Define "PDA"

I have mobile phone insurance, and have just been declined cover on my
new phone (O2 XDA Exec) on the grounds that they don't cover PDA's. On
reading through the Ts&Cs, there is no elaboration on exactly what
makes a device a PDA. OK, I'm fairly certain the Exec would count
regardless of the criteria, but between me being a pedantic git and
them saying they don't cover any of the XDA range, it got me thinking.

What features would you say qualifies a device as a PDA rather than a
mobile? Most phones these days can do everything that the Exec can do
out of the box (contacts, calendar, notes, email, web browsing) as well
as a huge range of smartphones which run Windows, so what makes the XDA
range so special? (And yes, I've already written to the insurance
company asking them the same question)

For those who haven't seen them, http://xda.o2.co.uk has images of the
entire range

---

› See More: Define "PDA"

[email protected] wrote:
> I have mobile phone insurance, and have just been declined cover on my
> new phone (O2 XDA Exec) on the grounds that they don't cover PDA's. On
> reading through the Ts&Cs, there is no elaboration on exactly what
> makes a device a PDA. OK, I'm fairly certain the Exec would count
> regardless of the criteria, but between me being a pedantic git and
> them saying they don't cover any of the XDA range, it got me thinking.
>
> What features would you say qualifies a device as a PDA rather than a
> mobile? Most phones these days can do everything that the Exec can do
> out of the box (contacts, calendar, notes, email, web browsing) as well
> as a huge range of smartphones which run Windows, so what makes the XDA
> range so special? (And yes, I've already written to the insurance
> company asking them the same question)
>
> For those who haven't seen them, http://xda.o2.co.uk has images of the
> entire range
>


Insurance = we cover every eventuality until you make a claim.
Irma

Inviato da X-Privat.Org - Registrazione gratuita http://www.x-privat.org/join.php

[email protected] wrote:
> I have mobile phone insurance, and have just been declined cover on my
> new phone (O2 XDA Exec) on the grounds that they don't cover PDA's. On
> reading through the Ts&Cs, there is no elaboration on exactly what
> makes a device a PDA. OK, I'm fairly certain the Exec would count
> regardless of the criteria, but between me being a pedantic git and
> them saying they don't cover any of the XDA range, it got me thinking.
>
> What features would you say qualifies a device as a PDA rather than a
> mobile? Most phones these days can do everything that the Exec can do
> out of the box (contacts, calendar, notes, email, web browsing) as well
> as a huge range of smartphones which run Windows, so what makes the XDA
> range so special? (And yes, I've already written to the insurance
> company asking them the same question)
>
> For those who haven't seen them, http://xda.o2.co.uk has images of the
> entire range

Could be the op.sys; Mobiles and Smartphones don't run Microsoft
Windows Mobile 5.0, but PDAs do.

Good luck!

On 1 Jun 2006 01:41:18 -0700, [email protected] wrote:

> I have mobile phone insurance, and have just been declined cover on my
> new phone (O2 XDA Exec) on the grounds that they don't cover PDA's.

Ditch the expensive and useless phone insurance and get it covered on your
home insurance for a tenth of the price or less? They won't care whether
it's a phone or a PDA or a little lump of plastic with flashing lights.

I suspect that the reason for this is that as phones get more complex they
are more prone to failure (crashing, etc) and the insurance provider is
less likely to make obscene profits. So it's not whether it's defined as a
PDA, it's whether they think you're likely to make a claim on that
particular device.

So PDA = "Profit-Damaging Abilities"

-zoara-

[email protected] declared for all the world to hear...
> Could be the op.sys; Mobiles and Smartphones don't run Microsoft
> Windows Mobile 5.0, but PDAs do.

The Nokia 6630 runs Symbian but I wouldn't call that a PDA.

The SPV-C500 runs windows software, I would not call that a PDA either.
--
Regards
Jon

surly if it can make phone calls on the move then its a "mobile phone"?

if anything, a phone becomes a PDA when it accepts stylus input.


--
Marc
See http://www.imarc.co.uk/ for contact information.

Marc wrote:
> surly if it can make phone calls on the move then its a "mobile phone"?
>
> if anything, a phone becomes a PDA when it accepts stylus input.
>
So why is a Sony Ericsson P910i called a Smartphone?

Good luck!

On 1 Jun 2006 01:41:18 -0700, [email protected] wrote:

>I have mobile phone insurance,

Why? Save a fortune: cover the risk yourself.

