By Stephen Borchert
Unlike the other Palm handhelds I've owned, the Palm VIIx seems to eat batteries. I felt that the convenient, wireless access to the Internet outweighed the disadvantage of having to buy so many AAA batteries.
However, after several months and a whole strip of batteries later, you can imagine why I jumped at the chance to review the FullCharge International Travel Kit (at http://www.extendcomputer.com) for the Palm III and Palm VII series devices. While other Palm handhelds are more frugal with their power, accessing the Web while mobile requires considerably more juice. I have to watch the battery gauge carefully, for once it dips below one quarter of capacity, that's it for the wireless Web.
In the box
Included in the box is a 100-240 volt AC adapter, a FullCharge NiMH battery, and a replacement battery cover that allows the charger to recharge the battery while the organizer is being used, sitting on your desk, or even while the Palm handheld is in the cradle. A plug adapter allows the adapter to be plugged into a European socket, where the power supply automatically adjusts to the higher voltage.
Installation
Anytime you take the batteries out of the Palm handheld, it's a good idea to have synchronized first. That way, all of your data is backed up onto the desktop, just in case. I removed the battery cover and the alkaline AAA batteries and then replaced them with the NiMH battery pack. As the instructions say, it does fit rather snugly in the compartment. After making sure it was all the way in, I put on the replacement battery cover that eXtend Computer supplies in the kit, as shown in Figure A.
FIGURE A
The replacement battery cover fits over the AAA battery compartment. (click for larger image)
Two tiny holes at the left of the cover show where the AC adapter plugs into the back of the Palm handheld, and the thin end of the connector allows it to be used while in the cradle. The FullCharge adapter plugs into the back of the Palm handheld, with the flashing red LED indicating that the unit is charging, as shown in Figure B.
FIGURE B
The FullCharge adapter plugs into the back of the Palm handheld. (click for larger image)
Test drive
I used one of the notorious Dot commands to set the battery gauge to NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) rechargeable batteries for a more accurate power display. Although not documented with the Palm handheld, there are a set of functions that can be accessed through the "dot commands," so named for the way they are invoked. These functions affect the way the organizer operates and should be used with some caution. The command to change the battery gauge is the dot-seven command, or ".7". It's accessed from within a memo or note where text input is expected. First draw the shortcut symbol on the Graffiti pad, which looks like a lower-case cursive letter "L". Then tap twice to create the period, or "dot," and write the number seven (7) in the number area of the Graffiti pad. If done correctly, the text "[NiCad]" will appear. Repeat until "[NiMH]" appears. The text in the memo can be discarded.
