Customer Reviews

PalmOne m505 Color Handheld

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(35)
2 star:		(34)
1 star:		(34)

 

 

Much has been written about the poor display on the m505. As the owner of a Cassiopeia E-125, and a former owner of both a Palm IIIc and the Handspring Visor Prism, I think I can help make sense of it all. For ease of reference, here they are in the order of brightness of the display:

1. Visor Prism -- Absolutely the brightest Palm display out there, including the new Clie n710 and 610 models from Sony. It's active-matrix back-lit display is bright and text is very readable. The expandable modules are a great idea, but I never took advantage of any of them. My only complaint about the Prism is that is was just too darn big and heavy. It's a bit boxy, and just felt like a weight when carried in a shirt pocket. In sum, awesome screen, but mediocre form factor still makes this a winner.

2. E-125 -- If you're in the market for a PocketPC, I think this is the way to go. The screen is gorgeous, and Microsoft's clear type font technology is really something. The display has more colors, and is larger than Palm displays, allowing you to really spend some quality time reading books or playing games. The new Windows Media Player 7.1 is also a vast improvement over former versions, and transferring audio files to the unit is a snap. Sound quality is very good, too. I personally prefer the Palm OS -- from running apps to hot-syncing, it's so much simpler and faster. Plus, the PocketPC platform is not nearly as stable in my experience. Programs tend to crash far too frequently, usually taking the entire OS down with it. It's also very easy to have too many apps running at once (not all of them have File/Exit menus), leading to a crash when you run out of memory. Finally, although the units do a whole lot more than the Palms, they are also much bigger -- no fun at all to carry in a pocket.

In short, if you are really intrigued by the PocketPC -- hey, different strokes. But if you're a Palm user and happy with the platform, there really isn't a reason to switch, unless multimedia is essential ....

3. Palm IIIc -- not as many out there as there used to be, but still worth a look if you can find one. Zippy and attractive, this unit is relatively bright and clear, but not nearly as bright as the Prism. One thing the IIIc and the Prism have that the m505 does not is a brightness control (hold down the power button and the brightness meter appears, giving you control over whether to save power or let it shine). But it comes standard with a serial cradle (ugh!) meaning you'll have to pay extra for a USB cradle, and it's a bit boxy and has a plastic feel to it for my taste. The model has also been discontinued, raising questions about investing in old Palm technology.

4. Palm m505 -- First, I must address the rumors that units manufactured outside the U.S. (i.e., in Hungary) are not as bright as the U.S. models. I've seen both U.S. and Hungary models, and there is no difference in the brightness of the display. Check out the m505 FAQs at Palm's web site, where they address this by stating that the rumors are false, and that identical components are used regardless of where manufactured.

Next, it's true, this display is the worst of the four units discussed here. But if you consider this model as an m500 (the monochrome version) with color, you won't be disappointed. Side by side, the m505 is much easier to read from all different angles than is the m500. And the color really does enhance the user experience, especially when the unit comes with a terrific app like MGI's mobile photo suite. Who wants to see digital pix on a grey-scale Palm? For the extra $... that Palm charges for a color display, it's just a no-brainer. Color is worth it! I also found that after a few days using this model, my eyes adjusted to the screen, and it was a pleasure to use. Still, Palm might have found a better balance between power conservation and the birghtness on this display -- they erred on the side of conservation, which, based on the reviews right here on Amazon, wasn't the way to go to satisfy most users.

Notwithstanding the slightly disappointing screen, the m505 is my choice for daily use. For one, it ships with v.4 of the Palm OS and Desktop for Windows, as well as numerous other bonus apps (Palm Reader, AOL for Palm, and Documents to Go v. 3, to name a few). It also comes standard with a USB cradle, and is both PC and Mac compatible (as are Visors, but not PocketPCs or the Sony Clie, which are PC only).

The m505 also offers the SDD/MMC slot for memory and software cards, and neat innovation that works like a charm (my m505 came with the GamesPack card).

Finally, the m505 carries on the legendary form factor of the V/Vx models, which ultimately makes this the best PDA for me. Even with the optional Palm slim leather m505 case, the entire thing fits in my shirt pocket with room to spare. It's tiny and attractive, and every button has wonderful, snappy tactile response. The thing just feels great in your hand, and the craftsmanship really shows.

The bottom line -- you've really got to go out to a retailer and compare these babies side by side. This model won't be for everyone, especially folks who want to read novels or write lengthy documents directly on their Palm device. For everyday contact and schedule info, and occasional reading and writing, the m505 is a definite winner in my book. A slightly brighter screen would make it perfect and worthy of 5 stars!

