Rating: 
Summary: Palm M505 Color
Review: From reading the reviews regarding the quality of the 505's color screen, I was apprehensive about my purchase. I'm an Engineer on a major US railway and I was worried about the readability of the screen in our locomotives. Never fear, it works great. I am very pleased with this model Palm and I highly recommend it to anyone in the business that has thoughts about buying it. Now, I leave home the heavy catalogs I once carried. My pockets are much lighter now, too. The Palm 505 has replaced my old address book and Engineer's Time Book. It's made my work-life much nicer. The expansion card is great add-on as well. It was bundled with my Palm when I purchased it from Amazon.com. I keep pictures of my wife and kids stored in the Palm. They don't get torn up like they did in my wallet! There are too many other wonderful features to be listed here. Try it for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: COMPARED THEM ALL AND M505 WAS STILL THE BEST
Review: I LOOKED AT THE IPAQ, SONY, AND HANDSPRING. AFTER LOOKING AT ALL THE PLUSES AND MINUSES FOR EACH ITEM YOU CAN'T BEAT THE M505. THE COLOR SCREEN WAS ONLY LITTLE MORE AND DOES THE JOB. I AM WILLING TO ACCEPT THE OK COLOR (5 STARS IF COLOR WAS A LITTLE BETTER) FOR LONGER BATTERY LIFE AND THE SLIM SIZE. THE SCREEN IS STILL BETTER THAN BY OLD IIIX AND THE TRANSFER TO MY M505 WAS SEAMLESS. THE PALM OS IS EASY TO USE, HAS LOADS OF SOFTWARE, AND I EXPECT PLENTY OF STUFF FOR THE EXPANSION SLOT. PALM SERVICE HAS BEEN VERY GOOD IN THE PAST. THE M505 IS AN EXCELLENT PDA AND AN OUTSTANDING VALUE.
Rating: 
Summary: Its OK, really, but not a dream... I still love it
Review: Once I owned a Psion 5mx Pro...
now I own a Palm m505...
now I'm happier than I was before.
TRUE IS: not that great color
TRUE IS ALSO: great availability of software
TRUE IS, ALL THE MORE: Palm = EASY TO USE (few window layers!!!)
I work as a "techie" all day... don't need more tech
problems!!! who does? Palm is NOT PERFECT, but the BEST CHOICE.
KEY = USABILITY++ (but don't forget to SYNCH! you may lose data!)
Rating: 
Summary: What's with that screen??
Review: I must say that I'm VERY dissapointed with the m505. I've onwed Palm III and Palm Vx before, and never thought that I will be switching, however when it came time to upgrade (just last week,)I had a chance to compare the Sony Clie 610C ... and the m505 side-by-side. This should be recommended to everybody before they purchase the m505, because the Sony screen is SO MUCH BETTER. It is actually bright, you can see colors clearly, it is great outdoors, and has 320x320 resolution as oposed to m505's standard 160x160. The detail, sharpness and brightness of the Sony are simply in a different category.To sum it up, shame on you Palm for selling the MOST ... Palm OS based PDA that has such a poor screen.
