Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 17

I've been leaning toward Visor as a first PDA b/c its still a better machine than anything Palm has in the $300 range even after the price drops.

BUT... I haven't ordered yet b/c I'm concerned about the Handspring service. I've been so unimpressed so far I wonder what's next? What happens if there's a bug in Visor - how long will they take to fix it, etc..

So I ask you veteran PDA users: will I really be dying for 8MB soon instead of 4? Will it kill me if I use a GPS system w/4MB? Are the Palm III's really so slow that the faster Visor will be a big difference? If not, I'm tempted to go for less PDA with proven quality and service from Palm...

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 13

One of the nice things is that with the Visor you won't have to necessarily worry about how much RAM you have for a GPS system--the GPS Springboard can more-than-likely have internal storage for handling extra storage requirements. With the Palm XXX you're pretty much stuck with what they give you.

I'm liking the GPS Springboard module that is planned for the Visor--all-in-one, no need for a second system for getting the data to you.

My reason: price, ram, USB, and (ashamedly as I HATE the iMacs for this reason) the really cool colors.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 90

I went, very rapidly, from "sort of vaguely interested in buying a PalmPilot" to "Oh my god, I need one NOW!" But the price was a real stumbling block. I had seen a profile of Donna Dubinsky on the news months ago...and vaguely remembered something about her heading a new company...and then I saw the announcement of the Visor on Wired.

I have a personal and professional need to get organized (I share your pain, mpenza - I forgot my dad's birthday 6 years ago and I still feel unbearably guilty about it.) My job keeps getting more and more complicated, my friends and family move a lot (making my address book a mess), and I've been traveling more for work, meaning that juggling the appointment book and the to-do list and the address book are a colossal pain. I keep buying new dayrunner type things and never using them because they are either too big to carry or too small to be useful.

* Price was the NUMBER ONE reason for choosing Visor.
* More RAM means the machine is more future-proof than the Palm I could afford.
* The colors are cool (I'm pro-iMac).
* USB is neither here nor there but I'm sure I will come to appreciate it.
* Ditto the Springboards. Don't need it now, but I'm sure it will be no time at all before I wonder how I ever lived without it.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Baltimore MD, USA
Posts: 717

Price was for me the straw that broke the camel's back. I have always wanted a Palm Pilot, and my distaste for Micro$osft ruled out getting a Windows CE machine. I knew that I wanted much more than a miserable 2 Megs of RAM. But it was the Springboard that really set the hook into me. And after I ordered my green Deluxe, I found a link to Quartus Forth, a native program development system. We shall see if my wild enthusiasm survives my first actual encounter with a physical Visor...

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: newport, ri, usa
Posts: 8

Interesting thought Jon...
Thats the direction I took after watching all this for a week. I'm a first-time user(see my topic entry "choices"). Frankly I could not see any significant difference between the VX and the IIX. yes, of course there are some differences, but not enough to make me wait in line for a brightly colored IIX with some more memory...so I went for a new IIIx. Hell, it looks like its gonna take me a year just to figure out how to use it. Visor should have everything shaken out by then, but so might Palm. I think this one of those occassions where it is a win/win for the consumer. mick "bluetech"

Registered: Sep 1999
Location:
Posts: 61

I would have to agree with you it is a win/ win situation. While Handspring has released the Visor lowering Palm prices and bringing new hardware, Palm is lisensing and developing the OS (for itself and others - Handspring, Apple, ...) and improving some of the "old" standby devices (Vx). So starting now and only growing with time the users out there are going to have a choice of Palm OS devices in different configurations, with different features and at different prices.

Thankfully, my Pilot 1000 is still going strong (3 years +) so I can hold out for a little while longer and see what else shakes out before my next Palm device.

jonpod

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 82

springboad---plain and simple... I think many on these info boards are grossly underestimating the impact of this expansion portal.. for proof just glance at some of the very inovative new springboards displayed at infoworld!

Registered: Oct 1999
Location:
Posts: 41

You know, for me it is mostly the company - Handspring. I have read so many comparisons across platforms, and to be honest, other than the obvious price and memory advantages, I think Handspring will continue to focus on hardware development, whereas 3com (or whatever they call the new palm division spinoff) will put most of their efforts into OS.

Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Somewhere in the wilds of New England
Posts: 65

My timing was great. After forgetting three birthdays in September (d'oh!), I decided I needed a Palm Pilot. Was gonna get a Palm IIIx, but then saw about the Visor on ZDNet and compared the two for a day or two before realizing the Visor was significantly better for the following reasons ...
1) Price (important to me)
2) Speed and RAM
3) The Springboard

After considering these three, I wondered how anyone could even think about getting a Palm... the Visor seems like such an obvious choice (IMO).

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Registered: Oct 1999
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 67

I had finally decided to get a PDA, my first shot was at the Royal daVinci because of cost. It hooked me, but it is useless to me because it cannot sync with Win NT. So I'm returning it as soon as I get my visor. I choose the visor over the palm because of price, ram, and springboard potential.

Registered: Sep 1999
Location: ME, USA
Posts: 46

I guess my story's like a lot of other folks'...

I use Outlook both at work and at home, but the only way I've been able to synch the two is through Task Requests and e-mails (too labor-intensive). So I thought I'd pick up a IIIx to automate things and to be more mobile (you should see how many Post-Its I have scattered here and there!)

But, like a number of other folks, I happened across the Visor announcement just as I was getting ready to buy the IIIx; it was a hard decision, but the Visor won out because of:

1) Price
2) 8MB vs 2MB (yeah, I know about the Flash card for the IIIx...see #1 above.)
3) The Springboard
4) (sheepish grin)...it's NEW! After all, what "geek" doesn't want the latest and greatest stuff...got caught up with the Sharp Wizard line a few years back, and it looks like something similar might be happening again!

Chuck