What is PDA and what is it for

PDA

What is a PDA? It is very possible that on some occasion you have heard or read something about this word, about these acronyms. But you may not be very clear what is or what is a PDA for. Therefore, below we are going to tell you everything you need to know about this device so that you can get out of your doubts.

We are going to tell you what the PDA is, what it is for, as well as its origin, so that we know more about how this device originated. For many of you it is a familiar concept, you may even have had one in the past. Whatever the case, you will be able to know more about this PDA.

What is a PDA

What is PDA

The PDA is a small electronic device, which normally fits in a pocket and can be held in the palm of the hand. This device is used to have a list of personal contacts, the calendar with appointments, meetings or reminders, as well as functions such as calculator, annotation and spreadsheets always at hand. It is a device that has disappeared from the market due to the rise of smartphones, therefore, many see the PDA as the forerunner of current mobile phones, since these mobiles have taken as a basis the functions of PDAs, and have also introduced multitude of other additional functions.

PDA responds to an abbreviation in English, What does Personal Digital Assistant mean, which in Spanish we can translate as Personal Digital Assistant. It is a device that in its day was launched especially for people in the business field (executives or people who worked in the stock market), since they thus have their own assistant always at hand, in their pocket or briefcase. Thanks to this device they will be able to see their appointments, for example, or easily find someone's contact information.

History

PDA

As you can imagine, it is a device with a certain path in the market. That is why many already know what a PDA is, although the history of this device is something unknown to many. We have mentioned that these devices are the forerunners of current mobile phones, so this already gives us an idea about the time that has passed since they were launched on the market.

The PDA began its deployment in the market at the end of the 90's. Brands such as HP, Sharp or Casio They already had some electronic diaries on the market in the first half of the 90's, these models are seen as the first in the PDA family. Although it was not until the second half of that decade when the first devices of this type began to emerge, devices much more complete in terms of functions, such as the Palm Inc (a recently created company also). Although the first to leave us a complete PDA concept was Apple, which made the Apple Newton official in 1991, but it had many flaws and was a failure in the market.

Without a doubt, it was Palm Inc. that was driving PDAs on the market in the 90s. These devices began to incorporate more complex functions in addition, largely thanks to the appearance of two operating systems of their own for them, as they were Windows CE and Windows Mobile. Thanks to these systems, these devices were able to improve their functions and have more uses. In addition, changes were made to its design, such as the incorporation of a touch screen that could be used in conjunction with a stylus for more comfortable use, for example.

In addition, other very important communication functions were introduced. Bluetooth, WiFi, infrared port or even GPS they began to have a greater presence in the PDAs that were launched on the market. Thanks to this, better use could be made of them. You could even load software to take advantage of it in the car. Some models also began to incorporate a SIM card, so that it was possible to use this PDA as a telephone.

This advancement helped get work started on the first smartphones. It was in 2007 when the first smartphone was launched. These devices are the ones that helped to unseat PDAs from the market, since these mobile phones had all the functions that are already known in the PDA, but with a more compact size, in addition to having more functions. Apple came first with its iPhone and shortly after Android made its entry into the market. The end of PDAs came this way.

What is a PDA for

Palm-PDA

In the first section, where we have talked about what a PDA is, we have already mentioned some functions. In this section we are going to talk in more detail about what a PDA is for. The name of the device gives us a lot of information about it, since it is a personal digital assistant, so we can get an idea about the functions it provides and the usefulness of this device.

A PDA is designed so that day-to-day tasks can be organized in a better way, thanks to the functions it has incorporated. In addition to its ease of use and the fact that it is a compact device that can be carried with us at all times. Any executive could have his agenda organized in a simpler way thanks to the use of this PDA. You could easily see what meetings or appointments you had that week, as well as have quick access to any contact information. Information such as meetings, appointments, most important documents, email and other administrative tasks were available in the palm of your hand thanks to this PDA.

In addition, as they advanced in the market more functions were incorporated into it. The Bluetooth connection or the WiFi allowed to use the PDA in a better way. It became possible to have email available directly on the device. There were even models with GPS, so that travel routes can be made. In addition, there were models that had an infrared port, thanks to this, you could even use a remote control for the TV. So the possibilities of using these devices were many, as you can see.

Many people also used their PDA as if it were a small laptop. One of the functions available in it was to be able to make changes to text documents or spreadsheets on the fly. In addition, if they had a WiFi connection, users could send these documents by email to other people. Functions such as a calculator, a calendar with complete customer contact data, an Internet browser or even a music and video player in it helped the PDA to be used many times. Although these functions have not been able to save this PDA, which has seen mobile phones take its place from the end of the 2000s.

Market disappearance

Palm PDA

As we have already mentioned on several occasions, mobile phones have taken the place of PDAs in the market. You can see that smartphones have many of the functions that made these PDAs popular. Functions such as the agenda, the calculator, being able to see your agenda or calendar with appointments and meetings, being able to edit documents and spreadsheets or having Bluetooth or WiFi in it. All these are characteristics that we have in current smartphones.

The arrival of the first smartphones from 2007 started to drive a decline in sales of PDAs around the world, both iPhones and Android phones quickly gained a large market share. These devices lost their place entirely as new mobile phones, with more and more features and competitive prices, were launched on the market. For about ten years now, we can see that PDAs have disappeared from the market due to the advance of mobile phones or have a residual presence in some cases. Despite this, there have been several attempts to relaunch these PDAs to the market over the years, with some brands trying to make them a popular device again.

These attempts have not had the desired effect, since PDAs are a device that has lost its presence in the world market. In fact, if we look in stores like Amazon, we will be able to see that if we introduce the term PDA, we find mostly Android phones, but none is really a PDA as it was originally launched on the market, these years there have been models that used Android, in an attempt to modernize these PDAs. It does not seem that at the moment there is any intention to try to launch new models, but who knows if in the future any brand believes that there is still interest and they make a new attempt to give new life to PDAs. It would not be strange if they go back to using Android as their operating system and thus reach a greater number of users worldwide.


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