WiFi PDAs

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02·11b, or WiFi, has been available on personal digital assistants for some time now. The first PalmOne handheld to benefit from WiFi was the Tungsten C, but let us not forget the variety of PocketPC and Linux devices that have either onboard WiFi or access to a WiFi card.

As I sat down to first write this article, I remained unconvinced about WiFi on the personal digital assistant. On the one hand, adding the wireless network radio to a portable device makes great sense. With such a device, one is able to access the Internet from a large number of WiFi Hotspots, such as in airports, McDonalds, Starbucks and certain train services to name just a few. More and more hotspots are cropping up all of the time but WiFi won’t be as all encompassing as GPRS, at least, not with current technology.

But there is just one caveats, the relatively high power consumption of the WiFi radio. The PDA needs to have a relatively high capacity battery so as to have respectable battery life when using the wireless radio. Just adding WiFi to my Tungsten T2, for example, is a recipe for one very frustrated user if after two hours of WiFi use the device needs recharging. I can get more life from a laptop...

Then both WiFi-enabled laptops I used stopped working. For a little over a week I had no easy access to my email account at home. Yes, I did have the Bluetooth / GPRS connection from the Tungsten T2 and it was bearable if slow.