visorcentral.com >> Stories >> Commentary >> Visor Deluxe Vs PalmVx

visorcentral.com >> Stories >> Commentary
Visor Deluxe Vs PalmVx


Fri Oct 15, 1999 - 2:54 PM EDT - By James Hromadka

Applications

Applications - The Palm Vx organizer comes with the standard applications(Address Book, Date Book, To-do, Notes, Mail, and Expense). There have not beenany significant improvements other than Euro support and IrSync capability.

Handspring has made significant improvements to several of theapplications. The following are the additions to the Palm OS software in theHandspring Visor:
An improved Date Book based on DateBk3that allows viewing of your calendar by week, year, or in list form. TheVisor can also snooze alarms, display the calendar and to do list at thesame time.
The Calculator has been expanded with math, finance, & statisticalfunctions, and has unit conversion features as well.
There is now a World Clock that keeps the time in four additional citiesaround the world, and shows local sunrise/sunset information.

Battery - The Palm Vx has an internal Lithium ion battery thatrecharges inside the cradle. The Handspring Visor uses two AAA batteries. Somepeople like the convenience of never needing batteries again, while others don’twant to be on the road and get burned by a dead Palm Vx. Travelers that want thePalm Vx can purchase the Palm V Travel Pak or an ingenious Emergencycharger. Travelers that carry a Visor can carry along an extra set ofbatteries. Paranoid Visor travelers can carry along the BackupModule springboard and travel without worry. The battery factor is mostly apersonal decision that depends greatly on whether you travel or not.

Cradle - The Palm Vx synchronizes using the serial port, while theVisor Deluxe uses USB. This allows the Visor to synchronize at approximatelyfour times the speed of a serial HotSync. Users that purchase the Visor Deluxein a color besides graphite will receive a stylish Ice cradle. Users that haveolder computers or a desktop operating system that does not support USB willneed to purchase a serial cradle from Handspring.

Conclusion - Deciding between a Palm Vx and a Visor Deluxe depends ontwo key points: price and form factor. If you want the thinnest organizerpossible and do not need any of the expandability that springboards offer, thePalm Vx is the way to go - if you can afford it. For users that want the 8MB ofspace but don’t want to pay too much, the Visor Deluxe is the best organizer foryour money. Power users that want to have a PDA that slices and dices should gofor the Visor Deluxe, which will have springboard modules that do everythingfrom play MP3 files to GPS.