Palm or Handspring? Need opinions please...

[Descartes]

I'm looking to purchase either a Palm or Handspring PDA. Mostly, I'll need it for keeping track of my work throughout the day, but I'm certain I'll find many more uses for it. I need something w/ the Palm OS, as I'll be doing integration projects w/ it in the future, which is why I chose these two.

I need something that is not a hindrance to work w/, and something that will allow me to keep track of my schedules, activities, etc.

Opinions?

 

[Rent]

NFS4 will be here shortly to tell you how the iPaq ownZ them both

 

[Czar]

The only palms worth it are Palm Vx and the new palms, in other cases the handspring wins.... or you could go for an ipaq

 

Hehe, radeon beat me to the punch.

Ok, I am a big Palm supporter, but knowing Descartes I am wondering why you are not looking at the PocketPC? It's supports all the Microsoft stuff and you can code on it using VB.

Anyway, if you want to go Palm vs. Handspring, I feel Palm still has the advantage. The Handspring devices are pretty bulky and the modules are pretty much useless.

Are you looking for a inexpensive device or looking to go color?

 

[Descartes]

Cost isn't really much of a concern as long as it's under $1k.

I am a big MS supporter, but we do have some integration projects in the future that will be PalmOS based. This will be more for personal use, and I guess running WinCE might give me more of an advantage because I have limited experience w/ the PalmOS SDK.

The iPAQ does look slick. Anyone else have any experience w/ it vs. Palm/Handspring?

[edit]spacebar refuses to behave[/edit]

 

[Napalm381]

<< The Handspring devices are pretty bulky and the modules are pretty much useless. >>

Huh? What? Regarding bulkiness, the Visor Deluxe/Platinum compare well with the Palm III/10x series, and the Visor Edge compares well with the Palm V series. Sizing between the two is for the most part equivalent. As for the modules, some are more useful than others, granted. However, the remote control module, MP3 modules, and GPS modules all look pretty slick to me.

 

If cost is not issue, I would point you at the Palm M505..

At 449.00 though, as much as this pains me, I just see the iPAQ as a really good fit for you. Where's NFS4 with his iPAQ marketing propaganda when you need him???

 

[jsm]

I've played with the early versions of the M505 and they are okay. It just a color Palm V with an SD slot. I mean, it's okay if you want to do a backup or if you want to off load storage onto a different physical device, but it is still a Palm and subject to it's limitations.

Oh, and the reason the battery on the M505 lasts so long compared to a Casiopeia or iPaq is because the back light is never on unless you hold down the power button. I mention this because I had trouble viewing the LCD on M505 unless the backlight was on. Of course, with the backlight on, it drains the battery much faster.

I would recommend the iPaq especially the 64meg version. If you cannot find that, then pick up a Cassiopeia E125. It's display is much better than the iPaqs, but it is not as fast and does not have the costly upgrade options the iPaq has (which are worth it to me in retrospect).

Personally, tho - comparing the Palm to Handspring, I would recommend the Palm. I know QA for both groups (I used to work with Handspring's QA manager when he worked for Palm and I used to work for Palm, for that matter) and I know the Palm is generally a better device when it comes to compatibility and reliability.

When it comes down to it, with a Palm or Handspring, you get less bang for your buck. I seriously recommend investing your time and money in a Compaq iPaq. You will not regret the power, versatility and flexibility of it.

 

[waytoomuchcoffee]

You should check out the discussions at PDABuzz under General, for massive Palm v. PocketPC wars.

Anyway, the Ipaq (for example) has a better screen than any of the Palms/Handsprings, is much faster, can run more intensive programs, and is generally more cool looking.

However, I own a Palm because of the battery life. I would dearly wish to have an Ipaq, but I am not in the position to recharge every night, and also the Pocket PC's suck down too much power just refreshing the memory when its off. Even if you don't turn one on, it will run down the battery in a week. My Palm, on the other hand, can last a month at least, although I use it a lot so it lasts about 2. Why? Because the StrongArm processor in the PPC's use a LOT more power. At 200MHz (what the Ipaq runs at), it uses about 15 TIMES the mw than the Palm (the Motorolla uses about 50mW, 66 peak).

This will all be moot next year when the X-Scale comes out (successor to the StrongArm). It's also an ARM designed processor. It will run 200MHz at 50mW, or the same speed as the Ipaq with the power consumption of the Palm! It can also run as fast as 1GHz, but this will really suck down the power. One of the most exciting features of the X-Scale is it really is scalable (hence the name). If you app needs 50MHz to run properly, it will run at 50 to conserve energy, and so will automatically &quot;underclock&quot;. If it needs 400MHz, it will run at 400. By the end of next year or 1Q '03 Palms and PPC's will be running basically the same hardware.

Btw, I just ordered a Handera (used to be TRGPro). The old TRGPro was a real geek device. This is a PalmOS device, same size as a Palm III, but with higher res (320 by 240 b/w, same as the PPC's which will probably be the industry standard soon). It has a virtual grafitti area (you can turn it off for more screen room), can use CF, MMC, and SD cards as well as IBM microdrives off the CF, and is designed to use more batteries (or a really big rechargeable) to extend useable life 50-100% over the Palms now. So I expect to get 3-4 weeks off of this one. Handera's will be available in about 2 weeks (some ppl already have them due to special contests, so it is NOT vaporware).

I for one like B/W (at least right now), because of the much lower energy consumption. Sucks for games though if you are into that sort of thing (which I am not). At least on a handheld. For games, I will get a Gameboy Advance.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

i have been using a handspring since October 99 so obviously I like it. great for all the things you spoke of. I also use a golf statistics module that is pretty worthwhile. The only other module i have considered getting was a back-up module since I take copius notes with a keyboard during business trips.