My brains in a peanut butter sandwich
Written: Nov 14 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The benefits of a wallet, a computer, an address book, a calendar and a note pad combined--readable in the dark!
Cons: 2 Mb RAM memory becomes too small quickly
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| scientist232's Full Review: Palm m100 Personal Organizer |
Time has not been kind to my memory—my ability to remember dates and times, my recall of peoples phone numbers and where streets are located (unless I go there every week). The quantity of data I used to be able to store in my own gray cells just doesn’t fit there anymore. I’m not that good with desk calendars either, but they help. Microsoft Outlook has been helpful in keeping track of where I need to be and at what time; however, my desktop computer doesn’t go where I go. Even the laptop to which I have access is cumbersome enough that I won’t use it to keep my appointments straight. And don’t even get me started on trying to remember when the kids’ basketball games and choir rehearsals are.
My solution for some time has been stuffing paper schedules and assorted scraps of paper with peoples phone numbers into my wallet. Later when I think of it, or when my wallet becomes a disheveled mess, I sort through them and dump the dated material and the scraps whose relevance I’ve completely lost. It turns out that there is a better way.
The Palm m100 is a solution I’ve found to be indispensable for my needs. About the size of a peanut butter sandwich (the fold-in-half and cut off the crust kind), the m100 is a Palm sized giant. While only boasting 2Mb of RAM—Palm, Inc. says it’s customers generally don’t need any more than that—the basic system software is so tightly written that you hardly notice that fairly complex programs consume 100K of memory or less. A single cable with a single button connects the m100 to my desktop PC and updates my calendar (whether I’ve made the changes on the PC or the handheld), my contacts, my to-do lists and my random scribblings.
I’ve missed appointments (like the first two with my VERY patient boss) because MS Outlook—while it sits on my desktop and pops up to remind me—stays, well, on my desktop as opposed to in my pocket. No more. Now my m100 beeps at me from my pocket as if to say, “Don’t forget, you’ve got a 10:00 in the other building.” It culls the data directly from Outlook and seamlessly exchanges data in both directions. If I jot down that I need to be at my son’s Family Day at school, the m100 also plugs that information onto my desktop calendar.
Phone numbers (people all seem to have seven or eight these days), addresses (physical and email) and assorted notes about the people with whom I have contact are all arranged in easily retrievable order. For once I don’t have to dig through my wallet and ponder whose phone number I wrote on that scrap of paper and why.
But what if something goes wrong? All computers crash and if my entire connection to the civilized world is on that peanut butter sandwich sized device and it goes—a large chunk of my own brain will have crashed as well. Not to worry; the one button on the one umbilical cord you need for the m100 can restore the entire contents. Sometimes I wish my own brain had a sync cable, but that’s another story.
In addition to the very good basic software that comes standard on the Palm m100 a multitude of sites populate the web with software; commercial, shareware and freeware that will make a Palm device do just about everything (including whistling Dixie). Some of my favorite applications are:
1. Launcher III (freeware)—replaces the standard GUI on the Palm with a system of customizable tabs. At the bottom of the screen are customizable time, date, day, battery life, memory consumption indicators and icons for locking, power off, back-light on and preferences. The key concept here is whatever makes your life easier.
2. AlbumToGo (freeware)—scan all of your pictures and produce a killer slide show that will keep your kids and pets one click away and reduce the need for a wallet the size of a truck.
3. AvantGo (freeware)—browse the internet offline. You choose the sites to update and when you sync with the desktop PC it updates your pages. Then read at your convenience.
4. Mapopolis (freeware)—searchable maps of just about anywhere you’d need to go in the United States. Download as many as your RAM memory permits and you can find street level maps to guide you as you travel. Zoom in and out to your level of familiarity with a city and find any street or business.
5. TinySheet ($19.95—free demo)—Excel in your pocket, essentially. Paper spreadsheets are nice but scribblings are just that; not a good substitute for directly editing your data. Updates every time you sync.
What takes some getting use to
Most of us write in our native language. Palm devices such as the m100 accept written English in aptly named Graffiti characters. A cross between English and shorthand the data entry goes much faster when you master the new language. Short of that you can always peck away at the letter or number keypad or write all your notes in your own handwriting in the notepad application.
The 2Mb RAM capacity has been an annoyance only because of the plethora of great (and cheap!) programs that enhance the Palm experience. Fortunately people such as Rudenko (et al.) make that limitation go away, for a price. Be aware, as they will be sure to tell you up front, that vendors other than Palm (and Palm won’t do it) who open your Palm device and kick up the RAM void your warranty. But much of life is a gamble anyway and the m100 is robust enough to withstand a little tinkering.
When I started forgetting things I absolutely HAD to remember a few years ago I worried that I had started on that great downhill slide from which nobody makes the trek back up the hill. But now, thanks to a peanut butter sandwich sized Palm m100 (and a few selected pharmaceuticals), I’m organized and efficient with all my marbles intact.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 149.00
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Epinions.com ID:
scientist232
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Member: David
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Reviews written: 59
Trusted by: 16 members
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