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| Product: Palm IIIc |
Company: Palm Computing |
| Web: www.palm.com |
Phone: 408-326-5000 |
| Platform: PalmOS 3.5 |
SRP: US$449
Street Price: $400 |
Cred Rating: | Special Award: |
The much-anticipated color Palm IIIc is here! This color version of the insanely-popular Palm Computing line is being billed as the smallest and lightest (6.8 ounces) color PDA on the market. Besides the addition of the TFT color screen, the Palm IIIc also ships with the new PalmOS 3.5 operating software which offers some improved software features (though nothing too Earth shattering).
PDA users have always had a love/hate relationship with color. On the one hand, color is...ya know...color, and a color handheld is so ... Y2K. On the other hand, color drives up the price of PDAs and the screens are notorious for sucking up battery juice. Palm Computing claims the built-in rechargeable Li-Ion battery in the IIIc provides a respectable two weeks on a charge. The new powered desktop cradle also recharges the battery while you HotSync, so if you exchange data with your PC regularly, the battery should stay charged.
The typical applications that are part of the PalmOS benefit little from color (except for a nice boost in readibility). A color Palm probably doesn't make much sense if all you're going to be doing is managing nag lists, an address book, a calendar, etc. The utility of color becomes more apparent when you look at some of the third party software that's included with the IIIc. Album to Go lets you download and view color JPEG images on your Palm, Chroma Gammon (a color backgammon game) shows off the potential of color gaming, while AvantGo's Web browser is a welcome relief from HandWeb and those other ugly, text-only Palm browsers.
The improvements to the OS include faster syncing speeds, an "Agenda view" (which shows a day's "To-Do" list and appoinments on the same screen), password-protection for select files, the ability to duplicate address records, and some other stuff which is nice, but again, nothing to beam to your mother's Palm about. Oh, speaking of beaming, there's infrared HotSync support, too.
The Palm IIIc has 8megs of RAM and 2megs of Flash memory. There's no external expansion capability (other than via the modem/docking port), and apparently, no internal expansion either(?). Foolishly, the manual has no tech specs whatsoever and there's no mention of upgrades or expansion in the index. The Palm IIIc will allegedly work on a regular Palm III docking cradle, but needs the IIIc cradle for battery recharging.
Forthcoming hardware such as Kodak's 24-bit color snap-on PalmPix digital camera ($149), and Rand McNally's StreetFinder 2000 map and navigaton software (and eventual GPS unit), will greatly increase the utility of this new handheld. In the meantime, you can impress all of your geek friends by whipping out your Palm IIIc and boasting: "Look, it's in color! How cool is that?"
- Gareth Branwyn [2/18/00]
Other select Palm gear reviewed on Street Tech:
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