Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 38

Ok, Prism isn't even here yet. I found this site after trudging through the newsgroups. I ordered my Prism Monday from Amazon.

I hear problems with...
- Grafitti (Patched)
- Digitizer shift
- Cracks
- Paint
- Hacks
- Screen blink

Now my "Oh what a feeling" has been turned into a sort of "Oh what sweet hell have I gotten myself into now?"

Maybe I should have held out for the Sony Color Clie?

Ouch!

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PropellerHead

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Santa Clarita, CA
Posts: 198

The problem with discussion groups!

Aaaahhhhh, you've found the problem with discussion groups!

I've gone through the same thing with both my Visor (deluxe) and my Nokia 8260 - spend lots of money on it, get really excited about it, and then find out it's not perfect.

You have to remember to keep things in perspective: Discussion groups are for help with problems, not to go on and on about how great a product is, and to convince us that we've made the right decision.

When you've just spent lots of money on something, and you're maybe feeling a little guilty and looking for reinforcement, it's disconcerting to find problems you haven't noticed otherwise.

I've found VisorCentral invaluable in helping me with my Visor. At the same time, I've found people complaining about things that have now been brought to my attention that didn't bother me before. Does that make me sorry I bought a Visor? Absolutely not! The "pros" far outweigh the "cons". I think if you do a search, very few people have actually been unhappy enough with Visors to send them back. I also think that if you found a simmilar discussion group for the color Clie, you would find the same thing - a bunch of people nitpicking every little thing that's wrong with it. There is NO perfect product.

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Hmmmmmmmm......
<img src="http://www.michaelsmustang.homestead.com/files/bill_icon.gif">

Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 17

chill

Chill, how freaked out do you think I was, I ordered this thing in Australia. I had it shipped to a friend in NY and then fedex to me but it took almost 3 weeks because my friend was out of their office etc.

In that time I read so many bad things I was freakin, it arrived- i have been using for 2 weeks nw and it is perfect (for now anyway).

Sure things could be better like a MP3 player that didn't increase the size/weight and a digital camera that actually took reasonable photos but apart from that I'm happy.

Z

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 36

Well I've had my Prism about a week, and I absolutely love it. It's faster than my Deluxe was. It came with the updater already installed so I didn't have any grafitti problems. The screen only blinks a bit at low brightness settings, so it's your choice, good battery life or a dark, blinky screen. Mine's not cracked, the paint hasn't come off yet, the digitizer hasn't shifted yet, and I'm sure the hacks will eventually work. It's still better than any other Palm device out there. The screen is magnificent, just load up Zap!2016 and you'll see.

Waiting for OmniSky to come, that will make it even better...

Rick

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Metro Station, Hollywood and Highland
Posts: 1018

On the CompUSA display model I tried, the Grafitti was absolutely terrible. In five minutes of trying, I was never able to make a "t", getting an apostrophe instead. I have yet to read that Handspring's patch eliminates the Grafitti problems completely. I've been leary of spending $450 on a product with a major bug. Obviously, some people on this board have had zero problems with Grafitti, so it must be the luck of the draw. Of course, there's always the 30-day return policy, but I'm more inclined to wait until Handspring's QA has fully locked down this problem.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 36

It's not luck of the draw. It works fine once you add the OS patch available on the Handspring website that fixes the graffiti problem.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Texan in Calgary for a while
Posts: 1361

Put it in perspective

quote:

---

Originally posted by mchlwise
You have to remember to keep things in perspective: Discussion groups are for help with problems, not to go on and on about how great a product is, and to convince us that we've made the right decision.

---

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James Hromadka
Old Friend

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

Re: Put it in perspective

quote:

---

Originally posted by JHromadka
In one of my earlier jobs I did phone support for Gateway. I remember one of the other technicians commenting that they would never buy a Gateway. I asked him why not? 90%+ don't have any problems. We only talked to the small percentage that had a problem.

It's all about perspective.

---

Good units, Gateway. And based right here is South Dakota . My mother would be disappointed I bought a Mac.

[Edited by dick-richardson on 12-09-2000 at 02:26 PM]

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 46

Re: Put it in perspective

I have to comment on this. Your Poll is no more indicative of how many people have these issues than the message forum. I didn't see your poll, so I didn't get to vote. There's at least one vote from a Prism owner who has had some issues.

The point is, every Prism has these problems. They all have the same paint, same Graffiti bug and subsequent fix available, same screen blinking. Wether or not the majority actually voices concern doesn't have anything to do with that.


b

quote:

---

Originally posted by JHromadka
[QUOTE]Originally posted by mchlwise
[B]
In one of my earlier jobs I did phone support for Gateway. I remember one of the other technicians commenting that they would never buy a Gateway. I asked him why not? 90%+ don't have any problems. We only talked to the small percentage that had a problem.

It's all about perspective.

---

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bill s.
lead artist, the 3do company
visor prism / casio e-100
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: Burlington, VT, USA
Posts: 127

Pixelator,

Well, to a degree. However:

1) I never had any Grafitti problems even before putting the patch on. Perhaps because I turned the brightness down immediately upon getting it, after my Palm IIIc experiences.

2) No paint off mine. Perhaps you're right about them all having the POTENTIAL for these problems, but my ordered-on-day-one Prism is still pristine.

3) ..and no screen blinking either at 1/3 brightness.

The fact remains that discussion groups are 75% complaining and troubleshooting. It's pretty rare to pop up and say "mine's perfect too." No reason to do it.

You want fun? Try troubleshooting USB Activesync on a Pocket PC. Ugh.

Registered: Apr 2000
Location: Inglewood, CA, USA
Posts: 390

quote:

---

Originally posted by MicroChip
...I didn't have any grafitti problems. The screen only blinks a bit at low brightness settings, so it's your choice, good battery life or a dark, blinky screen. Mine's not cracked, the paint hasn't come off yet, the digitizer hasn't shifted yet...

---

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"Attitudes are contagious... Is YOURS worth catching?"

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 38

Well, it arrived!

The darn thing is great! I couldn't be more pleased.
Now if they would just release the Sixpack and the VisorPhone already, I'd be living in a perfect world.

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PropellerHead

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Nazareth, PA
Posts: 99

Look at how many people are registered and then look at how many are complaining about problems with any of the units and you'll see the point mchlwise was trying to make.

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