Palm V Hand held PDA

• 2 MB RAM
• Easily transfer data from your hand held to your PC or Macintosh
• Rechargeable lithium-ion battery
• Stores thousands of addresses, appointments, to-do items, memos, and more
• What's in the box: Palm V hand held, Rechargeable battery (internal), DB-25 adapter.

I started out with a Palm III, switched to a handheld PC and am now back with the Palm V. For the everyday person it's more than enough. I didn't buy it to play games with I bought it to stay organized. The extreme ease of use is wonderful and syncing to your PC is a breeze. Anybody that needs more than this needs a handheld PC (Which have their own combersome problems!) I have found the OS platform with the Palm V much easier to sync with my desktop especially with WindowsNT. Too many problems connecting with WindowsCE. The Palm V has far exceeded my needs and is perfect for the everyday user looking for a palm organizer that is just that, an organizer and 24hr assistant.

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If you look at the Palm V and the Palm IIIx you will notice some major differences. First of all, the V is smaller, and looks cooler. However, the benefits end there. The V has half the RAM of the IIIx, which, as a seasoned pilot user, i know you will really want if you get into modems and telnet shells and mail and real-time web browsing. (not to mention games) I would suggest forgoing the looks for the functionality (something that is not done enough in our corporate world) and getting the IIIx. You will not regret it. However, if you have to have something shiny, by all means, this is the machine to get....

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I've had my Palm V since June 1st. To my brother, wife & parents who conspired for my birthday: THANK YOU!!!!! Within two weeks I abandoned my Franklin Planner, and regretted not having had a Palm device 15 years ago. OK, that was impossible but it has dramatically changed my life for the better, and I can't imagine ever going without it. In the last several months I have grown to be a very definite power user, and the corporate resource person for Palm-platform PDA's. Our guys have tried several others and are convinced that the Palm platform is the best and most flexible. I am very heavily into 3rd-party software evaluation (& some accessories), preparing recommendations for high-efficiency Palm device/software packages for company-staff issue. Eventually I may put together my own personal web-site, and post some evaluations and recommendations for software/accessories for Palm users.

Having said all that, here's an engineer's (my)perspective on the Palm V: Visors will be great, and Palm IIIx's are just fine, but the Palm V package size is definitely worth a lot to me. Forget the sexy appearance it's great, but the superior Form Factor rules. Yes, I would prefer that the Vx cost is about what the standard V discounts for now, but since it will ALWAYS fit in my shirt pocket (without changing my shirt wardrobe) I ALWAYS have it with me (in a place that's probably least susceptible to being damaged or lost) and that's what it's for. Though I prefer to use the slim padded 3COM case, I frequently slip the original leather flap-cover on for small shirt pockets, & thus can still carry a separate pen/pencil/stylus device. A big plus with those covers that I've never seen in a review: the soft "grabby" texture of the rubber-like spine flex keeps the Palm from sliding, even if you do toe-touches. Ta-dah... it doesn't fall out on the floor!!!! (Very big benefit since the cover isn't a padded case.)

Likes: I like being able to keep synced with both my office laptop and my home desktop (with the included MS Outlook Conduit)... autocharging in the docking cradle... a battery that's never gotten below a half-charge... nice screen... the size. I really like the unit overall a truly great device.

Any problems? Yep. I did have to get the updated e-mail patch from the Chapura site to avoid some lock-ups when synching e-mail. Also, I highly recommend TealScript (the custom-tailorable graffitti add-on) for it's ability to help you tune up your handwriting speed/recognition and it visually showed up a mysterious problem with the screen occasionally screwing up handwriting by adding a horizontal line: 3-COM quickly replaced it under warranty, and it's been fine.

