Customer Reviews

PalmOne VII Handheld

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

OK, here is my scoop on this device.. I have seen some people saying that 2MB was not enough memory. BULL****. I have 88 applications on it and still have 900k free, which is a little under half left!.. I am an avid stock trader and use it to make my trades at work. Mytrack and Fidelity both allow you to trade via the palm if you have an account. I have one with Mytrack and recommend them. I also use it for weather, travel directions, email, news, movie times, white pages lookup, shopping comparison, checking flight schedules, UPS and FEDEX package tracking.. This device is SWEET! I had never had any interest in a palm device until I heard about the VII with wireless connection. I have had mine for a week now and can't put it down.. Very handy.. The internet connectivity through palm.net is a bit pricey but I am sure it will come down with time.. Unlimited access is 44.00 month.. They do have other plans available by the amount of data transmitted. Lifting the antenna gets you connected to the net in about 3 seconds.. The web clipping is fine, stock quotes, directions, phone number lookups, email, etc.. Granted this is not an Internet browser but a great second best, the email rocks, when you sign up with palm.net you get a free email account that you can check and send email from the palm.. Very cool.. I guess I only have one minor complaint, there is a bit of a glare sometimes when held at a certain angle.. Like I said a minor issue.. I bought it for the internet access but the built in address book and planner are nice too.. It is a little pricey at 450.00 but I do recommend it to anyone that has an interest in it but needs that confirmation from someone that has it already.. One last note, there are hundreds of applications for it that can be found on the Internet.. Some are shareware and some are freeware, Alot of the good one's are free.. Out of the 88 I have, there is only one that I have to pay for, a stock portfolio manager.. ENJOY!

Let me first admit that I've been a PDA (personal digital assistant) devotee since the beginning. I've owned several Apple Newtons, a Sony MagicLink and a HP 100LX. I've accessed email on those devices via landlines and wirelessly. During the last year, I've grown to love my RIM (Research in Motion) 950 wireless email pager. Why the obsession with PDA's? Because having ready, instant access to my schedule, to-do's, contacts and email is absolutely essential. Since Palms came out several years ago, I've owned five. I've purchased Palms for employees, family and for clients as gifts. With that said, where do I come out on the Palm VII? Mixed.

As with any Palm device, the VII helps to organize my life. Because it is a Palm device, it is the most widely supported and successful PDA in the world. As a wireless device, however, there are pluses and minuses. On the plus side, it nicely integrates into one device the highly regarded Palm functionality with wireless capability. Second, it is very easy to operate, anyone can be up and communicating wirelessly within minutes.

Other than wireless email, what can you do with the VII? You can buy and sell stocks (Fidelity Investment), track stocks (several), do your banking (BofA), locate ATMs (several), receive breaking news (ABC, BBC, ESPN, NY Times, The Street, USA Today, Washington Post and many others including specialty publications), track your packages (FedEx, UPS), find zip codes (several), find people (several), get driving directions (MapQuest), you can shop (Amazon, TicketMaster), locate the nearest StarBucks, receive medical information (several), travel information (many), restaurant and movie information (several), and the list goes on and on and on. By my count, there are more than 230 "web clipping" applications located at palm.net. Simply amazing.

This abundance of wireless information highlights one of the shortcomings of the VII, memory or lack thereof. The VII comes with 2 MEGS of RAM. This is for all of your standard applications, data and web clipping applications. Granted, web clipping applications are small, some as little as 1KB, but I've had to delete many applications to make room for more frequently used programs.

Other minuses, the Palm VII is expensive at around $500. The monthly service isn't cheap either and is based on message units received (no unlimited plan). Although the service begins at $9.99 per month, this is for 50KB worth of data. If you worked at it, you could use up this allocation in a day or two. The real "bargain," if you can call it that, is Palm.Net's introductory Volume Plan for $39.99 per month. This gives you 1000KB worth of data per month for six months. I tried to use all of my 1000KB data allocation last month and was unsuccessful. I was only able to use up 420KB. Additional "minuses" include not being able to receive your POP3 mail directly although ThinAirApps has a 3rd party workaround for this. Also, there is nothing to indicate "you've got mail," you have to put the antenna up to check.

Otherwise, I'd view the Palm VII as the most widely marketed and supported wireless data solution to date. It has its shortcomings, but if you're comfortable with the cost, the Palm VII is a good wireless data solution for beginners and for advanced users.

Pluses:

Nicely integrated package. Lots of useful wireless content. 3rd party software support. Synchronizes with your desktop easily.

Minuses:

Cost.

Memory or lack thereof. Difficult to access your POP3 email.

Must have hardware / software for your VII:

PocketMail BackFlip for wireline email from anywhere in the world. WeSync software for group scheduling. AvantGo software for "connected". GoType keyboard for entering those long documents.

I've spent 6 months with the Palm VII my wife bought me for my birthday and I'm satisfied with it.

In spite of being a disk pig who has used up over 4 Gigs of space on his laptop with data and programs, I've had no problem living within the 2 Meg memory of the VII. My favorite add-on programs are DateBook3 and STRIP, which I use to store passwords. I still have room for Tealdoc, a couple chapters of a book, and hundreds of contacts and reminders.

