The Palm llle was one of the first real PDA’s (personal data assistant) on the market. It was the best of both worlds. The Palm llle wasn’t as big and bulky as a laptop, yet it was a lot more functional than the electronic organizer. The Palm llle is extremely upgradeable, but upgrading costs quite a bit of money.

Software Package

I really liked the software package. It is small, sleek, and it works well. The Palm llle comes with an address book, calendar, to do list, memo pad, a calculator, and a find utility. There are also a few games included on the system. I like the fact that you can group everything by category. Even the programs can be grouped into categories like games, main, system, and etc. The ability to quickly group and access data is probably the main reason I like the Palm series so much.

Input

There are three major ways to enter data on the Palm llle: You can use the onscreen keyboard, use the stylus, or enter the data on your computer and transfer it to the Palm. The onscreen keyboard is good only for people who haven’t learned Graffiti because it is the slowest method for entering data. The stylus is used in conjunction with a bit of software known as Graffiti. The Graffiti software recognizes certain pen strokes made by the stylus, and translates those pen strokes into letters and numbers. Personally, I think it is an extremely efficient and easy writing system. I learned the how to write letters and numbers within a matter of minutes. The software package even has a tutorial and game to help you learn how to write using the Graffiti writing system.

Durability

I’m a high school student, so my Palm llle goes through tons of abuse. For most of my peers, my Palm llle is a sort of portable video gaming center. They literally throw my Palm across the room and drop it more often than not. I think that as long as you don’t puncture the touch screen, the Palm llle will last almost forever.

Power

Under normal operating conditions, the Palm llle will run for about 3-4 weeks before it becomes necessary to replace the batteries. It runs on two AAA batteries. The AAA batteries act as both the main and reserve power supplies. When the batteries are drained, the Palm will use the residual power in the batteries to protect the data. The residual power last for about a month, which is more than enough time to find replacements. In a way I think the whole thing was a good idea because you only have to worry about one kind of battery. In another way, however, I did not like it because you can have the batteries out for about two minutes before the Palm llle loses all of the data.

Transferring Files

Synchronization is a snap! You just pop the Palm llle in its special cradle and push the HotSync button. The speed is quite impressive, when you consider that is uses the serial port on the computer. The Palm llle has the ability to synchronize with several Microsoft and Lotus programs. Unfortunately, the Palm can only access the mail section of programs like Outlook. There are software packages that will let you access other sections of programs, but these packages are not included with the Palm. One powerful feature is that the Palm can generate expense reports in Excel. Once again, you just press one button and the process takes care of itself.

Add-on Hardware

There are several pieces of hardware for the Palm llle. There is the Kodak digital camera, several different kinds of modems, a few GPS systems, a business card scanner, and a portable printer. I must admit that they are not as much fun as the MP3 module for the Handspring Visor, but you can’t deny that they are some powerful business tools. I haven’t tried any of the peripherals. I was, however, thinking about getting some memory in order to increase my measly 2mb to 4mb.

Overall Analysis

The Palm llle is a whizbang device. There are tons of free programs and games for it. If there is anything the Palm can’t do, I’m confident that there is either a peripheral or software that can do it.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 149