PDA: Personal Digital Assistant

Introduction

PDA which stands for Personal Digital Assistant is a handheld device that is usually used for business use or personal use. It is used to keep schedules, information such as address books and calendars. They are also used for storing information and computing. Almost all the PDAs that existed used to have a physical keyboard which was small in size. Some of them used to have a small sensitive pad that could be used to detect handwriting to make easy notes.

Basic Features of PDAs

Displays

The displays were very similar to the laptop screens at the time. In the beginning it had a basic sixteen-character display system. The original display was the FSTN display which is Film compensative Super Twisted Nematic which was used in the palm pilot 1000 which had a hundred and sixty square pixels grayscale display which was touch-sensitive. Then it was developed to use a TFT which is a thin film transistor display which was used in the tungsten model which had a three hundred and twenty square display which helped to increase the resolution and support sixty-five thousand colors.

Data Input

The basic Palm OS used the system of grffiti where all the characters had a set defined of unique patterns like for example “a” was defined as “𝛬”, which were used with portable keyboards. The other devices used advanced technologies such as touch sensitive screen keyboards and some even had features like voice recording to take inputs.

Processors and Memory

The earlier model of the Palm device used a sixteen MegaHertz processor which was manufactured by Motorola, DragonBall edition. In the later models it was updated to a thirty-three Mega Hertz processor in the DragonBall VZ chip which was found to be similar to the ones used in the earlier edition Macintosh desktop computers. The latest one which was manufactured by Sony has a CPU CXD2230GA and had a processing speed from eight Mega Hertz to hundre and twenty-three MegaHertz.

Operating Systems of PDAs

Windows CE

It is an open source thirty two-bit operating system which is used mainly for small footprint devices. This is also known as the windows embedded compact and the simpler version is used in the PDA. The kernel version used in the latest PDA is 3.0

The Palm spring OS

This is the most used operating system in the PDA industry. Almost seventy percent of the PDAs use the palm spring OS. The related database uses the permanent storage called RAM and the operating system does a division of user interface elements and running code. Hence there is no rewriting of the code required.

Symbian OS

This is the third most important operating system used in PDA . It is a very power- efficient operating system and needs a very high battery size. It is a multitasking operating system which operates on a thirty-two bit system. The code is very compact and is usually used on a small ROM chip. This operating system has been used on very large functional personal computers.

Automobile navigation

Personal Digital Assistant has the global positioning system(GPS) as an option to receive the signals and navigate using these handy devices. These PDAs are able to access external GPS add-ons to receive location on the display screen. These PDAs have become a very common standard display on new cars as a navigation tool. They have become advanced enough to track and display the mobile speed radar guns. PDAs can be used to perform routing and show traffic situations.

Ruggedized PDA

The rugged PDA is a specially curated device to use in system and mobile technology and hence can be supplied for industrial use and even machinery use. They are modified to withstand resistance to extreme conditions such as water, temperature etc. The ruggedized PDAs are mostly used as RFID scanners, Barcode readers, card readers and are equipped with industrial grade accreditations. Some of them are modified in a way they can withstand damage from falling from heights and be waterproof.

Educational uses of PDA

PDAs can help in

• Writing papers and note taking

• Collaborating on projects

• Checking facts and spellings

• Collecting data

• Syncing data with laptops and desktops

Models of PDA

Some of the consumer models are

• Dell axim

• Apple iphone/ipad

• Sony CLIE

• HTC

• Palm PDAs

• HP jornada pocket PC

Some of the ruggedized models are Honeywell handheld products, American handheld systems, Unitech, Datalogic mobile etc.

Conclusion

Personal Digital Assistants were the turning point in technology and have been modified and developed which are used in day-to-day scenarios. There are many types of PDAs and are operated by different types of OSs.

FAQs

Q1. What are the limitations of PDAs?

Ans − Time constraint − They take relatively more time than usual to utilize because their information pathway is not normal or would require time to comprehend.

Cost − Apart from the cost of PDA there is an additional cost to contract of utilization where there is monthly bill and chances of overcharging

Q2. What are the advantages of PDAs?

Ans − Availability − They are handy and are the easiest way to stay in contact via telephone, emails and texting.

Internet connectivity − This is a way for people who constantly travel and are on the move to remain in contact through different courier softwares which have a wide range of networks.

Q3. Who discovered the PDAs?

Ans − John Sculley, who was the chairman and the CEO of Apple, coined the term PDA. In 1994 IBM introduced the first PDA with the analog cellular service.