Thinking Ahead: Cell Phone/PDA ("Smartphone")
Cell Phone/PDA ("Smartphone") Options —
Contributed by Matt Franz (mfranz@iupui.edu).
Are your coming out of contract or thinking of getting a new cell phone? It is possible to acquire a smart phone that will also satisfy your third- and fourth-year PDA needs, but your new phone would have to meet a few basic requirements:
- It must be either a Palm based or Windows Mobile Phone Operating System.
— iPhones, Blackberry, Samsung Instinct from Sprint among others WILL NOT WORK since they do NOT use WINDOWS MOBILE or Palm-based OS. - It must have a touch screen.
— Allows the faculty to sign you off on your completed clinical skills.
Once you satisfy both of those requirements, consider these options:
- Include a data package on your cellular plan
— Although not technically be required, it adds convenience by allowing the CERTTS software (clerkship software used during third and fourth years) to sync wirelessly without being in range of an IU Wireless access point, by using the cellular network instead. - Specify unlimited data for your data plan
— Important if you want to sync wirelessly without using IU Wireless.
Some plans have a limit on the amount of internet data you can transfer from your phone. With the CERTTS system, you are apt to use more than that, incurring additional changes. The cost of unlimited data transfer varies from between 10-15 dollars up to around 40 per month, depending on the carrier.