i have had a hp ipaq5000 for about 2.5 years:

-microsoft os is unstable, may have improved but its got a long way to go for what i have. i have a street navigation app, usually takes 3-5 resets to get everything to work, once working it does it job very well.
-the model i have is bar far the most readable display, the down side is its battery life is only 3hrs max, maybe a correlation here? anyway, gofor the most memory and cpu speed, the vga displays seem not necessary, wifi, bluetooth, sd-card are a must.
-the apple phone will not use 3rd party software, a bad
-pda or cell phone, all last about 2years, after that the hardware becomes not reliable.
-palm software seems lo end. maybe its a more reliable os tho?
-pda's are complex, are you willing to tolerate this in your life? 4example my wife would not be able to start up the street navigation app. she would consider it way to much bother to do it every time she wanted to find something.
-back up everything several times, multiple copies. backup backup backup... the pda must be able to sync to your home computer
-i notice peeps that bought a pda/cell phone can not be reached as easy compared to when they had a small tiny cell phone.
-the devices n american cell phone companies offer are lo end, there is a lot more out there just expensive and possible difficulties to integrate into your providers network.
-i dont use the keyboard on the pda much to slow, the touch screen with character recognition is functional.

my pda is getting old, yes i will buy another, maybe with a built in cell phone and or gps but my most important criteria is cpu speed and memory. next; wifi, bluetooth, sd-card, day light readable display. try brighthand.com

it is a wild wearing earbuds + helmet on a sportbike being able to listen to mp3's and get gps street directions. mobile internet is fine too.

 

Battery life on the Motorola Q is retarded. 6 hours and it was dead....without using it as a phone.
Cumbersome to use. I sent mine back to Verizon and got a crackberry

 

I use to have a T-mobile MDA, which is also very similar to the Cingular 8125. It was very nice knowing that I have plenty of features, but this is what I used my phone for:

NES emulator games
SNES emulator games
Kevtris (another version of tetris)
MP3 player while jogging
Watching movies

... and that's about it. I usually played games while waiting for something, like a doctor's appointment or picking up my sister from school. I also used it for jogging since it's my only mp3 player. Other than that, I suggest getting one if you don't mind spending the money on one.

 

I have a Treo and love it... but I get tired of things too easily and I got something new about 6 months later, only to realize that the Treo was THAT much better than the other phone I was using and switched back. I have Cingular as well... I will however, be getting an iPhone though

 

How well do PDA's work as a Navigation System in a car? I really like the fact of having one device that would work as a game emulator, mp3 player, movie player, navigation system, oh.. and a oraganizer too. Any PDA's also come with a wifi browser?

 

after using the Cingular 8125/T-Mobile MDA (I have both) aka HTC Wizard, I can safely say that I'm hooked. Though not as easy to type as a crackberry, the 8125/MDA/Wizard is easy to use, comes with a nice screen, and if you are up to date on things, XDA Developers forum will offer you a host of upgrades.

 

i have the hp ipaq hw6925 (cingular locked....hw6945 is unlocked/unbranded)

windows mobile 5
bluetooth
wifi 802.11b
gps navigation
direct push technology for push email/tasks/calendar...etc...
fixed keyboard
1.3mp camera (6925/6945)
non-camera (6920/6940)

you can buy unlocked one from hp.com or if you have a cingular premier account you can get one from them (cant get them from retail stores since its only available to premier/business account)



or you can get the treo 750, no wifi, no gps, but does have the 3g/umts/hsdpa capability (if you have 3g service in your area), screen is slightly smaller than the ipaq as well

available at cingular retail stores and is a popular item among the pda phone community



theres also the cingular 8525

2mp camera
wifi 802.11b (maybe g as well)
3g capability
bluetooth
no gps
sliding keyboard...which i dont like personally...i used to have the older model 8125 and i didnt like it

 

gps will work very well in a car. i usally use the audio prompts, never look at the screen. my pda reads well in the day light tho it would seem odd to me to cut a dash to fit in a navagation system in.

pda's are difficult to use. think twice before alowing this into your life. many of the new pda's, which have a built in cell do not have alot of memory and or processing power. seems they have taken a step backwards.

wifi (usally b) internet browser:
-microsoft explorer, bla, comes with.
-opera has a version, you have to pay not free, it will resolve a site ok, tends to compress the site to the pda screen, makes some mistakes. will not resolve maps.google.com last time i tried it. stable, small foot print.
-mozilla firefox minimo, does a great job resolving most any site, software is bloat, may not run on a less enabled pda and unstable. will resove maps.google.com

 

I have the Treo 750 and my wife uses the Samsung Blackjack.

Both are among the best smartphones on the market. It depends what you're going to use it for. The Treo is great for work related stuff. It supports Exchange push email, BB Connect and has threaded SMS. The Blackjack is better for multimedia functions and has an awesome screen.

Or maybe you should consider waiting until June for the iPhone.