Rating: 
Summary: Major design flaw: Turns itself on and drains its batteries
Review: Although the Palm m515 may have many nice features, they are all dwarfed by one huge design flaw: it turns itself on at the slightest touch. The result is that if you carry the m515 in your purse, briefcase, or pocket, the inevitable jostling will cause the unit to turn on, and the batteries will deplete within a day. This is a disaster if you travel alot, and annoying even if you don't, since if you ever forget to charge it one evening, it will be dead when you try to use it the next. Those who attribute the short battery life to the color screen, overuse, etc. are mistaken, and probably don't realize that their Palm is actually turned on for large portions of the day. Testers who evaluate battery life in a laboratory don't know the real story either. Save yourself the headache and avoid this product. There are plenty of other handhelds out there that don't require this level of attention.
Rating: 
Summary: THE BEST HANDHELD EVER!!
Review: I absolutely love my Palm M515. It is slim and I rely on it more every day. There is so much memory. I looked at other PDAs first but after looking at the beautiful color screen on the M515 and considering the memory and the SD card slot, I have never looked back. Also, the size is perfect. It fits into the smallest purse that I own and I do not have to carry an address book or a calendar or to do list. It has changed my life for the better. Yes the battery will drain faster if you use the brightest setting but I rarely need to use it. The low setting is perfect for inside and out.
Rating:
Summary: I Can't Live With Out It!
Review: I previously owned a palm Vx, which I ruined by dropping in water. I replaced it with the 515 and am very pleased. I use my palm constantly in my real estate business and can't live with out it! I love the color screen. It is much easier to read than the black and white screen on my old palm. I also like the expansion card capability. The eBook reader is a HUGE plus. I have downloaded quite a few best selling books...and love having a book to read on my palm. I can catch up on reading anywhere and can even read the lighted screen in the middle of the night with the lights off so as not to disturb my husband. I have not had any of the hot sync issues that other reviewers have mentioned. I sync almost every single day and have not had one problem. My main criticism of the 515 is the battery life. With my old Vx I could use it every day for almost a week before I would have to recharge it. With the 515, I need to recharge it almost every day. I think it is the lighted color screen that is eating up all of the power. You can switch off the "light", but then it is nearly impossible to view. Turning off the beaming function will save additional battery power. I recommend purchasing a car charger so you can power the palm on the go. I also am pleased with the hard case that I bought which keeps it from turning on and getting scratched up in my purse. Lastly you MUST buy the plastic screen protector sheets made by WrightRight. I scratched the heck out of my screen on my last palm and the protector sheets are worth every penny!
Rating:
Summary: HotSync Challenges
Review: The Palm M515 is an excellent PDA (especially with the current price reduction)except for one very important way, the HotSync with USB often does not work as advertised. After 6 weeks of faultless functioning, the Handheld started to intermittently not HotSync via the USB cable/cradle. Palm support was unable to correct the issue and stated that it most likely was a Handheld and not a software problem. This took two weeks of telephone consultations. The solution is a "new" refurbished Handheld. Three weeks later, the replacement has not arrived because it is on back order for parts. They refuse to refund my money or send me a "New" one that I know is readily available. Hence, Don't purchase the M515 because of the hardware problem inherent in some PDA's which is a well known issue and is discussed on listserves, and because Palm is not interested in rectifying the problem in a timely manner.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost perfect -- almost...
