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Mobile Device Options for the Healthcare Professional: the Medical Library's View

 

State of the PDA/Mobile Device Market

A few years ago the major consideration was whether to buy a Palm or a PocketPC. Then the choice was a standalone PDA vs a combination PDA/mobile phone. The landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years:

  • Standalone PDAS have largely disappeared from the market. The popular Palm TX is now only available through eBay or similar channels. Nearly every device is a mobile phone with certain expanded capabilities. The biggest selling non-phone device is now the iPodTouch.
  • Palm has lost ground to other players in the field although they are hoping to make a comeback with the June 2009 release of the Palm Pre, the first device on their new WebOS operating system
  • iPhones have sold well since their introduction in June 2007. By opening up the platform to 3rd party applications in June 2008, the iPhone and its cousin iPodTouch now have a large number of installable medical applications.
  • WindowsMobile devices still have a fairly good market share but it is not growing substantially.
  • Google's Android phone is another OS option which is gaining in popularity although it doesn't seem to have much penetration in the U.S. medical arena.
  • Many newer platforms are only available on one carrier. Exclusive arrangements include the iPhone (AT&T), Google G1 (T-Mobile) and the Palm Pre (Spring).
  • Internet is a standard feature on most devices. Some providers, such as AT&T with the iPhone, require you purchase a monthly data plan along with phone service.

These recommendations are for devices that will maximize your access to medical resources available, and specifically those that allow you to use resources available through the Medical Library. Here are answers to a few common questions we get:

  • I have a Macintosh. How does that impact my choice of a device?
    • You don't want a WindowsMobile device. iPhone or Palm OS devices are the best choice for a PDA/mobile device. If you go for a Palm or WindowsMobile device, you can improve connectivity between your mobile device and your Mac by purchasing Missing Sync software.
  • Do I really need one more thing to carry around?
    • That's up to you. If you choose to get a PDA, you may prefer one of the devices that combines one or more of the following: cell phone, PDA, MP3 player, Email device, Web browser and digital camera. The solution that brings all of these things together is a PDA/Smartphone (either Palm, WindowsMobile or the iPhone).
  • What are the options for wireless access?
    • Wireless access can mean several different things. WiFi is the fastest option although this requires you to be in range of a WiFi hotspot. In most cases the access is also free. YSM and YNHH have WiFi networks but you won't find this at many healthcare facilities.
    • Cellular broadband service is potentially more universal but there several caveats: It is slower than WiFi (MUCH slower, depending on the network), service still isn't available everywhere and there is a monthly service fee over and above mobile phone plan charges (range is $25 to $50).
    • Some devices will require 3rd party VPN software to access the Medical School's WiFi network or to access Yale-licensed resources (e.g. UpToDate) from off-campus. The iPhone/iPodTouch and newer WindowsMobile phones come with a VPN client included. The majority of PDA/smartphones sold today have both WiFi and cellular broadband but a few, including the Palm Centro, have no WiFi capability.
  • What about a Blackberry?
    • There are some Blackberry applications although these are fairly limited and most are individual commercial products the user must purchase. This lags behind other platforms for the number of installable medical applications. An additional limitation is that neither VPN nor proxy services are available on the Blackberry. Only those users who are connected through Yale University's Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) are able to access IP-restricted library resources.
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