Thanks to the ever-so-generous people at AlphaSmart, a fabulous new PDA landed on my desk today – the Dana Wireless. Now I can blog from anywhere in the house, untethered to my PC.
The only problem is that the DanaWeb browser, which takes advantage of the Dana’s widescreen capability, is quite buggy. The two problems that I find most annoying are it has issues with scrolling and the forms handler doesn’t like extended text entry (a big minus for bloggers!). Eudora’s PalmOS web browser, although not widescreen enabled, seems to handle forms a bit better and is thus more suited for WiFi blogging, although it doesn’t take advantage of the Dana’s ample screen real estate.
Other PalmOS Internet apps I’ve tested seem to work fine too. Verichat and upIRC, my two favorite messaging apps, both work flawlessly with the Dana, although neither had widescreen capability. And SnapperMail, an awesome email app, IS widescreen enhanced and works quite well.
The Dana keyboard is full sized and handles nicely, although some of the keys tend to be a bit sticky. I’m not sure if that’s an issue with my Dana or if I’m pounding the keys too hard (a bad habit). At any rate, I’ve long wanted a simple laptop or laptop alternative that was wifi enabled so I could do some basic online tasks without having to leave the bedroom or living room.
Now I can.
Go Dana go!