Visor Personal Organizer as Handy as 3Com’s Palm but Less Expensive
Even if you don’t use a Palm computing device, you’ve probably been around someone who does. They’re the little hand-held personal organizers that you can carry around in your pocket.
I have a Palm organizer, and I carry it everywhere. When the impulse strikes me to call someone, I have the number handy. If I’m out and about and need to check my schedule or make an appointment, I do it on the spot.
And when I get back to my office, I insert the little Palm organizer into a cradle and any data I’ve added are instantly uploaded to my PC.
Likewise, my schedule and calendar from Microsoft Outlook is downloaded to the Palm, and I even use the little device to store books and articles, thanks to a third-party program (AportisDoc) that enables me to read specially formatted documents on the Palm.
But, for the last several days, my Palm organizer has been sitting in a drawer. Instead, I’m carrying around a Visor from Mountain View, Calif.-based Handspring.
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The device not only looks and feels a lot like a Palm organizer, but it comes with the same built-in operating systems and software, runs the same third-party software, accesses the same data and is even able to exchange data with Palm devices via an infrared port on the side of the unit.
The reason it’s so similar is that Handspring has licensed the Palm operating system and application software from 3Com. Handspring was started by some of the people who founded Palm Computing, the 3Com unit that developed the Palm technology.
The most significant difference between the Visor and the Palm organizers is a slot on the back of the unit, called a Springboard, that can be used to hold what the company calls plug and play expansion modules.
My loaner unit came with a module that lets me play “Tiger Woods PGA Golf,” but forthcoming modules will include such devices as cellular phones, wireless modems, one- and two-way pagers, digital cameras, global positioning systems and memory modules.
Diamond Multimedia, the first company to build a portable MP3 music player, has announced that it is developing an MP3 player add-on for the Visor that will be available early next year.
Handspring has published developer specifications for its expansion system on its Web site and is encouraging other companies to develop add-on modules without having to pay any fees or royalties.
The only other major difference between the Visor and competing systems from 3Com is that the Visor is cheaper. The basic unit, which has 2 megabytes of memory, costs $179, compared with $229 for 3Com’s 2mb Palm IIIe. The Visor Deluxe, which has 8mb of memory and comes in five optional colors, costs $249 compared with $369 for the Palm IIIx, which has only 4mb of memory.
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So, given these discrepancies, why would anyone buy a Palm organizer over a Visor?
Beats me. The Visor I’m using is 100% compatible with the Palm and just as reliable, as well as being cheaper and more expandable. About the only thing Palm offers that you can’t get from Handspring is its sleek Palm V, which is considerably slimmer and lighter than the Visors or Palm IIIs, and the Palm VII, which comes with a built-in wireless modem that--for a fee--lets you exchange e-mail and access a limited number of Internet sites.
Palm, so far, hasn’t announced any major price reductions, but sources close to the company tell me that price drops are forthcoming. My guess is that Handspring will start selling units to the public by October.
It’s also fair to assume that 3Com will license the Palm operating system to other companies and come up with innovative new versions of its popular organizer.
If you have a relatively new PC or Mac with a USB port, another advantage of the Visor is that the cradle that synchronizes its data to the computer connects to that port, which is faster and easier to manage than the serial ports used to connect 3Com devices. 3Com has announced that it will release a USB adapter for its products.
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Microsoft is also a player in the hand-held device market, but the Palm-Sized PCs that run its Windows CE operating system aren’t nearly as popular as 3Com’s Palm organizers. Microsoft doesn’t make the devices itself, but instead licenses the operating system and software to Compaq, Casio, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Sharp, Phillips and several other companies.
Unlike Palm and Handspring systems, many of the CE devices have color screens and most feature the ability to record and play voice recordings.
If you glance at the specifications, the CE devices are far more feature-laden than Palm devices. But after using both types, I keep coming back to the Palm because of its simplicity. It doesn’t do as much as the CE devices, but it works more elegantly and faster.
I downloaded the same personal address list with 1,000 names and addresses on the Palm organizer, the Handspring Visor and a Compaq Aero 2150 Windows CE device (priced at $424). Finding a name on either the 3Com or Handspring device is instantaneous, but, as with other CE devices, there is a slight delay when trying to find the same name on the Compaq Aero.
On the plus side, the Aero’s backlighted color screen is not only more pleasant to look at but easier to read.
Yet another option for people with Motorola StarTac cellular phones is a personal organizer that clips directly to the phone. The StarTac ClipOn Organizer (priced at $249) is a small (2.3 ounces) device that attaches to the phone to give you address and phone look-up, calendar, notes and a to-do list.
Like other hand-held devices, it can synchronize data with Outlook and other PC-based applications.
I played with one of them and came away impressed with the feature that lets the organizer dial your phone once you locate the person you wish to call.
Finally, there’s an option that’s cheap, reliable and easy to use. It’s called paper. I realize it’s passe but, for many people, it’s perfectly adequate.
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Lawrence J. Magid can be heard at 1:48 p.m. weekdays on KNX-AM (1070). He can be reached at larry.magid@latimes.com. His Web page is at https://www.larrysworld.com. On AOL, use keyword “LarryMagid.”
