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seventray · Jan 12, 2001, 12:58 PM

I have been in need of a PDA, as I am growing tired of using calenders. I have waited the past six months hoping Apple would introduce the i**** and after MWSF, I am beginning to believe that Apple will go the software route as the "digital hub". Just seems they are taking the 3M approach: they aren't going to make the products we own, they are going to make the products we own better.

Therefore, I was wondering when to expect any new product announcements from Palm or Handspring? Do these companies generally release new products on a schedule, or do they just pop up? Anywhere I can find out what these companies are expecting to do with their upcoming products? I expect to be purchasing a PDA in the next month or so and I have read all the Palm vs Visor debates and am leaning more toward the Visor. Any help is appreciated.

Scott_H · Jan 12, 2001, 02:57 PM

Just seems they are taking the 3M approach: they aren't going to make the products we own, they are going to make the products we own better.

I thought that was BASF?

I'll save you some trouble. -> Buy a Visor.

They just came out with new ones so there's no update to them expected. Palm=serial connection and extra $$ and trouble to hook it up. Just get the Visor.

seventray · Jan 12, 2001, 04:12 PM

Maybe that is BASF. I always thought that was a 3M commercial for some reason. You are probably right though.

If my choices are between the current Palms and the current Handsprings, I will probably go with Visor (primarily because of out of the box Mac support). I was just wondering how these products are introduced and if there was anything out there expected in the near future. Thanks for the opinion. Any others?

Steph · Jan 12, 2001, 06:18 PM

Visor!! Mac connectivity right out of the box, and nicely expandable with springboards. I've had my Visor for about 2 months now, and I love it.

--Stephanie

THX1138 · Jan 12, 2001, 07:49 PM

The Visor is a great little machine, and I prefer it over a Palm, having used and owned both.

If you can afford it, go for the Visor Prism, it has a super-nice display, and it has the SpringBoard, which is much better than the crappy expansion that the Palm has (which can hardly be called expansion, more like attatchments).

The only reason I use a Palm device (3c) is because I got it for free, and it's a step up from my Visor Deluxe (although I do miss my Visor, but my girlfriend is enjoying it).

Perhaps in the future, I can buy a Visor Prism.

-THX

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Just because Windows users vastly outnumber Mac users, numbers alone do not denote a higher form of life. C�ckroaches outnumber humans many times over, and no one says a c�ckroach is better than a human.

seventray · Jan 12, 2001, 09:46 PM

Is the low-end Visor just black or is it graphite as it's description suggests? In some pics on the Handspring site it looks just plain black but in others it looks as if it is somewhat translucent?

Also, is 2 mb enough? All I really want the PDA for is to replace my paper calender for appointments, contacts, and to-do lists plus I want it to run a few games. I also would want a program to make menus more Mac-like, such as one I have seen called Launch'em 2. Is 2mb enough for me?

[This message has been edited by seventray (edited 01-12-2001).]

seventray · Jan 14, 2001, 01:48 PM

Could someone please help me out with this? I may be buying a PDA sooner than I expected. Thanks for any help you can provide and helping me determine if 2 megs is enough for me or if I should go with the Visor Deluxe.

rambo47 · Jan 14, 2001, 04:47 PM

2 MB is fine if you're not going to use email or a channel like AvantGo. Another reason for getting the cheaper model is that in the next six months or so Palm should be going to the StrongArm processor and a serious color screen. Six months is too long to wait without a PDA but not too long to anticipate the huge leap in performance we're about to see.

I have the Palm Vx (millennium blue) and love it. I just added the Minstrel modem and Omnisky wireless service. Wow! I get my Flashcom email whenever I want plus internet access. If your anal about your email like me and you want the option on your PDA then the 8 MB models are a must. For me the ability of the Palm to upgrade the OS and lack of this ability on the Visor was the deciding factor in Palm over Visor.

------------------
"There is no spoon."
iDisk: rseijas
Homepage: homepage.mac.com/rseijas

seventray · Jan 15, 2001, 12:16 AM

Thanks for all the help. I bought the ice Visor Deluxe today. Now I just have to find some stuff to put on it.

seventray · Jan 15, 2001, 12:33 PM

Any suggestions for some things I can put on my new Visor Deluxe? I will try anything.

