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The FAQs for the Treos are here.

Quick sum-up:
Treo 180 = Keyboard, 180g = Graffiti.
No Springboard functionality.
Colour due mid 2002 (extra $200!!).
North America providers = Cingular, VoiceStream, Rogers AT&T, Microcell.
Trade in available for VisorPhone customers.
CDMA version in the works.

Well this is a dilemma, i already have too many damn palms laying around (a VII, IIIc and a Handspring Visor Deluxe I got as a gift) and i had intended to pick up an ipaq, but i'll be damned if it doesn't look like this is a much better solution.

except for:
why so damn tiny? who asked for something that is only slightly larger then a WAP enabled cell phone display.

the iPaq (which my spellchecker wants to call Iraq) has a cell phone module pending, and it will also do GPS. And if you are married to the PalmOS and want color today you can get the color Handspring Visor Prism and add the Cell Phone module for free (with activation) only with neither of these you don't get the spiffy keyboard... (heh) also the prism isn't as quick as the the Treo, though it does have a bigger 16-bit color display today .

oh hell i just talked myself out of the Treo, and another palm... because well... even though i have heard that the cell phone springboard module actually rocks, the PalmOS development seems to be stagnating while the iPaq not only does every goddamn thing in the world and with a better diplay, you can also jack linux into it when you get sick of WinCE.

man... as a long time Apple guy (easy angry kiddys, i have been building x86 boxes since before you were born and EISA was a hot new bus archetecture) i really hate to see what was once the innovator and hands down best hand held solution (PalmOS) get trumped by another microsoft branded product... i'd help them if i can but i already have three...

Well this is a dilemma, i already have too many damn palms laying around (a VII, IIIc and a Handspring Visor Deluxe I got as a gift) and i had intended to pick up an ipaq, but i'll be damned if it doesn't look like this is a much better solution.

except for:
why so damn tiny? who asked for something that is only slightly larger then a WAP enabled cell phone display.

the iPaq (which my spellchecker wants to call Iraq) has a cell phone module pending, and it will also do GPS. And if you are married to the PalmOS and want color today you can get the color Handspring Visor Prism and add the Cell Phone module for free (with activation) only with neither of these you don't get the spiffy keyboard... (heh) also the prism isn't as quick as the the Treo, though it does have a bigger 16-bit color display today .

oh hell i just talked myself out of the Treo, and another palm... because well... even though i have heard that the cell phone springboard module actually rocks, the PalmOS development seems to be stagnating while the iPaq not only does every goddamn thing in the world and with a better diplay, you can also jack linux into it when you get sick of WinCE.

man... as a long time Apple guy (easy angry kiddys, i have been building x86 boxes since before you were born and EISA was a hot new bus archetecture) i really hate to see what was once the innovator and hands down best hand held solution (PalmOS) get trumped by another microsoft branded product... i'd help them if i can but i already have three...

No details for that particular device, but this looks like an integrated VisorPhone module.

The providers for the VisorPhone module are Cingular Wireless and VoiceStream.

