Handheld computers?

[leticia]

...apparently, there's not really a market for the sort of device I want.

The features of a mid-range MP3 player + basic wifi functionality? C'mon, that's not so much to ask, is it?

But I find no handhelds with actual hdd type storage - MP3 players, sure, but as far as I can tell, so-called pocket PCs - though much larger than the same MP3 players - are limited to a gig or two of flash memory.

And of course, they all require special software to hook up to a computer directly.

I don't want a glorified electronic address book and calendar with the sort of storage space alloted usually allotted for such a thing - I want something on which I can access media files, ebooks, instant messaging, and the web. The ability to word-process would be a plus. A really /big/ one.

...and it shouldn't be a phone. I mean, I wouldn't mind having a phone that does all that, but right now I don't want to add any monthly bills, like cell phone service.

However, I suppose I'll just go for a mid-to-high range MP3 player/USB drive and call that good until I can save enough for a laptop. The problem is the temptation to not view a laptop as a minimal device for word-processing and internet and to try to get as much as I can into it. >_<

Comments

[amanojaku555.livejournal.com]

Can't a PSP do all that? o.O Not sure, just suggesting.

[forsythferret.livejournal.com]

I bet you could build one. And yeah, what you're describing sounds exactly like what I want and can't seem to find. It annoys me.

[letiwolf.livejournal.com]

I could probably find the components I wanted, and build one, though the price would probably be astronimical. The /catch/, however, would be the /case/. And screen, and controls... I don't even know where to look for such things, or how to connect them.

[bimmer1200.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I know you can't with a blackberry, but maybe a Trio could be purchased from a phone company, by itself, and just don't activate the phone service? I know I have old phones that will turn on w/o a card in them, the phone functionality is just dead.