VisorCentral.com - Is color really worth the price?

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VisorCentral.com (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/index.php)
- Visor Prism (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=19)
-- Is color really worth the price? (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=14156)

Posted by forvisor on 04-17-2001 09:01 PM:

I can't decide if I should upgrade or stick with my deluxe that I've had for over a year now. I can get a prism for $395 on a website I found. So it color really worth the price? And how hard is the prism to read in the day light? I don't use my visor out much at all now so I don't think that would be a problem I was just wondering? I really think I would like the rechargeable battery. When I go to collage I plan to use my visor (deluxe or prism if I get one) to take notes (I already have the stowaway keyboard). Which one do you think would be better suited for doing that? I'm thinking that the prism might be, because I won't have to worry about low batteries or anything like that.

Posted by coledelphi on 04-17-2001 09:17 PM:

I second that request. I lost my VDX, played with a VPL for a while, but feel utterly tempted by the VPR. My only misgiving is the battery life. Does anyone know if it actually depletes over charges and needs to be replaced after a certain amount of time? Also, I'm certain that Handspring is about to announce a price reduction on the Prism, once their Backup module/tax package special finishes, but I don't know if I can wait!

Posted by forvisor on 04-17-2001 09:24 PM:

Well if I know my facts right the lithium Ion battery that the prism uses doesn't have any memory problems. Meaning that it shouldn't need replacing for a long time. I have heard time frames of 3-4+ years as to how long the battery will last. And by then you will probably will have upgraded anyway.

Posted by dalamar70 on 04-17-2001 10:07 PM:

I would actually NOT go with a rechargeable unit if you're worried about needing the power. It's much easier to carry some extra AAA batteries, or even buy them in an emergency, than to carry a charging cradle around (or worse yet, have to look for one).

Maybe I'm old but I'd play it safe and try your current VDx in college first before deciding. If you then want to upgrade, you'll at least have a whole collegeful of other students to sell your Vdx to! And hey maybe by that time Prism prices will drop (crossing mah fingers).

Posted by coledelphi on 04-17-2001 10:14 PM:

And as a journalist who travels to places where it's not always easy to find a power supply, that's my number one concern in owning a Prism. My trusty Deluxe served me well in nasty places with its readily available AAA's. But color is so tempting. And I'm eyeing those emergency chargers as well...

Posted by Talldog on 04-17-2001 10:28 PM:

I went from a Palm IIIc to a VIIx because I wanted wireless more than color. After 6 months I got rid of the VIIx and went with a Prism/VisorPhone because I couldn't live with grayscale any longer. I loved that VIIx, but once you've had a color screen, it's hard to go back.

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Posted by yaz320 on 04-18-2001 12:45 AM:

I like the new M505s battery life equal to that of the Vx...3 days of hardcore usage or two weeks of normal....theres a whole lotta battery in that baby.

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Posted by Matthew Nichols on 04-18-2001 02:06 AM:

The m505 supposedly has that great battery life because of the dim screen. Can you point me to a website that says 3 days of hardcore usage?

I have an emergency charger from talelight and its amazingly small, not much bigger than the 4 AAs it contains. If you have the money & want color now then get it now.

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Posted by yaz320 on 04-18-2001 02:18 AM:

quote:
The m505 supposedly has that great battery life because of the dim screen. Can you point me to a website that says 3 days of hardcore usage?

It is generally said by all the PDA sites that the m500 lasts longer then the Vx and the m505 equals the Vx...and I was reading a review and the person said their Vx lasted them 3 days of intense use, and said he was a person who writes on his PDA, games, etc....

I would take his word and draw the conclusion that it would last the 3 days.

Posted by Travis on 04-18-2001 01:09 PM:

If you're worried about battery life - skip it!

I've got a Prism & really like it, but . . .

I only get about 4 hours of hard core use.
It is utterly useless outside.
It uses a different base unit than what you currently have ( a pain if you have to use a parallel to sync)
It�s big.

So if you�re a journalist � skip it. Go with the Edge or something small & easy to carry.

Just my humble opinion.