Rating: 
Summary: PLEASE READ THIS if you're thinking of BUYING a PALM m505
Review: When I go through Amazon.com to read reviews, I always ignore the 5-star reviews and go straight to the 1 to 2-star reviews. I already know what's good about the product, that's what commercials and tech specs from the manufacturers are for. I wanna see what people DON'T like about the product. To see if many people notice and dislike the same things, and decide if the suggested Cons are enough to turn me away. I gave this product a 1-star in hopes of getting your attention so that you would READ MY REVIEW. In actuality, I give the palm m505 FIVE STARS! Check out my breakdown below: Screen ' Many people have been complaining about the dim screen. It's NOT THAT BAD! The screen is a little dim, but under normal lighting conditions, it's very acceptable. And if you're ever in the dark, turn on the Backlight and your whole screen lights up, including the graffiti area!!! Also, the screen doesn't become inverted like on the older Black and White screens! It stays true to the colors and looks amazing. This screen is 16-bits, which means it can show, at any given moment, 65,000 colors simultaneously! That's better than the newly released Gameboy Advance by Nintendo! Battery ' Lasts! After about 60 hours of regular use, my battery didn't even go below the halfway mark. It charges fast and maintains the charge much better than the Vx's Lithium Ion battery. Palm also states in their user's manual that even if you let your palm drain to the point that you can't operate it anymore, it still holds enough of a charge to keep all of your stored information alive for over a week! 4.0 Operating System ' on the surface, the new OS looks about the same as the preceding 3.5. But the best feature so far about the new 4.0 OS is the ability to use the Graffiti Area and on-screen Keyboard at the same time! I love that about this palm over my old Vx. Pen ' the Vx's pen was a piece of light... plastic. The Stylus for the 505 feels a little heavier, since it's basically two plastic ends screwed into a solid metal shaft. Much better feel. Size ' Small and sleek! Fits in the palm of your hand better than any older Palm. It's about the same size as the V-Series, but sides on this one are a little more curved inwards making it just a little more comfortable to hold. Chip ' I haven't used the new expansion card feature yet, but I've heard tell about Palm announcing the release of a Modem due to come out next year. Just another addition to the growing wireless revolution. You can bet that I'll be buying one when it's released! Hot Sync ' the Hot Sync cradle for the 505 has it's pros and cons. Pros: Super fast! This ain't no 1-bit transfer rate via serial connection! This is USB! What took 30 ' 60 seconds before with the old serial cradles now takes about 3 seconds with the USB connector! Cons: the actual cradle itself is kinda dumb. The Unit slides into the cradle just fine, but taking it out of the cradle is a little convoluted. You have to tilt the palm forward a bit, until you hear an unsettling 'snap' sound (which sounds more like a 'crack') and then pull the palm Upwards. I don't like that. The cradle is also a lot larger and heavier than older cradles. Also, since the unit recharges while docked, the cradle has an extra power cord that plugs into an electrical socket Extra Software ' the m500-series comes with some awesome software that older units never came with. A powerful calculator for doing more complex calculations then the older calculator, a document reader/editor' that's right! You can edit Word and Excel files on your palm! (I haven't tried that yet, but I'm sure I will). MGI PhotoSuite mobile edition is a great little image navigator! Now you can store Gifs and Jpegs and other awesome file formats on your palm! And with this awesome color screen, everything you keep on it will be as vibrant and colorful as it is on your home computer! I had a Vx for about a week before exchanging it for an m505. Before the Vx, I'd never owned an electronic organizer. This little device has quickly become a fixed part of my life. I highly recommend spending the money on this thing. Thanks for reading my review on the Palm m505.
Rating:
Summary: Love my updated Palm!
Review: When the palms came out a few years ago, I was the first in line! It seems that the company is constantly updating and improving technology. Their latest is the Palm m505, which I purchased this summer. This is the first palm with a color screen. Although it is not as bright as I would have thought, it is still visually pleasing. Connections to Macs have been improved so you no longer need all of the extra stuff just to hook up. This alone was a major plus for me. Also appreciated the handwriting notepad which allows you to scribble notes, make lists, draw, etc. without having to use that alphabet that the others require. So many new features exist! More memory, all sorts of tiny cards you can purchase to expand your options (I am a big fan of the games card), etc. etc. I am still in the process of learning all of the goodies! One complaint though. Palm has yet to come out with covers, holders, and other accessories that it has for the other models. Basically, leather cases are out.
Rating:
Summary: Love my updated Palm!
Review: When the palms came out a few years ago, I was the first in line! It seems that the company is constantly updating and improving technology. Their latest is the Palm m505, which I purchased this summer. This is the second palm with a color screen. Although it is not as bright as I would have thought, it is still visually pleasing.
Connections to Macs have been improved so you no longer need all of the extra stuff just to hook up. This alone was a major plus for me. Also appreciated the handwriting notepad which allows you to scribble notes, make lists, draw, etc. without having to use that alphabet that the others require.
So many new features exist! More memory, all sorts of tiny cards you can purchase to expand your options (I am a big fan of the games card), etc. etc.
I am still in the process of learning all of the goodies!
One complaint though. Palm has yet to come out with covers, holders, and other acessories that it has for the other models. Basically, leather cases are available.
