Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

Help on new handheld.

Looks like I should be receiving a nice bonus check from my job and I would like to get a second PDA to compliment my Prism. I don't really want to spend more than $300 on one. My Prism right now does everything for me and has been a real blessing. I'd really like to get the Handera 330 (resolution, SD/CF) or an Edge or a pretty smoke neo. This secondary handheld would act as a not only a backup for me but also something that I can carry around EVERYWHERE. A visor would be a plus since then I can use my modules in the new one, however the features of the Handera would compliment my prism very nicely whereas the Edge would be a worthy PDA to carry around.

Enough rambling...

What are your thoughts?

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You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Sep 2001
Location:
Posts: 35

The smoke visor neo isn't in the least big pretty =(

The pictures are 100x better than the actual unit =(

I don't know about the rest, but I personally think the HandEra's a piece of junk and the Edge is very nice.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

The edge would be very nice to have, I LOVE the form factor and the case, I just don't like the lack of accessories. I can't use my stowaway with it. But it would fit VERY nicely in my pocket and would be nice to carry with me at work.

Why do you not like the Handera?

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You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Feb 2001
Location:
Posts: 447

Re: Help on new handheld.

http://www.transplantcomputing.com/mof15/handera.htm

A Handera for $300 exactly.

Registered: Feb 2001
Location: Them Twin Cities
Posts: 1758

If you're looking for portability, Edge is it. More so than the m500, IMO, because the thing is rock solid. You can keep it in your back pocket, the soles of your shoe, whatever. It takes it and still gives youa smile when you turn it on.

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 43

I got the HandEra for $266, nyeeeah! ^_^

Dell is selling them for $333, and if you get there via the small business link on their front page, you can get 20% off. At least, you could do this on Friday. I ordered Friday afternoon and received it Monday afternoon, which is really good for ground shipping. Total price after taxes (yeah, Dell, charges taxes, yecch!) and shipping costs was under three hundred.

I have a MemPlug CF on my Prism, so I can use my CompactFlash card (128MB) with either PDA, which is nice. Both PDAs point to "/Palm/PiDirect" as the directory from which to run apps on the card. I still need to figure out how to use VFS. I mean, I don't know which directories to put data files so that these apps can read them! :/

I have learned that the Prism colour screen *is* better for reading text in some circumstances (black on white instead of black on pea green helps a bit), but reading on the HandEra in total darkness is very good.

The backlight on the HandEra seems to use a *lot* less power than the lighting that the Prism uses. I had this PDA on all day yesterday and about two or three hours of that time was with the backlight activated, and I'm still at 83% power! The on-screen keyboard is fantastic (HandEra provides a freeware program that allows you to replace the graffiti area with a keyboard, so it doesn't take up any more space than that, which is nice; also, you can optionally do graffiti while the keyboard is in place!). This thing has eight fonts instead of the usual four (basically, it has the regular four fonts and four fonts which are the same but are about 50% bigger; these last four are about the same physical size as the fonts on 160x160 Palm devices). My spreadsheets look awesome when opened in portrait mode with the silkscreen minimized and the smallest font selected.

The voice recorder is nice. You hold down the "aux" button on the side of the device (above the jog wheel) and it records what you say into a .WAV file. The only annoyance here is that when the flip cover is closed, the record button is covered, which is annoying since voice recording would be the only reason for which I'd use the PDA when the cover is down!

There's some other interesting pluses and minuses. I'm certainly keeping my Prism around, especially since I don't yet have the Li-ion module or the AC adaptor for the HandEra.

BTW, you can change what the silkscreen looks like. When you associate an app with a silkscreen button, it changes the button to the icon of that app. For example, since the HandEra's calculator sucks total arse (one of Handspring's graces are that they use the Parens calculator, which should be required by law to be included in every PDA), so I replaced that 'button' with my spreadsheet app, and now the icon for that app is at the button that used to be a picture of calculator operators. Also, there's a neat hack which alters the graffiti border to continuously show system information (like free space and battery level).

Neat stuff. ^_^

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

Thanks John Cholewa!

__________________
You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

Looks like if I order today I could get one for 20% off (so an edge would be $240 and the handera $266) plus free shipping and no tax for CA residnets

__________________
You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 43

Oh, by the way....

I don't recall whether or not I noted this in my earlier message (yes, I *am* too lazy to read it!), but Compact Flash accessories are a lot cheaper than Springboard accessories and a lot more available. You can get a 10/100 ethernet module for the HandEra for around sixty bucks, whereas ethernet capability for the Visor family (using ethernet cradles, which I think are limited to 10mpbs) bottoms out at two hundred (and they don't support the Prism yet!). Wireless ethernet for the Prism normally costs $300, but you can get it for $240 if you act now. Wireless ethernet for CompactFlash? More like $140 (though I'd have to double check with HandEra to see that it works with the 330). I'm going to take a leap of faith and suggest that the same pricing behavior applies also to GPS and barcode scanner modules.

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

This secondary handheld doesn't need to do everything for me.. My Prism does that. If it's already a brick why not make it more of a brick and have it do tons of stuff. I jsut wnat something that I can easily carry with me. The handera is very appealing. I'll have to look into it's CF expandibility options. I've already got gps, mp3, and a keyboard for my prism so I think the only thing I might want with a second pda would be wireless ethernet/bluetooth.

__________________
You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

Made my decision...

I bought the Handera 330 from Dell. I figure that having a second one that has expandibility that's not springboard will allow me to do more with pda's Plus the resolution and other features compliment the gorgeous screen on my prism. My excuse for it will be that I need to help me write programs for higher resolution handhelds. Plus it was $229 w/ free shipping :-D Can't beat that when yesterday they were $350

__________________
You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 43

Aargh! And to think that I paid almost $300 after shipping+tax on Friday!

It's too bad that I'm too lazy to return it and then order a new one. <g>

Keep in contact with me. We both have a combination of Prism and HandEra. I'd like to share notes as to how to use them together optimally.

BTW, I'm on 68% power now and it's been about 48 hours since I got it (I use it very frequently).

Registered: May 2001
Location: Chicago
Posts: 236

Dude get the Visor Edge....it fits so nicely in your pocket and leave no unsitely buldges!!!!

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

Problem with the edge is that the only feature it has that my prism does not is it's form factor. Yes that would be nice but the Handera has features that I cannot get with my prism and therefore is a very good compliment to it.

__________________
You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

Why do you need two PDA's?

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

I'll be using the Handera to help me beta test programs on non visor devices. I like the features too.

__________________
You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 43

What do you code with? I occasionally play with Falch.net Developer Studio (C++) for my PDAs. ^_^

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

I like falch.net it jsut has poor memory management. And codewarrior confuses me

__________________
You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

Got the Handera a few days ago. I must say that "WOW" came out of my mouth so many times in the few short hours after opening the box and putting in the batteries. LED alarm, Voice recording, soft graffiti, true backlight, high res(WOW!), SD, CF, Flashable OS.

This WILL NOT replace my prism. My prism is still my primary PDA it's now used to do everything and my Handera is used to develop new apps and to carry everywhere with me. WHereas the Prism will tag along in my backpack with its stowaway and minijam and then used when those are needed.

__________________
You know it's bad when your Calculus Professor uses the word "Unpossible"

"It's a long way from my thoughts to what I'll say, It's a long, long way from paradise to where I am today." -Switchfoot, Home