Pros: Great color. Great battery life. Expandable. New datebook and calculator.
Cons: Backlit screen won't show up in sunlight. Like any backlit device, fairly large size.
The Bottom Line: Highly recommended! Beautiful color. Backlit screen easy on the eyes, no more squinting. Conversion calculator and updated Datebook. Avoid if you want pocket size or need to use in sunlight.
randypar's Full Review: Handspring Visor Prism Handheld
I used to have a Palm V. It was very small and I grew to love the Palm OS. I decided to go all out and buy the best new Palm OS handheld available and that is the Handspring Prism.
First the cons: large and somewhat heavy. You can't really put this in a pocket. I don't recommend putting any Palm or Handspring in a pocket though. Its too easy to sit on it and break it or at the very least its uncomfortable. (I wear handhelds on my belt so this isn't a big deal for me).
Can't see the screen in sunlight. Its the opposite of the old Palms, you want less light not more. This works very well for indoors or dim or dark rooms. If you find yourself outdoors, you want to put the brightness to max and find a shadow. Indoors your eyes will thank you for that very bright color screen!
Pros:
16 bit color! Thousands of more colors can be displayed than on the 256 color Palm. You can make a little slide show using your own photos and amaze people at work. Best to crop the photo and use closeups like faces.
Great rechargable battery. Seems to last at least 6 hours of continuous use. The battery is replaceable! You can use a small screwdriver to open the back and unhook the rechargable battery. This is handy since even rechargables neet to be replaced after a year or two. Palm V? Have to throw it away I guess.
Did I say screwdriver? Yes its included inside the stylus. If you unscrew the back of the stylus, you will find a mini-phillips head screwdriver made of metal. If you unscrew the tip of the stylus you will find a small poker for resetting the unit if you get a crash. The stylus is well made and comfortable. The shaft is metal.
8 megs of ram. Plenty for most people.
Has the Handspring module slot for adding stuff like modems, more ram, camera, etc.
Improved datebook. Improved calculator. I really love the calculator, it has conversions for everything! meters to miles, F to C, volume, etc. Put in 1 then tap L for liter, then tap gal button, number changes to .2641 instantly. Small drop down menu makes the buttons change:Math, trig, finance, logic, stats, weight/temp, length, area, and volume.
USB hotsynching is fast. Doesn't come with serial port cradle. There can be some issues with Windoze, but I got mine to run fairly quickly. I have to use the button on the Prism screen to hotsynch, the cradle button doesn't work well with Windoze reporting the port in use. Stupid Windoze. One more tap and it's hotsynching so no big deal.
Overall a very nice machine. Lots of color software out there now. My spreadsheet program, Minicalc, supports full color on this. I have spreadsheets with pale green and yellow seperating areas. I love it! By the way, I recommend Minicalc if you are looking for a good spreadsheet program.
Tip: It comes with a nice padded slip case but no belt loop! Whaaaaa. So I took my old case which is too small for the Prism, cut out the belt clip and used epoxy (JB weld is excellent) to glue it on my prism case. Works fine. Belt clips can work with pockets too, if you really want to show off your new computer :D
Tip: Move your cradle to the very edge of the desk and glue it with white glue. This wont harm the desk much and makes it easy to use your Prism without having the cradle slide back. The cradle is very lightweight.
Tip: don't overclock the Prism. Its fast and doesn't really need it. Overclocking is risky.
Note: Some old programs won't run well on the Prism. Especially paint or draw-on-screen type programs. Something to do with the color screen. Test all your old stuff, most should work well. Check for updates for your old programs. Many have newer versions which support color.
Tip: Buy it new on Ebay. You will save tax and won't have to pay retail.
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