Looking into buy a new PDA

I am a to-do list freak. Everything I have to do must be written down, tagged and prioritize. I find that this is key to getting stuff done. I have been a PDA users since the first days of Palm and I am one of the odd people who find PDAs useful.

My good old black-and-grey m505 is dying. The screen has a dark spot in it. I can still keep going a few months, but eventually, I’ll need to replace the device. That’s ok since I have used it many years.

Now, I am looking for my next PDA. Here are the factors:

• Within reason, money is no object: this is a critical device for me and I’d be happy to pay $500.
• I only use it to set appointments, manage a small address list, and setup todos. I do not need to play videos or browse the web on the device, since I have a laptop for this purpose.
• Losing my data is a big nono.
• I do not want a cell phone. I am against cell phones because I do not want to be easily reachable. I am a researcher and professor, not a salesperson or manager.
• A long battery life is a must.
• It must run PalmOS: I am not going to throw away or reenter all my data. I have been entering data for over 8 years in PalmOS devices!

It does look like a Palm Tungsten is the way to go. Palm seems to charge a bit over $200 for those which is amazingly cheap. It seems to have non volatile memory which is very nice: my m505 has volatile memory, I think, so, if I never let it run out of juice. What bugs me is that Palm Tungsten might be the only way to go. Are PalmOS users a dying breed?

There is the more expensive T|X which has builtin wifi. I am not sure what wifi and a browser buy you. I’d love to be able to surf the web anywhere at anytime, but, in practice, whenever I have access to a wifi network, I also have either my laptop or a desktop handy. I am also worry about depleting battery life needlessly.

Anyone knows of another mobile high-tech way to manage to-do lists and projects, that does not involve a cell phone?