.KEYWORD palmiiixe
.FLYINGHEAD BUYERS GUIDE
.TITLE Heather compares all the new Palm OS devices
.FEATURE
.AUTHOR Heather McDaniel
.SUMMARY Our News Editor, Heather McDaniel, has been carefully watching the introductions of all of the new Palm OS devices. And there are a lot, if you count all of the Palm, Inc. machines, those from Handspring, and even from TRG. Which is right for you? In this important article, Heather introduces the new Palm IIIxe and compares all the models. If you’re considering a new purchase, read this first.
With all of the excitement surrounding the release of the new color Palm IIIc, most folks don’t realize that Palm, Inc. also released the Palm IIIxe, shown in Figure A, at the same time.
.FIGPAIR A Here’s a look at the Palm IIIxe. Its style is similar to other Palm III series devices.
So what’s the Palm IIIxe all about and where does it fit in with the other Palm OS devices? Here at PalmPower, we’re often asked "What Palm unit should I buy?" and "What’s the difference between all the different devices?" In this article, you’ll learn about the new Palm IIIxe and get an overview of how that machine compares to the others. Be sure to read on, because there’s a wonderful comparison chart later in the article. For detailed information on the Palm IIIc, see Claire Pieterek’s feature article, elsewhere in this issue.
.H1 Introducing the Palm IIIxe
The Palm IIIxe has very similar capabilities to the Visor Deluxe by Handspring, at the same price. In the next few paragraphs, we’ll show you how these nearly identical devices compare.
Priced at $249, the Palm IIIxe is comparable to Handspring’s Visor Deluxe. Both devices cost $249, both have 8MB of RAM, and both run on AAA batteries.
The Visor comes in all sorts of colors, while, for the Palm device, gone is the old gray color. In its place is that new, slick slate color (which looks a lot like black to the untrained eye).
Another difference is that the Palm IIIxe runs Palm OS 3.5. The Visor Deluxe is still based on Palm OS 3.1.
.H1 What’s new in Palm OS 3.5?
While the older versions of Palm OS will work just fine, there are a number of new goodies that everyone will appreciate in Palm OS 3.5. In an interview we had with Paul Osborne, Palm marketing manager, we learned the Palm OS upgrade found in the Palm IIIxe and Palm IIIc contain these new features:
.BEGIN_LIST
.BULLET An agenda view that shows To Do items along with Date Book items;
.BULLET Address record duplication;
.BULLET Snooze function added to alarm dialog;
.BULLET Integrated "command bar" in the upstroke (for cut/copy/paste/beam/security);
.BULLET Security has masking feature that puts gray over the data that’s locked;
.BULLET Menus can be tapped open right on the screen rather than tapping the menu button;
.BULLET Faster HotSync and IR HotSync.
.END_LIST
We don’t consider the fact that the Visor has only Palm OS 3.1 as a deal-breaker, but the new features are certainly nice to have.
.H1 A Palm (or a Palm clone) for all occassions
So what’s the difference between the Palm IIIxe, Visor Deluxe, and all of the other Palm OS devices?
First of all, there’s the Palm III series of devices. This series includes the Palm IIIe, Palm IIIx, and, of course, the new Palm IIIc and Palm IIIxe. Their form is based on the Palm III. They each weigh about six ounces, and the dimensions for all but the Palm IIIc are 4.7" x 3.2" x 0.7". The Palm IIIc weighs a little more, at approximately 6.8 ounces. Its dimensions are 5.1" x 3.2" x 0.7".
Then there’s the Palm V series of handheld devices. These are smaller devices, weighing only four ounces. The Palm V series consists of the Palm V and Palm Vx. The Palm V is shown in Figure B.
.FIGPAIR B The Palm V series are much smaller devices than the Palm III series.
There’s also the Palm VII, shown in Figure C, which is basically a slightly larger Palm III with an antenna. The antenna allows you to wirelessly connect to the Internet using the Palm.Net service.
.FIGPAIR C The Palm VII looks a lot like the Palm III.
Along with the announcements of the Palm IIIxe and the Palm IIIc were announcements of price reductions and an "all you can eat" price plan for the Palm VII wireless service. Frankly, we believe that the new $44.99 per month unlimited service plan now makes the Palm VII a viable option for the highly connected user.
.CALLOUT The new $44.99 per month unlimited service plan now makes the Palm VII a viable option for the highly connected user.
You can find out more about the Palm VII by reading Bob Freud’s review at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199906/palmseven001.html.
There are also licensees of the Palm operating system who have released devices based on the Palm OS. These include Handspring and TRG. These devices differ from the Palm devices because they both have expansion slots.
Handspring has two devices out: the Visor and the Visor Deluxe. The Visor is priced at $179 with an included HotSync cradle ($149 without), has 2MB RAM, and comes in a graphite case (which we think looks a lot like black or slate or whatever cool marketing name people come up for really dark gray).
The Visor Deluxe, as mentioned at the top of this article, is $249, has 8MB RAM and comes in several lovely designer colors, which are shown in Figure D.
.FIGPAIR D Handspring’s Visor Deluxe comes in five tasty colors.
