I've had my green Handspring Visor Deluxe for about two weeks now, and I'm thrilled. There's a lot of information floating around about this little device, and I'd like to clear up some things.

First, availability: For a few months, it was almost impossible to get one of these PDAs. Orders took at least six weeks to show up and customer support was so overwhelmed that lots of people were frustrated. Well, I ordered my Visor on a Friday (I paid three bucks more for FedEx) and it showed up on Tuesday. That's pretty hard to beat. Similar stories abound now; the backordering situation is gone.

Second, capability: Handspring was created by the people who created the Palm Pilot, and they've licensed the Palm operating system for the Visor. Without getting into tech details, what this means is that it works just like a Palm Pilot and you can use the thousands of downloadable software titles available for Palm devices.

Third, what sets it apart: Okay, so it's readily available, just like a Palm Pilot, and it uses the same software as a Palm Pilot, so what's the difference? A few things. First, the Visor Deluxe comes with 8 megs of memory (the most a Palm processor can address) for the price of a 2-meg PDA. I've dumped tons of stuff onto mine and I'm not even one-third full. Second, colors. Okay, that's not super important, but it's nice not to look like Mister Corporate Guy all the time (although you can still get black if you are, indeed, MCG). I've got a green Visor Deluxe, which is a little less intense than iMac Lime. More of a breezy seafoam.

The final thing that sets Handspring Visors apart is the Springboard slot, whose potential has yet to be realized. It's a Gameboy cartridge-sized slot in the back that allows users to plug in modules designed by Handspring or third-party developers. That last part is critical--since Handspring allows anyone to build a Springboard module, the variety of products should be huge. You can already get some predictable items, like a modem, backup module, (low-res) digital camera, but there should be some really good stuff coming soon, thanks to demand and the third-party players. Think MP3 players, GPS units, cell phone connectors, blenders, etc.

If you're thinking about getting a Palm Pilot, you simply must look into a Handspring first. The interface is the same, the feature set is better, and the price can't be beat. If you're looking at the color Pocket PCs out there, well, that's a different story (a twice-as-expensive story). I'd recommend getting two Handsprings instead.



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