About Handheld Organizer

A handheld organizer, also called PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), can be used for managing contacts, appointments and tasks. It typically includes a name and address database, to-do list, note taker and calendar, which are the functions of a personal information manager.

Newer handheld organizers commonly have color screens and audio capabilities, enabling them to be used as mobile phones (smartphones), web browsers, or portable media players. Wireless handheld organizers can access the Internet, , intranets or extranets and data are synchronized between the handheld organizer and desktop computer via USB or wireless. HP has recently introduced the first handheld computer with a color display. Many companies also combine voice and data telephone services using cell phone or other wireless technologies with the handheld organizer in a single device. Some handheld organizers employ touchscreen technology.

The first handheld organizer is considered to be the Casio PF-15115-36 released in the early 1983. Ten years later, in 1993, Apple’s MessagePad, also known as the Apple Newton was released and Apple CEO John Sculley actually coined the PDA term for a pen-based device. In 1996 Nokia introduced the first mobile phone with the functionality of a handheld organizer – the 9000 Communicator, which has grown to become the world’s best-selling smartphone. Today the vast majority of all handheld organizers are smartphones, selling over 150 million units while non-phone (“stand-alone”) handheld computers sell only about 3 million units per year. The RIM BlackBerry, the Nokia N-Series and the Apple iPhone are some of the most popular smartphones.

Handheld organizers may use a pen or keys. With pen-based handheld organizers, users tap menus and enter texts via an on-screen keyboard with a stylus that slides into a holder on the side of the unit. Lightweight, full-size, folding keyboards can be connected and used on a desk surface. Many of the original handheld organizers, such as the Apple Newton and Palm Pilot, featured touchscreen for user interaction, with only a few buttons usually reserved for shortcuts to most used programs.

Key-based handheld devices have tiny physical keyboards and various cursor keys and scroll wheels. For example, the BlackBerry’s “thumbwheel” opens a context-sensitive menu of options and is clicked to select one.

Many handheld organizers can be used in car kits and are fitted with different GPS receivers to provide realtime automobile navigation. Many systems can also display traffic conditions, roadside mobile radar guns and dynamic routing. Garmin, iGO or TomTom are some of the popular softwares in Europe and America for this functionality. They can show road conditions and 2D or 3D environments. Handheld organizers are increasingly being fitted as standard on new cars.