Palm M505--Color My World, This Thing is Great

My days using a Handspring Visor Deluxe are coming to an end, thanks to my testing of this precious PDA.

I've got to say up front that this PDA is about as good as it gets in the Palm OS flavors. And although I do have some minor concerns and issues with this product, the Pros outweight the Cons by so much that there really is not much comparison between this machine and others in the Palm OS space. Much of this epinion revolves around comparing this product to one of its closest rivals, the Handspring Prism. Some recognition, be it cursory, should be given to the rather impressive Sony Clie product line, which should take a bit out of both Palm and Handspring market share.

Design
From the get go, this PDA impresses. The thin form factor, along with the stylish and practical leather flap/cover exhude an image of quality and professionalism. I especially appreciate the actual 'metal' case, which makes the the Handspring product line pale in comparison (most of their product line is of plastic construction, including their color solution, the Prism). The result is a product that both feels good both in your hands as well as in your pocket.

The weight and density of this product--which is .9 oz more than the black and white M500, yet 2 oz less than the Hanspring Prism rival--is actually a reassurance of its quality (well-founded or not). I'd be much more confident dropping a 4.9 oz metal Palm M505 on the floor than a 6.9 oz plastic Handspring Prism. This just makes practical sense, knowing how hard plastic and metal react, respectively, to the harsh realities of gravity and coordination (or the lack thereof).

Expansion
For the purposes of this review, we'll divide expansion into two categories: content/storage and devices.

Content/Storage
The m505 uses Secure Digital technology for memory and data expansion. To you and me this is merely adding additional memory to our devices.

I must praise both their move toward expansion and the design of these memory chips, which are actually smaller than the very handy Sony Memory Stick technology used in Sony cameras and PDAs.

The unit I tested had a 32mb card, which, after fiddling and synching a few times, worked flawlessly. I easily moved and copied applications right onto the card. This is an absolutely superb addition to the Palm product. Cudos here to Palm. The cost for such expansion is considerable. A 16mb expansion (this card is blank) runs $49.95 as of late August 2001. We can expect this to go down as time passes.

Palm additionally leveraged the expansion card technology to hold and sell data. For example, you can buy a card with a dictionary or thesaurus on it for $39.95, or with games on it for $29.95. This is a logical extention of the technology into 'specialized' cards, much like we use floppy disks or zip disks now to organize data. I like this concept.

A note: If you step into expansion card usage, you'll want to buy the Leather Zipped Case for storing these cute little things. They are small and will tend to disappear if you don't employ a good storage method (storage for your storage, strange as it seems).

The palm content/storage implementation is really much better than that of Handspring. The slot is much smaller and less noticeable (about 20x smaller than the Visor Deluxe Springboard slot and about 4x smaller than that of the Visor Edge Springboard slot).

More significant, at least esthetically speaking, is the fact that the slot is more integrated into the physical design of the device than that of Handspring. You press the chip into the slot and you really forget about it because of how well it is integrated into the device. It works very much like a tiny floppy disk.

The Handspring answer, although a centerpiece to their marketing plan, is much bulkier and noticeable. The Visor Deluxe modules, while they click into the space of the 'blank' springboard space, are bulky, plastic and not space-saving. Four SD chips fit into the Palm leather case I mentioned earlier. Four Springboard modules would have to stack into your briefcase or bookbag.

In the content/storage space I have to give the victory to the Palm, with Sony just behind. Handspring comes in third, but does make up considerabl space in the 'device' market.

Devices
Handspring takes the ticket here. You see, the springboard model integrates more than just memory, but hardware as well. To date, they have 40 modules available, from digital cameras to mp3 players to GPS attachments to phones. This is a great feature that really, in my opinion, took a bite out of the Palm market share. This was why I bought the Visor Deluxe in the first place (aside from the fact that Palm hand no memory expansion at that point either).

But hold your horses, are you really going to buy these Springboard modules? I spent $300 on the PDA, am I going to spend another $100 for a rather poor camera attachment or an mp3 player. The answer to both of these questions is no. I've had the unit for 2 years and have yet to buy a module. Not because I don't have the cash, but because I don't see the utility. Instead of the visor phone, I bought a top-of-the-line $100 nokia cell phone. Instead of the $199 (at that time) eyemodule, I bought a $350 sony digital camera, which is still far superior to the eyemodule 2.

What I will buy is the memory and backup modules, since I use my PDA primarily for data storage. And in this specific regard, Palm excels over Handspring in their implementation.

Not everyone is the same, and if you need a scanner or GPS, you could easily eliminate the Palm based on that single criteria. In this specific category or devices, Handspring has both the technology lead and the implementation lead, with developers working on a myriad attachments as we speak.

Display
Well, the display on the m505 is good--not great. The main complaint you'll hear time and again is that there is no brightness control. The display is either on standard mode or backlit mode. The standard mode is really much too low for most humans to discern, although a $2000 visit to your local Lasik surgeon may correct this. Aside from such drastic measures, you pretty much have to use the device on the backlit mode, which is wearing on the charge.

The quality of the color is really very good. It's not as good as the Visor Prism, but if the Prism is a 10, the m505 is an 8. And considering other factors, such as weight, in which the m505 wins by a full 2 oz, I'd still take the Palm. Because the complaints have been so numerous, I have no doubt that Palm will address the brightness issue on their next generation of color PDAs.

HotSynch
The cradle for the m505 has some issues, and this relates to the connectors with the PDA unit itself. Placing the m505 into position for synching and removing it is tricky, at best. Often times you will have to 'snap' it out of the cradle, which is a bone-chilling experience the first few times. After you get accustomed to it, it's not so bad, but it is irritating. I've heard of folks placing tiny drops of oil on the leads to alleviate this problem, but I haven't done this.

Otherwise, the cradle and synch work fine. The Handspring cradle is similar, with larger leads on both the PDA and the cradle. They both appear to work at similar speeds.

Conclusion
Well, as a faithful Handspring Deluxe user over the past two years, I've got to admit that the m505 is really what I want, and that has got to be bad for Handspring. I've seen the Prism and been impressed with their display, but the form factor really hasn't changed from that of the Deluxe, and that is a disappointment. They must upgrade from plastic and get that unit thinner and more professional looking if they want to keep their market share.

The Palm m505 is the most impressive Palm OS system out there. It incorporates good, sturdy design with a professional image and just the minimum required expansion for data junkies like me. Expect great additions in the next generation from Palm, but for today this is the cream of the crop.