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

I had the opportunity to play with the Visor Prism while I was out doing my Christmas shopping over the holiday weekend. So, this is one VDx owner's opinion.

At first, I couldn't see the Visor Prism in the display case. With the graphite hard cover, I scanned right over it with my eyes. The sales person had to point it out to me. When I snapped off the cover, I recognized the turqoise body. I was dissapointed to see the same black power button my VDx has -- except it was flipped.

When I powered it on, I saw the typical apps screen but with catchy color icons. While the icons were colorful, their few colors didn't show me the explosion of 16-bit color I was prepared to see. So, I quickly paged through the apps trying to find the overwhelming demo HandSpring included. There was none. Finally, I simply opened up CityTime.

I was cool to see terrain shaded into the continents but also depressing to see Cuba was a mere 3 pixels. I'm not Cuban so I have no special love for the country, but it is an example of my dissapointment. With all of the fancy color power (only partially realized by looking at CityTime) the true lacking was still in resolution. I could see pixels and the gaps between them. It was like having your nose 1-inch from your TV screen.

I started to go down the checklist of the other Prism features. Rechargable: check. The "other mic" hole turned out to be a charging LED. No battery cover. I've always wanted this in my VDx and I'm almost certain Santa will be bringing me a FullCharge for Christmas.

Speed: che... uhh... What speed? Paging through the apps is hardly a way to see speed. Again, there was no whiz-bang demo app to show off its huge jump in processor speed. I can give HandSpring the benefit of the doubt, but I'd still like to see *why* it is an advantage.

Looking at the Prism next to other PDAs, it doesn't stand out that much. Physically, it looks like a Visor Deluxe with poor color-coordination. The speed seems no fatser than any other PalmOS device there. The color is no-more impressive than the IIIc's (again, because there was nothing in it to demostrate the full power of it). Then there's the PPCs with much crisper text and images.

I think HandSprign rushed the Prism to market. Poor plastic packaging, no demo apps, etc. If anything, I would've expected the genious behind HandSpring to come up with another feature like higher-resolution or better sound. Now I'm jus speaking from my dissapointing experience playing with the Visor Prism, but I hope you get my point.

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Trinition ([email protected])

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: dynamic!
Posts: 189

quote:

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At first, I couldn't see the Visor Prism in the display case. With the graphite hard cover, I scanned right over it with my eyes. The sales person had to point it out to me. When I snapped off the cover, I recognized the turqoise body.

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"Turquoise"?!**


?


Heh heh.. that may say it all. You need to put the Prism up next to the iiiC, or start playing with Paint Shop. If the retailer wants to sell the product they purchased, then they are the ones who should install the cool (enticing) software. You want a good example for comparison? Ask a computer saavy rep if they will install Zap2000 and Zap2016 on a Visor, or simply install Zap2016 on a Prism and iiiC.
You'll both notice the big difference (selling point.) It would do them a world of good. At the risk of runnning a fatal exception during the demo though? Hmm.

**May be that was the Vtech or Julio whatever its called.***
***sarcasm

__________________
"The Greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance -- it is the illusion of knowledge." -- Daniel Borstin

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

quote:

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I was cool to see terrain shaded into the continents but also depressing to see Cuba was a mere 3 pixels. I'm not Cuban so I have no special love for the country, but it is an example of my dissapointment.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: The Matrix
Posts: 718

I'm a Graphic Designer and I'm happy with VPR

I recently purchased a VPR and I am so happy with it.

It was bad enough for my Palm V & Vx buddies at work with the way I could use a Backup Module or a 8MB Flash Module on my VDX. But now they really hate me for having color.

To truly show off you VPR, you'll need to get either "AlbumToGo" http://www.clubphoto.com or "Fireviewer & Fire Converter" http://www.firepad.com (both Freeware). These apps can convert images to b/w, gray scale and even 16 bit color. And seeing how the new version of AlbumToGo supports the springboard Flash module, I can put a load of images on the external memory and not the internal.

As far as image quality goes you should resize images in a program like photoshop or paintshop and apply sharpen once to the resized image, then convert it and sync it up baby .

One of the guys at work has a Palm IIIc and even he had to admit the VPR has more colors (and it does make a difference!!)

I love my Prism. Its not perfect, but thats the technology game, there will always be something better down the road.


PS:
I have even converted AVI videos to play on my VDX and VPR and they play them just as fast as my computer.




[Edited by mikedemo on 11-30-2000 at 03:59 PM]

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: brooklyn, ny, usa
Posts: 190

Re: I'm a Graphic Designer and I'm happy with VPR

quote:

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Originally posted by mikedemo
As far as image quality goes you should resize images in a program like photoshop or paintshop and apply sharpen once to the resized image, then convert it and sync it up baby .

One of the guys at work has a Palm IIIc and even he had to admit the VPR has more colors (and it does make a difference!!)

I love my Prism. Its not perfect, but thats the technology game, there will always be something better down the road.


PS:
I have even converted AVI videos to play on my VDX and VPR and they play them just as fast as my computer.

[Edited by mikedemo on 11-30-2000 at 03:59 PM]

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I use Handspring's Photoalbum to show off photos. Until Fireviewer allows data to be sotred in my 8mb flash module, I won't be using it for much.

You used fire converter to convert the .avi's?

What did the IIIc owner have to admit? It does have more colors!

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Here
Posts: 213

quote:

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Originally posted by Trinition
Speed: che... uhh... What speed? Paging through the apps is hardly a way to see speed. Again, there was no whiz-bang demo app to show off its huge jump in processor speed. I can give HandSpring the benefit of the doubt, but I'd still like to see *why* it is an advantage.

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Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Kuala Lumpur
Posts: 247

Need to mention this:

AlbumToGo supports 16-bit colour images, but Fireviewer currently only supports images into 8-bit 256 colours only.

Firepad emailed me and said that they are working on it. I much prefer Fireviewer because of its support for large images.

[Edited by Tan Kit Hoong on 11-30-2000 at 10:24 PM]

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Tan Kit Hoong,
Star Publications (M) Ltd
<img src="http://thestar.com.my/tech/images/thestar_140x45.gif">

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: The Matrix
Posts: 718

Re: Re: I'm a Graphic Designer and I'm happy with VPR

quote:

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Originally posted by sluggo

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I use Handspring's Photoalbum to show off photos. Until Fireviewer allows data to be sotred in my 8mb flash module, I won't be using it for much.

You used fire converter to convert the .avi's?

What did the IIIc owner have to admit? It does have more colors!

[/QUOTE]

The new FireConverter comes with VideoConverter. VideoConverter only converts .avi files. It does a pretty good job.

As for you Palm IIIc owner question. He noticed the 256 color dithering on his Palm (8 bit color) when next to my Visor PRS displaying the same 16 bit color image (thosands of color).

Visor PRS is a Palm IIIc with Pocket PC Color and has expandability





[Edited by mikedemo on 11-30-2000 at 10:57 PM]

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: brooklyn, ny, usa
Posts: 190

Re: Re: Re: I'm a Graphic Designer and I'm happy with VPR

quote:

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Originally posted by mikedemo
As for you Palm IIIc owner question. He noticed the 256 color dithering on his Palm (8 bit color) when next to my Visor PRS displaying the same 16 bit color image (thosands of color).

Visor PRS is a Palm IIIc with Pocket PC Color and has expandability
[Edited by mikedemo on 11-30-2000 at 10:57 PM] [/B]

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