Rating: 
Summary: Great features, but as everyone knows, the screen is poor
Review: I noticed on the reviewers that the worst reviews came from former IIIc owners like myself. And other reviewers from a non IIIc back ground favored the screen. I for one, love the M505, feature packed, expandable, and inuitive. Nice quality, almost perfect. The screen, however, is somewhat lacking. No brightness controls, permanantly set to a dim sidelight, but nonetheless, very viewable in dim to no light, extremely viewable in bright light or outdoor light. So it's a matter of personal preference. Unlike a lot of the colr pda's out there, this one can be viewed in any lighting condition. Not a "brilliant" screen, just acceptable.
Rating:
Summary: Great unit despite the screen
Review: Most of the reviews I read seem to really detract from the overall excellence of this unit because of the screen. Well, my screen is fine. It is easy to read, and considering that 90% of Palm apps are for gray scale, the color is a nice addition and not overly necessary. You have to decide if the additional (expense) for color is worth it. To me, it is. I mean, come on, it is only (money), right?Now, as for the unit, it is blazingly fast. I replaced my palm V with this unit and I was in awe of the processor speed. It will make even the fastest PocketPC PDA look slow in comparison. The redesigned case -- slightly different from the V series, meaning all your accessories will not fit :( -- looks great and the card slot is wonderful. My DV CamCorder uses MMCards to store photos, so I can now include Palm aps on the same cards. This is handy. I lookforward to the expandability of this device. I am sure that a GPS and wirless modem will be available soon. This is the top of the line Palm and it looks great. Well worth the money IMHO.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Palm!!
Review: I received my 505 a few days ago, and I am very happy with it. I have had a III, V, and Vx in the past. This palm is the best so far. Many people talk about the screen being too dim. I didn't find this to be the case. In low light you just turn on the back-lighting. The back-lighting is much improved over the V series; which inverts the screen and makes the Palm V unreadable in the "twilight" environments (low lighting but not dark). If you want a brilliant bright display, buy a low battery life device, like a Windows CE PDA or laptop. I am looking forward to the new generation of accessories. Enjoy!!!
Rating:
Summary: 505 isn't as bad as people are saying
Review: The M505 granted has been getting a lot of flack over the so called washed out screen. I contact Palm Inc. about this, the response was that they tried to cut back on power consumption so they turned off the backlight which is technically on in the IIC to save on battery. If you put the backlight on you will be able to view the 505 in all its glory. I found this to be true. If you get the palm download ... called glow hack, it will automatically keep the backlight on. In outdoors the backlight really isn't needed, in those cases switch it off. The one thing that stopped me from giving it a 5 star rating is the fact you cannot ajust the contrast of the 505. Sometimes I wonder, if they could combine the new sony's Clie screen, audio capabilities, 505's sleek design, and expansion capabilities into one palm they would have a sure fire winner. Until then the 505 is a much cheeper alternative to the sony clie.It does play mp3's but the memory sticks will cost you a pretty penny. Not to mention the overpriced, and bulky pocket PC's, I am sorry, but my pocket is just not that big.
Rating: 
Summary: Color... very dissappointing
Review: I checked out the m505 in the store first. When I saw the color, it took about 5 seconds to purchase the m500. There is no comparison with the screen. The m500 is MUCH clearer than the m505. I needed a screen I could look at quickly, since I do so much with my Palm. I didn't have the time to turn on the backlight (which still isn't bright enough) and take a hard look at the simplist of text. The m500 is rated 5 stars, easy. The m505 is 2 stars. The screen means that much to me. This is why the active matrix screens on laptops are so much more popular than the dual-scans. They're worth the extra money. Palm needs to discontinue this or go back to the lab with this one.
Rating:
Summary: good
Review: The palm 505 is very nice. I have never used any other kind of palm but it works very well.The battery also stays charged for a long time. The thing I like most about it is that you can "beam" programs from one palm to another!
Rating:
Summary: I'm Returning It!
Review: I've been a long time palm enthusiast. Had a professional and then a Vx. The m505 has all the utility of the Palm Vx but the screen is horrible. I could barley see it without the backlight engaged. I'm returning it and going to upgrade to the IPAQ. I suggest you to the same...
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed!
Review: I am a loyal Palm user and have waited with great anticipation for the M505. I picked mine up this week and what a disappointment!!! The screen is very difficult to see and there is no contrast control. I took it back and bought a Handspring Visor with a great screen. Palm missed it on this one.
