The Neo is a good bargain PDA!
Written: Oct 20 '01 (Updated Oct 20 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Most accessories and add-ons, largest monochrome screen available, PalmOS upgrades, excellent expandability.
Cons: SLIMY AND SMUDGY! No jog dial, Flash ROM, or rechargable battery. Relatively large form.
The Bottom Line: This is a very good low-end Palm PDA, but it has some that made me send it back.
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| jeremyf's Full Review: Handspring Visor Neo Handheld |
Bargain PDA's have the problem that other bargain electronics have: They lack high-end features and they become obsolete faster than more expensive models.
The Handspring Neo is a good way to work around some of these problems. At $200, it's not bargain-basement cheap, but it won't break the bank. I bought it as soon as it became available, but I returned it after about 30 days. I'll get to that later.
If you're looking for a cheap PDA, you have a lot of choices (I wrote another Epinion specifically addressing these issues, so I won't address them here). The Neo has many features that are unique.
SCREEN:
Although it's subjective, many say that the Handspring Neo/Pro/Edge screen is the best monochrome screen available for PDA's. Handspring has the largest screens of any PalmOS devices, which is nice. It's definitely noticeable that the Neo has a bigger screen than comparable Sony or Palm models.
The Neo screen, like almost all monochrome devices, has 160x160 resolution. This means that pictures and graphics come out blocky sometimes, but it's generally ok, especially for text. The only problem with text is that you can't have very small fonts (and have them look nice).
The Neo, like all Handspring and Palm monochrome units, has a "reverse backlight." That means when you turn the backlight on, the text becomes "lighted" and the background is dark. This means that text is very readable when lights are off, but in "half light" or low light, the screen doesn't look good and isn't very readable. It's a minor problem unless you use your PDA a lot in medium/low light.
FORM:
The Neo uses Handspring's basic design that it has used with all models (except the Prism and Edge) for 2 years. It's somewhat "blocky" and large, but you can still fit it easily in your pocket. I think it looks nice, but it's not too "sexy" or "sleek." You need hi-res color pictures to have a really sexy PDA, anyway. :( The Neo and all Handspring PDA's, in my opinion, are a perfect size to fit in your hand.
The buttons on the Neo are larger, easy to press, and "click" down when you press them. It makes a slight sound, and it can be kind of annoying if you play games or scroll with them a lot, but they're very nice buttons if you don't use them a ton.
Ok, now here's my main problem with the Neo: the casing! The entire PDA is made of clear, translucent material in either blue, red, or smoke. I bought a smoke Neo. THESE NEOS LOOK A LOT NICER ON HANDSPRING.COM THAN IN REAL LIFE! There are small "mold lines" by the buttons and it ends up looking like somewhat cheap plastic. It also has a greasy, slimy feel when you handle the PDA. This does not go away! It feels YUCKY when you hold it in your hand. The entire casing also holds fingerprints and smudges like glue. I couldn't even get them off before I sent my PDA back! Handspring's going to recondition my Neo and a year from now someone's going to get a "new" reconditioned Neo with my fingerprints. :(
The Neo also comes with a "snap case" that matches the casing. This casing is great for protecting your PDA, and you can take it off to attach to the back. You can't hotsync or charge in the cradle while using the Neo, however, and it's kind of a hassle to take it off and attach it to the back when using it. (It also has the same greasy/smudgy problems as the main casing.)
ACCESSORIES:
This is where Handspring really shines. The Neo, because it uses the same form as the Deluxe, Pro, Solo, etc. has more accessories than any other PDA available. Because Palm has different "forms" for each product line (eg, the Vx, III, m1xx, m5xx), Handspring has even more accessories than Palm models.
You can buy styluses, keyboards, cases, and anything else you can imagine for the Neo. Many are third party, but Handspring itself also makes many accessories, including many nice looking cases. I bought a case here and it looked and worked very nice, but was rather bulky.
The Handspring's main feature (or "gimmick") is the Springboard slot. Although the future of the Springboard is questionable, there are almost a hundred Springboards available with almost anything you can think of. They used to be very expensive, but prices are going sharply down lately. Check ebay or other stores!
The Springboard is a slot in the back that is a lot like a Gameboy cartridge slot. There's a cover on top that is nice when you're not using a Springboard. Most Springboards fit "inside" the springboard but some larger ones stick out.