Memory space? The average user probably will have no problem for a couple of years I've met people with III's that are using less than 1k... a year after they get it: they've seen & use very few aftermarket programs. However, I've got more programs in there than will fit: launcher, datebook, calc & memo replacements, travel programs, doc reader, picture viewer, several clocks, a dozen utility and security programs, over a dozen Hackmaster hacks, and a few games. Since FlashPro gave me the extra 800k memory room (awesome), I found I probably had enough that I could otherwise get by fine without deleting rarely-used fluff programs except that I use it heavily for work & software evaluation. The memory room of the Vx would be heaven the perfect device, I think. It'd be handy to carry a lot of maps, but my current standard P5 doesn't have the memory room without deleting, say, my picture viewer. (Oh, the screen? It's great! Yes folks, it IS a 16 greyscale display!) Probably I'll upgrade to the Vx & give my wife my standard V (P5) unit: she thought it was no big deal when I got it, but has fallen in love with the capabilities and wants her own Palm device. Bottom line is that if you're a minimalist, the 2k of P5 memory is fine. But if you like to carry a Gerber/Leatherman/Swiss-Army device (like I do) because a pocketknife leaves you unprepared... better get a Vx or get the 8mb upgrade on your P5.

Price? When Handspring comes out with something to compete with a Vx, the price world will probably be great. Yeh, P5's are expensive compared to some of the lesser PDA's but compare the price to a palmtop computer, and they look like a great deal... especially considering the impact on your lifestyle.

Can I mention my essential add-on programs list? Tough area, but currently I wouldn't give up these listed in order of descending requirement: UnDupe (get it!), TealScript, Travel Clock, Hackmaster, (SwitchHack, StayOffHack, PalmV hack, Invert Hack & Invert, FindHack, CatHack), DateBK3 (& dbScan), BackupBuddy, IDPalm, FlashPro, a good launcher either Commander or LaunchEm have too many great enhancements to do without. Must-have accessories: WriteRight screen covers, Throttle Stylus/pen. I regard the PalmV hack and StayOff hack as absolute essentials for Palm V users, and Invert with InvertHack give proper screen display when the backlight's on. In-depth info? O'Reilly's "Palmpilot: The Ultimate Guide" is a fantastic reference for ALL Palm owners.

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January 15, 2000 3Com's Palm PDA's are definitely the best PDA's on the market. You can read the other reviews to hear how this device will help you organize your life and how wonderful it is. As a Palm collector (I have all Palm and Pilot models), I will rather compare the Palm V to the Palm Vx. The only difference between the two is that the V has 2MB of RAM, while the Vx has 8.

I have thousands of addresses, thousands of appointments, and many more to-do items, documents, etc. in my Palm. I also have fax, e-mail, and internet software installed, among many other programs. I only use about 1.5 MB. Therefore, although I have the Vx, I don't use any of the additional memory. Technically, because of the additional memory, the Vx is faster. Nonetheless, because Palm applications are so small, this difference is truly negligible. Therefore, before you spend $100 more on the Vx, make sure you're going to use the additional memory. It's the only difference.

Now, remember: the V series is rechargable, while the III series uses AAA batteries. Therefore, travelling with a V palm means you'll have to carry around the cradle. If you'd rather use batteries, maybe the IIIx is better for you.

Good luck!

I spent about 2 months trying to decide whether an organizer could be worth this much money. I just bought my Palm V last week, and it's hard to imagine life without it now. The Palm V is simply the best purchase I've made in a long time. It's an incredibly small and sleek little machine. It fits right in your shirt pocket, even with the hard case I bought for it. It has all the standard things you'd expect from an organizer (address book, to do list, agenda, expense report). The Graffiti system (writing instead of typing) only takes a little while to get used to. The Palm Desktop software and cradle allows you to back everything up in a few seconds. No batteries are necessary, because you can recharge the Palm Vin the cradle. Hundreds of extra programs and games can be downloaded. If you're trying to decide which Palm to buy, I definitely recommend the V. The Vx is about the same, but it has more memory (which I don't think I'll need) and costs a lot more, the III series is great but not as sleek, and the VII has the built-in modem, which doesn't interest me much. Go for the Palm V. If you're trying to decide whether it's worth the money, the answer is a resounding YES!