Natural successor to a Palm III

Please, I need some advice and help. I have a Handera 330 organiser which I've used for years, but it is nearing the end of its life and I need to replace it with something with at least the same functionality.

For anyone who doesn't know, this uses the Palm III operating system with some cute additions. I have a very large amount of data (several hundred mb) on board under Diary, Address Book, To Do lists, Memo Pad, Spreadsheet, Books to read, plus a few other odds and ends. The HE330 takes two expansion cards, SD and CF, and is superbly versatile. It is rechargeable, and has a battery life that was originally about 3 weeks, but which has now dropped to less than one.

I need a current-tech machine that can import all of this data and give the same basic functionality. And I need to choose one unseen, as there's no way from Belize that I can go and browse. Most handhelds these days focus on being phones and giving internet access. Although that would be nice it's the basic Organiser functionality I need, and I've never seen any adequate reference to this functionality on any current machine. I don't know how to proceed. When I was in England last I went into some shops to research, but all I could learn was internet-related.

Can anyone help with informed information/advice?

My company replaced mine with a Blackberry. Palm (now HP)'s replacement is the pre and I have friends who rave about it. But of course, the pda du jour is the Iphone or if you don't want the phone, the Touch.

Can the Apple devices import my data, and can they provide the basic functionality I currently have? I've never been able to find out.

Can the Apple devices import my data, and can they provide the basic functionality I currently have? I've never been able to find out.

Import - Doubtful, unless it is done through iTunes. The install base of Palm III OS was not great (Even though it has a lot of advantages over the Apple version).

Functionality - Probably.

HP just bought Palm for 1.2 Billion. Article here. Given HP's past track record they will toss a lot of money into this so you may find the support improve over time.

UPDATE: Found this article in importing contacts.

I don't own one of these devices, but I believe that both the Palm and the Apple devices will sync with Microsoft outlook. So you could in theory use that as a central throughput.

That is how I went from the Palm to the Blackberry and didn't lose any of my contacts, address book or calendar. This was a few years ago, but I believe it would still work.

Even going from Microsoft Outlook Express to Microsoft Mail I lost a lot of data, both emails and contacts. I have no confidence in anything to do with that company. Perhaps I'll have more certainty of the outcome if I stick with Palm - what is the oldest Palm PDA I'm likely to find available new?

I read an article on data loss on conversion of media a while back. It concluded that it is the biggest problem we have with modern technology, but one that is commonly not recognised or ignored until it's too late. For example, VHS video recorders are well-nigh impossible to buy nowadays, yet there are vast collections of material on VHS tapes. I have over 100 with material on that I want. Computer tape drives have gone, and so has access to any data stored on those tapes. I have several hundred DAT tapes containing live recordings, but currently no access to a machine capable of playing them. I also have 1500 vinyl LPs which here in Belize I shall never be able to play. And I have a problem getting data off my PDA and on to one with newer technology, and I'll shortly have a problem transferring data from a Microsoft computer to an Apple one. It is a big problem when manufacturers don't provide an upgrade and data migration path.

Even going from Microsoft Outlook Express to Microsoft Mail I lost a lot of data, both emails and contacts. I have no confidence in anything to do with that company. Perhaps I'll have more certainty of the outcome if I stick with Palm - what is the oldest Palm PDA I'm likely to find available new?

I read an article on data loss on conversion of media a while back. It concluded that it is the biggest problem we have with modern technology, but one that is commonly not recognised or ignored until it's too late. For example, VHS video recorders are well-nigh impossible to buy nowadays, yet there are vast collections of material on VHS tapes. I have over 100 with material on that I want. Computer tape drives have gone, and so has access to any data stored on those tapes. I have several hundred DAT tapes containing live recordings, but currently no access to a machine capable of playing them. I also have 1500 vinyl LPs which here in Belize I shall never be able to play. And I have a problem getting data off my PDA and on to one with newer technology, and I'll shortly have a problem transferring data from a Microsoft computer to an Apple one. It is a big problem when manufacturers don't provide an upgrade and data migration path.

Peter, I was a Palm user for a long time, starting in 1999, with my last PDA only being the Tungsten years ago, and my last device being the Treo 680 PDA/Phone. From what you say, I am not sure if the iphone is the answer for you. Although the apps out there are pretty amazing. Here is my experience with it. I switched to the iphone last year. Although I am a Mac user, I used virtual PC for my palm data, since in the early years, the MAC support from palm was very spotty, and my medical PDA software was all PC based so I never bothered to switch it to the MAC version. I held back on switching from palm OS for a long time because of my perceived problems with migration. In Aug, when I switched, I was able to export my address book data and calendar data relatively easily to the Iphone. I actually signed up for mobileme from apple, but I don't know if that support will be available in Belize. I believe the other option was using itunes.... which should work. I prefer mobileme because of the seamless synchronization of all my contact, calendar data on all my apple computers with my phone on the fly. The instructions tell you what format to export it in, then import it into itunes etc if you are not using mobileme. My biggest problem was the memos. I had about 400, and they did not transfer over to notes on the iphone. And I did NOT want to cut and paste yikes. I finally found an app called notespark (www.notespark.com) which allowed me to import my memos, provides alphabetization, allows searching.. crucial with so many memos, and is synched on the fly with an online website. For my secure notes, I went to 1password which has many essential functions for security and privacy, but most of all allows you to save secure private data and password protect it. I am writing this on the fly, and unfortunately, I cannot speak much to PDAs only anymore since I switched to the PDA phones quite a while back. But I hope this helps. It IS possible if you decide to go iphone (or any other device). It will take some work, and you will have to find some work arounds.

(snip) It is a big problem when manufacturers don't provide an upgrade and data migration path.

Huge problem for the user, but not the companies. Apple wants you to be Apple everything. Microsoft is no better. Companies that provide those tools are effectively making it easy for them to lose customers to their competitors. You will find all sorts of tools to import from other companies, but few to export unless it is in a proprietary format held by that company alone.

In the biz it is called "enforced customer loyalty".

Yes, I have the same opinion.

I have a palm Pre. I love it.

I have been very pleased with the Palm webOS, and am very excited about the HP deal.

Palm Pre allows either a sync with Google Gmail, Facebook (yuck) or Palm. I use the Google gmail sync. It contains all my contacts and calendar. You can link many email including Outlook, and their is backward compatibility with Palm apps using the "Classic Emulator" app.

You may want to look into it to see if the Classic Emulator is able to do what you want with your old Palm data.