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PalmOne IIIc Personal Handheld Organizer

PalmOne IIIc Personal Handheld Organizer

List Price: $299.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A great display, one big battery and 8Mb memory.
Review: One week after I bought the IIIc it became the most useful and enjoyable gadget in my possession. I have no complain about the IIIc, it has a good speaker, a robust battery, an amazing display and I have never topped the memory, even when I have plenty of stuff in it. It is easy to carry but not excessively light like the Vx that would easily jump out of your pocket.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Nice color, but difficult to write on.
Review: I have a Palm IIIe which I love! It has become indispensable in my work. I can write text with the stylus almost as rapidly as I can write on a piece of paper. That model, unfortunately, has gone out of production. Recently, a friend of mine bought the Palm IIIc. After testing it myself, I found it almost impossible to enter text using the stylus. I would try to write an "M" and it would come out an "A". An "E" would come out a "C". In fact, it took me forever to enter anything at all. I will say, however, that the colors are excellent. I just don't understand why the Palm IIIe should work so well, but this supposedly more advanced model should have this difficult.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worst product I ever bought
Review: I have the Palm IIIxe, which works ok. It went on the blink, so I tried to buy another. No dice. I bought a IIIC instead. From day one, it barely worked. When I touch the stylus to a letter or number on the screen, it jumps to another letter or number or just won't work. The graffiti is very poor, with many repeat strokes for any letter. For data insertion, it is worthless. I only use it for playing chess now.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Exceptional, and by a long shot, beats out the competition
Review: The Palm IIIc was my very first handheld, and I've been using it very frequently ever since I first received it as a gift.

A lot of other color handhelds are out on the market too, and some of them are even more lightweight, have 65,000 colors instead of 256, or both. Pocket PC or Palm OS. Can the IIIc stand up to and beat out the competition?

You bet!

The Pocket PC's are so expensive, that you could almost buy a laptop with it. The Pocket PC OS and the Windows CE OS are both VERY flawed, and a majority of the software that's on there when you buy it is Microsoft, including Outlook Express, which has a VERY high security risk and has a very bad reputation. And the screen isn't that bright.

Sony Clie's screen isn't that bright, either. And the same thing goes for the Handspring Visor Prism. Those two also have 65K colors.

And as for the next generation of Palm's color handheld, the Palm m505, not only does it have 65K colors, it's basically the weight of a Palm V. But, you guessed it, the screen isn't that bright.

65K colors and the expansion slots are very nice features, but the IIIc's 256 colors already look great, is still lightweight, and you may not get the expansion slot, but the screen is so bright, that it comes in handy far more than the expansion slots and even more than the 65K colors.

I use my IIIc a lot of times where it's pitch black, like in the car, and it shines so bright that I can see what I'm doing without any problems at all. The competition couldn't even THINK of being capable of doing that.

Brightness is a key factor in selecting a handheld, and no other handheld I've seen and tried is as bright as the IIIc, and the brightness has come in VERY handy sometimes.

If you buy a Palm IIIc, I also highly recommend getting two things with it:

1. Palm IIIc Travel Recharger Kit

2. PalmGlove Neoprene Case

The Recharger Kit comes in really handy when you're using it a lot and when you're on the go.

The PalmGlove Neoprene case is an absolute must-have case. It can resist water and is shock-absorbent. And it's made by BodyGlove, an excellent company. The cases that are made for the other handhelds pale in comparison.

The Palm IIIc is an exceptional handheld and is the best I've ever seen. Ever since I started using it, it helps keep you totally organized. Its also very expandable and capable. And even for miscellaneous purposes, it's still excellent and also makes a great gift!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Solid, pretty performer.
Review: People without color Palms don't see how it's such a "nicety" to have it. Sure, it's mostly useless eye candy, but once you go color, you don't want to go back. I believe this is the brightest color Palm available, outshining the Handspring Prism and even the m505. However, it also has the least color depth of these -- only 256 colors. This does make a difference if you store color pictures on your Palm.

Speed is decent, especially with the Afterburner hack to overclock.

