The Palm m505 was Palm's first foot out into the
color handheld market. At the time, the only other option was the Vizor Prizm.
It offered all the features of the previous models plus support for Secure
Disk Cards (sort-of like Flash only more secure), which allowed it to have
removable media; and because all software is in the format of one file, it
allows you to expand your Palm infinitely.
The Palm m505 was the first device to ever use a reflective TFT display.
This means that instead of having a backlight like laptops and the like, it
actually reflects ambient, or direct light, in the room or outside to light up
the screen. This means that the battery in an M505 will last 2-3 times longer
than that of a normal back-lit TFT display. If there isn't enought light, you
can always activate the internal light, which is espectially good for those
late nights when you've just gotta play Bejeweled and can't make it to the
PC.
The Palm m505 is a wonderfull organizer capable of keeping dates and
alerting you when they are coming up. The m505 also includes a silent
vibrating alarm (like in pagers) although I have no idea how they ever fit it
inside the small shell. I keep my entire class schedule with alarms 15 minutes
before each class. I also use it to track my GPA. The Palm m505 is a small
robust piece of hardware, but it does lack a bit. The color display at times
can appear a little bit milky if there isn't enough light, but activating the
backlight usually fixes this. It'll set you back about $400+ dollars, so it
isn't for the cheap of wallet; however, Palm offers an entire line starting at
$150 which should fit most college students' budgets just fine.
Responses:
Refresh frame to view latest entries.
Comments:
Thanks for the writeup Chris. I'm afraid that Nick is right, and I missed that in editing. The Palm IIIc was Palm's first color device...though it wasn't necessarily a III with color added to it. Indeed, the IIIc motherboard is very different from the III. I have both in my archive of retired handhelds :D
Name: nick
Comments:
Aren't you forgetting about the palm IIIc?? They took an established handheld, and gave it a color screen. I believe this one was Palm's first, and was released around the time when the Vx was the biggest on Palm's market, the m100 was getting ready to make an appearance, and the truly elite users had the dorky looking Palm VIIx with its overplayed "online capabilities" by way of that huge bulky antenna that folded out making people look like they were carrying around one of those portable TV's and poking at the screen for a better signal.
|
Chris Brown | Staff Writer