Rating: 
Summary: Terrible Color Screen
Review: I upgraded to the M505 from the V and I could not wait to get the color screen. It is horrible. The Amazon review is right on the money. You cannot see what is on the screen in the normal lighting in your office. I am going to return it and stick the the V or get the M500 which is monochrome. If you want to buy this product, I would suggest that you go to a store and turn one on so that you know what a poor screen it has before you buy. I did not do this and instead bought it online sight unseen. Big mistake. Big disappointment. Beware.
Rating: 
Summary: Dim Display
Review: The display is more disappointing than reviews mention. You will think it is monochrome instead of color when you see or use it.
Rating: 
Summary: Color is great
Review: Don't believe the reviewers that say the Palm m505 color screen is dark and washed out. Most PDA's require a backlit screen to function. That means a massive power drain and shorter battery life. Whereas most PDA's only last a day or so, the Palm m505 will last weeks between charges. The reason? A reflective not backlit (unless you turn it on) screen. Obviously, the reviewers saw the color in normal office lighting. Take it out in bright sunlight (where most backlit color PDAs are usless) and the color looks great! Take it in a room with no light, turn on the backlight and the color also looks great. The expansion card feature is great. My configuration with 40 meg of memory offers plenty of room for all my apps plus a thousand family photos! No more packing around a wallet full of scratched up pictures. You can even zoom in on your photos for enlargment of details. I love my new 505!
Rating:
Summary: What Was Palm Thinking.....
Review: Really what was palm thinking..... I have long been a user of the Palm V. I had such great hopes for this new Palm, but I really think Palm missed the boat.
The colour is a joke. The coulour in the Palm III colour is much better. You have to hold this device in bright light to even see the colour. It is also so grainy that the photo it comes with looks horrible.
Another area that I am really disappointed in was the display size. It has not changed. 160 * 160 has its problem especially if you are trying to read long contracts or Asian languages. In the ever growing market of hand helds this is just no longer competitive, just look at the new colour Sony Clie 320 x 320 pixels.
I also feel that the memory expansion slot is a joke. They removed the second slot. The second slot even still appears on there website. Without the second slot the long awaited MP3 player option becomes a joke. Since where are you going to store your media if the first slot has the software.
The only plus is that it is still small and would fit in my LV case.
Bottom line I am keeping my Palm V and waiting for the Sony Colour Clie. Hope Palm gets its act together. It is hard for me to say this since I love my Palm V so much.
Rating:
Summary: Finally - thin color!
Review: I was tired of the green glow of my old Palm III, but the IIIc was so bulky, just like the old III. Then I heard the m505 was coming out. Wow! I read the pre-reviews. I heard that the color is not stunning, but I decided to pre-order from Amazon anyway. Free shipping & no tax! I got it last Thursday - they shipped standard but it got here in 2 days. Kudos to Amazon! The color is not stunning. There are no contrast or brightness controls. But it is a great unit. I have books, games and photos in it and my co-workers are impressed. It will also play video clips. (Oddly, the sample that comes with it only runs backwards!) It surprises me that the programs that Palm ships with it have very few color features, and standard things like the clock & calendar do not make use of color. I will look on the web for more color programs. Transfering data from the old Palm software to the new was painless and transparent. Then a hot sync and all my stuff was in the new unit! I have only locked it up once, and I had changed a display option in the middle of a game, so it might have been my fault. I am very happy with my new companion!
