I have been using Palm IIIe since 1999. Back then, my godson broke my PalmPilot Personal and he gave me an excuse to buy a new organizer. Palm V was the star at that time but I was looking for something less expensive yet can do everything as my PalmPilot Personal can and more.

Whatever you call it a PDA or an organizer, the objective is to record a huge amount of information in organize fashion and retrieve it later effortlessly. In a sense, it should make things as simple as possible. Palm IIIe satisfies me even with neither fancy features like colour screen, expansion modules, FlashBIOS, that come with other newer PDAs, nor it can play MP3 songs. The same good thing is the readable screen whether it is adequate indoor lighting or under the sunlight. And, with the aid of back-lit "green-on-black" display, it is equally readable in the dark. No built-in rechargeable battery like the Palm V series do? No problem! It can be achieved by investing a little on AAA size rechargeable batteries and charger. It will definitely pay off in long run. Actually, no built-in rechargeable battery may be a blessing in certain situations where electricity power plug is not available for charger. You still have the viable option to bring extra alkaline batteries along.

As all other Palm(Pilot)s since day 1, HotSync is the most brilliant feature. HotSync is an one-touch procedure to synchronize the Palms and PC for updating data, configurations, back-up, installation of new software and even downloading web contents on the internet. All you need to do is just pressing the only button on the provided HotSync Cradle that is connected to your PC's serial port. Either you have typed in a new contact with Palm Desktop on your PC or write in down on your Palm, it will update the changes accordingly.

Many other useful applications and games for Palm are everywhere on the internet. Most of them are freeware or dirt cheap shareware. The only down side is its 2 MB of RAM, though Palm OS and many software out there for Palm can run adequately. So I cannot put a lot of "memory-eaters" into it. Let me give you an example: I use AvantGo to retrieve the local weather forecast, Wired News wireless edition and movie listings. (AvantGo is a freeware for Palm users to browse the web pages or access 1000+ brand-name channels wirelessly or via HotSync). Last year, the content provider of my favourite movie listings site has changed the look and format. It then required more memory and the 2 MB of RAM will be completely occupied.

Today, Palm IIIe is replaced by the newer m100 (In my opinion, the m100's screen gets smaller and the construction is not necessary as good as IIIe). Also, there are many other Palms to choose from. However, this tried-and-true III series organizer could be a great bargain for people who do not want the "fancy extras", yet more bangs than an old-school organizer. Though there are fewer places still selling it, you will be happy with the inexpensive price tag once you find it (Last time I went to Costco, it was less than $100). If you have no problem with used stuff or demo unit, the deal is even more attractive.



Recommended: Yes

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