PDA as a mobile phone

[chimpyw]

Just wondering. My dad got a PDA with his work. Its a pocket pc panasonic and can also be used as a phone as well as a PDA.

So can i use any PDA as a mobile phone or do only certain models allow it?
did a bit of searching but couldnt find anything other than wifi enabled ones.

[nichomach]

You can get CompactFlash cards that are basically GSM/GPRS phones, but they'll cost you (like http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hard...quicklinx=2BMD ). A better option is hardware designed for it.

[rajagra]

Isn't technology great? We now have mobile phones so advanced that they can lock up like PCs do.
(I speak as a P800 owner.)

[chimpyw]

oof those are quite expensive :\ The one my old man got (cant find the model) has the SIM card placed in just like a mobile phone. I could just do with the features of one and not having to buy a phone as well would be nice

[nichomach]

Well, bear in mind they're significantly cheaper if you get them along with a contract; buying them outright can get VERY pricey - we got a Qtek 9090 (basically a SIM-free equivalent of the O2 XDAIIs) for a director, and that was about £400 ex VAT. You can get the same device on 02 or Orange (SPV M2000) for A LOT less.

[Nox]

I used to use an XDA2 as my phone, but it was pretty unreliable, sufficiently so that it would get me into trouble with the wife, until she witnessed it just 'not working' I'm guessing the phone part of the device locked or crashed, but it did it far too often and you could not really tell when as everything else still worked.

Have a P910i now, a phone with pda features - much more reliable as a phone, but I can't play Speedball 2 on it

Nox