Handheld Reviews

I just got the case. It has a nice feel to it and is very well constructed. I'm happy with the purchase. This price is very good.

Pros

Heavy Duty Zipper.

Well made.

Great protection.

Stylish

Cons

No belt clip. I don't really miss it but it would be nice to free up my hands and stick it on my belt. (but then again, I will look less like a geek.)

Makes Palm III more bulky. Difficult to keep in pocket.

Not much room inside to store anything besides a business card and a couple of scraps of paper.

Velcor mount for Palm III not very secure.

I just got my Palmglove (and a 3-pack of the nice metal stylus)in the mail today, and I love it. It seems to be really well made (no unfinished edges or leftover sewing threads)and very sturdy protection for my Palm IIIxe. Though it provides plenty of protection by itself, the great thing about it is that it holds the unit very snugly with or without the flip top attached -- a plus if you want extra protection for the screen. Not too bulky, a pretty sporty package. Like other reviewers, I think a belt clip would complete the package.

I have had my PalmIIIe for a month, and this case has saved its life twice. The first time i left it in my tent all day while camping, and it got really wet. The case, however, has a water-resistant inside, and spared the life of my palm. The second time it fell off my kitchen counter, a fall that cracked my freinds screen. The padded case once again saved the day. It also has a nifty spot on the inside for money or whatever, and I use it as my wallet. The price is very reasonable, too (Look at the prices of some other cases) And it is by far the best looking.

P.S.--My freind with the cracked screen bought one soon after!

I've been using screen protectors from Palm (now PalmOne) and other brands for a long time. I bought a T3 and my surprise, when I got the screen protector pack was the need to cut myself the protector. Or you have a precise use of scissors or your work will look bad in your palm. I'm not happy, but right now for T3 people have no options.

Otherwise I would prefer (even paying extra bucks) a pre-cutted protectors.

The newer, brighter screens on the Tungstens and Zire 71 are also softer. They scratch easily. My Tungsten T3 was showing marks on the common areas of the screen within a few weeks. Unfortunately, I didn't get these from the very beginning. At least now it wont get any worse.

A little difficult to apply, but if you carefully apply one edge first and slowly roll it on while smoothing with the included cloth, you can get it on perfectly. It will make the screen slightly less bright and can look poorly when the palm is off, but when the palm is on they are unnoticeable. Believe me. As the owner of at least 8 different Palm models, this is an excellent investment in your $300+ Palm. Get em!

The protectors are easy to use- just follow the lines and cut to fit your Palm. It can be a little bit tricky getting all of the bubbles out.

The Palm V has been a terrific tool for keeping names, addresses, phone numbers, appointments and other information I need to keep with me. I like the way it fits into my pocket, but would like a thin protective case that's not bulky. I disagree with the comment about visibility in low light. It's not easy to view. Even in normal lighting conditions, I find myself shifting it around to find the right angle where it's visible without a lot of reflection. Still, overall, it's pretty great.

I've tried a few organizers previously, including the Visor and this is the best so far. However, even this device has its drawbacks. For starters, the screen can be hard to read, the backlighting does not help except in total darkness. The applications could do with some improvements, Visor has improved calendar and to do lists. I miss those. Visor also has faster syncing, believe me you'll appreciate it when you are syncing 8MB of data. Those are my gripes. Apart from that, this is the most practical organizer ever, I can carry it everywhere with me. The form factor is great and it does whatever I needs it to do.

I PERSONALLY THINK THAT HAVING A PALM V IS LIKE HAVING CONVENIENCE.IT VERY SMALL AND ABLE TO FIT IN YOUR POCKETS.I AM STILL WAITING TO GET ONE ,IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT I WILL BUY.THE ONLY OTHER DRAWBACK I HAVE IS THE MEMORY IS TOO SMALL 2MEG. FOR THE MONEY.PALM VX HAS MORE MEMORY BUT EXPENSIVE. I THINK I WANT TO SPEND ABOUT $200.00,HOPE IT'S NOT A LONG WAIT. EWART.CALIFONIA

the only difference betwwen this and the one they come with is that its heavier and uglyer

VERY BAD!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so glad the reviewers wrote about this stylus. I ordered it at the same time I ordered my Palm IIIxe. It's an excellent replacement for the very lightweight sytlus supplied. I join with the others in recommending it heartily.

I realized today, using the sytlus for about an hour working on the Palm, that eventually I will also want one that is the size of a regular pen. Gripping the thin stylus got quite uncomfortable after long use. But for regular use, this replacement stylus is still easier to use than the original.

