Originally Posted by lkendall
8/27/01

The HandEra 330 can also use multimedia cards in the SD card slot. This improves its functionality. Many people may already have multimedia cards used for their digital cameras or camcorders.
The HandEra also includes software to backup the palm to an expansion card. Eight megabytes can be backed up in seconds. This is nice to do before loading software to the unit. That way, if things go wrong (as they frequently do) one can restore in seconds from a memory card.
Most programs can be run from a memory card, thus saving the precious 8megs of internal memory. The program is copied into RAM in order to run. But, data bases can only be read from the card, but not written to. This is a big drawback to really making use of the expanded memory of your card. This drawback may be fixed when Palm OS 4.0 becomes available for the HandEra.
With a card reader, data can be placed on the card directly from the computer, and moved to the HandEra using software that is loaded on the unit. This is an easy way to install programs, but it doesn\'t sync data with the Palm Destop software. Now, if someone can write software to sync with the desktop using a memory card, the Hand Era could sync with a computer as fast or faster than USB.
I have moved wave files to my HandEra this way and played them on the device. Mono 8 sounds best and at a low volume. This is not a replacement for MP3. I have also moved JPG files to the palm to be displayed by a JPG viewer. It is a way to carry family pics, I guess. I cannot think of why I would want to use a lot of memory for WAVs and JPGs.
My old Palm IIIx was unsuable in the dark. My eyes are not so young anymore. The HandEra can easily be read in the dark. It does eat up battery power, but with rechargable batteries this is no great tragedy.

Lonnie Kendall
lkendall*infoave.net

Good review. The auxilliary button is covered because they don't want to start recording when the thing is in your pocket.

There used to be problems with the softcases and the Palm III where you would put it in your pocket or bookbag or briefcase and it would be dead when you took it out because the backlight had been on the whole time or some such other nonsense.

To give another example: I often get calls from my friend's pocket. He forgets to lock his cellphone and it calls me for fun and leaves 5 minute messages on my machine of inside pocket sounds. ;) Ahh... the life of a cell phone.

IMHO the author was a little harsh on the bundled software size as its clearly the users choice to install them via the CD. The way the arcticle was worded gave the appearance the users had little initial choice. In reality this strays from reality. As was mentioned it is rather painless to un-install them if you wish.

When you consider the Handera has freeware (AutoCf) which allows you to run applications directly out of Compact Flash you truly have none of the legacy issues with bloated applications, you simply move them to CF and run them from there.

Originally Posted by Eric S
First, to answer a few questions I\'ve seen here:

The screen does look sharper than the Vx. It\'s the sharpest monochrome PDA screen I\'ve seen, and I like browsing the electronics stores.

The Sony API was written to make it easy to port programs and enhance them in specific areas. The HandEra API has a helper function or two to allow similar ease, but also is more forward-looking in its design. However, they just about went in opposite directions in how to go about similar functionality (I like the HandEra method better, personally). The CLIE\'s strong point is that it is multiplying the pixels by 2 rather than 1.5, so bitmaps that don\'t know about the HandEra will tend to look better on the CLIE.

Second, I have a few minor disagreements with the author, though for the most part I liked it.

I don\'t think the expansion slots added to the size of the 330. If you look at it edge-on, you\'ll realize that the thickness is dictated by the thickness of the screen plus the batteries. They\'d have to ditch the AAA capacity in order to make it thinner. I dont\' mind the size anyway, it\'s only 1/3 an inch wider than the Sony, and just about the same height and thickness. I can see where width might be an issue, but the thickness doesn\'t affect how you hold a PDA much. Personally, I don\'t like the V/m50X form factor, so I like the 330 just the way it is.

The review seems to contradict itself by both praising HandEra for being hardware compatible with the Palm III line and knocking it for not supporting USB. With the PIII cradle connector, there\'s no place to put USB signals, so the only way it could be done is by either converting the existing signals to USB, which still bottlenecks at serial port speeds, or make the USB cable plug in somewhere other than the cradle.

One point that wasn\'t mentioned and favors the CLIE in the HandEra vs CLIE debate is that Sony did the jogwheel better. The HandEra jogwheel isn\'t really a wheel. You can push it up or down, and if you hold it it will repeat, but there\'s no more motion. Also, the CLIE jogwheel can be pushed in, then rolled up or down. I\'m not sure what you\'d use that for, but I\'m sure that someone will come up with a good use for it.

I don\'t mean to sound like I\'m dismissing the Palm and Visor lines, but the CLIE and the HandEra are where innovation is happening in the PalmOS market right now.

Originally Posted by AdamLongWalker
Intersting article but I\'ll stick with my Handspring Visor Platinum

Originally Posted by dissonance
I wish there was a standard for accessories. Handspring has its Springboard, there\'s CF, and now SD, and those are all great, but I want a standard for something like keyboards.

Palm has a new connection standard in that respect, and it\'s apparently going to be using it for a while, I just wish Handspring, Sony, etc... would pick up on it.