Here are some example Springboards you can find around:
- "MemPlug" CompactFlash and SmartMedia slots, that let you stick in extra memory (it comes with VFS so you can run files right off the cards). Memory Stick and SecureDigital Memplugs are supposedly coming soon.
Price: ~$40 each.
- "SoundsGood" MP3 Player, which plays MP3's stored on its 64mb memory. It sounds very nice. The company (Good.com) no longer makes them, but you can still find them on Ebay and PalmGear.com, which now does their official support. It's a bargain! Sony sells an MP3 player for its CLIE that costs $130, and doesn't come with ANY memory (64mb costs about $60 extra for the CLIE).
Price: ~$100
- VisorPhone. This is a very innovative product that turns your Neo into a GSM phone. I've never used it, but it's gotten rave reviews. You can talk on the phone using the built-in Neo microphone, and you can surf the wireless web. Works with Cingular and Voicestream, although I recommend Voicestream since Cingular (my provider) charges $0.15/minute to use data! The best part is the price of the phone!
Price: FREE with 1 year Cingular/Voicestream contract, ~$150 without.
There are many other Springboards, including a digital camera, GPS devices, modems, wireless ethernet, wireless modems, better speakers, and even a personal massager! Check out Handspring.com or Palmgear.com for more Springboards.
OPERATING SYSTEM:
The Neo uses PalmOS 3.5.2H. This is NOT BAD. It has a lower number than the new version 4.1, but this means practically NOTHING besides the number. Handspring's 3.5.2H is more ADVANCED in many ways than PalmOS version 4.1. Handspring wrote many/most of the major upgrades in PalmOS 4.0/4.1, and they are included in version 3.5.2H.
These upgrades include "fast lookup" for the address book (which is especially nice if you opt for a VisorPhone), a very much improved calculator (which is VERY VERY nice if you use a calculator at all; PalmOS's basic calculator is worthless), Datebook+, which is also a very nice Datebook upgrade, etc.
The Handspring has no Flash ROM, which means you can't upgrade the OS. I don't think this is a big deal, since OS upgrades mainly deal with new hardware and are useless for old hardware. For example, if you bought a year old Visor Platinum, if you upgraded to PalmOS 4.1, you wouldn't notice any difference, besides maybe a VERY slight speed increase.
The one "real world" use of Flash ROM is using a program like JackFlash that lets you store files in flash ROM. It's generally less than one MB though. Small con, but in my opinion very small.
THINGS THAT ARE MISSING:
- Although the Neo has a built-in microphone, you can't store voice notes on it without buying a ~$50 Springboard recorder. Handspring (with the Springboard) and HandEra (built-in) are the only Palm devices in the USA that let you make voice recordings, to my knowledge.
- No jog dial. Most new devices (HandEra, Sony, and Handspring's upcoming Treo Palm-phones) come with jog dials. They're useful, but in my opinion don't make or break a product.
- The Neo uses 2 AAA batteries. They last a somewhat long time, but the cheaper Sony CLIE-320 has rechargable batteries (although that device doesn't even come with a cradle). AAA batteries are nice, however, if you travel a lot and can't use a charger (for example, on very long plane flights or on vacation).
- 8mb RAM. All products in the Neo's range have 8mb of RAM, and the Neo has more expansion abilities than ANY other Palm product (with the possible exception of the ~$300 HandEra, which has two expansion slots), with its Springboard slot, companies are tending towards 16mb in the future now that Handspring broke the 16mb barrier with the Pro.
CONCLUSION:
I recommend the Neo for a low-end monochrome PDA, but it's not perfect. Make sure you check out the comparably priced Palm m105/m125 and Sony CLIE 320 before buying. I think the Neo is the best of these, but you may even want to dish out a little more money for a Handspring Visor Pro or color device!
I returned my Neo because of the problems (mostly the form) and bought the very high-end Sony Clie 760. I kind of miss the Neo's large screen and availability of many accessories, but I definitely like the Clie's color screen, hi-res, jog dial, and nice form. :)
If you buy the Neo, check out Handspring.com; they often have promotions where you get cases or accessories free if you buy it there, plus they have free shipping. Use Ebates.com to get 5% back!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199
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jeremyf
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Location: West coast
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