Rating:
Summary: Power in a tiny package
Review: The m505 is probably the convergence point for Palm OS systems -- less powerful than the biggest Visors, but sporting an excellent colour display, certainly enough oomph to get the job done, and the new features of Palm OS 4. While still dreadfully anaemic when held against the comparatively gargantuan CPUs and screens of the Pocket PCs, you still get one of the fastest Palms available, a pocket handheld that really can fit in a pocket (try that with an iPaq), the elegance of the Palm OS (versus how difficult Windows CE can be to figure out and operate), excellent colour with a well-designed backlight, and USB connectivity for under $500. Works great with Windows and Macintosh alike. The only major sour notes here are battery life and the Secure Digital card slot. Battery life, while acceptable for day to day use, demands that it charge just about every couple of days or you'll be looking at a low battery indicator faster than you think. This is somewhat inconvenient at best for road trips, and of course the worst culprit for battery drain is that unfortunately beautiful backlight. Second, the Secure Digital card is a good idea crippled by poor execution. Many applications don't know how to access their databases on the card, and some applications when transferred to the card will run dramatically slower. As a memory expansion option, it's mediocre at best: if memory is a big deal to you, look for a Palm that can utilise Compact Flash memory cards (this one carries 8 megabytes -- good but many reference works loaded on your m505 will eat this up). Fortunately, this setup does work well for ROM cards, and so the expansion slot isn't really wasted. These complaints aside, this is an excellent value and well-worth your consideration. If you're looking for the sweet spot in handhelds between price and features, look no further.
Rating:
Summary: PALM vs. CE from a loyal Palm customer
Review: OK..been a Palm customer for a few years here. As of late, been holding onto my loyalty to palm for a few reasons: I hate Microsoft; palm fits in my pocket, availability of accessories,and now....color and expansion memory *sigh*. If you are one currently debating CE vs. a Palm device, read on.
I recently made the switch to the new dimension in "palm" computing...color...the m505, and I am totally disappointed. I feel misled by PALM for trying to debunk the negitives without addressing the issues for customers. I work in the tech industry in Silicon Valley and know a few people inside at Palm....there is alot of damage control going there. They have lost me as a customer and many others i know. The facts are below.
FIRST, accessories are not readily available for the PALM. Many are backordered...the basics. Forget 3rd party hardware, it isnt even shipping yet. So, all those that went with the Vx and are considering sticking with the Palm for the same benefits, very few of them still exists.
Another dissapearing benefit of being a palm customer that is disapearing is functionality. I mean, unless this is the first bit of research that you have done, you full well know that all the PDA's got palm beat. In fact, I wonder what ol' Karl (CEO) is doing, because his products are down right archaic all the sudden. All the things that iPAQ, Journada can do, and all palm does is the basics....no sound for MP3, or synching documents other than in the format that PALM wants them in. Let's talk about the color. It (stinks). Really, it is the truth. Where did they come up with the claim that it has 65,000 colors? I had to call palm as soon as i got mine because i could only see 4 colors..? Also, it is very dim even with the backlight on. Not in brightness, but in richness in color. Very big disapoinment.
As for the Microsoft thing..yes, i still hate MS. Although, when you think about it, running a MS device if you are using MS on your desktop may integrate better. I have heard that the CE platform has come a long way in ironing out there bugs...much like theyt do with all teir other software (v1 v1.1 v1.2, etc....haha) But now is is tolerable, and with all the back up cards now, who cares, you just restore data if there is a crash. Get a good warrenty and 24 hrs later you are up and runnnig again. I recently had my palm crash 3 times which made me rethink my positioning. Palm sent me 3 new units, could not explain how each one was crashing, but acknoledged that it was not my fault....also had the gaul to charge me for cross shipping each time...
the only real advantage is the size. If you have alot of money to blow, size matters, and all you need is a contact sort of datebook, then this one is for you. However, if you consider this an investment and are looking to really USE it for things to be efficient and often.....go straight to the iPAQ. You wont be disappointed. Any one wants to buy a 505 with all the goodies, cheap.....got one available....(....)
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant colors? Not so!!
Review: This is my second Palm. I had the PalmIII XE before I purchased the PalmM505. I wanted the updated operating system, but I chose the M505 because I thought the screen would be easier to see than the monochrome screen, since the color screens appeared cleared. Yet for all the price, the screen on the M505 is not clear, even with the "front light" on. It is not as clear as the Palm IIIC. Palm is aware of this problem, yet they continue to advertise that it has "brilliant color". Everything else about the M505 is great, but if you don't want to be disapointed in the screen, buy the monochrome or black and white one (M500).
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