Registered: Nov 2000
Location:
Posts: 3

We're all aware of our Visors lack of flash memory, obviously. I had a Visor Deluxe. Ebay'd it when the IIIc's price dropped, then returned it and bought a Prism. I like Handspring. I don't like WinCE, and I don't like the lack of support Palm's have been seeing hardware wise, FROM Palm.

I do have one nagging question that I've been thinking I should give in and ask before I decide to keep my Prism.

OS Upgrades. We all know Handsprings stance on it. "Never needs to be done, can be done on the Springboards, can be patched, etc." Obviously, the upgrade from 3.1 and 3.3 to 3.5 has added a few new cool features, like IRsync. I'm tired, so I'm forgetting all the others, but the point is - new things were added that people liked.

Is it just me, or do all of those old Visor owners with 3.1 or 3.3 on them still have that OS, with no patches? Has Handspring just not released any patches for these unflashable units? Will they ever?

Or are we going to see, a year from now, a new Visor, with OS4.0, and not a single patch for all the current Visor owners interested in the features of 4.0.

Bottom line - The idea of zero chance of upgrading the OS is a bit bothersome. Any comments?

Registered: Jan 2000
Location:
Posts: 434

You're not likely to get many positive responses now that there are wireless issues for Visor and VDX owners. It is not just the lack of support for PQAs that disappoints, it is the lack of vendor support if you go wireless and don't have a Palm OS v3.3+ PDA.

Regarding OS patches - Handspring did release a patch to repair the bad RAM problem, and they may yet do something to improve support for wireless modem service. This might not require an OS patch, as the problem is really with the likes of OmniSky for not wanting to adapt their service for non-PQA use. Handspring may yet find a way to get OmniSky to support "legacy" Visor owners.

That said, I believed that Handsping would provide developers with a Visor PQA solution for inclusion with wireless SBMs; and I've been disappointed that this hasn't happened. The whole wireless SBM mess is upsetting because it is exactly the sort of thing that SBM technology was supposed to prevent, and Handsprings' response to this issue does not inspire confidence for the future. In fact, Handspings' behavior only underscores the fact that OS upgrades are not an inconsequential issue.

Does this mean that Visors are crap? I don't think so. We now know that we should expect zero upgradeability, and make our purchase decisions accordingly. Does this make Handsprings' offering less attractive? Certainly; and I wouldn't be surprised if this causes some buyers to look elsewhere for their next PDA.

From the above, you might conclude that I'll never buy another PDA from Handspring. Not true. I've just about got a year's use out of my VDX, and I can probably go another year with my VDX (assuming the VisorPhone works as advertised). I can't claim that I've been cheated, but I do feel like Handspring mislead me about the degree to which SBMs could upgrade the Visor. If I were in a position to do so, I would return my VDX, and replace it with a VPL; and I might do the next best thing - get what I can for my VDX (making sure the buyer knows about the limitations with the VDX), and buy a VPL.

Why not get a PDA with a flashable OS? I've invested enough in SBMs that I'm not inclined to lose that investment as well, and the VPL should have all the functionalilty AND vendor support (for the capabilities that I'm interested in) to last me for another 18 - 24 months. Also, there is every reason to believe that Palm's true next generation PDA (the one with a StrongARM CPU - aka XScale) will utilize an OS that older devices just won't run. Your flashable PDA won't help you then!

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 37

This would rock

I was talking to an employee at Palm who told me that it *was* possible to upgrade the OS on a visor using a flash card. What he said was that there was a way to trick the OS updater to load the OS into a flash memory card such as the Innopak 2/v or a 8mb handspring card. The obvious disadvantage is that with the card out the OS would revert back to 3.1H. But for people like me who leave a card in all of the time this would be an attractive alternative to buying a new Visor. Does anyone else know more about this?

Registered: Sep 2000
Location:
Posts: 107

Re: This would rock

quote:

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Originally posted by saxmatt
I was talking to an employee at Palm who told me that it *was* possible to upgrade the OS on a visor using a flash card. What he said was that there was a way to trick the OS updater to load the OS into a flash memory card such as the Innopak 2/v or a 8mb handspring card. The obvious disadvantage is that with the card out the OS would revert back to 3.1H. But for people like me who leave a card in all of the time this would be an attractive alternative to buying a new Visor. Does anyone else know more about this?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 37

that would be great...

That would be great but I think the chief problem lies in the licensing of the OS. Handspring can't just bundle the OS with every memory card because it doesn't fall under their licensing agreement. The guy also said there was something in the OS updater that wouldn't let you flash to a springboard. Not that it couldn't be done, they just don't want you to.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Cincinnati, OH
Posts: 109

Re: This would rock

quote:

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Originally posted by saxmatt
I was talking to an employee at Palm who told me that it *was* possible to upgrade the OS on a visor using a flash card. What he said was that there was a way to trick the OS updater to load the OS into a flash memory card such as the Innopak 2/v or a 8mb handspring card. The obvious disadvantage is that with the card out the OS would revert back to 3.1H. But for people like me who leave a card in all of the time this would be an attractive alternative to buying a new Visor. Does anyone else know more about this?

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