Hardware
Review of: |
My
brother bought me a Palm IIIe last year for my birthday. Sometime last
spring the display got cracked. Finding out that it would take one hundred
dollars to get fixed, and knowing that the Palm IIIe would shortly be out
of production, I decided not to get it fixed. During this summer I bought
a Palm m100 to replace the Palm IIIe. I think that it was a good
wait.
My brother got me the Palm IIIe at the Fort Sam Houston exchange and paid $145. I got my Palm m100 at Office Max here in Kerrville and paid $129. The outside size of the Palm IIIe is 3.25” by 5.75” with a display size of 2.325” by 3.125”. The outside size of the Palm m100 is 3” by 4.75” with a display size of 2” by 2.625”. I find that the smaller size of the Palm m100 fits better in my shirt pockets. I found that the Palm IIIe would not fit in a dress shirt at all, and would fit tight in my work shirt's pockets (and had trouble buttoning the pocket flap), so I often carried it in my pants pocket. It was carrying the Palm IIIe in my pants pocket that lead to the display getting cracked. The Palm m100 fits in both types of shirt pockets nicely, so maybe the display won’t get cracked because there will be no need to carry it in my pants pockets. Two simple pins attach the face cover of the Palm IIIe, so the cover hangs from the body at about 135-degree angle. I found that some times when I would turn around suddenly while using the PDA, the cover would hit something. The Palm m100 face cover has a double hinge so the cover is folded flush with the back. As a result the cover cannot hit something and the PDA fits better into the hand. Also, the face cover has a window in it so that when an alarm goes off, I don’t have to open the PDA to read the alarm note. There is a hole in the cover to allow you to press a button to see the time and date thought the window. The application buttons on the Palm IIIe are: date book, address book, scroll buttons, to do list, and memo pad. The application buttons of the Palm m100 are almost the same, except that note pad has replaced memo pad. The power switch on the Palm m100 has been moved to the top and center of the PDA, not to the left side as it was on the Palm IIIe. I like this change, as I don’t by mistake turn the PDA off while working with it. The Palm m100 no longer has contrast control as the Palm IIIe did, but uses software to set the display contrast. This change keeps the display contrast from being change by accident. There are some applications that come installed on the Palm m100 that are different than those on the Palm IIIe. Since the memo pad has replaced note pad, this is the first major change. The Palm m100 still has memo pad, but it must be accessed though the applications home menu and not a button as it was done in the Palm IIIe. Note pad is an application that allows me to draw and write things freehand in the main display area. It is the same as a sticky note. To enter things in memo pad I had to use the display keyboard or write in Graffiti, and I could not make drawings. I found this change to be a wash. I could find info faster with the Palm IIIe than the Palm m100, but I could make a note faster with the Palm m100. Being on call 24 hours, I often had to write down an address after waking up at 2AM and not finding a pen or paper. I have found the note pad application button to be nice at such times, but when I needed to find the phone number of roadside service for a customer at 2AM, I had problems. Another change is the Palm m100 doesn’t automatically download my unread e-mail when I HotSync. I could go to the Palm web site and get it an application to do this, but I did not care for this on the Palm IIIe. Before I close, I would like to write about an application I am running on my Palm m100. Back in May 2001, I wrote a review on X-Map Business. One function in that program I could not review (because of the cracked display on my Palm IIIe) was downloading a map to a handheld. It works, but a little slow. I have found that the Palm m100 to be good replacement for the Palm IIIe. The Palm m100 has made many improvements over the Palm IIIe. I have found that the smaller size of Palm m100 makes it easier to carry than the Palm IIIe. The only thing I have had trouble with the Palm m100 is that writing with Graffiti is a lot more critical.
William Morgan is a self-employed locksmith living in Kerrville, Tx. He has been a member of the Alamo PC User Group since 1995. |