The Palm Vx is for all you people out there who, like me, find that the pace of modern life rather outstrips theability of your mind to keep everything in order and running to schedule. From its core applications to the wealth of software available on the net, virtually every need is catered for, but perhaps the most noticeable feature of the Palm Vx is its sleek and lightweight profile. Its burnished aluminium exterior exudes quality and style and few, if any, pockets will fail to hold it almost unnoticeably.

The core software which comes pre-installed in the Palm Vx (and which does not encroach on the generous 8mb of memory, being stored as they are in ROM), include the following:

Date Book: This allows you to store all those important appointments which your sieve-like brain would otherwise allow to fall through the cracks and disappear. A normal entry would comprise the date, time and details of the appointment, and they can be viewed in a variety of methods, my personal favorite being a weekly view which shows each appointment as a bar, so you can judge how much free time you have every day. Clicking on the bar will bring up the specific details of the appointment. For those of you who would be too absent minded even to check your Palm often enough to keep track of your appointments, fear not! An alarm can be assigned to each one to provide an audible reminder that’s its time you got off your backside and did something useful! Recurring events can be set, so you’ll never have to miss your favourite soap opera again.

Memo Pad: This allows you to scribble your thoughts down as and when they occur to you, so they don’t vanish into the ether while you hunt frantically for a paper and pen. As the Palm Vx is so light you will have no excuse not to have it handy at all times, so this can be a life saver when you need to record something quickly.

Mail: At this point I should explain that the Palm Vx comes complete with a cradle which both recharges your Palm Vx’s battery and links it to your PC via a serial cable. A CD is included with the Palm which installs software on your PC which mirrors that on the Palm and everytime you put it in its cradle, it can be ‘HotSync’d’ with your PC to update the software on your PC to mirror new data which has been entered on your Palm (or vice versa, if you prefer using your PC’s keyboard to enter information). The software can be set up to link with your e-mail application, to download messages onto your Palm, or to send e-mails which have been composed on the Palm. Various e-mail clients are covered and of course the ubiquitous Oulook & Outlook Express are compatible with this. No e-mail can be sent directly from the Palm using the Mail utility, but this can be done by other means – see later.

The beauty of the Palm is that the above software is only the starting point. Many websites exist from which a multitude of freeware and shareware software can be downloaded and installed onto your Palm when you HotSync it with your PC. So many possibilities exist that I couldn’t possibly hope to cover them all here. Instead, I will describe the extras which I have added to my own Palm as an example of what you could do if you so wished. I have installed web browsing and e-mail clients, which I can use to surf the web and send and receive e-mails directly from my Palm, with the use of a data capable mobile phone. The Palm can be connected to a data compatible device (a Palm modem is available if you don’t have a suitable mobile phone) using either a serial cable, or wirelessly using the Palm’s infra-red port. Needless to say, using the infra red capability is a must for all you techno-freaks who like to impress your similarly minded pals. The transfer rate of 9,600bps on a phone makes for slow web browsing, but hey, its better than WAP, isn’t it? If you do like WAP, you can also get a WAP browser which will allow you to view pages more comfortably than on the cramped screen of your mobile.

Another fantastic use to which your Palm can be put is to use it as an e-book reader. Many applications exist which allow you to view .txt files, amongst others, on your Palm and this coupled with sites like Project Gutenburg which makes classic titles available free of charge, means that you will never be short of reading material on that ride home from work on the bus. For those of you who want the latest bestsellers, have a look at www.peanutpress.com, which sells the latest books in e-book format specifically for the Palm. With 8mb of memory, you will have plenty of free space to carry around a small library of books.

Of course, a huge variety of games are available online for the Palm, from puzzle games to shoot ‘em ups and from strategy games to arcade action. Whatever your tastes there is sure to be innumerables games available to stop you from getting on with a productive day’s work!

The question many of you may ask is how the Palm Vx compares to the many other PDAs on the market. The honest answer is that I can’t be sure as it is the only PDA which I have any experience of. I would, however, say this: while the full colour, Windows CE based PDAs may look more graphically impressive than the Palm, bear in mind that their battery life is far, far poorer as a consequence. Moreover, consideration should be given as to whether you actually need the features which these PDAs offer. Do you want to use up you entire memory storing up a few mp3’s on it? Do you need it to be instantly compatible with MS Word, Excel etc? If so, then perhaps you should look into the other (more expensive) options, but if your priorities are less ambitious, then you would probably be better off with a Palm. Bear in mind that the full colour PDAs are invariably larger and heavier than the Palm, so if you would be dissuaded from carrying them with you wherever you go, you will lose a lot of the benefits of having your PDA instantly to hand in all circumstances. While I like nothing more than having the most cutting edge, all singing all dancing gadgets, upon careful consideration, I came to the conclusion that I would derive far more benefit from the easily portable, yet comprehensively featured Palm Vx and I can honestly say that I have not looked back since.