Better than some of its brothers
Pros:
4 MB of memory, durable, disposable batteries
Cons:
Not quite as stylish looking as other models and a bit thick
The Bottom Line:
If you need help remembering things like phone numbers, addresses, and appointments, it beats a paper planner.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
I waited quite a while to write this Epinion. The reasons being is that every product has a honey-moon period (where opinions can be skewed) and then the rest of its life (where reality lies).
Why I have a Palm IIIx
Well about 2 years ago I received a the Palm IIIx as a Christmas gift from my father. I had just started college and my father felt that I needed help remembering my assignments, plus paper planners never had enough space in each box. Anyway, that's why I have it.
Appearance/Construction
Upon looking at this gray square of plastic, the Palm IIIx isn't as beautiful as some of its brothers. However, what the IIIx lacks in looks, it makes up in practicality.
The flip cover of the Palm adequately protects the screen from scratches or breakage (it has glass under the top layer of plastic) and thus you don't see too many hard-case 3rd party covers for it. In addition, the cover keeps the power button and application buttons from being accidentally pressed while the Palm is in you pocket or bag. The flip cover also locks in 2 positions (up and up & slightly back) and can be easily removed all together (which is good if you want to replace the cover with new or differently colored one). Unfortunately after much flipping of the cover (about 2 years of flipping it open and closed, multiple times a day, everyday), the little stopper bumps that help hold the cover in the open position have worn slightly and will eventually cause it to slip out of position if held slightly uprightyes wear is inevitable, but this may be important to some.
The 4 round application buttons, the scroll button, and the on/backlight button are made of the same plastic the Palm body is made of and thus feel durable. The buttons also have a positive feel to them when they're pressed downthere's no question if you pressed the button or not.
The screen is the only part of this Palm that's really delicate. The thin layer of plastic that covers the glass and the sensors can scratch if hard grit or sharp points are allowed to get on the screen.
A testament to the construction is the fact that on occasion I've accidentally dropped my Palm (from about 4 feet up) without breakage. I tend to carry the Palm in either the rear pocket of my backpack or in the side cargo pocket of my cargo shorts without any damage to the Palm. All in all the fairly construction by far makes up for its humble appearance.
Things to note
The Palm IIIx has a black and white LCD screen with a contrast controlnot as pretty as color, but this device is extremely battery efficient. Unfortunately this screen is like all black and white LCD screens and is a bit hard to read in bright sunlight, mainly due to glare. In the dark, the screen has a backlight which is manually turned on (quite helpful in low light situations too).
As for sound, the Palm is fairly limited, but it's a PDA and not a notebook, so it's not really a big deal. Most of the sounds that it can make are a lot like those a Nokia cell phone can make: simple sound effects and short bits of music.
The Palm IIIx takes 2 AAA batteries and thus has an advantage over a few of the other Palms. If you're running low on battery power, no need to recharge at the cradle, simply change the batteries. In addition, the fact that this device is black and white helps keep the battery usage low. On average, my batteries last me for about 2-3 months, but then again I only use the backlight for short periods of time (the backlight eats a bit more battery power than normal, so if you don't need it on, don't turn it on).
The fact that the IIIx comes with 4 MB of RAM is good. Other models come with only 2 MB and the Palm uses RAM like a hard disk. 2 MB isn't enough if you want to install applications like web-clipping applications or lots of simple games. Now what makes the IIIx nice is that you can swap out the 4 MB card with an 8 MB card, though I personally don't need quite THAT much space (most programs use only a few Kilobytes of space).
In addition, the IIIx can easily upgrade its OS by downloading updates onto your computer from the Palm site and following the onscreen instructions with the Palm ready for sync (this Palm updates its OS by flashing the ROM the OS is on).
This model is not internet equipped right out of the box. If you plan to use a PDA for mobile internet purposes, I'd suggest buying another model or buying an wireless modem accessory for this one.
Interface
The interface is fairly intuitive, both external buttons and onscreen interface. The external buttons have little icons on them; a calendar for appointments, a phone for phone book/addresses, the up and down arrows on the scroll button, the checklist for to do list, and the notepad for the notepad. Press the on button and the device turns on instantly (no waiting for boot-up), press the on button while the device is on and it turns off (no waiting for shutdown), hold down on the on button when the device is on and the backlight turns on, hold down again to turn the backlight offpretty simple. What's nice is that if you press an application button while the Palm is off, it will turn on and run the application of the button you've pressed.
The stylus interface makes the device a lot smaller than most other devices, but slows the input of text. Palm has solved the problem of handwriting recognition by having text entered with a standardized print alphabet called "Graffiti". The print alphabet is pretty intuitive for most letter and some punctuation, but letters like E, Y, V & Q must be done in a semi-intuitive manner. The entry
of letters must be done on one side of the text entry
box and numbers on the other. Punctuation like commas and periods are pretty simple, but if you're trying to put special accent symbols above letters and such, the strokes are a bit strange. All in all, the Palm is usually pretty good about figuring out what character you enter, as long as it sort of resembles what the cheatsheet shows you. Entery of text is a bit slow, but you'll eventually get used to "Graffiti" and you'll be able to write faster.
The main feature of the Palm is the fact that the onscreen interface is easy to use. Tap the stylus on a program icon and it will run it. Tap the stylus on a line in the day planner and the text insertion point is put on that line. Double-tap the stylus on a word and the whole word is selected. "Drag" the stylus across text and it is selected. Pretty similar to the popular desktop OSes out there. One suggestion, use the scroll button instead of the onscreen scroll bar if a) you have a hard time seeing small things or b) have a hard time touching small things with the tip of a pen/stylus.
Included Software
Pre-installed on the Palm itself, there's the 5 basic programs, Day Planner/Appointments, Phone Book/Address Book, To Do List, Note Pad, and the Calculator. Though in the box, there's a program called AvantGoit's a sort of web-clipping application that updates you list of favorite AvantGo compatible websites every time you sync (I personally like to read the top morning new stories right before a class begins).
Synchronize
The Palm is about as easy as it can be when it comes to synchronizing it. After you've installed the HotSync program on your computer, you have a choice as to how you'd like to sync your Palm. Certain IR ports on computers will allow you to sync your Palm by IR, very nice. Now if you don't have an IR port on your computer, you can hook up the sync cradle to the com port on your PC (I think that on the Mac it hooks up to a SCSI port) or you can buy a separate kit that will allow you to hook the cradle to your computer via a USB port or USB hub. The actual act of syncing is pretty easy; if you use the cradel, put the Palm in the cradle and press the button on it, if you use the IR, run the HotSync program on the Palm, aim the Palm at the computer IR port and press "Sync" (keep in mind that you should have changed the appropriate settings to IR on both the Palm and the computer).
Final words
The Palm IIIx is everything you need without more features than you need, and with the ability to do basic upgrades. It sure beats a paper planner.