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Posted by foo fighter on 04-18-2001 02:59 PM:

I agree with Travis. Portability may be a key factor for you. That being the case, I would recommend the Edge. You'll find its thin lightweight design much more palatable over the Prism. I wish I had mine back now! Color is very nice, but it's not worth the trade-off in size, style, and form factor. The Prism has a beautiful display (indoors only), but it has a large awkward design that doesn't fit into my shirt/pants pocket as easily as the Edge. Every time I opened my Edge in public, it would draw gawkers and admirers. You can't put a price on elegance!

If you really have your heart set on color, wait for the Palm M505. Its display is readable in all environments (indoors and out), and it lists at the same price as the Prism. Or you can do what I'm thinking of doing....buy and Edge now, and upgrade to a color Edge later this year.

Good luck!

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Posted by Gameboy70 on 04-18-2001 05:11 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by foo fighter
If you really have your heart set on color, wait for the Palm M505. Its display is readable in all environments (indoors and out), and it lists at the same price as the Prism. Or you can do what I'm thinking of doing....buy and Edge now, and upgrade to a color Edge later this year.

That's what I'm doing. I've read conflicting information on the color saturation of the screen, so I'm holding out to see it in person before parting with my cash. If the color is as dull as a few reports insist, I'll get the Prism instead.

I didn't care for the Edge myself. The concept's fine, but seeing it in person, the quality of the construction (things like the plastic rim) don't justify the $400 price tag IMO. Even the higher contrast of the screen doesn't do it for me. I write in caf�s a lot, often with poor lighting, so my main motivation for getting a color unit is for true black-on-white text, which is much easier to read. I don't find myself using handhelds outdoors very often, so that's not an issue for me. But the main short-term liability of the Edge is the lack of Stowaway compatibility, whereas the m505 has the Palm Foldable Keyboard (the same Think Outside product with a different name) shipping immediately. I'm at the point in my life where I've almost completely abandoned my beloved Vaio, and consider the Stowaway as important as the PDA itself. So no Stowaway compatibility = no sale. Of course, if and when a color Edge is released, the Stowaway for it should be available.

Posted by foo fighter on 04-18-2001 05:51 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by Gameboy70
I've read conflicting information on the color saturation of the screen, so I'm holding out to see it in person before parting with my cash. If the color is as dull as a few reports insist, I'll get the Prism instead.

I can promise you right now that colors are going to be fairly dull and lusterless on the M505. That's the inherent nature of reflective LCD displays. The iPaq uses a similar display, only much brighter, and it's screen was dull and milky. If true rich, vibrant, color saturated displays are what your pining for...the Prism will be your best choice. As for myself, I didn't care for the Prism. It has a gorgeous display, but the overall form factor is too awkward. It's big, clunky, and thick. And just like all standard color LCDs, reading the screen outdoors is all but impossible.

Regarding your comments on the Edge; suffice to say the Edge is a love it or hate it PDA. I love it! It's thin, sexy, and has a novel design. I hate the stylus, and I would much rather have the lid fold all the way back, ala M100, but it is quite nice. I still have an M505 on order, and that will most likely be my PDA of choice. I have an old 32MB MMC card lying around that I purchased when using the Casio EM-500, so it makes sense to purchase a PDA that I can put that card to use with. Which, by the way, is another fault to the Edge; no built-in expansion slot!

Is color worth the price? Depends on the price!

Color Palm apps look so much better than grayscale. Especially games. Recently I played with a friends Prism, running Zap!2016. The impact of 65k color is dramatic. It's a completely different experience from the grayscale version I am accustomed to playing. Even with basic productivity/business apps, the impact of color is felt. I looked at Adobe's new Acrobat Reader for PalmOS, and it was amazing. Much better in color than on grayscale. But color is not for everyone, especially people who use their Palm solely as a PIM.

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Posted by dalamar70 on 04-18-2001 06:02 PM:

Everybody's talking about the Prism, m505 and 16-bit color, but I think 8-bit color is fine for most non-gaming/movie apps. If a company could do a nice 8-bit model as kind of a low-end color product, I'd be in line. Something like an updated IIIc (USB support, expansion, maybe a newer battery if the IIIc one doesn't last long) for $300 or so would find a home on my desk.

Posted by hgn on 04-18-2001 06:03 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by foo fighter
buy and Edge now, and upgrade to a color Edge later this year.

