Best Handheld Device for a Specific Task

[Archebius]

The company that I work for goes to quite a few conventions around the country every year, selling and displaying products and interfacing with customers. These customers have many questions, ranging from whether we brought a specific title (a hard question to answer when we bring well over a thousand different items) to specific questions on books that we carry but didn't bring.

Our catalog has grown too large to carry around conveniently, and the only way to know whether we have something is to check on the laptop we lug around, which is difficult when multiple customers have questions at the same time. The boss was hoping that we could find a device that each person could carry, making our jobs much easier.

This device would need two essential functions:
- the ability to display long lists of data either taken from or using excel
- the ability to display pages from our catalog in PDF or similar format.

Of course, considering the crowds and conditions at these conventions, something fairly rugged, inexpensive, and portable would be nice.

Maybe a direct line to Heaven, while we're at it.

If anyone has suggestions for a device that would fit these roles, please let me know.

 

[patonb]

Could you create a list in pdf, or word/text file, and use something like an ebook reader to do individual searches? Theyre only 1-300 dollars, and you could just load a new list before, or while youre at the convention.
Even iphones/smartphones could work with the files, so you could save buying devices too.

 

[KSoD]

Couldnt you just create an email or something that a person could access on a cell phone? Like a Smart Phone. Then you would just have to search, or find, the product in question. Shouldnt be to tough a task to do something simple like that and it wouldnt cost you anything extra really if everyone uses smart phones already.