From your description of what she intends to use it for, a refurbished Palm Vx for $50.00 would probably do, but it would be a shame to saddle her with such a basic device. While she has a list of intended uses, in my experience, once you get one you discover it's like a computer, just smaller. You find other uses for it. I'm not advocating that you go way over budget, but I would recommend getting as much hardware for your cash as possible as she won't outgrow it as quickly. Spend your maximum budget on the project.
As for screens, I think color is mandatory. It's like the difference between what you can do on a desktop with an old monochrome green screen VS what you can do on even a basic computer with a color monitor. Everything is easier to read, pictures become an option, etc. When I bought my Clie, it was the first model with a hi res color screen and was nearly $500.00. Today, only the cheapest PDAs have monochrome screens and while they're better than the old monochrome screens, they still suck! It's worth a few bucks to go color, and within your stated budget.
I had a Sony Clie for 18 months before it suffered it's last fatal error. Today I carry a Palm Tungsten T. While Sony is good at making cool widgets, they suck at customer service and cross compatability. There is no support for Clies if you use Apple computers (which I am forced to do at work) and you must use memory stick removable storage (their own format, just like Betamax, which they abandonded).
My boss and I both recently retired out Clie 760s and now carry Palm devices. He got lucky enough to use his Clie for a couple more months than I did and got to get the Tungsten T3 for about the same price that I paid for my Tungsten T.
My wife also recently suddenly wanted a PDA. While I'd tried to get her interested in one for some time, she'd never shown any interest. Then she started a career retraining program to be a Pharmacy Tech and found that everyone in the medical industry uses a Palm to run their drug reference databases. Suddenly she had to have one. I know from personal experience that searching a database is processor intensive and that the older(cheaper) 33mhz CPUS suck at it. We shopped around and I let her look at what was available. She ended up with a Palm Zire 71 and really loves it. Had we waited a few more weeks, she probably would have got a Tungsten E wich is about the same form factor, but without the built in Digicam.
For text entry, I prefer Grafitti but my wife often uses the built in on-screen software keyboard. There's a pretty good promo on Tungsten Es right now on Palm's website for $199.00 with a free folding keyboard. You can probably get the PDA cheaper elsewhere, but the included keyboard might make this deal sweeter if she wants that option.
A good alternative would be a refurbed Tungsten T (like what I paid nearly $400.00 for new!) that I think I saw it at
www.overstock.com yesterday for $159.00. You really want to at least get her something with at least the color, high res screen and a Strong Arm 144mhz processor (Tungsten T, Tungsten E, Zire 71) The the older gen 33 & 66 mhz processors really suck in comparison. It's like going from a 486 computer to a Pentium II ot III. At these prices, you're not buying premium hardware (400mhz handhelds), but you're buying in the sweet spot in the performance curve.
My current favorites in your price range would be the Tungsten E or a refurbed Tungsten T. They give you real performance in a compact form factor, better support and cross compatability. The E has a slightly better color screen and more internal memory, while the refurbed T would allow for MP3 playback and a smaller form factor.
If you're wife's a Mom, a Zire 71 with the built in Digicam in may be worth the extra few dollars. I was skeptical at first, but it is so much less intimidating for my wife to use than our (small) Nikon digital camera, that she actually takes lots of pictures these days and gets great plasure from it. The boy, the cat, the dogs, the recent fires here in So Cal, you name it. Then they're right there in her PDA instead of burried in a shoebox in the closet or waiting for developing.
I'm another fan of
www.pdabuzz.com , but I also like
www.pdastreet.com for reviews and feedback, and also like
www.tucows.com for software.
She will also need a case to protect her PDA. The basic Palm cases mostly suck in my opinion. For top end, beautifully crafted leather cases (from Argentina), look to
www.vajacases.com (around $60.00 - $100.00) range. For really tough cases (formed aluminum) look at
www.rhinoskin.com, and for a good blend of protection/ style and value, look at
www.senacases.com. The Sena stuff is almost like the Vaja cases, although not executed quite as nicely, but at a more affordable price.
DON'T let your wife try the game Bejeweled! (there's a reason that it's one of the most popular Palm OS downloads).
These are just my opinions.
jmx
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