Where did you hear about a color Edge? I have a Prism now and love it, but I can't wait to upgrade to a color Edge. It must have at least 16MB of RAM though, 24MB is preferrable. I have the 16MB Flash module in my Prism semi-permanently, and it's almost full now. (I keep the often-used Mapopolis maps, the True Term Spanish/English/Spanish dictionaries, the Noah Light full English dictionary, and a bunch of other games on it.) I would hate to attach a bulky Springboard adaptor to the back of the Edge permanently. HandSpring should realize that 8MB is totally inadequate now, when the Los Angeles Mapopolis map alone is over 5MB!

I have been thinking about getting an Edge for my wife, but I think I'll wait until the color version comes out. I'll definitely get one for her then, and if it has 16MB RAM, I'll get a 2nd one for myself also.

Posted by Rob on 04-18-2001 06:16 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by hgn
It must have at least 16MB of RAM though, 24MB is preferrable...HandSpring should realize that 8MB is totally inadequate now, when the Los Angeles Mapopolis map alone is over 5MB!

Okay, but you should realize that you're usage patterns are far from typical. The typical visor user probably still doesn't use anywhere near the full 8MB (although the typical VC user may - but there are only 8K of us, out of how many total users? didn't they say over a million units shipped recently?). Believe me, Handspring is not about to increase the cost of their handhelds just to satisfy 1% or 5% of the biggest power users. It's just not what HS/Palm do (same with built-in MP3 functionality).

As to the main topic of this thread, I highly recommend that you guys wait as long as you possibly can, unless money is no issue. With Palm m500/505, Sony Clie 2, HS Visor Edge, and Kyocera/Samsung PDA phones already in the water and a new TrgPRO/Handera device around the corner (and wishful thinking about a color edge sometime soon), there will likely be some significant price reductions (once production ramps up and initial shortages are overcome) and plus you will be able to read hands-on reviews to help you decide exactly what you need. If HandEra comes out with a color device, you will be able to choose from at least five color PalmOS devices: Palm IIIc, Palm m505, HS Visor Prism, Samsung [insert confusing combination of letters and numbers here], and the HandEra device. On the other hand, if you decide you don't need color, you can get some pretty good deals on a PalmV or Handspring Visor Deluxe now (but I think you already have one, don't you?)

Posted by septimus on 04-18-2001 07:04 PM:

I agree you should wait for color. If you can handle Black and White, like me, I suggest this (my) plan:

1) Get funding.
2) Wait for Edge Stowaway support
3) Wait for Tony to come up with an Edge memory upgrade
4) Get the Edge, Stowaway.
5) Buy the After-Market fully-flippable lid (Come on, somebody out there recognizes the market for this!)

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Posted by bradhaak on 04-18-2001 07:14 PM:

For what it's worth, the M505 that I saw a couple of weeks ago was perfectly acceptable under florescent light. It was very good in dim light and better than the Prism that was next to it under bright light.

I have an order for one and seeing it did nothing to make me want to cancel. Sure it wasn't as nice as the Prism under interior lights, but you could see color just fine. What I decided after the fact is that it looked to be about as bright as the Prism at 1/4 or 1/3 brightness. For me, that is an acceptable trade-off for outdoor visibility and better battery life.

Posted by forvisor on 04-18-2001 07:20 PM:

I think I will get the prism. As too when I don't know if I should wait for a price drop or what. the reasons I'm not going to wait for a color edge or get the m505 is.
1. I already have an 8 Meg flash module.
2. I already have a stowaway keyboard.
3. I don't care about the size of the prism.
4. I have a handspring sport case.
I would rather not have to buy another keyboard and I'm used to the 8 extra megs of storage. Thanks everyone for your input.

Posted by septimus on 04-18-2001 07:31 PM:

quote:
Originally posted by forvisor
I think I will get the prism. As too when I don't know if I should wait for a price drop or what. the reasons I'm not going to wait for a color edge or get the m505 is.
1. I already have an 8 Meg flash module.
2. I already have a stowaway keyboard.
3. I don't care about the size of the prism.
4. I have a handspring sport case.
I would rather not have to buy another keyboard and I'm used to the 8 extra megs of storage. Thanks everyone for your input.

If you don't care about size, then Prism is the way to go.

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