Handspring’s Visor devices include a Springboard expansion slot, which promises to open up the device for considerable expansion. For example, the company promises to eventually allow you to attach a digital camera or MP3 player. Read Claire Pieterek’s review of the Visor at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199910/visor001.html for more details.
Rather than adding a proprietary slot for expansion, TRG takes a different, more industry standard approach to expansion. TRG’s TRGPro, shown in Figure E and priced at $329.99, has a CompactFlash slot that can be used to store large amounts of information. For a more detailed look at the TRGPro’s CompactFlash slot, check out Jason Perlow’s article at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200001/trg001.html.
.FIGPAIR E TRG’s TRGPro has a CompactFlash slot so you can store more information.
Are you confused yet? Don’t worry. We’ll sort through all of devices as we roll along.
.H1 Where does the Palm IIIxe fit in?
As promised, we’ve got an incredibly useful comparison chart that helps put it all into perspective. Frankly, even though we watch this industry daily, it’s hard for even our PalmPower editorial staff to keep track of all the Palm options and we’ve started turning to this chart as a helper. If you’re serious about buying a Palm device, you should probably bookmark this page right now.
Table A compares the Palm IIIxe with other Palm OS devices, ranging from the $149 Palm IIIe to the $449 Palm VIII.
.BEGIN_TAB_TABLE A Palm OS device comparison
.TAB_TABLE_WIDTH 14% 12% 12% 12% 14% 12% 12% 12%
.TAB_TABLE_HEADER Device Price Memory Case colors Expansion options Screen color Wireless OS
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Palm IIIe $149 2MB Gray, Clear No Grayscale No Palm OS 3.3
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Palm IIIx $229 4MB Gray No Grayscale No Palm OS 3.3
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Palm IIIxe $249 8MB Slate No Grayscale No Palm OS 3.5
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Palm IIIc $449 8MB Slate No Color display No Palm OS 3.5
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Palm VII $449 2MB Gray No Grayscale Yes Palm OS 3.2
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Palm V $329 2MB Gray No Grayscale No Palm OS 3.0
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Palm Vx $399 8MB Gray No Grayscale No Palm OS 3.5
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Visor $179 2MB Graphite Springboard Grayscale No Palm OS 3.1
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Visor Deluxe $249 8MB Graphite, Ice, Blue, Green, Orange Springboard Grayscale No Palm OS 3.1
.TAB_TABLE_ROW TRGPro $329.99 8MB Gray Compact Flash Grayscale No Palm OS 3.3
.END_TAB_TABLE
.H1 What Palm OS device should I buy?
Now that we know what Palm OS devices exist, which one is right for you?
The TRGPro seems to be a good device if you need to have a tremendous amount of information with you, and at $329.99, it’s not terribly expensive if you’re a mobile packrat. For all intents and purposes, you’re paying $80.99 over the cost of the Palm IIIxe for a Compact Flash slot. If that’s what you need, the additional cost is quite reasonable. There is one caveat though: the Palm IIIxe is likely to be available at discounted prices off that $249 list, where the lower-volume TRG device probably won’t be. So you may find yourself paying a hundred bucks or so for that slot.
The Palm IIIxe is a good middle of the road device with enough memory to support all those cool third-party programs you want to download and, at $249, it doesn’t cost too much. However, if you want to spend the same amount of money and you’re excited by the capabilities the Visor’s Springboard expansion slot has to offer, you might want to go with the Visor Deluxe. Be forewarned: if you do decide to go with Handspring, you should keep in mind that there have been various reports of customer service and supply problems. Handspring is certainly doing everything they can to make this process smoother, so we expect these early growing pains to subside in the coming months.
If you want to be cheap (and there’s nothing wrong with that), you might think that the Palm IIIe is the right device for you. Again, if you want the advantages of the Springboard slot, you might want to consider the Handspring Visor. Both can be had for as low as $149.
If you’re looking to be one of the first kids on the block with a color Palm device, then the Palm IIIc might work for you. It’s the only choice you’ve got right now.
The Palm V and Palm Vx devices work well if style matters more than anything else does. There’s also an advantage to having a smaller device if you have smaller hands. If your hands are bigger, you might not be as comfortable with these smaller devices.
In the end, you should examine what you need from the device before you buy it. Obviously, there’s a device to fit just about every need.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
You can check out the Palm IIIxe at http://www.palm.com/products/palmiiixe/index.html.
You can find more information on the Visor and Visor Deluxe from Handspring at http://www.handspring.com/products/vindex.asp.
You can read Claire Pieterek’s review of the Visor at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199910/visor001.html.
Check out the December issue of PalmPower at for a review of the TRGPro http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199912/trg001.html.
If that’s not enough, you can also check out http://www.trgpro.com.
For a review of the Palm V and Palm IIIx, check out http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199903/newpalm001.html.
For more information on the Palm V series, be sure to go to http://www.palm.com/products/vseries.html.
For more information on the Palm III series of devices, check out http://www.palm.com/products/iiiseries.html.
More information on the Palm VII at http://www.palm.com/products/palmvii/index.html.
You can read Bob Freud’s review of the Palm VII at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199906/palmseven001.html.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6df51
