bought by calendar's colors and by possibility ti sync the calendar on-line (just with the Google and with issues, if I'm not mistaken). The later N8?0 tablets repeated such approach but the third-party synchronisation was much better. The Ben NanoNote came almost in bare-metal configuration (the most complex application installed wat the Vim) but shortly after its introduction many CLI things became available (a todo.sh, the Reminder, the Abook and meny more - I also ported some bits to the device). Nothing was slick or attractive but the whole thing was functional and very UNIX-ish. Synchronisation? With the scp or the rsync (some people probably used the git for that) via USB-Ethernet. One was able to use the same tool that he or she used on its Unix/Linux/BSD desktop. The only limits were defined by Ben's tiny screen (no 80x25 here - if was possible but barely readable). Well, the mainstream stuff. I used the iPhone 3G for some time as my main (actually the only) phone. I got it when it wal already few years old. I tried also other functions, but: music? must have iTunes! calender? we synchronise which this calendar but not with the other! navigation? why you need that? apps? the device is already unsupported by most of them? (the best thing was that I was able to buy some apps, they even installed but they fail because of compatibility issues). App are of course only available in the proprietary store so older (and compatible) versions are simply unavailable. OK, I carried my NanoNote with the phone to be able to do most of things. When I replaced the iPhone with an Nokia phone of similar age (E51 or E52 or something like that) the things became much better. A navigation that worked, a PIM which were usable (at least locally), a music which was imported from computer. I even didn't need to install any other apps. An it has a normal, backlighted hardware phone keyboard. Unfortunately, it broke after few years of intensive use. I got another, it also broke. It seems that the PIM was out of scope when the iPhone (and its basic software) was designed. It has been improving in time, but still... The Android? It loads games well (I still have been using the nVidia Shield Tablet, it is great for games) but it repeats all iOS problems. It is a bit more configurable, but it is also less consistent and it is ugly. The common problem of then (and of most of similar systems from 2008 upwards) is their optimisation for touch use (big buttons, lot of empty space and so). In short: the bigger screen, the higher screen resolution and much higher demand for computing power all mean than less amount of useful information can be shown on the screen. Just compare how much data can by displayed by the old Palm DB program and by its modern competitors! In other hand, the Palm came relatively late (the Psion Series 3 and HL LX were lready years old and matured) and it was primarily designed for PIM tasks. The Datebook is usable even in the OS 1.0 (it actually didn't improved much in newer devices - but its a proof of its good design rather that of inability of developers). It's fast, simple, easy to use but it offer all functionality that 99% of PDA users need. There are even better offering for the rest, of course. The same applies to other software pieces (the To Do, the Memopad). My personal experience is that it is faster and easier to use these Palm's programs that anything other (even the Web OS applications are much worse). The applications are often small but also easy to understand and use and most things can be done with few stylus clicks. The Graffiti is strange at first but it allowed devices to be tiny and it is not hard. Other's experience might be different. But it's my point of view. P.S. I didn't mentioned my experience the OpenMoko phones for a reason. They are exciting devices, but somewhat unfortunate. And they never became usable phones or PDA's. There were many reasons for that. One of them was design of their hardware. A device without stylus was somewhat visionary in its time (the iPhone was not a thing when the OpenMoko concept was publicly presented) but it failed in details: a phone without stylus but with tradition pressure touchscreen with absurdly raised edge is very hard to use.... And there were hardware bugs which ruined its battery life and voice quality... Even the GTA04 didn't solved most of them.