Palm IIIc - Palm Inc personal digital assistant - Hardware Review - Evaluation

Home Office Computing, May, 2000 by Eric Grevstad

HOC RATING 7

* Requirements: Win 95/98/NT, 16MB RAM, 20MB hard disk space, CD-ROM drive * List Price: $449 (Mac connection kit $10) * Manufacturer: Palm Inc., 800-881-7256, www.palm.com

WHATEVER YOU WANT IN A PDA, MARKET leader Palm Inc. has it--a low price (the Palm IIIe); a sleek, ultraslim design (the Palm V); wireless e-mail and Web access (the Palm VII); or a long-awaited color display (the new Palm IIIc). The catch is that no one Palm has more than one of the above.

For $449--the same premium price as the VII--the IIIc adds 256 colors to the familiar 160 by 160-pixel Palm screen. Equipped with neither an audio jack nor a 65,000-color palette like Windows CE Pocket PCs, the new organizer is no MP3 music or multimedia video player, though it comes with a capable JPEG image viewer and fun backgammon game. Expect third-party products such as Kodak's snap-on PalmPix camera ($149) and Rand McNally's StreetFinder GPS navigator ($199) to take even better advantage of the new hues.

But the IIIc combines nice upgrades to Palm's classic calendar, address book, notepad, task list, and calculator functions (including easier access to menu commands, snooze alarms, and a combined schedule and to-do view) with the richest, most readable Palm display yet. A standard 8MB of RAM holds plenty of data.

Plus, it adds color without adding too much bulk (6.8 ounces) or draining too much power: Palm rates the unit's lithium-ion battery at two weeks' day-to-day use. Ours lasted for 7 steady hours, with screen brightness turned well up, before heading for the serial recharger/PC docking cradle. (Mac and USB docks remain extra-cost options.)

The Palm IIIc's active-matrix legibility, even more than its color, makes it a wonderfully tempting pick. But the new monochrome IIIxe, with the same software and memory upgrades for a full $200 less, makes the IIIc look like an overpriced one.

[up arrow] Top-notch PDA convenience; eye-pleasing screen

[down arrow] Costly; voice recorder and modem not included

RATINGS

HOME OFFICE COMPUTING rates products on a scale of 1 to 10--with few 9's or 10's--based on value, performance, innovation (medals go to rare standouts in these areas), ease of use, and suitability for home offices. The [up arrow] and [down arrow] symbols indicated pros and cons.