The Treo is the innovative product the Palm community has been expecting from Handsping, and I believe it will be a huge success. Here, in no particular order, is why:
1) Size. Have there been other smartphones? Yes. Like this? No. This is neither a clunky phone-grafted-onto-an-organizer nor a strange organizer-grafted-onto-a-phone. This is a truly integrated product. It is small enough that I will finally be able to ditch my Palm/OmniSky and Nokia for one pocketable device.
2) Keyboard. Even though I've used Graffiti for several years, I have to admit that it is still a pain. Some may disagree, but the fact is that the vast majority of users will be able to enter text faster and more accurately with a QWERTY keyboard--even a thumb keyboard. If you think such keyboards are too small, just look at the success of the RIM Blackberry to see how much people love them.
3) Software. Handspring has done a great job integrating the Palm OS with the phone. They didn't just include a "Dial" app, they've included Blazer (their wonderful browser), Messaging (SMS), Phone Book (a Palm Address Book upgrade that has dialing capabilities), a POP3 client, etc. Out of the box, this will be a true Internet phone.
4) GSM. My fellow Americans may question this (since GSM has relatively limited coverage in the U.S.), but GSM was the right choice for Handspring. When GPRS rolls out (in the U.S. Voicestream has already started), you will be able to upgrade your Treo to support an "always on" wireless connection. Always on is much better than dial-up, even Sprint's "Quick Network Connect" dial-up (which basically just means that Sprint PCS is your ISP). Other, more popular U.S. mobile standards (CDMA, TDMA) are not moving to always on as quickly as GSM (although I've heard reports AT&T is upgrading to GPRS), and a true smart phone needs an always on connection. The other (obvious) advantage of GSM is that Handspring can sell the Treo in Europe and Asia.
Anyway, I will certainly buy a Treo when it comes out, and I think many others will too. The real question is how the Treo will stack up to competitors like the Danger Hiptop.

Looks like they basically took this springboard module and integrated it.. But this device doesn't have the springboard modularity. And quite frankly since using the iPaq, I can't see dealing with a greyscale 160x160 screen again..

Although I'm confident Leonard could have come up with a spiffy solution involving a Visor Prism and an eyemodule2 camera. (Although not as cheaply as the Polaroid.)

Although I'm confident Leonard could have come up with a spiffy solution involving a Visor Prism and an eyemodule2 camera. (Although not as cheaply as the Polaroid.)

Have to correct you on one point.

The Handspring Visor Platinum and Visor Neo run the exact same Palm OS version, according to this Handspring page.

This makes me glad, because I just plunked down $200 for a Platinum. I like black better anyway (I was tempted to get the silver model). I also read that the new Neo's felt "slippery". Yes, I have the "quick lookup" in the address book.

Basically, Handspring is replacing the Platinum with the Neo just to gain some of the color appeal that the Deluxe had. I actually bought a "graphite" (black) Visor, sent it back within the 30-day period, and got the Platinum because they dropped the price $50. And I got a rather expensive leather case with it, something they are no longer offering.

I think Handspring had a far superior line of Handhelds until Palm released their latest m50x series. The Platinum, Edge, and Prism models were simply superior - but mostly because of price and USB connectivity. They took out the flash upgrade, which few people seem to use (Palm OS 4 doesn't look very useful for current PDA owners). The springboard module is finally becoming more popular - there are a lot of great things for it. Now if they weren't so darned expensive, I just might get one or two...I'd consider the mp3 players if they offered CF/Smartmedia expansion and were about $50 cheaper. For $150-200 I can get a standalone model, which has it's advantages and disadvantages.

Anyway, I agree with your point that Handspring must answer the Palm m505. Must be the size of the Edge or smaller, color, lithium battery, and get that springboard module in there. Oh, and they have to double the RAM to 16 MB. And it's got to be the same price or cheaper than the m505. Handspring has done it before (the Visor Deluxe blows away the Palm IIIxe), I think they'll do it again. It'll be interesting to see the next wave of wireless devices.

I'd rather have a nice month of battery life than one week with color. GPS? That requires an antenna and a license. I don't want to pay more for some stupid feature that I won't use. I like Handspring's idea, using a springboard for it.
Wireless networking? Who needs it? You have to be near a network to use it, so if your near a network, you'd be near computers... hence no need for the network in the handheld. Besides, springboard modules exist for that too.

I'd rather have a nice month of battery life than one week with color. GPS? That requires an antenna and a license. I don't want to pay more for some stupid feature that I won't use. I like Handspring's idea, using a springboard for it.
Wireless networking? Who needs it? You have to be near a network to use it, so if your near a network, you'd be near computers... hence no need for the network in the handheld. Besides, springboard modules exist for that too.

here's the correct link to the neo http://www.handspring.com/products/visorneo/index. jhtml?sub_nav_section=Overview&prod_cat_name=Neo

If you've never seen one, it's a Springboard module that plugs into the back of a Handspring Visor (Palm Pilot clone), turning it into a GSM cell phone.

