Archos 5 IT vs. Palm T|X

Lately I’ve been looking for a more technically up-to-date PDA device to replace my Palm T|X to use for on my frequent air travel.  The Archos 5 IT is the hardware platform direction Palm should have taken instead of dropping the PDA market for the “smart” phone market, and locking into Verizon in the process.  Devices that try to be all things to all people generally fall short because there are too many compromises.  I love my Motorola KRZR phone, its the perfect size and it works better as a phone than any of the newer “smart” phones.  I want my phone to be a phone, my PDA to be a PDA, and my computer to be a computer.

Palm has long had the best PDA software on the market.  I’ve never been a big fan of Outlook, Palm desktop has exactly the features I want.  It sync’s reliably.  The rechargeable battery is still going strong (even on my 10-year-old m505!).  Documents To Go has been a nice feature that simply works.  However, while I could play some movies on the Palm, it had a hard time keeping up and the screen just wasn’t up to par.  Palm’s internet browser also can’t connect to any hotel or airport that requires a web acceptance to set up the wi-fi.  Also 802.11b is fading away.

The Archos 5 IT 800×480 screen resolution is awesome.  Movies play flawlessly.  I haven’t paid for the HD option, but all the reviews are positive.  The GPS works great.  Internet connections and browsing works well on my WPA2 secured home network, and anywhere with open wi-fi.  Most of the free airport wi-fi networks also work.  Marriott hotels now work also.  As a calendar and contact manager, gcalendar and gmail are all well and good, but like many, I do NOT want my business contacts or calendar out in the “cloud”.  This is where Google simply doesn’t “get-it”.  There are a couple of companies trying to remedy this situation.  CompanionLink and MyLink Access both look good, but I can’t get either to sync properly.