Originally Posted by Kyzoku
Course, if you want a PalmOS PDA that has a high resolution screen and can play MP3\'s, go with the newer Sony Clie. It\'s got a 320x320 screen (no nifty on-screen graffiti area though), and it\'s color. My boss has one, and he hasn\'t had any problem with battery life (it\'s got a rechargable lithium ion.) I\'m not sure if it can record or not.

The big downside though is that there arn\'t many external devices for the Clie, since they have yet another form factor for Palm. I think it was pretty smart of HandEra to keep the III\'s form, since it probably has the most extras available for it.

Originally Posted by dissonance
My point was that HandEra has been the first to introduce these to the Palm platform. Anyone can add a high res screen, voice recording, etc... to a PPC platform which has far beefier hardware, and pathetic battery life to boot. But, HandEra is the first to introduce these things to the Palm platform while retaining the advantages of battery life, etc...

Being that the 330 is focussed on business, I think the AAA battery option is actually better standard than a battery pack. Business trips, and work in the field can leave you in the cold if you have nowhere to recharge your batteries. At least with standard support for AAAs, you have the option to pop in batteries to your heart\'s content. If they had gone with the rechargable battery pack standard, they might have lost out on the convenience of the AAA backwards compatibility. Or, perhaps, the battery pack just wasn\'t ready on time ;)

This is a PDA, and one for business, hence there is no MP3 support. A headphone jack would have been nice, but the voice recording here is really only for quick notes, not full lectures.

Originally Posted by loie
dis, I still like the Palm V\'s sharpness and readability at various angles and in sunlight. The 330\'s hi-res screen on a Palm V\'s would be unbeatable.

BTW, is it just me or did the author ignore the fact that the 330 has many of the features of PPCs, but in a PalmOS? Handera hasn\'t invented anything here, but I certainly commend them for bringing most of the good PPC features to the better (imo) PalmOS.

I\'ve got a Jornada 545, and I love it. Considering that both the 330 and the HP 545 go for $350, I don\'t see the value of Handera\'s offering. Palm fanboys and M$ haters will probably think this is the best thing ever, but PPC has still got the one-up.

Here\'s what it\'s lacking: No headphone jack (not that i could see anyway). I love my jornada for MP3s, and lecture recordings play much better through headphones. Yeah, it sucks up battery power like you wouldn\'t believe, but one charge in the 545 still lasts about 6 hours (about the same as 2 AAs in my CD player). Also, I would have liked to see a built-in recharge battery, although offering an accessory is nice of them. The Palm V\'s charge lasts a LONG time, easily enough for several days of normal usage. While I agree that \"field users\" may not have access to a recharge cradle, I can\'t envision many Suits needing his PDA for studying lions in the African plains (my first thought of what they meant by \"field usage\", don\'t ask).

Even so, I\'m still impressed with this thing. Handera may not have thought any of it up, but hey... if they can implement it well, more power to \'em. They\'re headed in the right direction at least, and if they can avoid absolute stagnation like Palm Inc, Handera might be my choice when Jornada has run its course.

hey diss, how would the old backlight sap more power when all the backlight does is just blanket the field with light, with the dark pixels subracting from it? Personally, I find the new backlight to be rather obnoxious, as there is a distinct (and highly annoying) light leak between the "dark" pixels on the new backlights.

Originally Posted by dissonance
It\'s a non-reversed backlight. Think old Palm III backlights. I find it far easier to read in the dark, though it likely saps more battery power.

As for the screen, the Palm V\'s is 160x160. The HandEra is 240x320. Do the Math ;) The HandEra\'s screen whups the Palm V easily. Not that the V isn\'t readable, but the resolution makes things on the HandEra much [i]mor/i] readable.

No idea what the API is for writing for the larger screen. I\'d assume that it would be similar, though.

Graffiti is weird, I guess. Personally, I like it, even the E. But it\'s not for everyone. My guess is that when Palm moves to beefier processors, they\'ll be incorporating handwriting recognition.

You\'re nuts if you try to use a stylus to enter a lot of text, though. Keyboards rock ;)

Originally Posted by Kyzoku
Is the API for writing high-res apps on the Handera the same as the API for the color Sony Clie?

Great review. It looks nice. The higher rez and removal of that graffiti pad area fixes two of the biggest flaws of the palm platform. But it is kinda expensive for a palm. I think you could get more out of $350.

Unfortunatly, for me the graffiti system is an insoluable problem. I absolutely hate it, and for just one reason: the E. What moron decided to make the e be written as a capital E??? I couldn't believe it. The most common letter in the whole damn alphabet, and they make you write it in the more difficult way. Ugh. If I ever get a mobile, it will be a pocketPC. I can live with the battery life being low... Having the computer learn my writing is a huge advantage over a platform that forces me to use its stupid non-recognition scheme.

They have a special going on that adds a 16MB CF card for $10 more. I like the features, especially the screen, but I think the Palm III form-factor is still a little cumbersome for something to be carried around everywhere.

As for the screen: how does it compare in legibility to a Palm V? When you discuss a "retro" backlight, do you mean it's not a reverse backlight?

Another thorough review from one of my favorite tech sites. Thanks.

Jebus Rice! I don't know what the world's coming to! Next we'll ditch the graphs or somethin!!

Panic!

wow! a picture on tech-report front page!