PocketMatrix

I went to Staples today to apply for a day. I filled out the application (took 45 minutes! It asks EVERYTHING from criminal records to school grades to medical conditions, to happiness and depression, but mostly about your tendency to get into fights). Well, because today (the day after Thanksgiving) is one of the busiest days of the year, the employer will review my application and call me later. I know I'm qualified (duh, they hire partially retarded people), plus I went there because a friend works there, and he's one of my PDA pals (he has a Palm though...). I'd be working in the technology department (my friend does inventory ), so I'll be the expert on PDAs. To test, I went to the person at the PDAs and asked him if they had any X-scales, and he just stood there with a stupid face. I mean, if you don't know what the X-scale processor is, how can you sell them? I saw someone leaving the store with a Palm m105, if I was the salesman, he'd have a Compaq or Casio or Toshiba in his hand, and a much bigger smile. I mean, if you want a Palm for organization, why not get a Casio BE-300? Well, we'll see, now I have to wait for the phone call.

Which Staples are u talking about?
There is one near my house...in Dot, is that the one you applied to? That would be cool to go into Staples and see a person who specifies in PDAs.

I applied to the one in Bellingham, less than 10 minutes from me. Well, yeah, I'd probably be biased, but I'll still sell them, I mean, the Staples carries the foldable keyboards for Palms too, and Palms are cheap. If someone wants the best, duh, a PPC, but if they JUST want organization and not interested in gaming, then a Palm, Sony, or Handspring. Handspring is good for GPS too. They have the 400Mhz X-Scale Toshiba though, kickass. They only carry the Casio E-125 though, not the EM-500 or E-200. They have a bunch of Compaqs though.

The Palm Tungsten T is nice, 65,536 colors, and has Word, Excel, and Powerpoint! It goes for $500. I didn't know they had Powerpoint on handhelds. The m500 is a SUPER thin expandable travel organizer gray-scale for $150, the m515 has a color screen expandable and 16Mb internal for $350, the i705 is made for wireless Internet gray-scale for only $200 (pretty good for wireless Internet), the Palm Zire is the little fun economical one for preppy girls that like to use little silly gadgets for only $99, the m105 is the standard of Palm for $99, the m125 is expandable rechargeable (the m105 uses AAAs) and has 8Mb for $125, and the m130 is colorful and expandable for $250.

Then there's 4 iPAQs, the 3835 which is 206Mhz ARMS 64Mb RAM 32Mb ROM for $400, the 3955 which is X-Scale 400Mhz 64Mb RAM 32MB ROM for $600, the 3975 which is 400Mhz 64MB RAM 32MB ROM and also has Bluetooth ready for wireless connectivity and Internet for $750. In mid-December the iPAQ h1910 will arrive with 200Mhz Intel 64Mb SDRAM 16MB Flash-ROM and only weights 4.2oz as compared to the usual iPAQ 6.7oz for $300.

Casio has the E-115 with 131Mhz 32MB RAM for $400 (discontinued), the EM-500 (which I have) with 150Mhz MIPS 16MB RAM for only $200 (jeez, I got mine for $450 back in 3/01! and that was a good deal), and the E-200 with 206Mhz 64MB RAM Bluetooth connectivity and Internet CF and SD slots for $600.

*note all prices are MSRP

I'm not a perfect expert on HP, Sony, Toshiba or any of the little companies yet.


[edit] According to Staple's website, for PPCs, they have the Casio BE-300 for $150, iPAQ H3858 for $450, iPAQ 3955 for $600, Sharp SL-5500 (206Mhz LinuxOS) for $400, Toshiba E335 (300Mhz Intel) for $400, Toshiba E740 (400Mhz Intel) for $600, iPAQ 3670 for $580, and the NEC P300 (206Mhz) for $430. For Palms, they have all the ones I mentioned plus 3 Handsprings (jeez, still only 33Mhz!, a Sony Clié PEG-T665C (66Mhz but can be used as a remote control on many audio and video equipment, and good for an MP3 player, and nice color screen) for $350.
Still no high-end Casios, they should have the E-200, it's a good deal for wireless Internet, $150 less than the Compaq with Bluetooth. When I start working (and I will!) I'll make sure to heavily hint to them to carry the E-200.

Hehe. I did an Xmas temping job last year for a Dixons in the UK (bit like Staples, only more techy-oriented) and was lucky enough to end up behind the PDA counter. Sales of Palms have never recovered!