<p>My husband is in need of a new PDA as his Palm Treo 750 w/ Windows Mobile 6.1 is on it’s last leg.</p>
<p>The first thing he needs is internet connection, the faster the better. He has to be able to retrieve data from the hospital during the day and isn’t interested in it taking up more time than it needs.</p>
<p>Next he needs to be able to sync his Outlook to the phone without much fuss. He doesn’t care if the program on the phone isn’t Outlook as long as he can transfer his Outlook contacts and calendar to the new program. It is also very important that whether he enters a contact or appointment on the phone or his PC that when he syncs the two together that all information transfers to the other.</p>
<p>Lastly, He will need Word and Excel to work flawlessly, or as close to it as possible.</p>
<p>Can the iPhone do this on a PC? Will my husband need a program other than Outlook for his contacts and appointments? Does iCal work on a PC? Can you have Word and Excel on the iPhone and how does that sync with the PC? I thought I read somewhere that you can only view Word or Excel documents on an iPhone by emailing it to yourself as a PDF and viewing through your email. I also believe you can not edit Word and Excel documents on the iPhone. If that is true, I think the iPhone will be out of the running.</p>
<p>He will look at the Samsung Epix and Jack as he really does like having Windows Mobile, as well as a few Blackberry models. I have an iPhone and love it for the internet and I have a Mac so everything syncs great, but I am not sure it will be the workhorse he needs for work.</p>
<p>My vote is an iPhone for him, but I will need to make sure it can do everything he wants. Please convince me the iPhone can do the job!! If not the iPhone, will one of the Blackberry phones do the job? Can you suggest one over the other?</p>
<p>I also read that he would be better served by using and Exchange Server like MailStreet if he had the iPhone. Is that true also for a Blackberry?</p>
<p>Internet connection and performance depends on his cell phone provider, which you haven’t identified. Is he looking to switch providers as well?</p>
<p>I like my iPod, but am emphatically not an iPhone fan myself – under the hood, iPhones are a strange combination of over-controlled (from the DRM perspective) and under-controlled (from the security perspective). See
[Is</a> Jailbreaking a Security Threat? Really](<a href=“http://zdziarski.com/papers/jailbreaksecurity.html]Is”>http://zdziarski.com/papers/jailbreaksecurity.html)</p>
<p>However, since this is what you’ve said you want for him – here are some links that should help meet the two needs you’ve described.</p>
<p>Sync with Outlook
[Sync</a> Your iPhone 3G with Vista and Outlook - Solutions by PC Magazine](<a href=“http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329295,00.asp]Sync”>Sync Your iPhone 3G with Vista and Outlook | PCMag)
[When</a> Outlook meets iPhone - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2009/02/16/when_outlook_meets_iphone/]When”>http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2009/02/16/when_outlook_meets_iphone/)</p>
<p>View and edit Word/Excel files (add-on software)
[Quickoffice</a> Home](<a href=“http://www.quickoffice.com/]Quickoffice”>http://www.quickoffice.com/)</p>
<p>I’m very happy with my htc Dash, which is dated in comparison with his Palm Treo but works great for me under fairly heavy use. I sync contacts, calendar, and email with an Exchange server and use a POP3 email account on it as well. One thing I prefer about Windows Mobile (aside from the ease of integration with Exchange) is the range of useful software I can run on it for free or cheap. That, and the high degree of control I can have over it after making a few changes. I’d love to have a single device that does phone and Internet like my Dash, and music like my iPod. But cool as it is, the iPhone isn’t that for me, so I’m sticking with two separate devices. YMMV.</p>
<p>After a weekend on research, I think my husband has decided on the Blackberry Bold, but first he needs to see it in person! I can not seem to get him to the AT&T store before they close each night; hopefully he will look this week.</p>
<p>It is our understanding that the Bold’s internet should be fast enough for him to access the hospital portal as it has 3G. He like to have actual keys to press, although he has gotten use to my iPhone. Once he goes and plays with the Blackberry, I think that will be the way he will go. If not, he has 30 days to switch phones.</p>