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Visor Edge


Sun Mar 18, 2001 - 10:37 PM EST - By James Hromadka

Product Info
Details

»	Name Visor Edge
»	Company Handspring
»	Weight 4.8 oz
»	Color Silver, Red, Blue
»	Memory 8 MB
»	Speed 33 Mhz
»	OS Palm OS 3.5.2.H
»	Dimensions 4.7" x 3.1" x .44"
»	Battery Type Built in Lithium Ion battery
»	Fact Sheet & User Opinions

Availability

»	Unknown

Pricing

$129

The Casing

The casing of the Visor Edge is made of anodized aluminum on the front and back and a translucent plastic on the sides. Nine tiny screws are visible on the sides and another six on the back of the casing, giving the Visor Edge a riveted industrial look. The only paint that I could see on the Visor Edge is the word "Visor" on the front. All the other labels like RESET or the Palm Platform logo are embossed. It is actually pretty hard to scratch the casing of the Visor Edge. I used a paperclip and scratched a little on the inside of the flip cover, but it took several swipes to do so.

The Visor Edge is very rugged. I slid it off my desk a few times from 2.5' and it worked like a champ. I also dropped it from about 5' so it would land flat on its back and another time on its corner. No problems then, either.

The Springboard Slot

External Springboard slot To get its thin size, the Visor Edge makes the Springboard Slot an add-on. The Visor Edge has a grove along its sides that the external slot uses to snap in place. Although the external slot adds depth to the Edge, no additional weight is added as the external slot weighs the same as the flip cover.

Geode inside Visor Edge The external slot looks black but is slightly translucent. If you look at it in the light you can see that it is a very dark blue. The Visor Edge's cradle is also this color.

The external slot is passive and doesn't cause the Visor to do anything when you insert or remove it. I tried it with a few Springboard modules and they worked fine. Removing oversize modules like the Geode can be difficult, and I found it easier to just remove the Geode and external slot at the same time from the Visor Edge and then remove the Geode from the external slot.

When using the external slot, the Visor Edge is just over 3/4" thick -- just a sliver thinner than the Visor Prism. It is easier to grip when using oversize modules than other Visors; this is probably the perfect Visor for using with the Geode.

I know that this is the only way Handspring could get the Visor thinner, but the Visor Edge is butt ugly when the external slot is attached, to put it mildly. I would rather have the slot match the color of the casing or keep it translucent so that it matches everything. I also think Handspring should have kept the circuitry for the slot inside the Edge and let the external slot be a connector and nothing more. Maybe then they could have gotten the connector to be thinner.

"Button, Button - Who's got the button?" >>