Jan 15, 2001, 01:14 PM

The only thing with the Visor is that you can't upgrade the OS. Right now it's on 3.1. The PALM units are running 3.5, and 4.0 is around the corner. When OS X comes out, there will be a new OS available...and PALM has officially supported Mac & OS X (announcement made at Macworld SF)...

I've also read on cNet, about quality issues with the Visor PDAs...

SirCastor · Jan 16, 2001, 05:53 AM

Stuff to put on your visor, eh?
Check out Palmgear.com
They've got a great list of stuff.
personally, I've got a bunch of games and crap on my Palm.
-Aaron

scaught · Jan 22, 2001, 01:28 PM

stuff for your visor? heres some stuff on my palm.

free stuff (no registrations or anything)
-avantgo-can suck up alot of memory, but its worth it.
-handyshop-grocery shopping list program. i use it to keep track of records i want to buy too so when i go into a record store i dont get the "now what the heck did i want to buy" thing.
-piezopower-relatively useless program that makes noise. kinda fun if youre into that kind of thing.
-Rally 1000-palm version of mille bornes, a fun card game.
-showtimestogo-movie listing program. gets movie listings off the net and formats them for palm. good stuff.

not free stuff
-acid solitaire-what good is a computer without solitaire? best version ive seen
-palmnums-an original number game. very fun.
-kyles quest-rpg game. its no final fantasy, but users can make their own levels to trade so theres lots of replayability.

umm. ya. its all available at palmgear.

scott

Yuri1419 · Jan 23, 2001, 12:27 AM

AvantGo is cool, but I think Vindigo is even cooler. I wish I had my Palm when I was at MWSF... turning to Vindigo to find a specific ethnicity restraunt, reading a review and then getting specific directions without paying wireless fees is pretty slick....

euro · Jan 23, 2001, 11:37 AM

I am in the market for a PDA too and I too will use it mostly as a replacement of my paper calendar. Because of that, I'll need to carry it around a lot. Is there really ANYTHING out there that even comes close to the Palm V (other than tha Palm Vx....) in terms of size and weight?

scaught · Jan 23, 2001, 11:44 AM

in terms of size and weight, i think the smallest PDA would be the palm m100. it has a smaller screen, 2 megs of memory, but doesnt connect to a mac without extra stuff. if you want mac connectivity out of the box, go with a visor - not that much bigger or heavier, available with 8 megs if youre going to get into lots of programs and stuff.
also, palm is rumored to be coming out with some new stuff in the next couple months, a color palm V with a SD slot, a palm m105 (from what ive read its an m100 with 8 megs of memory). and who knows, maybe palm will get off their collectives arses and release something thats mac compatible out of the box.

scott

macrophyllum · Jan 23, 2001, 09:27 PM

I need a PDA for running a spreadsheet for collecting data out in the field. I then need to download the data to my Powerbook. Will 2 MB suffice?

Thanks,
IG

scaught · Jan 23, 2001, 10:05 PM

ive never done any spreadsheet work on my palm, but the program i would look into for doing what you want is called "documents to go" and it'll take up 512k (1/4) of your memory. so id have to say that youd probably want to go with an 8 mb model palm os device. in case you want to look into the documents to go program, you can find it and many more at palmgear.com.

scott

andi*pandi · Jan 26, 2001, 06:39 PM

question on Palmgear:
A lot of their stuff is zipped, not stuffed. Will it work on a mac, or can I get it into my Visor from a mac? I know that zipped files don't always unzip right on a mac... but I also know not to believe all posted system specs.

I know that they don't know that mac users know how to open zipped files...

Or rather, I know that they know that they couldn't figure it out on a PC.

heh.

seventray · Jan 27, 2001, 02:59 PM

I haven't had any trouble with zipped files on my iMac. When you click to download an app that is zipped, it tells you that it doesn't know how to handle the file and then I just save it to my desktop. The app downloads and looks to be in html format. From there I simply double click it and Expander does its job. So, I haven't run into a problem with zipped files for my Visor. Hope this answers your question.