I got one last week. It's pretty nifty to be able to dial any phone # out of my visor address book. I haven't tried the wireless browser yet... but you can surf the web, even run a SSH on it from anywhere you can get your PCS signal.

-dc

http://www.handspring.com. It's all there.

www.handspring.com

It's on the front page.

I think I saw something like a voice recording functionality with one of the mp3 SpringBoards. Thing is the microphone can ONLY be used with a Springboard, since the Visor doesn't have any audio abilities past the 'beep' thingie.

I'm too lazy to look for the exact links, but I'm sure you'll find an answer at palmgear or on Handspring's site.

The only Palm OS devices that have voice recording built-in is the kickass Handera 330 (but no mp3 to date) and maybe some high-end Sony Clié.

/max

Ever since then, I've stuck with the Palm platform, and really like it. You know, take a Visor and combine it with a keyboard (pictures here and here)and you have one heck of a note-taking machine.

The experience I had at our high school is that they wanted to have control of all communications in and out of the building. Here's some examples...

All Internet (well, actually web) connections were run through a filter/proxy server. They even kept a log of denied attempts, which was given to the principal. (I think those were E-Mailed hourly.) Those who had denied attempts would be called to his office. When he called me down there and accused me of surfing porno and chat sites, I denied it. His response was, "You did it and you know it. Everyone has been denying it, but I know better." I asked him to show me logs of it, and he did, and of all things they were BANNER CGIs from IMG tags that are automatically loaded - duh! I sent him an E-Mail with a link to DALnet's logo, which was blocked by the school, then told him to check the logs and see if there was an entry for him. After that, I don't think anyone was called to his office. (Luckily, telnet wasn't logged or anything, so that always worked in a pinch. Also firewalls didn't block ports there, so we could always put in proxy settings to point to a Linux box a few of us ran - which bypassed the filter totally.)

As far as phones - all phone communications is done through the school's phone system, again it can be monitored/controlled by the school.

Sadly enough, the State makes carrying a pager in school a felony. However, they have NO policy on cell phones. Cell phones are banned, but that is local school board policy and not State. They claim that pagers are used for drug dealers (I guess they've never heard of an admin who needs to know about outages.) It's funny how the State bans pagers but not cell phones. If I were a drug dealer, I'd much rather have a cell phone, as it offers two-way communications (whereas most pagers do not.)

I don't think we were ever able to successfully make a modem connection over the school's phone system either. (I had also tried this at another local school with the same type of phone system and had no luck - I did this when the State decided to block our ISPs netblocks, which is where one of the schools sites is hosted and we were supposed to show it to the parents that day.) I don't know if the inability to make modem connections is on purpose or a side effect of wiring problems, etc.

But, I've generally noticed that schools want to control all communications in and out. For that one reason, I mostly used SSH when going out of the school network. (In my senior year one of the labs I worked in got a T1 to a local ISP, which had no filtering or stupid policies as the school LAN did.)

But, how does this all relate to PDAs? I think schools must be afraid that PDAs will offer a channel of communications they cannot control (such as wireless) and they don't like that. My suggestion is that schools deploy some sort of wireless network (802.11b?) and let the students connect their PDAs to that - then they can still sniff/monitor/block what they want.

I think schools need to address the problems that PDAs may cause (if any) and take care of them individually - instead of just banning PDAs altogether.

Ever since then, I've stuck with the Palm platform, and really like it. You know, take a Visor and combine it with a keyboard (pictures here and here)and you have one heck of a note-taking machine.

The experience I had at our high school is that they wanted to have control of all communications in and out of the building. Here's some examples...