Esp. for Palm users with large hands. I purchased a Palm IIIxe recently. The single fault of the IIIxe is the dinky stylus which comes from the factory. Spend the few extra $$ and get this stylus. The extra heft and weight are a must-have. Plus it still fits in the stylus-holster located on the back of the Palm. Simply toss the factory stylus in the trash and put this stylus in its place.

Erik Bryant from Fremont, CA United States:

I have the iGPS 360 and I have not been able to Get Signal to the PDA using the default Comm 1 port.

Can you send me the instructions or the configurations of the ports (port number, protocol - NMEA/SRIF, and baud rate) please ?

I would appreciate your help on this.

My email id is pgopinathan@hotmail.com

Thanks

Gopi

this GPS device only costs $170 that will lead you all the way to your destination, which functions exactly the same as the one my friend has, and his cost $1800. For the price you paid, this is just way more than you bargain. I never bother to write review, but this is one piece good of eletronic you must have if you have Dell Axim X5.

Even though the manual didn't have all the troubleshooting available to help me configure my X5, I *DID* find what I needed in the FAQs at [manufacturer's web site] - I fly all ovet the country for my job and haven't been lost since I bought it. The voice is pleasant and loud enough to hear, even on the Axim's speaker. The display is bright and easy to see.

This was DEFINITELY worth it's price, and rivals units at 10 TIMES to price. Easily comparable to the Magellan, which costs $1,700.00.

I'm a college student and the only thing I need a PDA for is to keep track of my appointments, write short notes about homework, and as an address book. I've owned my Royal 8 for six months now. This is probably the least expensive PDA you'll find that has handwriting recognition and 8 MB of memory. Since it doesn't have a lot of features, it was very easy learning how to use it. The included alarm is helpful as an appointment reminder or as an alarm clock.

However, the handwriting tends to be detected very slow; you have to wait a second or two before writing the next letter, otherwise it will not identify it.

Two months after using the PDA, the backlight wouldn't work anymore. Lately the unit tends to freeze when I turn it on. I have to reset it whenever this happens. Although you can select to partially reset the memory (allowing you to keep your Address and Schedule data), you still have to program your clock and calendar everytime you do this.

The good news is that I bought the extra warranty (recomended) and I'm thinking about exchanging it. Who knows? I might have just gotten the bad one of the batch?! By the way, I would also recomend in getting a case for it. The included cover scratched most of the paint off in the first two weeks of carrying it in my purse.

Overall, if the only thing you need a PDA for is to keep track of your appointments and contacts, this will be a good option for a lot less money than the other well known brands.

I am a 13 year old student who wanted a PDA simply to write down homework and other important appointments. After owning the PDA for about a month it has been spectacular.

It is reliable and extremely easy to use. It can store appointments, fincances, to do tasks, notes, and even includes a fun matching game along with much more. It also has a calander which combines everything that you have put on your to do lists and appointments and allows you to view everything in a daily, weekly, or monthly format.

There are two downsides to this product. The first is that it has a very short battery life, which should be expecting when having 8 megabytes of hard drive and only being powered by 2 triple A batteries. You can work from an AC power supply when handy though. I go through about 2 batteries a week from working on the palm about 10 or 15 minutes a day away from AC power.

The other downside is that the palm has an attendemcy to randomly freeze. When it does this you must hit the reset button on the back of the palm. Unfortunatly, to restart you must clear your settings in some way. Thankfully the quickest and easiest choice does not lose your appointments, to dos,notes, and other memory. You do have to reset the time, date, and location however, which becomes annoying.

Overall, for surving a month of being viciously shoved in and out of my back pack each day, and still working, I would say this product is durable, and definitly worth the money you pay.

This item was a breeze to set up and use. My computer skills are marginal and I purchased it as a gift for my husband so of course I had to make sure it worked LOL. I only needed to glance at the manual it was soooo easy. And very affordable. I realize it may not be top of the line but still has a lot of features and preforms them well and for the price is perfect for someone who doesn't need or want all the bells and whistles. Over all loved this item.

When I was looking for a printer for my Toshiba e335 Pocket PC, I heard a lot of people who bought this printer had problems with their printer when their Pocket PC os was 2002. Well, I guess the company has fixed the problem because my printer works well with my pocket pc! My only complaint is that the printer is noisy and not quiet enough to use in a classroom setting when the room needs to be silent. A great buy!

