Straw Poll for PDA/UMPC/Phone use in schools

[Luke_T]

Hey all,

just thought I'd kick things off in this brand spanking new forum by asking what people use their PDA/UMPC/Phone for in their school. Make and model might be useful for those looking to get into it:

PDA:

HP iPAQ 114 - Soon to be used for wireless registration with ePortal (Serco) by the PE department.

UMPC:

Samsung Q1 - Used in the past for general maintenance and testing of network, wireless connectivity, setting up of IP cameras, remote to servers, err ...

Phone:

Various - Used in the past as work mobile phone for contact over a large (split) site, calls routed from office after certain time ...


Might be useful as a reference for finding new uses for those flash gadgets we have ...

Luke T

[LeMarchand]

UMPC: If only I/the schools had the money...

PDA/Phone: HTC Touch (the basic version).
Recent upgrade (was using an iPaq - can't remember the number + an early RAZR) which gets used for calendar/organizer, multimedia (Pocket DivX + TCMP), games, web browsing (I must see if it's worth trying to d/l something from various sites that the LEA filters). Not provided by school, though today one of my heads gave me an iPaq hx4700 that I had previously fixed for him as he now has an iPhone.

[Dantech]

Hi

We use 3 PDA's for SIMS registration in PE. Don't underestimate how long you will spend getting these to work! The documentation is very confusing and every time you do a SIMS update you have to make changes on your server and the PDA's.

Synching data before going offsite and re-synching when the teacher comes back is a challenge for our staff!

I have one myself and they are all the cheapest HP offering - the Classic Handheld 114. Added a 1 Gb SD card to hold photos of the kids too. Syncs as soon as I walk in my office to our wireless network.

TIPS: Turn wireless off to conserve battery life. Also very sensitive to heat so don't carry in trouser pocket or it hangs and is difficult to reset.