**cue the bagpipes and/or organ – whatever your funeral dirge preference**

My PDA is dying.

My organizer of meetings, holder of important information, address/phone book, mini library, note-taker on the fly, low-resolution camera, quick calculator, mile watcher, gaming device, and oh, so much more…

The Hubby bought me my first Palm organizer as a wedding gift in 2001. I bought him a KitchenAid Mixer. (Yes, we have role-reversal syndrome.) Both of us were very pleased with our gifts. His still works. Mine had to be replaced with a newer model in 2003.

In 2003, I received my Palm Zire 71. **sigh**

I have adored it ever since. Lovingly carrying it with me from office to meeting, and from bathroom to bed. It is my clock in the bathroom as I get ready, it holds the books I download to read by the glow of the backlight at night. It keeps my schedule and notes. It works as my alarm clock.

I fear it heard the desire in my voice when I spoke of my little sister’s iPhone, however, and decided it was time to quicken the downward spiral in health, that I have been noticing over the past year.

In October/November, it began to have problems syncing with my computer, not wanting to be recognized. In December, I began to notice it was getting fussier about recharging, too. It has always been fussy, but now, if the cord isn’t sitting at just the right angle when it is connected to the device, it truly doesn’t charge.

I also began to notice the battery life is decreasing.

Within the last couple of weeks, it no longer likes it when I delete or add files to it. It freezes up, or takes forever to follow my commands.

And then came this past weekend. I discovered it was freezing up whenever a event alarm would go off. If I wasn’t there to reset it, it would lock up while on, not turning off until the battery had drained down almost completely.

This isn’t going to work. Not only do I have to plan the funeral for my beloved Zire, but now I have to find a new mate at the same time. How depressing.

And, I have to be careful about it. I don’t have money to be throwing around by picking up my “rebound PDA,” only to discover we aren’t a good fit together. This is an expensive investment, not unlike giving an engagement ring to someone. You want to know that person well, first.

So, I am shopping. And not the fun kind. The kind which involves reading tech-savvy reviews, combing computer geek-targeted Web sites, finding opinions on which direction the market is heading…

Sadly, it appears my Palm brand and the OS platform, may be going the way of the obsolete. I love my ease and functionality of the Palm, so this is depressing me.

I feel like a traitor as I peek at the new handheld PCs, and drool over the iTouch and iPhone models. My head is filled with excitement at having something new, while my heart breaks for my old, reliable friend.

I’m pretty sure the iTouch/iPhone models won’t meet my needs, so I’ve narrowed it down to one version of the Palm-brand models, and one version of a PC-platform model. They are both more money than I wanted to spend right now, but reasonable compared to going rates for these things.

So, has anyone had any experience with the Palm T|X or the ASUS a626?

Has anyone converted from Palm to PC, or used both and chose one over the other? Any advice would be helpful and welcomed…

I hope to place an order shortly, as my little Zire is getting weaker and weaker…

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