Keeping up with a hectic schedule

Latino Leaders: The National Magazine of the Successful American Latino, June-July, 2006 by Mariana Gutierrez

In today's fast paced world, staying connected means everything. Concepts like blue tooth and wireless may have been unheard of a decade ago, but now we depend on these technologies for the most basic tasks. With powerful processors, bright displays, easy input options, lightweight models and high definition in sound and images, the tech pioneers are fighting to set the bar even higher for our new connectivity standards. Here are the latest models of electronic organizers, a must-have for life on the go.

PalmOne Zire 72

Retail Price: $299

This slim, royal blue-and-silver device is so jam-packed with hardware and software features that it's the PDA of choice for many reasons. For business, there are the usual Palm organizing apps, plus DataViz's Documents to Go for viewing and editing Microsoft Office documents and spreadsheets, Adobe Acrobat viewer for Palm, and other apps for recording voice memos and accessing the Web and e-mail. For leisure pursuits, there's a built-in camera that takes photos and videos with sound, plus a RealOne MP3 player and stereo headphone jack. The Zire 72 is lightning-fast: Tasks like syncing and downloading apps take just a few seconds, and screens refresh snappily, without the noticeable pause experienced with other Palm models. Considering the many features packed into its diminutive chassis and its snappy performance, the Zire 72 is a bargain at $299.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

BlackBerry 7100

Retail Price: $349.99

The BlackBerry 7100 models are fully-featured mobile phones combined with the power of the BlackBerry PDA. This phone sized wonder comes loaded with all of the cool features you want: integrated Bluetooth connectivity, speakerphone, downloadable ringtones, vibrating alert, speed dial, and a contacts list/address book. RIM offers three models in the Blackberry 7100: BlackBerry 7100g[TM], BlackBerry 7100r[TM] and BlackBerry 7100t[TM]. The Blackberry 7100 models are the Blackberry cell phone line. They are first and foremost cell phones, slimmer in design and a handset adapted for phone usage. RIM engineers have actually managed to fit a QWERTY keyboard onto the handset's slim frame. Each button on the keypad shares two letters but typing is still easy as the BlackBerry 7100's automatically determine which letter is the intended one based on what it predict you are trying to spell. Blackberry devices are designed to remain on and continuously connected to a wireless network, allowing you to be notified as new email arrives. With a base price of around $300, this little but powerful device is the perfect personal assistant.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Samsung Q1 Retail Price: $1,099

The Ultra-Mobile PC is a new kind of computer. It combines the power of Windows XP with mobile-ready technologies that make it easy to access and use your software on the go. One of the first models to make its debut is the Samsung Q1, which may just revolutionize the way we view mobile technology. It is definitely bigger and heavier than any PDA, and is not recommended if you are used to slipping your mobile device into your inside pocket. There's a huge effort to shrink the PC architecture, and the Q1 is one the most successful ventures. Built to go everywhere and do everything it is set to market in direct competition with PDAs and smartphones, and is far cheaper than most notebooks. Street prices will be higher for the first wave of ultra mobile PCs, expected to have a starting price of around $1,099. But as the competition widens, prices are sure to drop.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]