Whether you call it a handheld or PDA, one thing's for sure - people love them. Like a cell phone, once you start using a personal digital assistant (PDA) to manage yourself, it can be hard to imagine life without one.

PDAs first showed up as scarcely more than electronic organizers, tracking appointments and personal contacts. But today these devices have emerged as the more readily accessible equivalent of your PC, with fairly sophisticated interfacing and synchronization capabilities.

Want to join the masses and become a PDA owner but not quite sure where to start? Read on.