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Sony PSP - System Software Version 2.00, now allows PSP users to Surf the Web from wireless "hot spots", personalize your PSP™ PlayStation®Portable), share photos, and access new audio, video and image formats...

Food for thought: Will we be able to expect more of PDA's functions in the cute little block ... ?

Probably not. Sony has been around for many years and is making good quality consoles so it's kinda hard to say that i can be beaten. It can be but it can faught back

Greetings knedl.

Well, what more do you really want out of a PDA? I don't think it will ever replace current PDAs if only for the fact that it doesn't have touch sensitive input, and relies on the buttons to navigate menus and type.

stupergenius wrote:Well, what more do you really want out of a PDA? I don't think it will ever replace current PDAs if only for the fact that it doesn't have touch sensitive input, and relies on the buttons to navigate menus and type.

Don't forget that Sony _HAD_ their line of PDAs. The Sony Clie. I own about five of them....great hardware.

Sony stopped marketing them in North America and Europe.

They made great hardware and I don't see how Sny would do a 360 (grin) and make a PSP be a PDA after abandoning all their loyal Clie users and getting whooped by Palm and other devices like the Treo (PDA + phone). Too much competition, too little profit.

"After Sony’s sudden plan to discontinue the Clie and pull out of the American PDA market, many industry observers have increased their speculation about the demise of the PDA, in general. The Japanese electronics giant was defeated in the American market by increased competition and an industry-wide decline in PDA sales. Sony said that it would continue to market its PDAs in Japan where there is less competition. So, where does this leave the U.S. PDA market? Palm, with its Zire line of PDAs, is an example of a company which is still offering a PDA in great demand.

"http://www.breakingwindows.com/new/2004/06/are_pdas_simply.php

PDAs are finding themselves to be obsolete with advances in phone technology to create hardware such as the Blackberry or the Sidekick.

And I wouldn't say WiFi is neccessarily a PDA quality. It's a nice advancement for any handheld.

I suppose the PSP could almost replace a PDA, but it'd have a long way to go. There's still a lot of functionality missing. Yeah, PSPs are versatile, but they're still geared for entertainment whereas PDAs are geared for productivity. PSPs don't have any kind of "useful" software - things like word processing, note taking, calculator, scheduling, etc, and those are mainly what PDAs are for.

I agree with nighthawk. My dad works at a fortune 500 company and they switched over from the PDA to the blackberry.

When linux becomes available on the psp i think some people will start using the psp as a pda. This would be a very small group tho. Im waiting for that ot happen before i buy one.

Check out the video blog "from the shadows" on episode 3 they mod it with an external antenna.

Linux is running on the GP2X, the device lacks WiFi atm though, so it isn't really a contender as a pda replacement.

I do believe the current trend of devices becoming more powerful and smaller will continue. The blackberry and sidekick type devices will become more popular over the next few years. During which storage solutions will increase in capacity and decrease in price. The next generation, or generation after, will store LOTS of daily life information. From driving directions, tv shows, pin #'s, year long calander blah blah blah...

It will continue in this fashion until we no longer have to carry the devices with our hands. The whole thing will rest on your ear, maybe have a viewing pad on your wrist.