Doc's Tip No. 2

PALM or POCKET PC?
If this question was asked 1 year ago, the forgone conclusion would be a Palm of course. I have used both platforms and am currently using a Pocket Pc Phone, the MPX. Both platforms offer almost the same range of medical software, in particular Skyscape and Epocrates and many medical calculators. Battery life is now comparable as both Palms and Pocket PC's utilise high resolution colour screens.
However at this point in time, I would still recomend a Palm to most doctors because of 3 reasons :

1. Fast Data Retrieval
-Most of the time, Doctor's tend to look up things like antibiotics and it's side effects. I used to lookup my Frant Shann Paeds Formulary in Tomeraider format all the time. Palms still feel snappier compared to PPCs. However this may not be true of the Palm LifeDrive.

2. Simpler to use.
- This is to save me answering tons of questions and time trouble shooting problems. Not all doctors are that savvy with computers, most rarely hotsync/activesync (huh...whats that?). Most just want to keep reference data, some images, contact data. Thus the Zen of Palm prevails.

3. Generally better battery life
- This may not hold true as my Ipaq Rx3715 lasts 3 times as long as my Tungsten T3. I believe the Palms have marginally better battery life because they aren't used for multinedia much. However I can't understand why Palm does not make the batteries removable like the PPCs.

To most doctors who are buying a PDA for the first time, I would recommend the Palm Tungsten T5, the Tungsten E2 or the Silver Zire 72 (not the blue one coz the colous peels off). The Palm Lifedrive is just out, but I will reserve judgement till I have had a chance to play with it.