I used to have a Handspring Visor Deluxe. Due to an act of incredibly stupid carelessness (by me) it was lost. All the data is completely backed up in a Palm Desktop on my PC, so there was no actual information lost, but the loss of the device is extremely annoying and inconvenient. I encounter 3 or 4 things per day that I need my PDA for, and not having it handy is frustrating.
So I'm off to the store to buy a new PDA. My main ground rules are:
it has to cost less than $200
it has to be at least as capable as the lost Visor.
That narrows the field considerably. All the PocketPC devices are eliminated, which I don't mind in the least. My office co-workers went through a frenzy of buying iPaqs last year, and I have enjoyed a year of watching them break down one by one while my little Visor just kept working. Of the Palm family, only the Tungsten E and the two lesser Zires make the cut. So they are the field of choices. Due to the price, I am favoring the Zire 31.
Best Buy: doesn't stock the 31, only the 72. The Zire 72 in the store has severe wear on the case from handling, not a good sign. I notice the calculator in the $249.99 Zire 72 is a simple 4-function with memory, nowhere near as nice as the multi-function scientific calculator that the Visor has. Not A Good Sign.
Off to CompUSA. They have a 31 available to look at. Same 4-function calculator. Did the inclusion of the mp3 player use up all the memory that used to hold the calculator? Does anybody even want a PDA that plays music? I have a 20GB Archos that outclasses anything a PDA could do, so the mp3 player is not a buying decision item. I also notice the case on the 31 is kind of cheesy soft plastic, nothing like the Visor's hard case. Not A Good Sign. I briefly look at a Zire 21 and discover it to be a Toys'R'Us conception of a PDA. The screen contrast is so poor it isn't readable in the bright store light. In sum, a piece of crap. The 31 is a slightly nicer piece of crap. The 72 is an overpriced, over accessorized piece of crap, but I'm not looking at it anyway.
That leaves the Tungten E. At $199.95, it just makes the price cut. I turn it on to check out the ROM based apps.
No calculator. None. Not even the pathetic 4 banger that the Zires have. And the E is a cut down version of the T series, without all the whizbang stuff that makes the Ts worth having (SDIO, BlueTooth, etc). The case is definitely styling, but the guts are stripped to nothing. 32mb of memory to support 12 ROM based apps. Just how stupid does Palm think we are?
I return home, depressed. The PDAs I would really like to have are the Tungsten T3 or the Clie PEG-J33 with Wi-Fi, but at over $300, it ain't happening.
Hmm. eBay has a Visor, like new, with stylus and cradle, for buy-it-now $44.99. Problem solved. Email receipt says it wll ship within 48 hours. To Palm may I just say, "Screw You!"
Posted on November 12, 2004 12:14 PM