Personal digital assistant

Following a boom in the 1990s and 2000s, PDAs were mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of more highly capable smartphones, in particular those based on iOS and Android in the late 2000s, and thus saw a rapid decline.

By the early 2000s, nearly all PDA models had the ability to access the Internet, intranets or extranets via Wi-Fi or Wireless WANs, and since then generally included a web browser.

Palm would eventually be the dominant vendor of PDAs until the rising popularity of Pocket PC devices in the early 2000s.

A typical PDA has a touchscreen for navigation, a memory card slot for data storage, and IrDA, Bluetooth and/or Wi-Fi.

To have the functions expected of a PDA, a device's software typically includes an appointment calendar, a to-do list, an address book for contacts, a calculator, and some sort of memo (or "note") program.

Many of the original PDAs, such as the Apple Newton and Palm Pilot, featured a touchscreen for user interaction, having only a few buttons—usually reserved for shortcuts to often-used programs.

Typical methods of entering text on touchscreen PDAs include: Despite research and development projects, end-users experienced mixed results with handwriting recognition systems.

[7] Touchscreen PDAs intended for business use, such as the BlackBerry and Palm Treo, usually also offer full keyboards and scroll wheels or thumbwheels to facilitate data entry and navigation.

Some contemporary printers have IrDA receivers,[10] allowing IrDA-equipped PDAs to print to them, if the PDA's operating system supports it.

Universal PDA keyboards designed for these older PDAs use infrared technology,[citation needed] due to cost and a lack of wireless interference.

[12] Third-party software can be used to synchronize PDAs to other personal information managers that are not supported by the PDA manufacturers (for example, GoldMine and IBM Lotus Notes).

Some PDAs can synchronize some or all of their data using their wireless networking capabilities, rather than having to be directly connected to a personal computer via a cable.

Devices running Palm's webOS or Google's Android operating system primarily sync with the cloud.

[13] Email, calendar entries, contacts, tasks, and memos kept on the company's server are automatically synchronized with the BlackBerry.

Other PDAs are compatible with external GPS-receiver add-ons that use the PDA's processor and screen to display location information.

PDA-based GPS can also display traffic conditions, perform dynamic routing, and show known locations of roadside mobile radar guns.

Underwater divers can use PDAs to plan breathing gas mixtures and decompression schedules using software such as "V-Planner".