Additional PDA Features and Hardware

Most accessory hardware for PDAs is built for specific vendor equipment and sometimes even specific models of PDAs. Be very careful when choosing your accessories to assure compatibility.

Keyboard

Both Palm OS and Pocket PC devices have portable keyboards for easier data entry. You may want to consider such a device if you plan to use your PDA to compose e-mail, edit or compose Word documents, or enter large amounts of data. Full-size portable keyboards are available that closely resemble a standard keyboard. Some of these are wireless and use the PDA's infrared port to connect. There are also smaller keyboards available that work well, but their reduced size can take time to get accustomed to.

Wireless cards

The NUIT-supported wireless architecture, Wireless 802.11b though cellular peripherals, has not been fully tested with the Palm OS or Pocket PC as of this writing. A third-party VPN client is required to access NU's wireless network. When purchasing a PDA, be sure to verify that it supports wireless 802.11b and is WPA-2 compliant. Some PDAs have wireless "capabilities" such as e-mail and Internet browsing but do not support 802.11b.