It took me a few days to get used to the different screen technology, as I upgraded from the IIIc (you know, the one so bright you can signal aircraft with it). You just have to get accustomed to the silver background instead of white, which is why it looks milky white with the frontlight turned on.

However, I'm facinated in that the screen is clear and readable no matter what the lighting situation may be. When walking down a corridor or past windows, you never 'lose' the image like I did on my former greyscale and color devices. There was also no hint of streaking or banding.

Enough about the screen. The reason I bought it was because of the expansion. I can now travel with EVERY application I need, including my spreadsheets, relational databases, ebooks, and mapping software. I could only fill it up by loading multimedia clips and movie trailers. When it comes to making sure your data is safe, I can now carry a full system backup in my wallet. You insert the backup card in your Palm and two buttons pop up on the screen; Backup and Restore. Forget the manual! I should probably mention that you can put more than just Palm files on the card. Just drop any file into the Palm installer, send it to the card, and you have it with you. An extra trick when you get to that out of town meeting? Click on that special file and email your materials as attachments using McFile.

I don't really have to mention size, you can slip it in your pocket without looking like you are stealing bricks for your diveway. Even though it is more solid than other handhelds I've owned (this is my 5th), I find myself being more careful due to it's size.

One thing I was not expecting was the extra speed. If you don't know anyone with a Pocket PC (I have friends and coworkers with them), then go down to a local store and try out a Pocket PC with the 505 by it's side. You will be surprised by how sluggish most of them seem. I had to use a utility to slow the Palm down to get the responsiveness of the PPC's (HP Jordana was used in actual testing). Taking that same utility, you can crank the speed up to 50Mhz, which is the equivalent of above 300Mhz on a Pocket PC, and really watch it fly. Watch the battery though... you don't get as good mileage with your foot on the floor like that.

Hotsyncing was also drastically different. A normal hotsync take 12 seconds. Sometimes I do it twice because I did not see the first one, even though it says it did. A full reload from the desktop computer used to take me about 55 minutes. A reload to the M505 takes 9 minutes, including backup and verification.

On the downside, the battery life is not as good as the IIIc, which had a huge battery. Size does have it's tradeoffs, and Palm would have had to give up the expansion slot or vibrating alert to get more battery in there. Most users can expect about 2 weeks of use from a single charge, if they they don't watch too much video. But I should also mention that this is a concern only if you hotsync once every two weeks. The M505 soaks up a charge faster than any device I've known. In testing, it went from a 10% battery level to 53% in two minutes. Given time to stabilize, the voltage level evened out at 48%, so I imagine you would have to purposely avoid the cradle in order for the thing to even get low in the first place. If you do kill the battery by ignoring the many warnings which begin at 10%, it will not turn on. This is to protect your data, which will be safe for another week... but THAT'S something I'm not going to test!

This is my third Palm, so I am obviously sold on the usefulness of the little machines! If you are a busy person--not necessarily a BUSINESS person, but a person who has a busy life, and has to remember lots of information, keep lots of appointments, etc., I believe you will fall in love with these devices if you try them. I use mine for the traditional purposes of keeping track of appointments and recording phone numbers, but also to put reminders to myself in the future, such as "rebalanace mutual funds in IRA" twice a year. I also use this as a memory bank for odd little bits of information I may find useful, by recording the information in a note, along with several key words I will think of when I want to remember the specifics months later. I search for the keywords, and there is the note, displayed so I can see it.
As to the specifics of this particular Palm, the two main advantages it has over the Palm V series are color, and the ability to use memory cards that can be inserted into the device. Bluntly, I am unimpressed with the color. You can use Palm m505 to display color photographs, but the display is not bright enough or large enough for this to be a good way to show off your pictures. I have hopes that the color will be useful when I acquire mapping software later, but I haven't done that yet.
So far I haven't used the memory cards as anything but an expanded memory, but Palm and other providers are already offering memory cards with all sorts of programming included--Huge databases of tourist information on cities, maps, game programs, and all sorts of things. It looks like this will be good, if your needs extend to that.
I highly recommend this product if you are buying your first PDA, or if you have a very old one (Palm III or something) you want to upgrade. If you have a Palm V or Palm Vx, I'd suggest waiting to upgrade unless you have a burning need for the memory cards.

I bought my Palm m505 in Sept. 2001, now it is less than 5 months later and I have experienced the Hot Sync problems everyone else is talking about. When I contacted Palm, they said they know about the defect and have corrected it, but in the meantime, I spent $478 for a NEW palm pilot that DOESN'T work and the only thing Palm will do for me is send me (at my cost of $25) a REFURBISHED replacement. Seems like someone is getting a good deal here, and it's not me. I will never buy a Palm product again. Additionally, the color screen is terrible without the backlight on. I am sorely disappointed.