Insurance is to cover losses you could not afford if the worst
happened. If you can't afford to buy a replacement mobile, you're too
poor to have one in the first place.

--

Iain
the out-of-date hairydog guide to mobile phones
http://www.hairydog.co.uk/cell1.html
Browse now while stocks last!

In uk.legal [email protected] wrote:
>>I have mobile phone insurance,

> Why? Save a fortune: cover the risk yourself.

> Insurance is to cover losses you could not afford if the worst
> happened. If you can't afford to buy a replacement mobile, you're too
> poor to have one in the first place.

Insurance is to spread a risk. For example if 5% of ships sank, the
owners found it better to bail out those whose ships did sink at a small
charge knowing that they might benefit. Otherwise it would be a total
gamble for each individual owner.

Axel

[email protected] wrote:
> On 1 Jun 2006 01:41:18 -0700, [email protected] wrote:
>
> >I have mobile phone insurance,
>
> Why? Save a fortune: cover the risk yourself.

Because the insurance is inclusive as part of a package my bank offers,
which I signed up to because it also included holiday insurance. I
wouldn't normally bother with dedicated insurance, but as long as it's
inclusive, I may as well (try to) use it.

> Insurance is to cover losses you could not afford if the worst
> happened. If you can't afford to buy a replacement mobile, you're too
> poor to have one in the first place.

Indeed. As above, if I've got the insurance anyway, it seems silly not
to try and use it.

The Mullen ® wrote:
> Marc wrote:
>> surly if it can make phone calls on the move then its a "mobile phone"?
>>
>> if anything, a phone becomes a PDA when it accepts stylus input.
>>
> So why is a Sony Ericsson P910i called a Smartphone?
>
> Good luck!
>
Marketing. Smartphone sounds better than PDA

--
Marc
See http://www.imarc.co.uk/ for contact information.

[email protected] wrote:
> Insurance is to cover losses you could not afford if the worst
> happened. If you can't afford to buy a replacement mobile, you're too
> poor to have one in the first place.
>

Not at all. If I own a £400 phone, then I may find it financially wise
to cover it in case I drop it, or it gets stolen.

Especially if it's on a contract, I could drop and brake the phone in
month two of the contract, and be tied into paying for the phone for the
next 16 months.

--
Marc
See http://www.imarc.co.uk/ for contact information.

On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 13:19:11 +0100, Marc wrote:

> surly if it can make phone calls on the move then its a "mobile phone"?
>
> if anything, a phone becomes a PDA when it accepts stylus input.

Not all PDAs have a touch screen. The Psion, the Nokia communicator or the
E61 all are full blown PDAs yet do not have a stylus. I also came accross a
few "normal" phones that had a gimmicky stylus, yet were not PDAs by any
means. There is no "official" definition of what make a device a mobile
phone, a smartphone or a PDA so, by using such vague terms, the insurance
company can do pretty much anuthing they want. If you asked me, i'd say
that the O2 XDA range are smartphones, that is both mobile phones and PDAs.

On Thu, 01 Jun 2006 18:07:32 +0100, Marc <[email protected]> wrote:

>Not at all. If I own a £400 phone, then I may find it financially wise
>to cover it in case I drop it, or it gets stolen.

My car costs around £350 per year to insure. A new one would cost
£35,000. So that means I pay 1% of its value in annual insurance
premium, but that's really also covering damage to third parties. The
insurance is reasonable value.

You take a phone worth £350 (to make the maths easy!) and the typical
insurance premium is around £6 per month: £72 per year. About 20% of
the value of the item insured, even though it is unlikely to cause
third party claims in the event of an accident (and the insurance
wouldn't cover them anyway)

I think that is terrible value. It's a deal for fools or scammers.

--

Iain
the out-of-date hairydog guide to mobile phones
http://www.hairydog.co.uk/cell1.html
Browse now while stocks last!

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I think that is terrible value. It's a deal for fools or scammers.

Clearly the general British public do not have your arithmetic skills and
therefore unable to evaluate whether the insurance provides any real
benefits.

On a slightly different note, when the free travel insurance provided by my
bank account declined my claim to repair my PDA damaged in my baggage during
transit, a polite note to the claims department that I did not considered my
PDA to be a computer (which would be excluded from the policy under clause
13.2.1) and would be referring the matter to the insurance ombudsman
resulted in an immediate "goodwill payment" delivered by next day courier.