Friday, April 1, 2011

Palm V Hand held PDA (Electronics)


This review is from: Palm V Hand held PDA (Electronics)


I've had my Palm V since June 1st. To my brother, wife & parents who conspired for my birthday: THANK YOU!!!!! Within two weeks I abandoned my Franklin Planner, and regretted not having had a Palm device 15 years ago. OK, that was impossible - but it has dramatically changed my life for the better, and I can't imagine ever going without it. In the last several months I have grown to be a very definite power user, and the corporate resource person for Palm-platform PDA's. Our guys have tried several others and are convinced that the Palm platform is the best and most flexible. I am very heavily into 3rd-party software evaluation (& some accessories), preparing recommendations for high-efficiency Palm device/software packages for company-staff issue. Eventually I may put together my own personal web-site, and post some evaluations and recommendations for software/accessories for Palm users.

Having said all that, here's an engineer's (my)perspective on the Palm V: Visors will be great, and Palm IIIx's are just fine, but the Palm V package size is definitely worth a lot to me. Forget the sexy appearance - it's great, but the superior Form Factor rules. Yes, I would prefer that the Vx cost is about what the standard V discounts for now, but since it will ALWAYS fit in my shirt pocket (without changing my shirt wardrobe) I ALWAYS have it with me (in a place that's probably least susceptible to being damaged or lost) - and that's what it's for. Though I prefer to use the slim padded 3COM case, I frequently slip the original leather flap-cover on for small shirt pockets, & thus can still carry a separate pen/pencil/stylus device. A big plus with those covers that I've never seen in a review: the soft "grabby" texture of the rubber-like spine flex keeps the Palm from sliding, even if you do toe-touches. Ta-dah... it doesn't fall out on the floor!!!! (Very big benefit since the cover isn't a padded case.)

Likes: I like being able to keep synced with both my office laptop and my home desktop (with the included MS Outlook Conduit)... autocharging in the docking cradle... a battery that's never gotten below a half-charge... nice screen... the size. I really like the unit overall - a truly great device.

Any problems? Yep. I did have to get the updated e-mail patch from the Chapura site to avoid some lock-ups when synching e-mail. Also, I highly recommend TealScript (the custom-tailorable graffitti add-on) for it's ability to help you tune up your handwriting speed/recognition - and it visually showed up a mysterious problem with the screen occasionally screwing up handwriting by adding a horizontal line: 3-COM quickly replaced it under warranty, and it's been fine.

Memory space? The average user probably will have no problem for a couple of years - I've met people with III's that are using less than 1k... a year after they get it: they've seen & use very few aftermarket programs. However, I've got more programs in there than will fit: launcher, datebook, calc & memo replacements, travel programs, doc reader, picture viewer, several clocks, a dozen utility and security programs, over a dozen Hackmaster hacks, and a few games. Since FlashPro gave me the extra 800k memory room (awesome), I found I probably had enough that I could otherwise get by fine without deleting rarely-used fluff programs - except that I use it heavily for work & software evaluation. The memory room of the Vx would be heaven - the perfect device, I think. It'd be handy to carry a lot of maps, but my current standard P5 doesn't have the memory room without deleting, say, my picture viewer. (Oh, the screen? It's great! Yes folks, it IS a 16 greyscale display!) Probably I'll upgrade to the Vx & give my wife my standard V (P5) unit: she thought it was no big deal when I got it, but has fallen in love with the capabilities and wants her own Palm device. Bottom line is that if you're a minimalist, the 2k of P5 memory is fine. But if you like to carry a Gerber/Leatherman/Swiss-Army device (like I do) because a pocketknife leaves you unprepared... better get a Vx or get the 8mb upgrade on your P5.

Price? When Handspring comes out with something to compete with a Vx, the price world will probably be great. Yeh, P5's are expensive compared to some of the lesser PDA's - but compare the price to a palmtop computer, and they look like a great deal... especially considering the impact on your lifestyle.

Can I mention my essential add-on programs list? Tough area, but currently I wouldn't give up these - listed in order of descending requirement: UnDupe (get it!), TealScript, Travel Clock, Hackmaster, (SwitchHack, StayOffHack, PalmV hack, Invert Hack & Invert, FindHack, CatHack), DateBK3 (& dbScan), BackupBuddy, IDPalm, FlashPro, a good launcher - either Commander or LaunchEm have too many great enhancements to do without. Must-have accessories: WriteRight screen covers, Throttle Stylus/pen. I regard the PalmV hack and StayOff hack as absolute essentials for Palm V users, and Invert with InvertHack give proper screen display when the backlight's on. In-depth info? O'Reilly's "Palmpilot: The Ultimate Guide" is a fantastic reference for ALL Palm owners.
Palm V Hand held PDA (Electronics) at amazon.com

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