The Short Story

I bought this with the express intent of replacing my Palm M130 which replaced my Palm Vx. I have been extremely pleased with its power, versatility, and all around value. The pricetag may drive you away, but I personally think it is worth every penny. With a little more in the way of entertainment add ons, this would be the perfect PDA!

Best points of the Palm C
1. 400Mhz processor
2. Palm OS 5
3. Wi Fi capable for 802.11b
4. Great package of software included
5. 64MB of RAM onboard
6. SD card capable
7. IR capable
8. Qwerty Keyboard

Worst points of the Palm C
1. Non-stereo compliant headphone set
2. Graffitti 2, I really do not like it, even after a year!
3. No microphone built in for those that want voice memo.

How and why I bought it

I am an engineer by trade who has been absorbed into the machine that is management. As such, I have several spreadsheets, presentations, and word documents that I like to transfer back and forth from work to home so that I can work on them. I also like to have some of my raw data on the Palm at all times so that I can call it up in the control room or the board room without being tied to a computer.

In addition, I had begun to piddle around with our digital camera and found out that instead of carrying paper copies of the photos in my wallet, I could carry around my palm with a photo program. However, the 160X160 screen on the Palm M130 made the pictures somewhat blurred, and really did not do my children justice. From a personal standpoint I wanted something with Hi Resolution in the screen.

I was using the Palm M130, as mentioned above, and the lower quality screen and lower capacity of memory made the documents and pictures difficult to see. Also, the M130 was very bulky and difficult to carry around like the Palm Vx I used to have. About that time the Palm C came out at my local Circuit City. I asked my boss to allow me to purchase this with company funds, and he agreed.

Before moving on, I want to let you know that I never even considered a Pocket PC powered computer, as I also program my own applications. With my work in engineering, I have done several programs where I can input raw data, such as physical properties of the solution feeding our crystallizers, and the program tells you how much seed crystal you need to add and at what point in the temperature curve to add it.

I could do this on a spreadsheet, but I have transferred these programs over to the Palms of my employees and co-workers and they use them as well. In this fashion the person does not need to understand the calculations, and they can simply input a few numbers and voila, they have the answer. Long story short, I like to be able to program my own applications. In case you were wondering, I used Falch.net Developer Studio and The Palm OS programming bible to get started doing this.

Main review

I bought the first Palm C in Omaha, NE. It came right off the truck into my hands, and I bought it. I took it in to work and opened the box, loaded up the included software, and plugged the Palm into my existing Hotsync pad. It is the same hotsync pad that the M130 used, but different from the Palm Vx.

(That brings up a question: When will they standardize sync pads? Or even better, when will they begin to use USB connections for syncing?)

Anyway, first blush showed me that I had made a good decision, especially considering I didn't buy it. I loaded on the bundled Documents to Go, Versa Mail, Adobe Acrobat reader, Voice Memo, Printboy, Solitaire, Kinoma and Palm Reader. I then loaded all of my previously stored sheets, documents, and presentations into Documents to go. I loaded all of my pictures into the existing Photos in the Palm Desktop 4.1, and I let the battery charge for the recommended amount of time.

Screen quality

I opened up a spreadsheet and found that it was much sharper looking and easier to use with the Hi Res 320X320 screen. I opened up a picture and couldn't believe the quality of the picture on the 320X320 screen as opposed to the 160X160. This screen is simply amazing, and one of the best I have seen in the 320X320 area!

Processor

The 400Mhz processor is exceedingly fast. I accessed one of the applications I installed on the 128MB SD card I purchased and it takes very little time, along the lines of one second to load. Contrast this to the Palm M130 that I was using where it took approximately 30 seconds of the screen being locked to open a photo from the card!

On Board Memory

The 64MB of memory built in is amazing. I currently have only used about 1/3 of this for my essential programs, and all of my pictures and songs are stored on the 128MB SD card mentioned previously. I guess that someday I will fill out more of the memory, but it is just an amazing amount! Add in an SD card of up to 512MB and you have yourself an amazing amount of memory for a handheld.

Keyboard/Grafitti 2

When I had my Palm Vx and M130, I was very proficient at writing in Grafitti. When I first bought the Palm C, I thought that I would like the new Grafitti 2 system better, as after all, it was an upgrade, right? Wrong. I really do not like it much at all. I still try to write in the original Grafitti, and I have found that it is very difficult for me to write capitals. Remember when all you had to do was run a vertical line from bottom to top to get caps? I do that now and the up arrow shows up telling me that I can now write a letter, but then I cannot write a capital letter. I end up typing the letter in.

After a little frustration with this, I started using the QWERTY keyboard. I have relatively big fingers, and I have no problems whatsoever with the keyboard. As a matter of fact, I would say that my WPM are actually higher with this keyboard than with the original grafitti, as I have very few mistakes. It has gotten to the point that I can take notes on the Palm C in a meeting without looking at the keyboard.

The screen and keyboard feel very sturdy, and when you punch a key, you can feel the key punch in to let you know that you hit it. There is a black button for capitalizing, and a blue button for alternate keys. On every letter there is an alternate function for the key, such as a number, comma, or ampersand sign. It is very intuitive. The screen is antireflective and always backlit. The Palm M130 I previously had did not look good at all in direct sunlight, and you could hardly see it. That issue does not exist with this Palm, I am happy to report!

I also like the fact that the four hard keys at the bottom can be trained to do almost anything, and it can change with each application. For instance, I have the Web key pull up the web most of the time, and the to do list pulls up my PocketQuicken 2.0. (I never use the to do list, as I have Agendus) I also have the Web key and the To Do key coded to be power and mute for my remote control function.