All Internet (well, actually web) connections were run through a filter/proxy server. They even kept a log of denied attempts, which was given to the principal. (I think those were E-Mailed hourly.) Those who had denied attempts would be called to his office. When he called me down there and accused me of surfing porno and chat sites, I denied it. His response was, "You did it and you know it. Everyone has been denying it, but I know better." I asked him to show me logs of it, and he did, and of all things they were BANNER CGIs from IMG tags that are automatically loaded - duh! I sent him an E-Mail with a link to DALnet's logo, which was blocked by the school, then told him to check the logs and see if there was an entry for him. After that, I don't think anyone was called to his office. (Luckily, telnet wasn't logged or anything, so that always worked in a pinch. Also firewalls didn't block ports there, so we could always put in proxy settings to point to a Linux box a few of us ran - which bypassed the filter totally.)

As far as phones - all phone communications is done through the school's phone system, again it can be monitored/controlled by the school.

Sadly enough, the State makes carrying a pager in school a felony. However, they have NO policy on cell phones. Cell phones are banned, but that is local school board policy and not State. They claim that pagers are used for drug dealers (I guess they've never heard of an admin who needs to know about outages.) It's funny how the State bans pagers but not cell phones. If I were a drug dealer, I'd much rather have a cell phone, as it offers two-way communications (whereas most pagers do not.)

I don't think we were ever able to successfully make a modem connection over the school's phone system either. (I had also tried this at another local school with the same type of phone system and had no luck - I did this when the State decided to block our ISPs netblocks, which is where one of the schools sites is hosted and we were supposed to show it to the parents that day.) I don't know if the inability to make modem connections is on purpose or a side effect of wiring problems, etc.

But, I've generally noticed that schools want to control all communications in and out. For that one reason, I mostly used SSH when going out of the school network. (In my senior year one of the labs I worked in got a T1 to a local ISP, which had no filtering or stupid policies as the school LAN did.)

But, how does this all relate to PDAs? I think schools must be afraid that PDAs will offer a channel of communications they cannot control (such as wireless) and they don't like that. My suggestion is that schools deploy some sort of wireless network (802.11b?) and let the students connect their PDAs to that - then they can still sniff/monitor/block what they want.

I think schools need to address the problems that PDAs may cause (if any) and take care of them individually - instead of just banning PDAs altogether.

Which is why they probably put that LI-ION battery in it...

Then again maybe it's just for show... ;)

... then all you have to do is own a Handspring. There is a module to do that from Xircom (Intel)

As I have commented in the past, I work at a company (which shall remain nameless) that produces content for an online adult website, along with various other adult product ventures in East Asia. You may recall last year the story about a Taiwanese couple that ran into some problems after experimenting with the vibrate functions on their Nokia 8850 cell phone (if not, click here for a reminder).

Since we operate out of East Asia, and with the pervasiveness of PDA and cellular telephones here, our company is researching adult enhancements that could be made for PDA's. Adult games and pictures and things have been available on PDA's/phones for years, but we are trying to bring things to another level. Many modern PDA's have quite advanced functionality (it's amazing what you can do with the Handspring Sprinboard modules, et cetera). I'd like to see PDA manufacturers allow even more advancements to be made with hardware add-ons- extend the PDA to be a real part of life- and not delegated to calendars, basic reading, and games, but a useful tool/diversion available for everything from controlling household appliances, to providing heretofore unknown sexual stimulation in a convenient and portable package.

Whether or not there is direct input from the major PDA manufacturers (I actually doubt there will be much in the immediate future, anyway), the above is where I see PDA's going, anyway.

iluvpr0n.

I've just purchased a Handspring Visor Platinum a couple months ago (and *then* they drop the price down to $250) and it works great. It runs PalmOS 3.5 out of the box, which is what you will find most apps developed for. There is a lot of software and development options, including open source stuff. Is it really that critical that you have Linux on there? I dont know the price tag of the iPaq, but frankly I would seriously consider some of the PalmOS hardware as well. Its really quite nice. I've just started to develop on it, and its not any harder than elsewhere, except code bloat can become a problem if you dont watch it.

