personal digital assistant
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Acronyms, Wikipedia.
Related to personal digital assistant: Personal Virtual Assistant
personal digital assistant
(PDA), lightweight, hand-held computercomputer,device capable of performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations. A computer is distinguished from a calculating machine, such as an electronic calculator, by being able to store a computer program (so that it can repeat its operations and make logical
..... Click the link for more information. designed for use as a personal organizer with communications capabilities; also called a handheld. A typical PDA has no keyboard, relying instead on special hardware and pen-based computerpen-based computer,
computer that uses software to enable it to accept handwriting or drawing as a form of input. A stylus, which may contain special electronic circuitry, may be used to write on the computer display or on a separate tablet.
..... Click the link for more information. software to enable the recognition of handwritten input, which is entered on the surface of a liquid crystalliquid crystal,
liquid whose component particles, atoms or molecules, tend to arrange themselves with a degree of order far exceeding that found in ordinary liquids and approaching that of solid crystals.
..... Click the link for more information. display screen. In addition to including such applications as a word processor, spreadsheet, calendar, and address book, PDAs are used as notepads, appointment schedulers, and wireless communicators for sending and receiving data, faxes, and electronic-mail messages. Introduced in 1993, PDAs achieved only modest acceptance during the remainder of the decade due to their relatively high price and limited applications, but improved software and lower prices subsequently led to more widespread use. In the early 21st cent., however, smartphones (see cellular telephonecellular telephone
or cellular radio,
telecommunications system in which a portable or mobile radio transmitter and receiver, or "cellphone," is linked via microwave radio frequencies to base transmitter and receiver stations that connect the user to a conventional
..... Click the link for more information. ) equipped with a wide range of applications supplanted PDAs. See also palmtoppalmtop
or hand-held personal computer,
lightweight, small, battery-powered, general-purpose programmable computer. It typically had a miniaturized full-function, typewriterlike keyboard for input and a small, full color, liquid-crystal display for output.
..... Click the link for more information. .
personal digital assistant
[‚pərs·ən·əl ‚dij·əd·əl ə′sis·tənt] (computer science)
Personal Digital Assistant
(computer)(PDA) A small hand-held computer typically
providing calendar, contacts, and note-taking applications but
may include other applications, for example a web browser
and media player. Small keyboards and pen-based input
systems are most commonly used for user input.
The Apple Newton was a fairly early example.
The Apple Newton was a fairly early example.