Today I chatted with my brother Marco on MSN Messenger. I told him that I was probably going to buy an Acer N311 PDA, but couldn't find an online shop in the Netherlands that sold this specific personal digital assistant with and English version of Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0.
I had been thinking about buying a small device to read eBooks, pdf files, etc. for quite some time. At first I was thinking about buying a device with E Ink. I read about the iLiad, made by Philips spinoff iRex, but it's quite expensive, over 600 euros. Also I read quite some negative reviews on the device. Moreover, I read similar negative comments on the Sony Reader. A lot of comments suggested to just buy a PDA or pocket PC.
So earlier this week I had decided to buy a PDA: Acer N311, especially because of the high resolution of 640 x 480 pixels and color. But like I said, I couldn't find an online shop in the Netherlands that sold this PDA with an English version of the operating system and software.
Marco told me that he was also considering a PDA made by Dell, a replacement for his current one. So I checked out the Axim PDA series on Dell's site, and the most expensive model, the Dell Axim X51v, looked very promising, also because it has the same resolution (640 x 480) as the Acer N311. Furthermore, I remembered that the Acer Extensa 367 laptop I bought back in 1999, had given me a lot of troubles, so the Dell Axim got more and more attractive while I read the specifications and discussed this Pocket PC with my brother.
Marco offered to order the Axim X51v PDA, and send it to me, in Mexico. Out of curiosity I checked the website of Dell Latin America, and they had a discount on the Dell Axim X51v, which ended as you can guess, today. Moreover, the special offer price was lower compared to buying the X51v in the Netherlands, even after adding 15% tax (IVA). So I talked with Esme and decided to order the Dell PDA "here" since it could be delivered with an English version of Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, and save my brother the trouble of ordering and forwarding the Axim to me.
I decided not to buy extra memory with the device yet. I guess that 64 MB is sufficient for me in the beginning, and I can always add more memory later (SD or Compact Flash), while it's probably cheaper (Christmas is coming).