I dont have hands on experience with the new Palm M500 and 505, but my boss at work has a 505 (which is color with PalmOS 4.0 native i believe) and loves it to death. The Platinum and M505 both have 33mHz Dragonball processors and 8 megs of RAM, plus expansion room. Especially for the Visors, with the Springboard expansions. Reference to Handspring for their information and savings offers. I really like them so far.

Just my 0.2 cents.

I've just purchased a Handspring Visor Platinum a couple months ago (and *then* they drop the price down to $250) and it works great. It runs PalmOS 3.5 out of the box, which is what you will find most apps developed for. There is a lot of software and development options, including open source stuff. Is it really that critical that you have Linux on there? I dont know the price tag of the iPaq, but frankly I would seriously consider some of the PalmOS hardware as well. Its really quite nice. I've just started to develop on it, and its not any harder than elsewhere, except code bloat can become a problem if you dont watch it.

I dont have hands on experience with the new Palm M500 and 505, but my boss at work has a 505 (which is color with PalmOS 4.0 native i believe) and loves it to death. The Platinum and M505 both have 33mHz Dragonball processors and 8 megs of RAM, plus expansion room. Especially for the Visors, with the Springboard expansions. Reference to Handspring for their information and savings offers. I really like them so far.

Just my 0.2 cents.

For Handspring

Other PalmOS Devices

--

I've been reading /. on AvantGo for a while (cos no PC's are convenient to my bed or bathtub) and it's kinda unsatisfying:

• AvantGo only DL's 2MB for all my sites combined. That leave 5.75MB on my Visor with nothing to do.
• Insufficient control over what links to follow (haven't tried the DigitalPaths yet, so I can't compare). Since most /. pages even in light mode have many links, a relatively low level of links to follow maxes me out quickly, but I have to follow a lot of links to satisfying reading.

Here's how configure my slashdot channel in AvantGo:

I welcome tuning suggestions

Well, you can't really complain about being duped because it is clearly mentioned on their website on a FAQ. If you are even interested in rewriting the ROM that the OS sits on, you in the minority. Most users of the handspring visor don't even know what flash memory or an OS is... So basically, I think that as a consumer, you have to read the technical specs on these things if you want to do things like upgrade the OS that lives on ROM. This is one of those things you can not learn from most reviews of the product by various companies such as CNET or ZDNET. Also, you probably won't find this type of technical information on the box as well, so your only option is to check out the specifications on the website, before you even consider buying one.

Buy a Palm or Visor for palm computing.

Buy a Neo 25 for portable mp3 listening.

It's just that simple. I can't understand why anybody would even waste their time with a 64mb solid state player. I'll take a 20 gig player I can stick in my pocket any day.

64 Megs on a Palm OS is possible with Handspring Visor. You can buy yourself a 64 meg smart media card for $99 and and a Mem Plug module for $50.

The one thing that really bothers me about my Visor is that most of the expansion modules are ridiculously expensive. The Palm expansion modules look pretty cheap in comparison:

16 MB memory card - $50 for the Palm, $139 for the Visor
Dictionary - $40 for the Palm (including Thesaurus), $50 for the Visor

Some of the modules for the Visor were even more ridiculous. $259 for an MP3 player? Come on.

If you want MP3 support I guess you need to go to Handspring. Which is fine by me.

When did the PalmOS go out of style? Since when is WinCE the leader in handhelds?

In terms of popularity, Palm sells more than anybody. In fact, Palm and Handspring together had 87 percent of the market in June 2000.

Technically, the PalmOS is limited, but definitely good enough. They're the ones that finally got the interface "right". They've got the right form factor, ease-of-use, battery life and necessary speed. They don't have a huge list of bells, whistles and gongs, but the essentials are there - and physically stripped down to exactly the size I want. It is exactly what you need as a PDA. More features (cameras, GPS, colour, music, phone, wireless are available as add-ons) are nice, but they aren't always essential, and shouldn't come at a permanent increase in size.

