Best device for executive function/memory aid?

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I'm horrible at keeping track of time and task switching--and tend to lose or not update my to-do lists consistently, even though I make tons of them. I've been thinking that maybe carrying around a small tablet (5 in. or so) would let me have one place to keep my calendar and to-do lists and might help remind me when there's something I need to do.

A smartphone would be the obvious device, but I'm not that interested in having one (I work where I have wifi access most of the time, and can't afford a data plan, though I could afford the one-time cost of a tablet).

What devices would people recommend? I need one that vibrates, and that would be easy to carry close to me most of the time. I'll ignore sound alerts, but if I'm carrying something and it vibrates, I'll pay attention. It doesn't need to do much other than let me use calendar/organizational tools, so audiovisual and speed bells and whistles likely aren't that important.

I'm largely tech-illiterate, so please forgive me ahead of time if I sound clueless. I *am* clueless

Any smartphone, tablet, and also iPod Touch can have apps that will alert you in various ways for various events or times. There are clocks on these devices that can be set for any alarm/alert on any kind of basis, hourly, daily, etc. And there are calendars on them too which also can be set to alert you to an event that you've entered into the calendar. The clocks and calendars even come standard on devices, and they will work even if you have no access to wifi or the internet connection is off. The apps work by themselves.

What ever you're likely to use often, so a smartphone seems like a good bet. I use my Kindle Fire, because I'm always reading or browsing the web. It has auditory and visual reminders, but no vibrate.

I understand that one of your primary requirements is for a device that vibrates. The only type I know of that vibrates is a smartphone.

Your organization support needs seem quite basic, so I would imagine that most any Android or Apple smartphone would do. That means that you could pretty much start at the bottom of the price list.

I have an iPhone without a data plan, but I got it a few years back.

Someone had an iPhone 3GS for sale. I did some work on Google and found that it was possible to get it on a pre-paid phone plan via a workaround that consisted of the following....

1. Buy a GoPhone (ATT).

2. Activate GoPhone.

3. Pull SIM card and go to an ATT store. Say you need to move it to a new ATT phone you've ordered and to have them copy the SIM to an ATT SIM (GoPhone is proprietary).

4. Put new SIM card into iPhone and enjoy.

When I got a chance to get an iPhone 4, it used a microSIM, but I just bought a SIM puncher that cuts a SIM down in size. Moved the SIM over and sold the 3GS.

Today, I don't know if you can get an iPhone or Android activated WITHOUT a data plan. I know my ATT account says I'm supposed to have a data plan for a smart phone, but they don't know what phone I have, and it was activated on the original GoPhone which was a regular cell phone.

In any case, I pay less than $16/month to use my iPhone...I just can't send anything more sophisticated than texts because pictures, sound and video SMS uses the data side of the iPhone as compared to how a standard cell phone works.

You might want to research how you could get the smart phone of your choice on a "text/phone only" plan. A lot of times, retailers want to get a customer, and if you have financial limitations, they might work something out to make a deal.

The good thing about my iPhone is that it's much easier (with the miCal app) to set appointments and reminders for EVERYTHING if I want to. A regular phone (or the basic iCal app) can do this, but they are harder to use (in my opinion).

Hello all!

Thank you for the responses. As I said, I'm fairly clueless (hooray), so the intricacies of smartphone plans are beyond me (at present; sounds like I should do some homework). @zer0netgain, that's an interesting idea with the SIM card--though I'd have to practice asking without coming off as obviously uncomfortable and lying to the ATT representative. Oh, to be socially slicker... Though the nice thing about customer service representatives is they usually don't really care. They just want to get through the day.

I like the ergonomics of a Nokia N810. Slide-out keyboard is great. Overall really well designed. But it's a 'tablet' not a phone and I think therefore no vibration. Underpowered by today's specs for browsing but the later models may be worth a look (9 _ _ series). Tablets and phones in that general name-pattern. I got my sister a Lumia. She likes it but I didn't play with it and can't comment on it. I like my Note II. My wife likes her iphone. But don't count Nokia out.

I wanted a way of storing facts and ideas that would let me using tags and search. So I wrote a little command line app with SQLite tables for storage and a handful of commands to add notes, retrieve by (1 to 3) tag(s), retrieve by text search, list all tags, delete tags, and delete notes. Did it in TCL, then Python, then Rebol. It runs on the N810 and all my other PCs. It is quite crude but for 3 or 4 years now it has been perfect for me. I have yet to go as far as being able to merge different copies of the notes database or host one in one place and reach it through SSH from all devices. But I mostly use it on one device. It's a huge help but I don't have any alarm functions, ... it could be done. If anyone cares to try it I'll post the sources (either here, tinypaste, or maybe i'll even learn to use git(hub)). It's for a terminal emulator in gnu-linux. So it's for people who don't mind typing. I'm sure many similar and better apps exist, and I've tried a few of them. All GUIs. But I prefer a simple CLI widget.

One thing I insist on is that I don't use an app that will mine my notes for clues of what ads to show me or to sell my info. So I never tried to port my thing to my phone.