Cons: Few products available, new cradle, EXPENSIVE, some programs incompatible with Palm 4.0 OS, smaller screen.
The Bottom Line: The M505 isn't revolutionary. If you're looking for Nirvana in a PDA case, look elsewhere. If you're brand loyal and have $449 to spend, the M505 will tickle you pink.
***WARNING: I AM A HAPPY PALM USER (read: Biased), and this is a long opinion. If you're looking for an opinion that trashes Palm, please look elsewhere.***
INTRODUCTION
I have been privileged to read many *scathing* reviews here on Epinions.com about the Palm M505, and most of these opinions have been written by people whom I deeply respect. However, like all humans who possess a posterior, I too have an opinion.
I am not here to provide you with technical specifications, measurements or extensive hardware analysis. That's already been done by people smarter than I. What I will do is tell you how the M505 impacts an average Palm user, like myself, who just so happens to *like* Palm.
The M505 does not do dishes. The M505 does not do windows. The M505 doesn't even mow your lawn. But what the M505 has done is provide the next stable Palm platform for those people who prefer the Palm brand PDA over all others. And judging from its worldwide sales, Palm has attracted a loyal following.
WHAT'S UP WITH THAT SCREEN, DUDE?
Hey, I like it, okay? So *step off*. I bought a Palm IIIe in 1999, and I loved it. I upgraded to a Palm IIIxe in February of 2001, and I loved it even more. My Palm IIIxe suffered a broken screen three weeks ago, and so -- thanks to an aftermarket protection plan -- I was able to upgrade to the M505. I really wanted to replace my IIIxe with another IIIxe, but Palm, in its infinite wisdom, DISCONTINUED it. Jeers **boo – hiss** to Palm for discontinuing the IIIxe!!!
A-hem. Excuse me. Back to the story, now. So, here you have Chipper, staring at a green-hued screen for a few years, and then along comes color. If I loved the Palm before, I certainly ain't gonna stop lovin' it now. Don't get me wrong, the screen could use some fine-tuning: the color without the sidelights is dark, especially in a room that is dimly lit. There is absolutely no contrast adjustment control, so you're stuck with the picture you get. However, the screen is a reflective thin-film transistor (TFT), which means the brighter the ambient room lighting, the better the picture. If you're in bright light, perhaps outdoors, the screen is at its best. When compared to the Palm IIIxe's monochrome display, the difference is amazing. A little color goes a long way for the loyal Palm user. Sure, there are brighter screens out there. One Epinions.com member stated that even the Palm IIIc has a better color screen. That’s all well and good; most people will vote with their dollars, and buy the product they like best. However, you should understand that the Palm M505 does manage to go a long time without recharging, which is probably attributable to the low-powered screen.
PALM OPERATING SYSTEM 4.0
There is a reason many other PDAs utilize the Palm operating system. The Palm OS seems more stable than my Windows ’98 desktop computer, and for the amount of time I spend using it, that’s saying a lot. Palm OS 4.0 follows in that stable tradition. The features I like most are the new Security options, the support for silent alarms, the Task Manager feature, the Clock feature, and the daily alarm feature.
Security: Perhaps the most important feature is the ability to choose when and how your Palm will lock. OS 4.0 gives you four choices: Never; On Power Off; At A Preset Time; and After A Preset Delay. If you choose At A Preset Time, you designate at what time during the day or night your Palm locks. If you choose After A Preset Delay, the Palm will lock after a user-defined period of inactivity in hours or minutes. While this system can probably be defeated by an expert Palm thief, the ability to lock the device is certainly key to the owner’s comfort.
New to OS 4.0 is the ability to access your security preferences from the Date Book menu list. The previous Palm OS only allowed you to change security preferences from the Security program itself, which meant getting out of whatever record you were looking at and then going to the Main Menu to access the Security program. Now, anytime you’re in the Date Book or Phone Book main lookup screen you can tap the top Address or Date, choose Options, and tap Security. Or, if you’re Graffiti savvy, you can use slash H (Command: H). This way, you can Show, Hide or Mask your private records much more quickly.
Silent Alarms: M505 now ships with a vibrating alarm and a blinking alarm, in addition to the regular audible alarms. These are useful when your Palm is tucked away in a shirt pocket, or when you don’t want to disturb those around you. I’ve been embarrassed in class many times by an alarm that was set just a wee bit too early. The utilitarian benefit of silent alarms speaks for itself.
Task Manager: This is a great program that needs a bit more thought. It works like this: When your untimed alarm is due to sound, Task Manager pops up and gives you a list of alarms for the day. You may either select Done, in which case the alarms remain active; Snooze, in which case the Task Manager remains active, or Clear All, which clears all your alarm indicators for the day. The problem: The Task Manager only pops up when it wants to. Even after reading the instructions manual, I could not figure out how to make Task Manager pop up when I wanted it to. When an audible alarm sounds, Task Manager does not pop up; you get the regular alarm menu.