Stylus

The stylus is very satisfying for a previous user of the Palm Vx. When I went to the Palm M130, I was very disappointed in the low quality stylus that was sent with the unit. I obviously bought a second, aftermarket stylus. Palm did a great job with the design and feel on this one, more reminiscent of the Palm Vx. It is metal in construction with a removable top portion that has a small pointer that can be used for soft resets. This will happen if you experiment with your own applications, so this is useful. I no longer have to bend out a paperclip to perform the soft resets!

Wi-Fi capability

I absolutely love the Wi Fi capability. It is the slower of the standards (802.11b) with only 11 MB/s transfer capability, but then again my internet connection, even at broadband, only transfers 1.5 MB/s. Unless you are transferring some heavy files, What do you need 54 MB/s for?

Anyway, my work has a Linksys 2.4Ghz wireless node running 802.11G, which is backward compatible. We also have a signal booster by Linksys, and this allows me to be anywhere in the plant and access the internet and intranet through the VPN client.(I take that back; I cannot stand near the microwave level instrument that runs at 2.4GHz) I have heard people say that the webpages do not look good on their palm, but they may not be using PDA designed web pages. See http://www.cantoni.org/palm/links.html for a list of great websites to use with your Wi Fi connection.

I am buying a D-Link 802.11b compliant wireless router for my home in the next week, and I will be able to sit anywhere in the house and read my palm or my IBM R40 laptop from work. I will have to write a review on this as well in the near future!

IR capable

I would normally not talk about this, as it is typically used only for beaming material back and forth between PDA's. However, I recently was about to purchase a second sync pad for my Palm so that I could sync at home as well. I found out that my IBM R40 had IR capability, and with the IR port on my Palm I could sync using IR! How cool is that! I brought my sync pad home and just use the IR connection at work. It is slower and eats batteries a little bit, but it is worth it for me. The only downside is I cannot get the Avantgo network to sync when using the IR beam. Don't know why...

Software

This is the meat of this review for most people, I believe. You can look up some of the other specifications I have listed and what their potential use is, but this is what I use every day and may help you with your decision.

Pocket Quicken 2.0

If you use a financial management tool for your home PC. I hope it is Quicken. If it is, I would highly, highly recommend that you buy Pocket Quicken 2.0 for your palm. It is optimized for the Palm OS 5 system, and it is the best personal financial management tool I have seen. I use this as opposed to a checkbook ledger for everything. I also have it password protected and sync it often. It has a budget built in just like Quicken which I use to track spending. My only complaint would be that the budget from Quicken doesn't carry over. This is not a big problem, but it would be nice! This program cost me $24.95, and I have used the same license since my Palm Vx, with free upgrades.

Documents to Go

I use the Free version that came with the Palm. I use this for everything from technical spreadsheets to working capital budgets to recipes. Recipes? Yes. I have all of our recipes loaded and filed, so that if we are at the grocery store and decide we want the ginger roast, we have the ingredients list and time to make right there. This is a very nice program that imports excel sheets, word documents, and powerpoint presentations.

You may not have all the flexibility, though. Several of my engineering and financial spreadsheets use complex equations or formulas that are built in to Excel, and the majority of these do not load. As a result the spreadsheet locks and will not allow you to edit or modify it. That is my only complaint.

Silver Screen version 3.1

This handy launcher program allows you to have a desktop type backdrop for your icons. There are two other programs, YiShow and XLauncher, that I looked at, and this by far fit me the best. I can put my own pictures up as a backdrop, and with Silver Screen I can access pictures off of the card. With YiShow I could not load pictures for the background without the locking up and having to perform a soft reset. Not cool.

There is a ticker function that will scroll a ticker along the bottom of the screen. You can customize two separate lines, and mine is currently the To Do list and the meetings I need to be at for that day. I believe that this cost me $24.95 on Palmgear.com.

Agendus

Agendus is simply the best combination of To Do, Address, and Datebook. It is the newer version of Action Names, which I enjoyed very much until I moved to the Palm C. It is optimized for the Palm OS 5. It is very intuitive and allows you to sync with either Outlook or Palm Desktop.

Avantgo

Avantgo was by far my favorite program, as it transferred web pages to my PDA. However, now that I have the Wi Fi at work and will soon have it at home, I think I may let this go by the wayside. However, if you do not have Wi Fi and want web content on your palm, this is the way to go.

One little known fact: If you are taking a trip and need a map, you can go to Mapquest and get the map. You can then load it as a custom page into Avantgo at Avantgo.com, and then transfer it to your handheld. Then you have real time directions while on the road!

RealOne Player

If you want to hear MP3's on this Palm you will have to download software to do it, as it does not come loaded with a player. I downloaded the free RealOne Player from the Palm site and also loaded some songs onto the SD card. Aside from the fact that it takes FOREVER to load to the card via USB, the player is good. It is definitely not loud through the built in speaker, but good enough to be able to understand. The bass will distort, and it is somewhat tinny, but what do you want from a small PDA?

Well, one thing that would be nice is a stereo headset. I have not even wasted my money on the microphone/earphone combination, as I would not use it. I will continue to use my iRiver MP3 player, which is a shame as it should be set up with stereo capability. Palm has this set up for the business user, and for them it is fine. For someone with a desire for entertainment value, this does not compete with some of the other Palm products.

Summary

In short I love the Palm C. I am glad I did not wait for the price to come down, because it hasn't! I hope that this review helps you in your decision, and please rate the review accordingly. As I remember more things that I should have written or have more experiences with the Palm, I will write more!

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 499
Recommended for: Business Executives - Powerful and Professional