... Portable printers are not meant to compete against laserprinters or ink jets. They are made to provide printouts under non-office conditions, i.e., field use, and except for environs were extreme heat-in-the-shade --- like deserts, are operant, a thermal printer is most reliable, needs little maintenance and consumes few resources.

Thermal printouts are used all the time as TRANSITORY computer output on paper, such as ATMs, gas station receipts etc., to give users a copy of output. I've used 2 thermal printers since 1984, and these printers have outlived their CPUs.

I use the printer as general output on a boat or a plane, often in transit to remote locations, exposed to high humidity and at times printing from within a ziplock bag. The IR signal penetrates the bag nicely, and allows printing in a water resistant container. Thermal paper doesn't run when wet, and when cold laminated, allows one to take printouts diving ... were water temps rarely exceed 90F.

Competing ink jet printers, while capable of A4 size sheets, can have comparably illegible fonts, higher cost and maintenance and print horribly under humid conditions. A4 paper is more inconvenient to carry.

The Sipix is very similar to a thermal printer engine released by Alps in 1998...

A full spec sheet is availableonline...

It has a rated life of 50 million print impressions and paper advance mechanism life of 20km. That's roughly 17,000 prints or 72,000 sheets advanced of A4 paper. Using A6 paper, that's substantially more sheets.

Rolled Paper is Superior to Sheet Paper. Printouts rarely use the full length of a single A6 sheet, thus the unprinted area is wasted. In long printouts, type will span several pages, and sheet paper will be wasted on unprinted margins.

What is wrong with the Sipix is the cost, its not worth [the price]. ....
The Sipix thicker thermal paper maybe less prone to curl, but it still does, and its not suitable for rolls. Roll paper are torn are various lengths. The Sipix paper is too strong and does not tear cleanly. Sipix paper is too expensive, even if heavily discounted... You can buy bulk A6 wide paper of over 76 feet per roll, of thinner grade paper for [$] for 25 rolls, and simply cut 8' rolls for convenience. ...

As a heavy user of word processing on my Palm via DataViz's Documents to Go 4.0 (available from Amazon) which allows me to download -- and work on -- MS Word files on my PDA, I was anxious to find a means to print these Word documents directly from my Palm -- without having to synch and output from my PC. Additionally, if the printer were also portable, that would be even better.

The Sipix Pocket Printer A6 -- along with the Docs to Print and IR Print software programs (both available from doctoprint.irprint.com as either a free trial or to purchase) -- fit the bill quite nicely.

The Sipix A6 printer is just a little bit larger than the Palm itself. It runs on AA batteries and receives its info from the Palm via infrared (IR), which makes it totally cordless. The Sipix also uses thermal imaging, which eliminates the need for ribbons or ink jet cartridges, which is convenient; but it does require the use of specially coated A6 size thermal paper, also available from Sipix (and Amazon) in either rolls or sheets. (I use the latter -- and carry a little stapler with me -- since it lays flatter and looks much neater.)

The basic Sipix A6 software (also from IR Print) that comes with the unit, only allows one to print entries from the Palm Calendar, To Do, Memo and Address functions, which in itself, is only mildly useful.

To do more, here's what you'll need to install on your Palm:

Docs To Go (DataViz) + Docs to Print + IR Print*

* The more enhanced version of IR Print available from their website.

Once all three of these are installed, you'll be able to print Word documents, not only to the Sipix A6, but also to all of the IR capable models from HP (such as the DeskJet 990 series) and from Canon (including the BJC line of portable ink jet printers), which is really cool!

Being thermal, the print quality of the Sipix unit is, unfortunately, rather crude; and the speed is rather slow (especially when compared to regular laser and ink jet printers). But the Sipix is still the smallest portable printer available today for my Palm. And I carry it -- along with a slim box of A6 paper -- everywhere with me in my briefcase.

I use the Sipix to print rough drafts of my work (including product reviews such as this one), which is wonderful, since perusing a printed copy -- especially with multiple pages -- is still easier than scrolling up-and-down a miniature screen.

The Sipix printer, as a watch-out, does have a tendency to drain four AA alkalines rather quickly. As a remedy, I've switched to the new AA size Energizer photo-lithium batteries, which cost a little more, but last many times longer.

With my Sipix A6 printer, I can now print Word files directly from my Palm -- whenever and wherever I need it -- which is truly a dream come true!