Interestingly enough, Palm software designers decided to do away with the audible alerts for untimed events. Instead of hearing an untimed event alarm, you will see a flashing asterisk in the upper left corner of the Palm screen when the Palm is turned on. If you tap the asterisk, Task Manager appears, allowing you to choose Done, Snooze or Clear All. I really like this feature, but I would rather be able to choose whether or not my untimed events have an audible alert.
Clock: This is a welcome addition to the Palm OS. It is simple, with only a few user-configurable parameters. You may set the date and time, which will adjust your system clock and date settings. You may also set an alarm for that day (7:30 am to 11:55 pm). The real beauty of the Clock is its simplicity and its placement: You can view your Clock from any program by tapping the upper left corner of the silkscreen, or by tapping the date from within the Date Book program.
Daily Alarm: This is a simple tool, as well. If you like getting up at a certain time in the morning, or just want a simple reminder during the day, the Alarm can be quickly accessed from any program by tapping the Clock icon on the silkscreen. There are two buttons on the Clock interface: OK and Settings. To set the Alarm, you tap Settings.
EXPANSION CAPABILITIES: THE LITTLE SLOT THAT COULD
When I bought my M505, I thought the data card would be included. It wasn’t. I was very angry. All I got in that expansion slot was a little plastic placeholder. I had to pay $49.95 extra for a 16 megabyte Secure Data (SD) card. I think that was a very foolish thing for Palm to do.
That being said, this is perhaps the best and paradoxically the worst part of owning an M505. Although the Palm is now a platform for the latest technology, there is pitiful little technology to choose from at this point in time. If you’re going for memory expansion, be sure to choose Secure Data (SD) cards over Multi Media Cards (MMC). Why? Because I have read that SD is a faster card that results in less lag time on your PDA (the PLEASE WAIT screen). The 16 megabyte SD card tucked into my expansion slot works extremely well. Reading it isn’t instantaneous *PEASE WAIT* but it doesn’t take much longer than *PLEASE WAIT* it took for you to read that.
The SD card does pose one problem: Not all programs are compatible with it. Sure, you can load almost any program onto the card from the Palm. But some programs won’t read data files from the card. Noah Lite 0.65, Documents To Go 3.005, and AvantGo 3.3 will only work on the card if you leave the database on the Palm. With Noah Lite, the database is 2 megabytes while the program itself is only 13 kilobytes. So do the math: You can’t save nearly as much space as you’d like to by using the card at this point in time. Another caveat: not all databases can be removed from the card without reformatting it. The Noah database, all 2 MB of it, refuses my attempts to erase it.
THE CRADLE: SOMEONE SHOULD DIE FOR THIS INSULT
The cradle looks nice. It functions as a docking port and a recharging station. The cradle has a nice, semi-heavy weight, and stands on unobtrusive little rubber feet. It has little grooves which guide the Palm into place as you lock it down. *LOCK* being the operative word, here. The Palm seats *firmly* in the cradle, and there is little chance that you will casually dislodge it. However, the locking device requires that you tilt the Palm forward and *RRRIIIIIIIPPPP* it out to remove it. I know that if anything breaks on my M505, that cradle will be the cause.
MISCELLANEA
Internal Battery: Mine recharged quickly and lasts pretty long. Sometimes I go to the movies or the park and write in the dark, using the M505’s sidelights. This is a great experience visually, and it’s the only thing in my experience which drains the batteries quickly. After about an hour of writing with the lights on, the battery is at 80% capacity. If you’re far from home this may not be good; but for my uses it’s more than adequate.
Leather Cover: This cover, which is included with the M505 and slides into the smaller left stalk, is pretty neat. It gives the M505 a professional, understated appearance. However, I would much prefer to encase the expensive device in a shroud of aluminum. Unfortunately, the cases which are designed to fit into the stylus stalk of the Palm V and Palm Vx do NOT fit the M505. The store clerks don’t always know this, though: They sold me a Palm V case which I had to return.
CONCLUSION
I bought the M505 because my Palm IIIxe was broken, and when I went to buy another one it was DISCONTINUED. Through the store’s warranty augmentation program, I was able to trade in my broken IIIxe for refund credit on another Palm. I chose the M505 because it was the next logical step in Palm evolution, and because I didn’t want to own yet another discontinued product.
After owning the M505 for three weeks, I must tell you that I *LOVE* it. Unabashedly. However, I would never have purchased it outright, because it is prohibitively expensive.
If you can comfortably afford the Palm M505, and you appreciate the Palm brand, get an M505 for yourself. But please try it before you buy it – the M505 is an acquired taste, and not for everyone. If you’ve got the money, M505’s your honey.
Built-in 8 MB memory stores thousands of contacts, appointments, to-do items, and notes Displays over 65,000 colors--view photos, video clips, and mor...More at Amazon Marketplace
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