Expansion capacity

Rather than go proprietary as Handspring has done with its Springboard modules, or Sony with its Memory Stick, HandEra has gone with two standards for expansion. The first is SD, or Secure Digital, which also sees action in Palm's newest 50x series handhelds. SD is tiny—the size of a postage stamp—and promises to be a widely-used medium in the future.

In addition to SD, HandEra has included a Compact Flash (CF) slot. CF has made its way into just about every portable device, and while not as small as SD, it's certainly a worthy inclusion. Unlike other handhelds that support one or both expansion standards, the 330 allows you to use both a the same time. For most users, this versatility is certainly a plus.

Something that's worth mentioning here: these expansion slots add to the size of the unit whether or not they're being used. Handspring's new Edge handheld includes a clip-on Springboard adapter rather than an integrated expansion bay. This move is a smart one, because it allows the Edge to have a much smaller form factor.

Size matters when it comes to handhelds, and I wish HandEra would have included some sort of removable expansion bay instead of saddling the 330 with the extra volume taken up by the expansion docking bays. The bays don't add weight if they're empty, but they're still there taking up space. Should HandEra ever venture into the slimmer form factor of the Palm m50x or Visor Edge, I hope they'll provide expansion capacity with some sort of expansion adapter users can easily clip onto the unit. Since few handhelds have incorporated removable expansion slots, however, I really can't judge HandEra too harshly here.

Extra buttons
HandEra has chosen to deviate from the standard seven-button layout (including power) of the vast majority of Palm-based PDAs. They've added two buttons on the left side of the device, a jog dial, and an "auxiliary" button. The buttons are similar to those on Sony's Clie, but are absent from other Palm-based PDAs.

The jog dial's operation is pretty straightforward—you can roll it up or down to scroll, and depress it to select. Nifty. The auxiliary button has two functions: you can use it as an escape key of sorts, to back out of applications and get back to the main OS screen, or you can hold it down to activate the voice recorder. We'll be covering the voice recorder later, so let's concentrate on the buttons for now.

HandEra claims that these buttons can facilitate one-handed operation of the 330. That might be going a little far, but (provided you hold the 330 in your left hand) it's often faster to use the auxiliary button or jog dial than it is to use the face-mounted buttons or on-screen controls.

In my view, the inclusion of these buttons, especially the jog dial, is a no-brainer. I can't really praise HandEra's genius here because, well, everyone should be incorporating this kind of functionality into a PDA. Because of their limited screen real estate, PDAs require a lot of scrolling. Since the mouse wheel has been incredibly successful on a PC, why not include similar functionality on a PDA? I'm not quite sure why the likes of Palm and Handspring haven't included something like a jog dial on any of their models, but HandEra gets bonus points here for treading where (so far) only Sony has gone.

As I go back to my Handspring Visor Deluxe, I'm beginning to realize just how useful those extra buttons really are. It's sort of like going from a four-button wheel mouse back to a simple two-button one without a wheel. It sucks. My fingers are constantly flicking at a wheel that isn't there on my VDx. The way HandEra has things set up is perfect—if you're right-handed. As far as I'm concerned, every PDA should be following HandEra on this.

Talk to the handheld
HandEra has slipped a microphone and upgraded speaker into the 330 to facilitate voice recording. The voice recorder is activated by holding down on the auxiliary button, which is quick and easy. However, due to the nature of the 330's flip cover, the auxiliary button is covered when the cover is closed. This arrangement kills some of the convenience of using the auxiliary button to record, since the flip cover either needs to be open or completely removed.

The recording capabilities of the 330 aren't incredible, but they're quite adequate when it comes to recording a voice or conversation. Playback through the upgraded speaker is also more than adequate. The unit isn't exactly meant to be a boom box, though, so its speaker functionality is really limited to voice playback.

Because sound files can require a lot of memory, the software on the 330 lets you record directly to either the device's memory or to an SD or CF memory card. All in all, it's a pretty useful feature for making quick personal notes to come back to later. Sometimes, moments of inspiration or epiphany come when it's far too awkward to actually jot things down.