7 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Intermittently useful
Date of Review: Oct 5, 1999
This is not a review about the IIIx hardware, except so
muchas to say that it's much better hardware than the
old first-generation Palm that I had that eventually gave
up the ghost after the screen cracked. I like the visor,
the backlighting, more memory etc etc. I couldn't justify
spending the extra bucks for the shiny metal Palm.
More to the point it's a review of how I use organizers
in general to plan things and keep track of promises I've
made to other people. And for that the biggest upside
and downside of the Palm is its hotsync links to other
applications.
About a year ago I started to keep track of lots and lots
of information in ACT! 4.0 from Symantec. It got a lot
of time invested in keying in phone numbers, tracking
telephone calls, chasing down postal addresses from people
I only know by e-mail, etc. And so I got to the point where
ACT had critical mass, and it made sense to buy a Palm
to sync it up to ACT (using Intellisync, a slow but relatively
accurate process). Now I have people's work numbers (but
not their home numbers) handy in my pocket when I travel.
For appointments with other people, I've started to use Evite
(at http://www.evite.com ) to sync up with folks and remind
them when and where we're supposed to meet. Alas nothing
syncs with Evite for events, but damn it's handy.
For notes about books I'd like to buy or scraps of information
I took to buying $4 worth of blue and white 4x6 cards. In a
pinch they double as postcards. They can be shuffled through
and laid out on a table.
So right now the Palm has 1000+ addresses in it and precious
little else. I'm not willing to scribble into it as a data entry
method, and the Palm apps are too fragile to live within for
any period of time. It sits either on my desk or in my backpack.
When I travel it's mighty handy - especially on airplanes when
it's time to write postcards. But for me at this stage of my life
it's not an all-singing all-dancing wonder machine. Wish it was!
The hardware is so cool.
I don't have an office full of people beaming applications back
and forth to upgrade it to the latest cool stuff, so your experience
may be better if you're in a Palm zone.
