Palm M505

Advantages: Cool little gadget
Disadvantages: Expensive

...the time, Im using the Palm M505. At least thats what Im claiming! For people on the move, sometime a laptop is a little impractical. A bulky A4 size case with a bit of weight behind it may not serve any function to the businessman travelling lightly. Sometimes, the ability to have the functionality of a PC to fit in your Pocket is what you need. Sure the Pocket PC seems to have faded from the spotlight due to the incompatibility problems but handhelds ...
...of all of these, the Palm 5 is my favourite and by far the most functional for my needs. Let me tell you about it. What it looks like ------------------ Its about the size of your hand, roughly 15 cm high by about 10 cm wide and a thickness of about 1cm. hence the name Palm and is mostly visible screen with a grey/graphite plastic surround. The Screen is flat and operates in true LCD Display mode. On off button is locate at the top and recessed so ... Read review

Advantages: It's an improved Vx with a colour screen!
Disadvantages: Price

...Yes, it's true (partially)! The Palm community have been screaming 'Palm V with a colour screen!' for years, and here it is at last. It closely resembles it's greyscale sibling (the m500), the dimensions being very similar, although this unit is a couple of millimetres thicker. The screen is a lot nicer than the one found on the Palm IIIc, not only displaying 65,536 colours (as opposed to 256), but looking reasonable in all lighting conditions. ...
...the m500 i.e. USB synchronisation, Palm OS 4.0, a faster CPU and the new expansion slot - have a look at my m500 review here at Ciao for more on these. The addition of the colour screen will make it really attractive to some. For now, at least... Handera and Sony are both releasing some very impressive devices in the near future. One problem is the non-competetive pricing of the new m500 series machines. While they stand up well to general PalmOS ... Read review

Advantages: colour, fast, easy to use, cheap (if you get it in the right place)
Disadvantages: None as far as i can see

...Value For Money The palm M505 is great value for money. I see people saying that £350 pocket PC’s have bigger processors so they must be better, but I think this is a load of rubbish. Who would ever use 400mhz to open word documents or play simple (yet fun) games? Pocket PC’s are to powerful, expensive and they don’t have as much software. The M505 however has all the power you need, has a bright colour screen, an expansion card slot. My Palm Setup ...
...(£20 from Ebay) and my palm m505 only cost £175 Overview My Palm M505 does everything I ever wanted it to do and more for a cheap price. The only other thing I could have wished for is decent speakers that can play music, but if you want one of those you can pay £350 for a Sony ... Read review

Advantages: Small, colour, flexible and cheap
Disadvantages: Lack of compatability

I bought the Palm m505 cheaply for basic needs such as profiles and tasks, and to be easily compatable with both my laptop and desktop. I had lots of trouble installing the sync station and drivers, and eventually managed to install them on both my laptop and desktop. But the m505 wouldn't sync with my laptop at all. The m505, when it does sync, does work nicely with programs such as outlook. It easily detected any new files and updated the palm ...
...than those available to the Palm OS. The m505 also has the old version of Palm OS, not the new one which simply adds to the incompatibility. The m505 does have a wide range of accessories including the Navman 500, which turns the PDA into a Sat Nav. Overall, for basic tasks and basic syncing (with a desktop) the Palm m505 is fine. But if you need any sort of performance from a PDA, get something a little more upmarket with the latest Microsoft ... Read review

Advantages: Reasonable price, can expand memory
Disadvantages: Not very well lit

...download free software from the Palm site and install it easily through the software included, which also transfers documents from Word and e-mails from Outlook, the only thing is when it transfers the e-mails from your inbox, it will also delete them from there, unless you change the settings on the PDA software, something I didn't do !, and you also can't view images or attachments. I also installed some games, such as Space Invaders, and Asteroids, ...
...while your waiting in reception areas. The main trouble with this PDA is the very dim backlight, which has no adjustment, but I have noticed that the screen is best viewed under fluorescent striplights. All in all, if you aren't embarrassed by not having the very latest gadgets, and your on a tight budget, then this will do the job, true it won't play Mp3's or view photos, but most people don't need to. ... Read review

Advantages: Screen, Fast USB Sync, Springboard slot
Disadvantages: Speed, non-upgradeable OS

...The Visor Prism is Handspring's first colour palm device. It's 16-bit (65536 colour) display is the most vibrant I have ever seen on a PalmOS based device. It's far superior to the 256 colour display of the PalmIIIc, and much brighter than the new Palm m505. However, it's the machine's only real saving grace. The unit is very chunky (fatter even than my TRGpro), and comes in a purple case that I'm sure won't be to everyone's taste. It runs the same CPU as the Visor Platinum, but also suffers horribly from the inherent sluggishness of PalmOS 3.5. You're stuck with OS 3.5, too, because the Prism, like all Handspring Visors, lacks a flashable ROM. On the positive side, it does have the Springboard slot (see my Visor Deluxe review for more on that), it synchronises with your PC via USB (rather than serial, like all but the most recent... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Very versatile, looks good and plenty of add-ons
Disadvantages: May still be expensive

...I was looking for an MP3 player for ages. A good one was about £150 and did more than I really needed. 15gig of space sounds nice on paper, but its actually quite difficult to fill. While browsing ebay for one, I glanced over the PDA section and noticed that ooooo....they had colour now. My Palm Vx needed to go! So a new game was created; find a portable device that could replace my Palm Vx and play music. And was not too dear. And was in colour. And I liked. So the hunt began. Ooooooo...the Palm M505 has colour. And is expandable with its own memory slots. And was cheap. But no music. So I set the bar a little higher, and went to the comparison chart at Palm's homepage. But what's this......one Palm PDA, some sort of 'Tungsten' (which I could of sworn was the metal a light bulb filament was made from) had a headphone jack... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: great value for money, 8MB and OS 3.5
Disadvantages: Ugly and needs batteries

...Edge, but it’s a sturdy workhorse and worth every penny. Unlike the Palm Vx and IIIc it needs batteries because it is not rechargeable, but I’m getting about a month on each pair of batteries. In summary. It’s not the most gorgeous PDA on offer but has all the best functionality and is a steal at the moment. Just get one now while you save up for the Palm m505 or the new Sony Clie Colour. By the way if anybody has one of the new Sony Clie's please drop a review on Ciao and let me know what you think of it....could be my next purchase.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful