Power, Style & Capacity in a Single PDA
Written: Apr 05 '00 (Updated Apr 05 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great style, many supporting accessories are available, memory capacity!
Cons: More costly than a Handspring, but worth the investment!
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| PVSBond's Full Review: Palm Vx Handheld |
Last month, I was spending a day of culture in New York City. A cab had just dropped me off in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art when I realized that I had left my Palm PDA on the back seat when I reached into my wallet to pay the fare. "Oh, horror!" I thought to myself. While I tried not to spend the remainder of the day stressing about my mistake, the loss of such an important part of my ability to function in this world was too much for me to take! Upon returning to Connecticut, I fired up my PC and began searching the virtual inventories of several local branches of some major chain electronics stores. To my relief, the local Wiz had one remaining unit of the Palm Vx.
On my train ride home from New York, I was busy contemplating which PDA I would secure as a replacement for my lost Palm. I was fairly current as to the functionality of each of the available units but decided on acquiring the Palm Vx for several critical reasons which I will enumerate:
1) Capacity - The Palm Vx comes with 8MB of memory. Many of my friends said to me "what the heck do you need with 8MB? It's hard to even use up 1MB!" Not true!!! There are several new applications that are quite memory-demanding, notably Zagat's Restaurant Guide (usually 200K for each city guide) and Vindigo (a FABULOUS City mapping and activity guide with needs 450k). I remember owning a 386 Gateway PC with 40MB of hard drive. I NEVER imagined being able to use up 40MB. How wrong I was!! I decided that I needed to plan for the future and 8MB was the best I could do.
2) Battery Life & Charge - One of the things that I like most about the Palm V is that it holds a battery charge much like a PC: attach it to a power charger or the charge/hot-sync cradle that comes with the unit and it recharges in 30 minutes. Palm III and Handspring PDAs require the use of replaceable batteries. These are always a problem as they cause the size of the unit to increase. Built in ion batteries are much more conducive to a sleeker design style. I considered accepting the bulkier size of the Palm III in exchange for the new color screen on the model IIIc, but I understand that the demands of the color screen are significant on battery life. I was quite happy with the strong back-lit function of the Vx and didn't want to have to sacrifice battery life.
3) Style - Let's face it, the Palm Vx looks cool! There I said it. I love the metal casing and the overall design of unit. What's more, the fashion accessories industry has embraced the Palm V series as a growing industry standard. Manufacturers like Coach Leather and Dooney & Bourke manufacture numerous portfolio cases designed specifically for the Palm V series. I don't think any of these companies make similar accessories for Visor units.
4) Accessories - I haven't seen ANY major accessory products for the Handspring Visor. The Palm Vx uses a serial port for hot sync connection while the Visor requires a USB port connection. Since my company is using Windows NT as a platform, USB technology is not supported (neither is infra-red hot sync for that matter). Yes, I could have ordered a special serial port connector for the Visor, but that's additional hassle. Moreover, there are many OTHER accessories for the Palm Vx including the Travel Kit (which includes a hot sync cable and a power cable with adapters for international travel) and the metal travel case (great for keeping the actual unit from being damaged).
One of the major complaints about the Palm V series is that the raised buttons cause the unit to be accidentally activated on a more frequent basis. I would agree with this assessment, which is why I use the metal hard case. It's nice because the case allows me to be "less than careful" with the unit without worrying about surface damage to the actual PDA.
If you are looking for a PDA with all the elements of style, size, capacity and accessories, then the Palm Vx is the logical choice. Don't let those Handspring rebels tell you any different. Heck they probably all voted for McCain anyhow!
(I purchased my Palm Vx at The Wiz for $360 plus tax)
p.s. - Wonder what happened to the PDA I left in the cab? The next person who got in the taxi picked it up, saw my business card attached in the portfolio, and mailed it back to me! I decided to give my old one to my sister!!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
PVSBond
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Member: Peter V.S. Bond
Location: Fairfield County, CT
Reviews written: 43
Trusted by: 34 members
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