Rating: 
Summary: Two steps forward, two steps back
Review: I've been waiting for the new Palm m505 for the longest time. Imagine, a color Palm the size of the Palm V? It's what every Palm V owner dreamed of. Well, that dream became a reality, but in the process, some issues ultimately downgrade my rating to 4 stars. First, the good: the shape of the unit is nice. You have the slightly altered shape of the Palm V (it's shorter in height, but a tad deeper, most likely to accomodate for the color screen) that just looks so cool... It's a little heavier than the old Palm V, but that's expected. It fits very well in your hand. The new Secure Digital (SD) and MulitMedia Card (MMC) expansion is welcome. Granted, there are only a few cards out there, but at least Palm finally noticed that this kind of expansion was necessary. I like the fact that Palm added a vibrating alarm to the unit. Granted, it's not earth shaking, but it's a great alternative to an incessant beep. Speedwise, the Palm is fast with the new 33 MHz processor. It's a tad faster than the Palm V. Now onto the bad: Well, it's not exactly bad, but these are issues that will be a problem to some people, and it's only fair that I bring them up so you can make a smart purchasing decision. The screen: The screen is a TFT reflective screen. This means that with direct sunlight, the screen gets brighter. So if you're in a dark room, you'll need the sidelight (yep, sidelight, not a backlight). Without the sidelight in a dimly lit room, you couldn't tell if this unit was color or not. I have no problem with using the sidelight, and with the sidelight on it gives, to me, a clear view of the screen. Yep, it does drain battery life, but without the sidelight on, the Palm has an impressive battery life, so I take it as a good trade-off. The problem I have with the whole screen issue is that there's no way for me to adjust the brightness of it. Some people like bright screens, but if the sidelight isn't bright for you, you're not going to like this unit. I hope Palm makes a software update so that users can adjust the brightness of the sidelight to accomodate people who like bright and vivid colors. It just makes sense to me. The "universal connector": You'll understand why I put that phrase in quotes in a bit. Palm had to redesign their connector to accomodate true USB support, so they make a new "universal connector." Bad news is none of your old Palm peripherals will work with this thing. You see the irony right now? The stylus holder: If you're left handed, you might want to turn away right now. Palm had to make the Stylus Holder on the left side slimmer (to accomodate the new hardware), so you can't put the stylus on the left hand side. You can put the flip cover on, but not the stylus. As of this review, Palm hasn't made plans for creating a left handed stylus. That's about it. It's a good unit, don't get me wrong, but there are just a couple of issues there that doesn't warrant a perfect review. My suggestion: If you've always wanted a color PDA with an expansion slot, and have not been introduced to a Handspring Prism or Palm IIIc, get this unit. Hey, you others might like it, but don't say I didn't warn you...
Rating:
Summary: Poor Screen Brightness
Review: The only thing that I dislike about the new Palm M505 is that the screen display is not bright enough. I realize that brightness takes away from battery longevity, but an adjustable brightness control would have been a great feature. Even with the backlighting enabled, the screen is tough to read. I have a Compaq Pocket PC and the brightness of that unit is great.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice try
Review: The color screen on this is reflective -- meaning in direct sunlight it looks monochrome. Very dim in office light, or semi-darkness. So if you are using your PDA mostly indoors or want something comfortable to read go with the m500 as it is excellent in all lighting conditions. Big drawback: no contrast or brightness control, you are stuck with what PALM presets.
Rating:
Summary: Screen is VERY POOR quality
Review: I got my Palm m505, and the screen is VERY YELLOW, VERY DIM, and of the poorest quality I have seen. They claim it has more colors than the IIIC, but they fail to mention ALL the colors are based off greyish yellow. There is no white in the display. Palm Technical support was of little help. They claim there is a manufacturing problem, but all the editorial claim the display is dim. I suggest looking at one in the store before buying. If not, you may be very upset with what you get. I have heard of too many people who got one with a bad display.
Rating:
Summary: Don't let the knocks on the display scare you.
Review: I was hesitant about upgrading from my IIIxe to the m505 because I'd read so much about the dim display. My opinion is this: In most indoor lighting conditions the color looks washed out and difficult to discern without the backlight on. With the backlight on, however, it is a beautiful screen. I use my Palm for both personal and professional uses and have had no trouble with battery life despite burning the backlight almost 100% of the time. Concern yourself with price/features/usefullness, but don't worry about the screen quality.
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