A Bandwagon? Save Me A Seat!
Written: Oct 12 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Useful, Portable, Expandable, Replaceable, Module-able
Cons: Breakable, Crash-able
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| Sneil_IV's Full Review: Handspring Visor Deluxe Handheld |
I’ve always been one for a trend. Now, I don’t consider myself a follower by any means; however, if some fad comes along that I think is neat-o, I’m all over it. Slap bracelets? Had thirty. Jams? Best pants ever. New Kids on the Block? I was Hangin’ Tough.
So these days, in my later teenage years (I’m almost nineteen now!), why should things be any different? Of course, some things must change. Now, instead of horrible, horrible girly music, I like DVDs. Instead of blatantly ugly elastic pants, I’m into Tony Hawk: Pro Skater. And finally, instead of potentially-fatal wrist adornments, I like. . . PDAs.
C’mon, Try A PDA. It’s Cool. Everyone’s Using Them.
Now, I’ve been exposed to second-hand PDAing for awhile now. Good ol’ popz has one- an old-school one, at that. No “III” or “x” for his Palm. Oh no, it’s the plain old “Palm Pilot”, and what a workhorse it is. It was, and is, too bland for my tastes, however.
Yes, my friends, I needed more. And I thought I had found it in the Palm IIIxe. It had high memory, was new, and seemed . . . nice? In retrospect, I don’t know what I liked about it, but I wanted a PDA, so I rushed and ordered it.
Fate
Fate, it appears, was on my side. The IIIxe was backordered for- get this- a month.
So, during this “hell month”, I had plenty of time to do other things. Like play Tony Hawk. And research PDAs. And research I did, looking in magazines and websites alike. At the end of my studies, I had reached a conclusion: my IIIxe comparatively blew. I wanted a Visor.
A cancellation and an order later, I had an Amazon tracking number and the knowledge that a clear- colored Visor Deluxe, replete with cradle, was on its way. Ahh. . .
Why a Visor, you ask?
It was the best damn decision of my life. I love my Visor, and for many reasons that weren’t available on the Palm. The springboard was the main selling point. The IIIxe and Visor Deluxe are basically the same; the Palm has flash memory vs. the Visor’s springboard. Flash may be useful for upgrading OS’, but I love the springboard slot. I plan on purchasing the MiniJam Mp3 player and the Cell Phone module when money allows; fear not, an Epinion on them is inevitable. The color is cute, too. Clear. Aww.
The Hell Does A Teenager Need a PDA For?
I was asked this question many a time in the early stages of my purchase. And I couldn’t answer it. I’d BS things about the address book and keeping organized, but I hadn’t a damn clue why I spent $250 on this clear ‘thing’.
Now, however, I’m whistling a different tune.
What’s The Tune?
I use it for everything, and not just pocket chess. I purchased the Targus collapsible keyboard, which has proven itself indispensable. I don’t even take a notebook to class; instead, I take my Visor and the keyboard. It has all of my notes for all of my classes neatly typed and filed, ready for easy access. I can smell the jealousy of surrounding classmates. My BS reasons turned out to be valid, too- the address book is always quite handy, and the to do list keep me in line. In addition, the games are saviors. I wouldn’t make it through a majority of my chem classes were it not for pocket chess. Bio would be fatal were it not for “Palm SimCity”. Insanity would result were it not for pocket Wheel of Fortune in my calculus class.
That’s Cool, Dude
Oh, there’s more. Handspring itself has proven to be a good company. A bro of mine- Nick, if you must know- bought a Visor after seeing the usefulness of mine. We’re Visor-bros, and pathetic in that way. Anyway, he dropped his blue plastic Visor one day, and shattered the screen. He called Handspring, and they talked him through hot syncing one more time and replacing the unit. He paid them $80, and the next day a brand new Visor was here. That’s right, Handspring over-nighted it. Granted, $80 was expensive, but the screen is an integral part. Plus, they over-nighted the dog. One hot-sync later, ol’ Nick was right back where he started. I was impressed with Handspring.
Woah There, Chachi. Why Only Four Stars?
Now, maybe it’s just me. This has never happened to Nick. It’s happened to me five times, including once about an hour ago. Fatal crashes. The kind you need to hard reset, and erase allllllllllllllll your data. The scourge of the PDA. Argh.
I don’t know why they happen to just me. Maybe I install a bunch of garbage. Personally, I like having “Pocket Caribbean Stud”. Whatever the reason, my Visor keeps freezing up, getting an error message, and requiring a hard reset. I lose everything on it. On those occasions that it resets when I haven’t hot-synced in awhile, I’m really screwed. I lost three classes’ worth of Philosophy notes today. Argh.
In all fairness, I’d give Visors a 4.5. . . hell, a 4.75 stars if I could. But I don’t want to give a full five, because those errors really screw me over. We’ll have to see what the future holds. If nothing happens in the next few months, I’ll go back and change my rating. I can be a nice guy like that. I forget easily.
This Is Getting Real Long
All in all, I’m quite happy with my comfortable seat on this bandwagon. The PDA has turned out to be useful and chic, and I can almost consider myself one of those “couldn’t live without it” people. But I could.
So I’ll chill here on the ol’ PDA wagon, having a good time while it lasts. I’m sure something better will come along, integrating pages, cell phones, computers, date books, sinks, walkmen, and who knows what else into one seamless unit. I’m curious to see what’s next, actually. Things are changing so quickly, and I can’t wait to see what bandwagon I hop on next.
Hell, maybe slap bracelets will make a comeback. Good thing I kept my collection. . .
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 250
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Epinions.com ID:
Sneil_IV
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Member: Neil Janowitz
Location: Rochester, NY
Reviews written: 93
Trusted by: 192 members
About Me:
Holy halibut, weekly humor columns at www.neiljanowitz.com . Join the mailing list, son.
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