WinCE is attempting to be an all-singing, all-dancing embedded OS. The reality is that it's being handily beaten by Palm in the handheld market, by WindRiver (and other embedded OSes) in the realtime and embedded markets.

Handspring is finally producing the phone that I've wanted ever since I tried to juggle my old Casio BOSS and a cellular brick-phone. Now if only it was available in Canada. (Oh, and by the way Nokia, I don't want to enter appointments into a phone, using a clumsy keypad and itty-bitty screen).

There are still way more apps for PalmOS than any of its competitors, and developers get the benefits of an open environment. WinCE is a real late-comer and doesn't offer enough improvements to be the front-runner.

The non-disclaimer: I own a Palm Vx, chosen specifically because of it's form factor, user-interface and applications. I write embedded telecommunications software (on realtime OSes) for a living. That's my basis for these opinions.

I guess the springboard slot from Handspring and a Compact Flash slot on the Trgpro haven't crossed your desk yet. Yeah, they're innovating, kinda the way Microsoft does.

There is no trap so deadly as the trap you set for yourself

FYI red is only available from handspring.com

Cheers!

I'd rather have the colour of the Prism. That plus an Minstrel modem with OmniSky, and PalmVNC, I can connect to my linux box from anywhere, and have the nice rich full colour of my KDE desktop.

Yet, this new "Edge" is simply not that much better .... here is a link to a handspring hosted comparison table. It shows that the Vx is smaller and lighter. Where the Edge is better is only because it has the latest software (which can be upgraded on the Vx anyway), has a microphone, the "springboard" (which I have never seen used...) and has a blinking light ... ;-)

Really, Visor Edge is playing catch up still.

The Handspring game face would be great for this. You get the joystick and buttons almost like Atari!

I beleive a visor hand held devise, along with the appropriet handspring modules will suffice.

• Visor Deluxe or Platinum ($250 / $300, 8MB of memory, runs for about 2-6 weeks off a pair of AA batteries) The Prism would let you look at your pictures in color, but has rechargeable batteries, so probably wouldn't work for you. The greyscale Visors seem to be able to store color pictures, though.
• Eyemodule2 ($200 , you can download the picture emailer program from Palmgear.com or freewarepalm.com there's also the greyscale eyemodule1 for cheaper some places)
• cell phone with a modem (~$170 for my little Nokia phone with IRDA. There are Visorphones ($300) and wireless modules for the Visor, but then you'd have to swap modules all the time. For service, I have Voicestream GSM, but that's limited to 9600baud digital service right now... I think TDMA (AT&T, Verizon) networks might let you connect up to 14400baud and have more complete analog roaming).
• if you want to get fancy, you could spend maybe $100 or so on phone-Visor serial cables so you don't have to hold them together to use the lame IRDA link, so you can keep pedalling while you're connected. Then again, it might be cheaper and more convenient to just duct tape both of them to your handlebars so the IRDA links always work... that way you could use the phone's serial port for a handsfree kit so you can talk to people when you aren't dialed in. A pet peeve of mine with the Nokia phone is that the IRDA port is on the wrong side of the phone, so I have to hold it upside down to use my Visor. But you could probably get creative with a mirror.)
• you might want to program a script (or get someone else to program a script :) ) to automate the picture grabbing/uploading tasks with one button. I don't think I've seen anything like that yet...

Sounds like you may want to talk to visor about it. They make the handspring PDA. They don't have what you speak of, but they may be able to make it for you.
I'm assuming you have a large budget, btw.

--

• The Seiko Instruments SmartPad(TM) is a zippered notepad portfolio, whichcaptures handwritten notes on an ordinary pad of paper and instantly sends them to your Palm Organizer via its infrared port. Using the enhanced SmartPad Palm applications, save your notes, drawings, and maps in any of the four major Palm applications. Using an optional modem and third party software, you can email your notes directly from your Palm.
  