Well, it is very useful if you use it to download emails or send them while on the road, but.. If you want to surf the web for a long time... I do not reccomend it, it disconnects after a determinate amount of time. I prefer a wireless option, that is, using your cell phone as an wireless modem, this way it doesn't matter how much time you spend online...

To use the Palm Modem you have to belong or sign up for unlimited service to: AT&T, Compuserve, Earthlink, PSINet or if networked at work, Unix Verio Windows NT RAS server.

When connecting to the Avantgo.com, the modem will sync to the site for just download enough informtion for the e-mails or web site. It appears in order to go to another web clipping, the modem has to re-connect, which seems like a hassle.

However, for limited internet usage, and could also be used for stock market symbols, the modem will connect to the web clipping and then shut off.

The modem has limited uses and is only a land line with no wireless use. The modem also uses 2 tripple A batteries, without recharable option.

Ever since Palm began releasing modem products for their PDAs, having one as a backup connectivity device has been a priority for me.

Sure you can do a litle web surfing but that is not its' true calling or intention. Checking your eMail is what this modem is all about and where it shines like the true star it is. Setup is easy and the supplied software is not the best but will get you where you want to go.

Battery life is great and that makes it always a good device to carry along on any business trip.

I just received this stylus yeterday, (july 11, 2001). The stylus was great. It was very easy and also very fun to use. Then the next day I woke up and found out it was also very easy to break. When I took of the cap I had the stylus end selected. For no reason I gave it a little twist on the end, thinking nothing would happen. I was wrong! The Stylus part lost a lot of its spring back and was almost useless because it would always jam. I thought to my self, "well I am sure I can just brake into this puppy and fix it", that was a bigger mistake. When I tried that I just made it even worse and the whole stylus trio was gone. The stylus was a great tool and worked out great unfortunately it wasn't idiot proof. I recommend this stylus to anyone who needs the trio action to help them, but be careful and don't play around with it!

This multifunction stylus is a great unit, dont get me wrong, carrying around three sticks in your pocket can get quite uncomfortable at times. But I do have some gripes about this unit. The grip on it really isnt a grip, and I found that it slipped out of my hands sometimes till I bought a little foam grip to slip over the black portion of the barrel, costing less than a quarter. And the ink on the barrel can rub off, but by the time it does you memorize which way to hold the pen to get your desired function. And sometimes I find that my lead is broken when I try to use the pen, like it gets broken if you leave lead in the barrel. Aside from the gripes, the weight is GREAT for this pen. It sure doesnt feel light and plastic-y like the stylus on my M105. The orange tip makes it great for visiblity especially with screen protectors. The snap function is also great, easy to use, and the pen and pencil functions work well most of the time.
Overall, A great starter unit, and it is built to last.

I have had mine since Jan 2000 and it has been nearly trouble free. None of the problems with pencil that the previous reviewer had. The rubber grip on mine is just starting to show a little wear, but it doesn't effect my use of it. Since this is the only pen that I carry, it has held up extremely well.

The ball point pen is one of the best that I have used. No skipping or ink dots, just smooth, consistant writing.

Another thing that I realy like is that the stylus tip seems to be made of a harder material than many others, such as the Cross. This became an issue when I began using the WriteRight screen protectors. The Cross stylus was being ground down and leaving residue on the protector, which has a slightly course texture, and was very difficult to write fast with. The Panache tip felt like I was writing with a regular pen on paper and did not rub of or wear as the Cross stylus did.

Overall, this is a great tool. There are three marking at the top of the pen: an orange dot, a black dot and a 0.5. You lean the pen to the side with the dot of the tip you would like to use facing up, press the top, and you get the tip you want. The stylus tip is bright orange, so there is no mistaking it for the pen or pencil. It really blows people away when they see you writing on paper in ink, then you switch over to the Palm with just a click.

I have been waiting for this product for almost 3 months (it was supposed to have been shipped within 1 or 2 weeks)

If you own a Pocket PC and are in the market for an Ethernet card, this is the type you want. Yes, you can use the PC Card from your laptop, but it probably has another type of connector with a dongle that connects to the card. Fine for a wired laptop that sits in one place while you are connected.

A Pocket PC, on the other hand (pun intended) will be moving around as you move your hands around, move around in your seat, etc. This puts stress on the connection that the PC Card designers never imagined.

Like the Pretec Modem, this CF lan card will survive your daily use much better than cards designed for PCs.

Just plugged it in, ran the simple Internet setup program that is bundled with Zaurus, and I'm working great.