Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello
I know there's a similar thread about electronic planners but they were asking for one for a 10-year-old.
I'm in my late 20s and I'm incredibly disorganised. What I find very helpful is making priority lists on my Windows based PC (I use Easy To Do Lite but there are lots of similar options). For example, I might make a list of tasks that are related to my course work and then a separate one for benefits related paper work and then one for things I will need to buy or just things I'd like to/need to do (shower, go for a walk, ride my bike - yes, I need to write these down!). I like it how on a computer you can tick tasks off as completed or delete them if they're no longer relevant. This works fine when I'm on my PC but as soon as I turn it off, I get confused and forget things. So it would be very handy to have something that I could use on the go but that I could also sync with my PC (mainly for backup purposes).
I'd like an old-fashioned PDA, such as a Palm Pilot, but I don't think they're selling them anymore. I don't like buying things off eBay, in case they are faulty. I prefer buying things from a shop because I could easily bring the item back if there are problems. So I have looked into mobile phones but I find it hard to find out which ones do have good planners and which ones don't. Even the most basic ones will have a calendar feature but it's hard to find out which ones have a decent organiser that can handle separate to-do-lists and recurring events for example. I'm aware that if I buy an Android based phone, there will be apps that I can download but I'm reluctant to buy a smart phone because I don't want to buy a data plan and I don't have a wi-fi access point at home (never go to Starbucks or similar). I really don't need internet in my phone as I have it on my PC. Presumably without a dataplan and without wi-fi, I won't be able to download any apps. So I'm looking for a phone (or PDA, if they still exist) that comes with a decent built-in organiser and not one that requires me to download an app for it. Unless some Android phones can download apps via my existing PC connection (I have a mobile broadband dongle connection, no cable)? Most phones can sync data, i.e. contacts, with a PC but is there a way to download Android apps to a PC and then transfer the app to the phone via USB cable?
reclusivemonkey said:What sort of budget do you have for this?
What sort of budget do you have for this?
Depends on what it is that I'm paying for, i.e. I don't want to pay £300 for online features I'll never use if there's an offline equivalent for £100 that has the features that I need but doesn't rely on internet access (I'm really looking for an offline friendly phone because I don't need to be connected when I'm away from my PC). If it's got a good built quality and fullfills most of my requirements, then it will hopefully last a few years so is obviously worth paying more for than some plasticky thing that will break when I drop it. I say 'when' because I most definitely will drop it at some point. I'm very clumsy.
If it's just a mono use PDA, it would need to be relatively cheap if it's literally only an electronic diary but if it's also a phone, then I'd spend more.