Bright

I used to have a Windows CE device, the Nokia 9110 palmtop/mobile phone and still have a Palm IIIc. I read a lot of bad things about the M505 color display. After using it very often in the last couple of weeks (car travel, planes, office, etc.) I can't believe that people say the display is a problem. This is far better then my PIIIc. For sure the contrast on the display are less impressive (you getting used to it) but it works in all light conditions. I only use the backlight in about 10% of the time. Sometimes you have to swivel the Palm screen towards a light source to read the display correctly without the backlight (it saves battery).. Outside, this display is incredible clear, with my PIIIc I always had to increase the intensity of the screen to see something.
It is also much faster then the PIIIc, this M505 is really fast. The software included with it is really cool, easy to use Excel and Word document reader. Ebook, Photosuite software to name a few.

Because of the negative commands on this site on the M505 I almost bought a M500. Lucky I didn't do because I heard now that the M500 is slower (It has the same processor but the screen updates slower).

Compared to the PIIIc, I would say the M505 is:

- Smaller with less weight. (it fits in my wallet).
- Faster.
- More software.
- Integrated SD slot is really useful, I never thought it would be (8Mbyte RAM with a few family pictures is could becoming a problem).
- Better display ( better in both very dark and bright light situations). Even in this small size, the battery get me running for longer then 10 hours, thanks to Color LCD technology Palm is using (simular to the PIIIc).
- Now I can write on my palm in complete darkness also because now my Silkscreen lights up.
- This unit is ready for the bluetooth wireless technology, which will be available from Palm at the end of the year.
- Faster USB hotsync transfer. (only important for Aventgo website syncing I found).

The palm m505 was very dissappointing when I recieved it and I even thought about taking it back, until I saw all the other handhelds that had color screens. The compaq Ipaq has a weak screen just like the palm without the backlight on, and it's battery only lasts about 4 hours. It is also a lot bulkier and costs almost twice as much. The handspring visor prism does have a better screen, but it is huge compared to the palm m505. I don't think the screen is very bad considering it's size. If you really want a good color screen handheld with the palm os format and don't care about price, get the sony clie. It's screen is much better then the palm m505, the handspring e]visor prism, and the compaq ipaq

The m505 is best summarized as an incremental product for Palm, not revolutionary. It is certainly not the "wow" product the original Palm V was, but merely ok. Here is a quick snapshot:

Pros:
1. Display - Yes, a Pro and a Con, depending on whether you compare it to the Palm V or Sony Clie/Compaq iPaq. Despite it's shortcomings, I still feel it is better in most lighting conditions than my "green screen" Palm V. It is easier on the eyes, and the backlight is more useable in transitional lighting.
2. Performance - Faster than the Palm V on all accounts and display performance (screen draws) is better than m500, which is why I choose the m505 over the m500, not because of color.
3. Palm OS - Stable, easy, and thousands of simple yet powerful applications. And if you don't think it has breadth beyond a date book, look harder: Office apps, project plans, Pocket Quicken, photos, Access databases, etc. All on my little Palm.
4. Size - Small and light. It is a true "pocket pc!"

5. Expansion - Supports tiny SD and MMC cards. Why I choose m505 over the better display on Sony Clie. I did not want to be committed to "Sony only" memory stick versus more industry standard SD. Even new iPaq supports SD cards. If you already have Sony memory stick devices, by all means check out the Clie!
6. Memory - Relative to us Palm V users with only 2MB memory. For me extra 6MB in the m505 (and bigger flash memory too) was a huge incentive to upgrade now rather than wait for what will hopefully be a much improved display on next Palm.
7. Battery Life - Without the backlight, weeks, not hours, and even with much needed backlight, I have gone days without cradling it to recharge. (Your mileage may vary :)

Cons:
1. Display - Disappointing. I think Palm should have worked harder on getting resolution and brightness/contrast right rather than worrying about 65k washed out colors. It could have been a wow product! And don't tell me they couldn't have done it without huge sacrifices to size and battery life. Sony came closer! Palm clearly focused on making it "better than the Palm V/Vx" rather than focusing on the competitive Pocket PC threat, particularly the iPaq. Yes, the m505 is smaller and battery life is better, but when people put the iPaq next to the m505, Palm loses sales. Period.
2. Universal Connector - Two accessories I connect to this device so far, the USB cradle and travel synch cable, fit the connector horribly. The m505 is difficult to seat in the cradle no matter how much I use it, and the travel synch cable is an extremely loose connection.
3. Availability of Accessories - Not very many even though m505 has been out since May, and what few are out are still hard to find at many retailers.

