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"Which Palm Should I Buy?"

© Janice Karin

Last week I attended the monthly New England Palm Users Group (NE-Palm) meeting and listened to people asking questions of the group ranging from "Has anyone successfully IR synced?" to "Does anyone know a good scientific calculator?" Then a man asked "Which Palm should I buy?" I get asked this question a lot, but most people who attend NE-Palm already own at least one Palm and I wasn't expecting to hear it there. I replied "What do you want to use it for?" We talked for several minutes and he explained that he was a doctor. He was sick of constantly running back to his desk to look something up in the Physician's Desk Reference (PDR) and also wanted to take patient notes in a less obtrusive way. Well, the PDR is available in Palm format, but only on a Springboard module. So I told him to get a Visor Deluxe.

The answer to this question isn't always this straight forward. In this case, the man had a very specific requirement that could only be met by one type of Palm. In many cases, it comes down to which combination of the following features are important to you:

• Memory
• Non-volatile Memory
• Expandability
• Form Factor
• Battery Type
• Color
• Connectivity

Memory

No matter what you plan on using your Palm for, I can't see buying a unit with less than 8MB unless you truly can't afford one. This is particularly important if you plan to read on your Palm or use large databases. Most Palm applications are still quite small, but they are starting to creep up in size. Doc files range in size from a few KB to more than 2MB. More memory also allows for future growth or uses you haven't though of yet.

Non-Volatile Memory

Many Palm units come with 2MB of non-volatile Flash memory, some of which is used by the OS itself. You can purchase software that lets you put your own applications and data in the unused portion. Any files in Flash remain available even after a hard reset or your batteries die (after you put new ones in, of course). You can also easily update the OS of units with Flash. All Palm OS devices since the Palm III have Flash memory except Visors. Palm VIIs have Flash memory but the OS uses the entire 2MB so you cannot add your own files to Flash.

Expandability

Handspring Visors and TRGPros both have expansion slots. The Visor supports proprietary Springboard modules while the TRGPro has an industry-standard Compact Flash (CF) slot. Many Springboard modules are in planning stages - from Bluetooth to GPS to a 6-in-1 do-it-all module - but only a handful are currently shipping. CF offers less variety but provides a very cheap way to add almost unlimited memory to the Palm. If you are a heavy reader or use large databases, the TRGPro is probably the unit for you for this reason.