After too long an absence Girlina is back to give her own sassy n’ stylin’ views on the latest in gee-whiz gadgetry. Warning: If you are one of those engineering types seeking an exhaustive review on every one of the fine points of the OS please don’t read this review, and don’t force me to exchange snippy comments with you either. But if you’re a regular person who just wants to figure out what’s cool and what to buy, we should get along fine.
Ah, the Palm 505. . .a gadget that made this heart skip a beat in anticipation. Having decided it was high time to get rid of my ancient Palm V – not Vx, just V, how mortifying – I actually forced myself to wait until this slick number came out. How could I do otherwise? Palm promised a 16-bit color screen, a real expansion slot (finally!), a faster 33Mhz processor and whole bunch more cool additions in a gizmo that was barely larger than my old V – a bit thicker at 4.5x3.1x 0.5, and not quite an ounce heavier at 4.9 ounces. At $449 it wouldn’t be cheap, but still it seemed just the thing to fill out my Louis Vuitton Palm case.
But as with most affairs of the heart, this one ended badly. When I finally got my hands on the 505 I experienced disappointment number one: The unit is certainly attractive enough, with a cool graphite case, metallic buttons and a tiny Multimedia Card/Secure Digital slot tucked into the top left. But the rails are different from the ones on the V, meaning my fancy $120 case would be heading for the drawer. Of course, if I could finally play games in color it would all be worth it, so I reserved judgment and plugged the 505 into the recharger.
After I switched it on I received enormous disappointment number two: The screen, in a word or two, blows. Chunks. Hard. How hard? Let’s put it this way: Compared to my poor old V, the screen had significantly lower contrast and was much harder to read than a GRAYSCALE unit! Meanwhile, holding it up to the HP Jornada 525 was just plain embarrassing, if not entirely fair.
Unlike the Jornada, which has a traditional backlit screen, the 505 has a “reflective” screen, meaning you are supposed to be able to view it directly. (A “frontlight” is included for dim conditions.) This (in theory) extends battery life since you shouldn’t need to use a backlight constantly and is also useful for outdoor viewing, where bright sunlight typically washes out standard screens to black. Unfortunately, Palm didn’t implement this nearly as well as Compaq did in the iPaq; without the so-called frontlight the experience was closer to a color Gameboy, and even with, the screen maxed out at “not fun.”
It really is a shame because the 505 does have some nice features. The MMC slot is much better integrated than the MemoryStick slot on the Clie – you can actually run some programs off the card, and can access them directly from the main applications menus. The power switch now integrates an LED alert, and there’s a vibrating alarm feature. I was also impressed by the number of legacy monochrome apps that ran seamlessly on the 505; while of course they’re displayed in grayscale, it’s still nice to be able to use all the same shareware until color versions come out.
Still, I had to drop-kick back the 505 and flee to the Handspring site to get a shiny new Visor Edge. (I’ll be reviewing that soon enough, so stay tuned!) With a new handheld companion, Girlina is surviving her heartbreak just fine; I just hope Palm can say the same. For some reason, the company doesn’t get color (I still remember the headaches the IIIc gave me). Sure, no one “needs” color for PIM apps (at least with Palm’s versions) but it’s nice to have, and more to the point the competition’s certainly got it.
Putting aside the upcoming color Clie, Handspring’s Prism is easy enough on the eyes (although too heavy for Girlina), and there are plenty of glowing PocketPCs available at the same price as the 505 or less. While none of them are as portable, they’ll cause you a lot less eyestrain. So if you’re a diehard Palm fan, get used to life in black and white, and if not, look elsewhere if you’re trying to add a little color to your life.
Built-in 8 MB memory stores thousands of contacts, appointments, to-do items, and notes Displays over 65,000 colors--view photos, video clips, and mor...More at Amazon Marketplace
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