Defective ASIC Design
Written: Apr 25 '03 (Updated Apr 25 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Holds more data than a bushel of index cards.
Cons: Unreliable. Calendar hangs.
The Bottom Line: Don't rely on it -- or any other product from Palm or Handspring. Pencil and paper still work fine.
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| maniac42's Full Review: Palm IIIx Handheld |
After swapping units under warranty several times, I gave up and resigned myself to putting up with a product with a defective design.
The calendar fails to roll over at midnight under certain conditions, and may do so for many days in succession. As such, the Palm IIIx fails in one of its primary roles -- as a personal assistant whose function it is to remind me of important appointments. Palm tech support personnel insisted there was nothing wrong with the product design. All one needed to do is push the reset switch and reload the unit from the backup files on the desktop computer. I did that more times than I wish to count, to no avail. The problem appears to be a fundamental flaw in the real time clock block in the Palm III's ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). It's probably something as stupid as a missing pull-up on a gate, a design error that most junior engineers learn to avoid after just a few months on the job. It smacks of poor product design and lack of adequate testing prior to manufacturing.
The problem manifests itself mainly with fresh batteries. Once the batteries have run down to about 90%, or so, it functions alright until it is time to put in new batteries. The fact that the calendar doesn't work reliably under all normal operating and environmental conditions makes me distrust the unit. What really irked me was that Palm lied to me when I asked if this was a common problem on this model. I subsequently contacted other Palm IIIx owners who had experienced exactly the same symptoms.
The folks who designed the original Palm Pilot moved on to found Handspring. I wouldn't trust products from either company.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 300
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Epinions.com ID:
maniac42
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Location: near San Jose, California, USA
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Professional electrical engineer; amateur photographer.
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