The only major problem is that the IIIc tends to have very specific hardware. Don't expect to plug in the Minstrel wireless modem, or to use the widely available III accessories.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Very useful, but [price] dollar disposable item
Review: I now have my second and last Palm IIIC. They work exceptionally well and quickly become indispensable in getting oraganized. The battery goes a week or more between charges with heavy use. The problem is, The screens have lasted me exactly long enough for the warranty to run out. I don't feel that I was rough with the stylus, but at the point that my whole schedule and several databases were in the device, the screen would stop detecting the touch of a stylus. I think I will wait a few years before purchasing another PDA, so that perhaps the touch entry will become more durable, or the prices will drop. I can't replace a ... device every two years!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good color, but PALM now charges to repair defective units
Review: The color screen is excellent, even better than the newest Palm M505, which I just upgraded to. I miss the bright, exceptional color. If you want a color Palm, this is the one to get!

However, I must warn all potential buyers of a change in Palm warranty. I bought an additional Palm IIIc as a gift, and it turned out to be a defective unit. (Could never hotsynch in the cradle, only by infra-red.) I called Palm, Inc., this week and find out that the warranty changed in June. Doesn't matter when you bought it. Now all Palm III owners must pay $20 for repairing factory defective units, in addition to all postage. Palm, Inc., will not "exchange" the unit so be prepared to live without one until it is returned. Don't throw away your paper organizer! I don't know if changing the warranty after the fact is legal. My automobile maker would be sued big time if they tried!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Don't Drop It!!
Review: I got a Palm from hubby. Great gift! I used it to keep track of names, phone numbers, to-do's, birthdays, and Gifts (downloaded a program that kept track of who wanted what and what I've bought so far for whom). I could also download driving directions from mapquest.com. Awesome functionality!

It was great UNTIL I dropped it. I put my bag on the counter in the restroom...the bag fell and the Palm screen cracked in several places, leaving it unusable. A friend of mine cracked his Palm III the same way. He also hasn't used it since or bought a new one. (Too pricey to buy each drop, don't you think?)

So, whatever you do, don't drop it, even from waist-height.

I'll be without a Palm until I can take anti-clumsy classes or until their less-breakable screens come out.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Comparing the screens
Review: I have had my iPAQ for almost a year now and have been extremely satisfied with it. I recently read some comments by another reviewer about the screen and wanted to correct a misconception. This reviewer said the screen on the iPAQ was so bright it gave them a headache. Apparently they are unaware that the brightness of the screen is adjustable, with five different settings, ranging from power-save mode to super-high brightness. The highest intensity setting is certainly very bright, but you don't have to run it at that level all the time, if you find it uncomfortable.

I personally use mine, depending on the lighting conditions, at either medium or high brightness. Outside in the sun you can set it for power-save mode, which uses no backlight illumination at all, and saves battery life.

They also made a comment about the Palm IIIc, saying that the pixels bleed into each other. I also have had a IIIc for more than a year, and I've never noticed anything like this. I have looked at a lot of IIIc's and this isn't a problem at all. In fact, one of the main complaints people have about the IIIc is just the opposite, that the borders between the pixels are easily visible, making for a grainy-appearing screen, and they don't like that.

My solution for this problem is to download David Williams "Chrome" utility, which allows you to change all the colors on the screen to whatever you want. I use it to change the background from white to black, which completely eliminates the visible lines between the pixels. The black background also looks very classy. You can find this program on most of the main Palm download sites.

In any case, neither of these complaints is accurate and shouldn't keep you from buying either the iPAQ or the IIIc if you are interested. Whether you ultimately decide to go with the newer iPAQ or the more venerable Palm, they are both excellent products, and you won't be disappointed with either choice. By having both of these PDAs, I don't need a laptop at all, which saves me from lugging around a much heavier system all the time, especially on trips.

I personally love both my iPAQ and my IIIc, and I think you will too, whichever one you decide to buy (or even if you decide to buy the newer Palm M505).

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Palm IIIC -pros and cons
Review: A Palm is great if you're carrying around 20 postit notes of things that have to be done. The Palm's alarm will beep you, even when its turned off.

I have to write certain characters (B, W, M, ...) very slowly for the Palm to recognize them, otherwise you get the wrong character. You have to changed the screen intensity when you move from the office to the car. Then it would reconigize nearly nothing. A call to technical support said you have to go back to "Welcome" and go through the routine of touching the screen where prompted, each time after you change to screen intensity. That worked, except having to still write certain characters real slowly. This recalibration is needed on the Palm IIIC and certain other models that they did not name.


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