Guardian Unlimited | Online | All features great and small

According to Neil McIntosh of The Guardian handheld computers are facing extinction from a new generation of smart phones.

I strongly disagree.

What most journalists don't cover in their articles, and McIntosh is no exception, is the level of functionality that PDAs offer over smart phones. Back-up features etc. are also usually ignored.

The key, how ever, is not what the media writes on the topic of personal information management. It is the industry belief that PDAs and cell phones make perfect bed fellows. They don't, not in their current form. We need to stop trying to combine everything in a single device. Phone + camera is a good idea as images can help in communicating. Phone + PDA with spread sheet tools etc...no.