Review: Easily one of the nicest high-end PDA's manufactured -- but it isn't without it's faults. Screen resolution is not as good as some of the Sony Clie's or the Pocket PC's...but unless you absolutely NEED High Resolution, this shouldn't be a major concern. However, for what the m515 cost, it OUGHT to be included. The expandability is GREAT! However, any programs you download that are copyright protected, don't expect to be able to free up room on the internal memory by copying these items onto your expansion card. They have GOT to be able to develop a way to copy to an expansion card and void your ability to *beam* to another device thus keeping the copyright in check...this is where the 16mb standard memory really shines. That is a LOT of memory for a handheld device, but depending upon what you use it for, it sure can fill up quick if you aren't careful. I remember when home PC's didn't have much more than a few megabytes of memory and it was commonly thought that we'd NEVER need more than a few dozen meg's at MAX...well time and product development certainly shows us how fast time flies and how quickly our current devices become obsolete practically overnight. This is why I want a PDA which will remain current for as long as I need it to...I just cannot afford to keep forking out hundreds of dollars every time the newest model comes out...and I believe the average PDA user feels the same. As small as the m515 is, it has serious competition from the Handspring TREO 90. The TREO is smaller (if you can believe it) and offers pretty much the same features as the m515, all at a smaller price ... . It too has a color screen -- however it doesn't support the 65,000 colors of the m515, but to the naked eye, you can't really tell the difference...the screen color seems to be brighter in the upper right hand corner, as if that is where the light is coming from and the farther you are away, the dimmer the screen becomes. No Graffiti writing area...which MAY be a deal breaker right there after spending so much time learning how to write in the darned script, why suddenly do away with it all-of-a-sudden?? The miniature QWERTY keyboard IS an innovation -- again, depending on who you are. To each his own. 16mb of internal memory and a mmc expandable slot really gives this device a run at the solid Palm manufactured product consumer. One more thing, keep in mind the TREO screen is a bit smaller than the m515...the difference is about the same as between the m130 and the m515...again, you NEED to view this in person to get an accurate picture of this possibly major difference to fully appreciate the size. Before you make the leap of spending hundreds of dollars for this (or any) device, do your homework and for heavens sake, test drive these products wherever possible so you can see what they can do IN PERSON. Testing a product like this by just reading what it can do is NOT at ALL like having it in your hand and testing it in the *real world*. TRUST me, you will make a better decision based upon some practical use rather than going with something just 'cuz it *looks* cool. Personally I like both products about the same...but after weighing in ALL of the info, I personally prefer the TREO 90. Now if only Handspring could include JOT as a free download for those of us who can't let go of writing ON the screen...
Rating:
Summary: The palm m515 needs much work
Review: After having 3 other palms I invested in the M515 which was my first mistake. I had used my other palms to no end and they are definately one of the better products out there. However; when investing this much money on a PDA you would think that they would improve upon their product not come up with new bugs. Keeping this palm in my breast pocket turns the unit on constantly. My oldr palms had never turned themselves on. The batteries drain when using the palm for long periods of time and when connecting to my desktop the unit freezes during data transfer each time. Getting tech support from palm has also been a challenge. After three months with the above issues I am still waiting for solutions to my problems. If you are set in getting a palm I recommend their lower end units which work better and give their users less trouble. When I had My IIIx & IIIc I had no problems with the units whatsoever
Rating:
Summary: Superb device
Review: This is the best PDA I have seen yet. Massive expansion capability, light weight, excellent battery life. I have a Compaq Aero - that little machine burns through its battery far faster than this one! Remeber, battery life is also dependent on backlighting. If you want to save battery life, turn off the backlight whenever you are able. You will find the life extending far longer. Superb color, excellent apps. More utilities than CE - what more can I say.
Rating:
Summary: WHere is the Hi-res Screen?
Review: This PDA is really a high end PDA. I love my m515 but I have three complaints about it... 1.- Where is the Hi-res screen? I can't beleive Sony won the race to release this kind of screen. 2.- Batteries are an issue when you're on the go, with extended use they drain within a few hours. 3.- not being able to use 128 MB MMC, does anyone knows why you can't use a 128 MB MMC? But about the m515 itself, you get a light PDA, very well designed, plenty of room to store your programs and info, a wide variety of connections, accesories and software. Personally I prefer Palm than any other brand of Palm OS PDAs but the complaints I wrote in this review are an issue for me. I hope that Palm will overcome this and get to the market soon a Hi-res screen device, better batteries and I hope that with Palm OS 5 you will be able to use 128MB MMC.
Rating:
Summary: Great little device
Review: This is a great little device for organizing dates and addresses and phone numbers. I am a middle-aged mother of 3, daughter of one, and wife of one, who keeps calendars for EVERYBODY. I even store my octogenerian mother's lists of medications and her extensive medical records in my PDA. Every time I take her to a doctor, I need to recall her other 5 doctors' addresses and all of her medical history. I don't know how I survived all these years without a PDA! I needed a dependable PDA without bell's and whistles, but in color so I can CATEGORIZE which I love to do, and a PDA that is compatible with OS X on the Mac. It's great to go back and forth between the Mac and the PDA and be able to synchronize. I am very happy with the Palm 515, but I haven't tried anything else, so I can't really compare. Worth the $$$$? Probably not - but certainly helps simplify my already hectic life.
Rating:
Summary: Did not buy, at least not yet
Review: Well, I was set to buy but then I ran into this bit of manipulative marketing idiocy: "Find Our Unusually Low Price by adding this item to your cart. Our Unusually Low Price is so low that we can't show it on this page. To see our price, add this item to your cart. You can always remove it later."
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