Registered: Jul 2001
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 47

The end of the Prism

Hello,

Now that the Prism will probably be discontinued in a few weeks, I wonder what this means to present owners...
What will be the effect of all this to the service? Can a damaged Prism still be repaired or replaced? I wonder if Handspring and its worldwide servicecenters will still carry spare parts for a while, like screens etc.
I never upgraded to another type of PDA and I wonder if the Prism's successor (Treo?) still can handle my springboard modules, like the MemPlug CF adapter. What will happen to my data? Can it be converted?
It was very hard to get a Prism on the Dutch market, since they were hardly in stock. Now it will disappear completely I get a bad feeling about this....Maybe I should get a spare Prism...;-)?

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1062

I plan to use my Prism with springboards for a long time. Then, when it has finally died, purchase a new device. I hope that Handspring will have another PDA by then, as I am not really interested in merging my Phone and PDA a la Treo.

Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Washburn University in Topeka, KS
Posts: 450

Just as a side note, Handspring from the beginning pledged to keep support on their devices for 10 years, not cutting it out as soon as it was discontinued (Palm would not make the same pledge). And if your Prism breaks or fails, you should be able to get a new one, I got a new Visor Deluxe a couple months ago though those were discontinued at the beginning of the year...

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

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Originally posted by terrysalmi
Just as a side note, Handspring from the beginning pledged to keep support on their devices for 10 years, not cutting it out as soon as it was discontinued (Palm would not make the same pledge). [...]

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Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Washburn University in Topeka, KS
Posts: 450

Unfortunately, I don't know a source, but it is one of the comments that convinced my dad to buy an early Visor Deluxe (which he still has)...

Can anyone back me up on this? If not, I'm sorry...but this is what I have heard.

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Registered: Nov 2000
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 201

Re: The end of the Prism

quote:

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Originally posted by Lex Kamphuis
I never upgraded to another type of PDA and I wonder if the Prism's successor (Treo?) still can handle my springboard modules, like the MemPlug CF adapter. What will happen to my data? Can it be converted?

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What do you think, Sirs?

Registered: Jul 2001
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 47

Answer from Handspring about possible end of Prism

Hello,

I mailed Handpsring support about the servicing the Prism after it's possible end. Below is their answer:

-->

Thank you for contacting Handspring Technical Support.

We understand that you have some concerns about the servicing of your Visor Prism. You one year warranty will be honored and we will continue to support the unit as long as possible. We are not sure where you got the information from about the discontinuation of the Visor Prism. We will continue to make
and sell the Prism and other Visor models as long as there is a demand for them. We are not aware of any upcoming products that are designed to replaced the Visor Prism.
Your will be able to easily retrieve your data should you decide to upgrade your Visor Prism to another Palm OS device in the future. Transferring the data with a non-Palm OS device may be a bit more tricky.

Regards,
Kemal
Handspring Technical Support

<---

Well.....I don't know what to make out of this...Kind of a diplomatic answer.......The last lines do suspect a successor to the Prism.

Registered: Feb 2002
Location: Washburn University in Topeka, KS
Posts: 450

Handspring cannot let you guess like that on future products - it is completely nonexistent until an official release...they don't want people waiting because they said there 'might' be a future release to the Treo....

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Friends don't let Friends vote Democrat
Victory 2002 - Republicans Win Control of the Senate
Now onto Victory 2004 - FOUR MORE YEARS

Registered: Jun 2001
Location: Tucson, AZ
Posts: 108

My vendor that I order Handspring products from still has well over 2000 in stock. They do not show up as being discontinued. Our little Prism is approaching two years old (I think it's birthday is in September, but I could be wrong) - It is probably nearing its end-of-life. I am hoping that Handspring will make a "higher end" version of the new Treo 90 as a replacement. I probably won't buy one myself (to heavily invested in Springboards), but I think the form factor and keyboard will be a great selling point to my customers.

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Registered: Jun 2002
Location:
Posts: 1

Repaired units

Hi,


I work at a repair center for handspring products.
THey say they will support the units for up to ten years, but I want to know with what parts. The visor deluxe unit's parts are discontinued and parts are being repaired in house in our motherboard department. Same with the prism units. We haven't received any TREO units so I am cusrious if we are losing the contract. Oh well I thiught I would shed some light.

Registered: Oct 2001
Location: Duluth GA
Posts: 26

Come on...

Until we see a NEW handspring unit that is an improvement over the Prism and/or Pro WITH a Springboard, then the Springboard is DEAD! They are so stuck on the Treo it is sickening to us who've invested in the other line.

When was the last time you heard of somebody investing in developing a NEW springboard? Every since HS little flip-flop at the first of the year, their developers have been dissappearing. With that kind of leadership, no one is going to continue developing for them...

I hate being negative but they've really upset me lately by their lack of response and no-comment comments about the future of Springboards...

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Mark Brinkman aka OMNITRON
My PDA??? - Visor Prism with Memplug CF and 128MB card

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Alive and well on VisorCentral.com
Posts: 861

All of this nonsense from Handspring is enough to make you go out an buy a PocketPC machine...

Treo's -- bah humbug..

I'd like to know what they were smoking when they came up with the idea of replacing the Visor line with the Treo.

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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: New York, New York
Posts: 560

quote:

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Originally posted by EricG
All of this nonsense from Handspring is enough to make you go out an buy a PocketPC machine...

Treo's -- bah humbug..

I'd like to know what they were smoking when they came up with the idea of replacing the Visor line with the Treo.

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__________________
Felipe Garcia
Happy Treo 600 user, so far. Thanx Cingular for having an unlocked phone.

My Treo 600 is my phone, my PDA, my watch, and my MP3 player. Oh yeah, I take a picture once in a while with it. Convergence is such a great thing.