Recommendation: If you need the expansion, more memory (coming from a Palm V like me), and small size is a big plus for you (versus a m125), this is still a worthy upgrade. But do not switch based solely on color display. You will be disappointed. I even considered moving to the dark side for a better display, and I have been a loyal Palm user since the Pilot 1000. What kept me? There are still key Palm advantages: simple/stable Palm OS, selection of applications, and size/battery life. However, consider a "discounted" purchase, as this device may move quickly to the clearance rack if Palm comes out with a much improved color model anytime soon.

I purchased a Handspring Visor Prism in January of 2001 and then in early July, I purchased the Palm M505 after passing the Prism to my younger sibling.

There were two major drawbacks to the Prism that was "fixed" in the Palm M505. First, the Prism does weigh a lot to be carried in a shirt pocket every day. The new M505 is light, thin, and is sleek compared to the overweight Prism. Secondly, I can actually see the screen in bright daylight. When I needed to check on a phone number outside on a bright day, the handspring's screen was invisible. (similar to most laptop screens being invisible under direct sunlight. I'm not sure why all those ads show people trading online on their laptops on beaches.) The M505's front lit reflective display solved this problem, which I believe is a very strong reason to buy the M505 over the Prism.

This reflective display is also one of the biggest problems with the M505. It's too dark and I can't change the contrast. If anyone is upgrading from a Prism or a Palm IIIc to the M505, they will be disappointed indoors, but like I said, they will appreciate the M505 outdoors. Also, the screen on the M505 seems a tad bit smaller than the Prism screen. However, if you are used to the non-color screens, especially the pre-Palm V screens, you may not notice this darkness. In fact, when the front light is turned off, the M505 initially looks like it has a non-color display.

The SD expansion slot for now is very limited. Hopefully when that SD association approves more I/O devices, more interesting things will come up. At the same time, most of the Handspring Springboard cards were useless to me. I had the MP3 module, the digital camera module, the Voice Recorder module, the Backup Module, and the 8MB expansion module. For the most part, I only used the backup and the 8MB expansion module, which are technically both available in SD versions for the M505. If you really want to take nice pictures, get a real digital camera.

If you use your palm indoors for the most part, do not care about the weight, and require mp3 and other multimedia devices, I'd skip the M505 and go for the Prism (it is rumored that a new Handspring Visor called the Snap will be coming out this year with a color screen with something similar to the size of the Visor Edge) or the Sony Clie. However, if you want something light-weight that you will be carrying around EVERYWHERE you go, I would definitely suggest the M505.

I was slightly disappointed by the dim colors on my new M505. However the screen contrast and readability are significantly improved over my old PalmIII.

The screen is much easier to read in bright light, and the colors are also much better in bright light. The backlight is very bright (white) and also lights up the outline of the graffiti area and the icons surrounding the graffiti area (making it easier to use the palm in the dark).

Overall I am very please with my new M505.

Some reviewers have complained that the M505 lacks a contrast adjustment. I carried mine for several days inside air-conditioned labs and outside in temps up to 90 deg F. I haven't noticed any difference in the contrast at different temperatures. My PalmIII always required a contrast adjustment when it got warm, and again when it cooled off. My M505 display isn't effected by temp changes.

The sound is much louder, and the processor is noticeably faster.

I haven't seen an M500 yet, but if the screen is actually paper white as advertised, then it may be easier to read than the M505. My advice is to examine both the M505 and M500 before buying one. The color can make applications easier to ready, but not many take advantage of it yet. I'm not sure its worth the extra money just use your Palm as a photo album, especially if the M500 is easier to read.

My M505 came with several add-on applications: DocumentsToGo, PhotoSuite Mobile, and PowerOne calculator.

The physical package is great. The buttons, especially the scroll buttons are much smoother than earlier palms.

Since the M500 and M505 use internal rechargeable batteries, you must carry either a hotsync cradle(also a charging stand) or a portable-charging unit when you travel for an extended period.

The add-on multimedia flash cards that you can buy for the Palm don't behave like regular memory. Most application don't know how to use the flash card. Most applications just look in RAM to find their files. To use files from flash, you must copy them from the flash into RAM. It looks like a multimedia flash card would make a good backup. Especially when traveling.

I recently bought a Palm M505 after my first Palm (b&w) was stolen. I have to say, I love it. It's lightweight, easy to read, powerful, has tons of storage, and with the latest operating system, really, really user-friendly.

I love the notepad feature -- it's great for lists or taking a quick note (by handwriting instead of typing or using graffiti).

In combination with Microsoft Outlook on my home computer, I am set up with reminder alarms, back-up data, and great organization.

I read some negative reviews before I bought this product, and I really don't understand where they came from. I find the screen very easy to view, use the backlight feature about 25% of the time, and the buttons are well-designed for the user. I know however that not all handhelds are right for everyone.