I have installed dozens of web applets, but I'm not a heavy user of the Internet and rarely exceed the lowest rate of $9.95. The web clipping applets are very stingy with data, making them economical to use even with the relatively expensive per byte rate. I've found Internet access especially useful for checking traffic conditions, getting weather reports, and checking on arrival times for planes when meeting someone. I also use the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, and sometimes use the GoNetwork translator as a 5-language foreign dictionary. Want to know what's playing in your neighborhood, but you don't have the newspaper? Look it up on your Palm on Moviefone.

The VII really comes into its own when travelling. Having access to driving directions or phone numbers is a big convenience, and when returning to DFW, it helps to be able to tell the taxi driver what gate your flight is leaving from so you can be dropped off at the correct terminal building. Even if you do your reticketing through the airline or an agent, it is useful to pull down a schedule first. Ever been in a hotel room without "USA Today" and not known what was on TV? Look it on your VII with Rick-T-Land.

I rarely use iMail, and normally limit it to outgoing messages. I've configured it so my return address is my normal work address, and only give my palm.net address out when I explicitly want someone to address mail to my PDA. (I have such a heavy volume of mail that it would be hopeless to ever use a Palm to read it). It's cool to send a message home when you are waiting to board a plane. Although I used Amazon's applet to buy a book once, I don't trade stock with my Palm. It might be useful to buy entertainment tickets, but I never have.

I assume that someday I will need more than the 2Megs available in this device, but by then, there will probably be some newer color version (at a premium price). For now, having access to the Internet makes up for the reduced memory. You don't need to download that foreign language dictionary--just query one on the web. If you finish the book you brought, download another one.

The VII really comes into its own when you are outside of the office, or don't have immediate access to a web browser. It also has major prestige value. The next time you get into an argument over what movie Minnie Driver was in before "Good Will Hunting," you can be the one to whip out the wireless PDA and impress your friends by finding the answer on the Internet Movie Database.

To be honest, I think most people won't have the quality of their life greatly affected one way or the other just by having a Starbucks locator hanging from their belt, but it is fun. Not everyone will be able to live with the memory constraints of the VII, and it can't synch with your laptop using the IR port (carry the synch cable in your laptop case). I still have plenty of RAM left, though, and I have lots of calendar entries, notes, and contacts that I synchronize with Outlook. I'm very pleased with the Pocket Mirror synchronization applet, also. I was able to drill down into the configuration and set it so that the categories I had already defined on my Palm were uploaded to Outlook on my laptop. Very convenient.

Favorite accessory: Black leather case on a quick-release belt clip.

The Palm VII really does deliver. I was skeptical about "Web clipping", but it's BETTER than regular internet! You don't have to download all the Internet "junk" you don't need. (Graphics, ads etc..) "Just gimmee' the info!" Moviefone and yahoo people search are just 2 of dozens of useful web clipped sites! Plus, it's faster than I thought it would be (It's no T1, but it's better than anything else I've seen, plus no cellular airtime charges). Now, if we can just get it all in color......

We are so excited by the potential of the Palm VII and 3COM that we added the company to our portfolio this week. Why? Because it almost replaces our need for lugging a laptop around, yet we can synchonize all our data bases with one touch by pushing the HotSync button on the cradle. I am addicted to Palm.Net and for the techies out there like myself, it is fun to surf for new apps and games to download to your Palm. Checking and filtering important urgent e-mail is so easy, and it doesn't disturb the original e-mail on your desktop, if you don't want it to. The Graffiti shorthand is extremely easy to use, there is a game called Giraffe that teaches it in a fast, fun way to comprehend. If you don't like their shorthand, there is a touch-and-type-with-your-stylus keyboard, that can be used faster than typing a regular keyboard. Date book, address list, to do list, memo list all customizable and very well thoughtout. There are at least 3500+ apps out there for this baby - freeware & shareware, just by downloading then syncing with the cradle button. The only negative comment I have is: I wish someone would write a magnifying zoom program for us middle aged eyesight people! Sometimes I go buggy from looking at the screen, (true of my laptop and desktop as well)! Truly a neat great toy, fun gadget and necessary gotta have item I can't live without! Price was rolled back $ recently (this fall),check your prices and don't be ripped off by imitations. Check your wireless signal area first before buying, too. LMK if you agree with my review! - A very happy Palm user

This is the most elegant solution I have seen to the problem of keeping instant access to email, syncing a datebook and address book, and having some access to www data. The palmnet service adds $/month to your bills, but works flawlessly. I hardly need my laptop now, unless I plan to use Word a lot.

I have had the Palm VII since June 99. This is a very easy product to use. For the most part, I am happy with the Palm VII. However, the wireless feature really burns the batteries down fast. The price has come down somewhat in six months. The price should either come down some more or the power source should be improved.

The Palm VII is a Great product. It has practical applicationsand the wireless web is cool. If you buy this product be sure todownload The DPWeb application. It gives you the ability to go to any address on the internet. THE ONLY problem I found with this product is the cost of the service plan. It costs at least $10 per month and gives you only 50kb of web use. Believe me YOU can use up the 50kb really quick!

I purchased one at Palm Source '99 and I love it. I was able to send/receive emails while listening to the keynote speakers and I took short notes during the sessions. The internet access is a tremendous benefit. I like not being tied to a desk just so I can get information. The Palm VII is a great tool.

delivers better than promised with additional "aftermarket" software installed from the palm.net website. you can access all of your pop3 accounts, quotes, etc. bandwidth usage is easily tracked and very manageable--not that big a worry. beats lugging your laptop around just to access email and gets your email in less than 15 seconds.