drdavec1's Full Review: Handspring Visor Edge Handheld
The Handspring Visor is now 1 year old. As we celebrate the 1 year anniversary, it is time to reassess the Visor. For those new to PDAs, the Visor is Handspring's first entry into the PDA world... a 2 MB handheld which costs $179 and runs Palm OS 3.1h. In this review, I'll share with you all why the Visor is a bad choice... Don't get me wrong it isn't a horrible PDA.... However, if I were thinking of buying a Visor I would instead either spring the extra $70 for a Visor Deluxe or save some money and get a palm M100.
A Few Words on Visor's Operating System
The operating system of the Visor is a strength for the most part... Palm is up to operating system 3.5 The Visor comes with operating system 3.1h. Confused yet? To explain further... the Visor took the operating system 3.1 and added a few custom programs to it. All Palms come with a datebook, addressbook, to do list, memo pad, calculator, email conduit, and expense program. (Before you get your hopes up the email and expense are horrible.) On top of these programs, Visor did a few good things with their OS: they "tweaked" it to make the Visor run faster than a conventional Palm. In addition, they added some good programs. The Visor sports a great calculator (called Calculator or sold commercially as Parens) which can do advanced mathematical functions, unit conversion and more. In addition, Visor comes with an enhanced Datebook (Datebook+) which essentially takes the Palm datebook and adds some new features. The only downside to the Palm Datebook is that it is sold as Datebook3 commercially... and now the MUCH BETTER Datebk4 is out. Datebk4 is the Datebook I use and frankly I recommend to everybody. The Visor also has a program called CityTime which gives a world clock...when I had my Visor I never used it.
So...sounds as if the Visor' operating system is great huh? Well three points to consider- 1)You can get all of the enhanced Visor features on the Visor Deluxe. The Visor Deluxe costs only $70 and gives you 4 times the memory.
2)Palm is now up to OS 3.5. There are some nice advances in OS 3.5 which are not part of Visor's OS. Although, let me be the first (or 100th) to say that the OS on the Visor is a strength.
3)The Visor's main rival the Palm M100 sports some nice tweeks of its own. The M100 costs $30 less and has a nice doodlepad to make "post-it notes" and a clock which are not included on the Palm.
Normally in my reviews I break down the pros and cons. However, there are only 2 pros to the Visor as I see it… the operating system AND the springboard slot In this review, I will compare the Visor to several competing models and tell you why they are similar. Then I’ll highlight some more cons.
Visor versus Visor Deluxe
•In my mind, nobody should ever choose the Visor over the Visor Deluxe. Here’s why: For $70 more, you can get the Visor Deluxe over the Visor . (The Visor costs $179 and the Visor Deluxe costs $249) The Visor Deluxe sports 8 MB of memory and the Visor has only 2 MB. Many Palm programs are now over 100 KB… one very popular one on Epinions called Avantgo is about 500 KB. Avantgo is essentially a portable newspaper/magazine on the Palm… you can download the news daily and have it on your PDA. PROBLEM! If you have 2 MB when its filled up its filled up. Why not spend the extra money and get a Visor Deluxe. I can imagine nothing worse than filling up 2 MB and being out of room when for a mere 70 bucks you could have 4 times the memory. Trust me, 8 MB is a wise investment. Specifically in medicine, do not think of getting any use out of a 2 MB PDA… good medical programs range from 900-2500 KB.
•Plus, the Visor Deluxe comes in many fun colors such as blue, green, clear, etc… the Visor comes only in Graphite. Now Graphite looks good, but one of the big selling points of the Visor Deluxe is that is colorful.
•If you are buying a present for somebody do them a favor, don’t buy them a Visor… even if they have never used a PDA or Palm… there are better choices.
Visor versus Palm M100
•If you are on a budget, you have a few choices. The Palm M100 is $149 and the Visor is $179. (Or you could jump up to the 8 MB devices.. the Palm IIIxe is $220 and the Visor Deluxe is $250) The M100 is a solid beast. If I were choosing between these 2 models, I’d buy a Palm M100 The M100 has its own enhanced operating system, a version of Palm OS 3.5. For $30 less you get the same amount of memory in the M100. Plus, the M100 has something the Visor lacks: pizzazz. You can get colored face plates for the M100 and they look sharp. Again, the Visor only comes in Graphite and the M100 with the faceplate is in a multitude of colors. These two PDAs tun all of the same programs… Why not save $30 and get the M100? I would.
Inherent CONS of the Visor
•Cheaply made- something that has plagued Handspring’s first PDAs (Visor included) was a cheap construction. The screen on the Visor and Visor Deluxe is prone to scratching. You have to cover the screen with a screen protector or beware of the damage your stylus will inflict. Plus, the actual plastic on the Visor is prone to cracking when dropped. Now I would not recommend dropping any PDA, but more than most the Handspring models suffer from this problem. I know some people reading this will say “Mine hasn’t had this problem” True most will not have a cracked PDA or maybe a scratched screen. However, you are MORE likely to encounter such a problem as a Visor owner.
•No serial cradle This is a problem for some. I have a retarded computer. I only support a serial cradle. Welll the Visor comes ONLY with USB. If you want a serial cradle, be prepared to fork over another $30..bring your total spent to $209. Just think, for another 10 bucks you could have gotten a Palm IIIxe.
•Stupid Case- I don’t know what the Visor people were thinking when they made their case. The Visor has a stupid plastic cover. To use the Visor you have to manually remove this cover and hope you don't lose it. By comparison , the M100 and Palm IIIxe have a snazzy flip case that opens easily.
No use for the microphone- Visor tells you it has included a microphone in the Visor. What they don’t tell you is that it has no use unless you buy an expensive add-on (frankly I don’t even know if a springboard is out that uses this)
A Few Words on the Springboard Slot
The Springboard Slot is Visor’s nifty idea where you can attach add-ons to the Visor- you can make it a MP3 player, phone, GPS device, or more. Problem is these add-ons are generally not available and those that are are very expensive. If you buy a Visor because it is cheap, trust me you won’t want to buy a springboard attachment. There is only one springboard idea which has any value- an 8 MB Flash card which brings your total memory to 10 MB. 2 problems however…. A)if you figured the price of this card into your initial purchase you could have gotten a better PDA b)you can’t run all programs off the Flash Card. The Flash card module is $80 or so…
Verdict
The Verdict is… don’t buy this. Buy a M100 if you are on a budget. Buy a Visor Deluxe or IIIxe if you can find an extra $50-70 bucks to spend. I would personally go for the 8 MB device (aka Palm IIIxe or Visor Deluxe). Trust me… one day you will want that extra memory.
HandSpring Visor Edge Handheld PDA (1015NA) 8MB, Graffiti, Slip it in your pocket. Put it in your purse. You'll barely even notice that you're..More at PDAPreferred
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