  SmartPad is the first product that lets you capture anything you write or draw, with the natural feel of pen on paper. Take notes and store them in your Datebook. Attach a map to a contact in the Address Book. Easily write down To Do's or Memos and save them for future reference.

The books published by Franklin for all the hand top OSs. It's just that the hot swap HandSprings allow people to carry several around.

A small piece not mentioned in a good article.

The books published by Franklin for all the hand top OSs. It's just that the hot swap HandSprings allow people to carry several around.

A small piece not mentioned in a good article.

According to the GSM spec (and the VisorPhone FAQ) - there is a SIM card you can switch between a normal phone and a VisorPhone. Now, if they only had the coverage...

This is very disconcerting, the $299 price that has been advertised relies on the purchaser using one of the preferred providers (Bell South Mobility,Pac Bell). Voice Stream provides GSM service in my area already and is slated to gain a contract with Visor later on, however; without a subsidized plan the cost skyrockets to $499!

Is there any technical information available to facilitate creating 3rd party apps for the VisorPhone?

Specifically, I'm interested in possibilities involving the microphone, speaker and headset. Also, is there any memory available for apps in the module?

Hi xxxxx,

Sorry for the long delay in getting back to you.

We will be making an API for VisorPhone available that will allow you to manipulate the phone. I believe we'll be publishing the APIs later in the month. The microphone is passed up from the handheld to the Springboard slot directly. The speaker and headset are part of the module electronics. I mention this because some developers are interested in manipulating these features with software running on the handheld which isn't possible outside the phone. For example, the APIs will allow you to establish a call from software. They won't include functionality to utilize the mic or speaker directly though.

Data is handled by using the phone just like a circuit switched modem.

The space in the Flash module is likely to be pretty tight. App space on the module memory is a great idea, but I don't think we were able to do that this time around.

Business related inquires can also be directed to DevInfo@Handspring.com if you'd like to discuss the commercial aspects of this product.

Mike, DTS

For the first thousand nerds who think this is really cool, Handspring will jack the price up if you dare take advantage of another service provider.

Coverage for the service plan is really weak. Although "Georgia" is listed in the quote below from the Visor website, I live 5 miles from downtown Atlanta, and my zipcode isn't covered. What's the point of rolling out a device like this with such weak coverage? So many of the people that need something like this travel extensively.

From the visor website:

Regional Rollout
Handspring will be rolling out service coverage on a regional basis over the next several months, beginning with Pacific Bell Wireless and BellSouth Mobility. We currently have coverage in California, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. We expect to be adding both VoiceStream and Powertel in the new year.

John

John

I've personally never seen the advantage of paying a lot more money for a Palm Vx, when all you get is the "sleeker" look (which isn't that grand if you have it in a leather case like I keep my Palm IIIxe in, anyway), and the LiIon battery, which I don't particularly like. I haven't spent but maybe 5-10 dollars on AAA batteries since I bought my IIIxe back in August.

Keep in mind that you'll also be paying about $200 more for your Vx, since they're listed at $399, and IIIxe's are now going for $199 thanks to a Christmas rebate. All in all, I like my Palm IIIxe, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking to buy a Palm.

On the other hand, I also like the looks of the Visors. The Springboard Modules look like great add-ons, and the Platinum runs at twice the clockspeed of normals Palms and Visors, meaning you might not get those slowdowns when playing pinball (darn it all!). You'll be paying an extra hundred dollars over the Palm IIIxe's price, but you'll still save over a Vx.

The Deluxe also looks nice, with the same Springboard capabilities, with the lower price and lower clockspeed. It's still $50 more expensive than the IIIxe thanks to Palm's rebate, but I was always amazed that the Deluxe was the same cost, when it had more features (included the m100's changeable faceplate, yay :-| ).

Unfortunately, I can't answer your questions about Linux interface.. I can only give details of my experiences in the handheld world.

Overall, I can personally recommend the Palm IIIxe, since it's been a dream to use, and it's on sale. However, if I was going and buying a new PDA right now, I, personally, would look into the Handspring market.

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