Rating:
Summary: Palm m505 falls short
Review: I was ready to fall in love with the Palm m505, but they blew it. I've been a devoted Palm user for 5 years and got the m505 to replace my aging Palm IIIc. The m505 has ALMOST everything I want: sleek design, solid metal housing, buttons that feel crisp and easy to press, and a fabulous card slot I use for adding 16Meg. But face it, the most important feature is the screen (especially to me, a photographer). Well, with 65,000 colors, shading is much smoother on the m505 than on the IIIc. Unfortunately, the m505 colors are quite dim and inaccurate. Under office lighting, some people can't even tell that it's in color. White is sort of dull silver. Red, brown, and gold are almost indistinguishable. Green foliage looks dead and brownish. Yellow is dull orangish gold. Skin tones are totally washed out. With the backlight on, it's brighter, but everthing is tinged blueish. I can't show off my photo collection on the m505. I'm keeping the IIIc. One redeeming feature of the m505 screen is that it's best when viewed in bright sunlight. If you want a device for reading text or viewing maps while hiking or in a car or plane, then the m505 is for you. If you are an office dweller or want to view photos, you would be far better off with a IIIc.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect color Palm
Review: I just upgraded from Vx to the m505, and I'm in awe. I'm an avid Palm user, went from V to Vx, always wishing for a color Palm with the same form-factor. I tried the IIIc when it came out, but I just couldn't get used to the size. As a 'power-user' I consider 2 items of preeminent importance: formfactor and batterylife. Formfactor because a PDA is of little use when it becomes a hassle to carry at ALL times. Batterylife speaks for itself. The difficulty has been the technological trade-off to get color on a handheld. Look at the IIIc or any of the color Pocket PC's. color-formfactor-batterylife, one or more has to give. That is, until now. I've put the m505 through it's paces and am very impressed with how Palm weighed the tradeoffs. Yes, there are still tradeoffs. The screen isn't as bright as for example the IIIc. This is because the m505 has a TFT reflective screen iso an active matrix screen. In other words, it reflects ambient light instead of emitting it's own. The advantage however is much improved batterylife. Also, an active matrix screen is completely illegible outside, whereas the m505 screen looks vibrant. To alleviate lowlight situations the m505 screen is 'sidelit' to provide the ambient light necessary. Batterylife still clocked at a little under 7 hours of continuous use w/the backlight on! Under the fluorescent lights in my office I don't need to turn it on, however in my neighbourhood's unnamed coffeehouse I do need it. I think that folks upgrading from a bright IIIc will be disappointed, however I disagree. I found the brightness of a IIIc straining after long e-book reading sessions. The m505 screen is easier on my eyes, yet very good quality and usable under the most circumstances. In short, I'm very happy with the screen. The expansion slot also is a very welcome addition. I think the SD/MMC slot is the most elegant expansion solution available on the market yet. Why? It retains the all-important formfactor. Try a Springboard on a Visor Edge, or worse, the iPaq with an expansion sleeve. The SD slot is elegant, small, and hotswapable. Right now, not too many expansion options are available pending the final approval of the IO standard on SD, but look to how support of proprietary Handspring Springboard grew for an idea of how SD will be supported. I'm using my m505 with a 32Mb memory card, and it works very well. I can run apps from the card with negligable delay, the card shows up as a category and I can select any app from there. Again, very nicely implemented. I was a bit surprised by the hotsync speed. Very fast. USB really makes a difference, but make sure you have a USB port, otherwise you'll have to buy an extra serial cradle. I don't hear much about the software bundled with the m505 in the reviews, but I think it's great. Most importantly, the m500 series comes with Documents To Go. This app allows you to read and even edit Word, Excel, Wordperfect, Lotus etc. documents, with perfect ease. I had bought it already, but for the newcomers it's great to get this app with the package. I really like the vibrate alarm. Somehow, I'm surprised nobody came up with this one before (including myself). But this is great! No need to wake everyone up at meetings anymore to be alerted. I would like to be able to choose which alarm I want to get with every particular event in datebook. Right now your choice is applied across the board to all events. But I'm sure DateBk4 will fix that one. Great app that one by the way, check it out...which reminds me that Palm came out with a press release that the 10,000th application has just been released. Can you believe it? And most of this is freeware and shareware! Let's see, what else, with the m500 series Palm standardized the connector at the bottom, so that you don't need new peripherals every time you upgrade to a new Palm. The only thing I don't like about it is that it's a bit hard to unplug the Palm from the cradle...a minor annoyance. Another minor gripe is the price, although considering I plunked down... for the Vx, this could be considered a bargain by some standards. All in all, formfactor, batterylife, color, expansion, software, I'm sold.
|
