I am into my fourth Palm product to date. It started with the Palm Pilot Professional 1MB, then to the m100 2mb, next the m505 8mb and now the m515 16mb. Before owning a pda, I've always carried a sensible calender/notebook cum clutter. Invariably, I lose things which I stuck/slip/tape/staple into it such as business cards, sticky notes, indecipherable hieroglyphics and stains ranging from double lattes no foam, doses of hazelnut syrup to raspberry jelly donut filling smeared on my best customers orders. Well, a lunch with a client of mine showed me the light of switching to the digital age with a demonstration of his Pilot Professional. Loyalty ever since my first purchase started with a functional device with no flourishes and fanfare and great customer service. I expect the basic PIM functions of calender, address book, note-taking and to-do list; but, progressively, my needs and technology have crepted into my newer pda's and here's are the examples.
The m515 offers a chock full of useful features with Hotsync manager 4.1.0 which can sync with IE Outlook Express, MS Office Outlook, Netscape Communicator, Lotus Notes, and Eudora; all courtesy of a fast USB cable/cradle setup. Documents to Go™ Professional Edition by Dataviz is an excellent reader and editor of MS Word, Excel files. You can load, read, modify with limitations and beam to fellow PC and Mac users. MGI's PhotoSuite™ Handheld is an average platform for transferring photos, graphics and animations of the "South Park" genre. Don't be fooled by the .avi, .wmv and .rm capabilities. It's not worth the bother unless you can cope with the slow, memory-hogging tiny replay. PocketPC is your best route here. Stick with the digital photography and you can't go wrong. I use it as my virtual catalog to display products on my SD/MMC. You can purchase these cards in 8, 16, 64, or 256mb denominations. See more about my Veo Photo Traveler™ digital camera later in this review.
Other applications I've truly live without, especially living in the Big Apple, are AvantGo 4.0.941 (included in software package) and Vindigo 2.0.1.0 (available for download on the net or beam from fellow palm-enteer.) The former is great for downloading news, sports, weather or whatever from it's large subscriber base. Choose NYT, CNN, ESPN, Variety, Weather Channel or other interesting sites to download and sync each morning. The latter, Vindigo, is a great city guide which allows you to choose restaurants, bars, atm machines, you name it. It has a full map and direction feature, reviews, for a nominal monthly/yearly fee. OTW, try the demo for limited movie and restaurant choices. You'll always find me on the subway or the waiting room catching up on the latest news or movies on either services. I also recommend adding Intellisync for Yahoo to master sync your Palm desktop with MS Outlook, either remotely and/or commensurately on your work/home pc's. This manner will allow you to view Yahoo's calender/address/document feature to view your schedule if you are across town or across the world. (Very handy should you be left in Capetown and need that vital contact and document left in NYC!)
I didn't get the Tungsten model b/c I needed to be in budget and there's already two optional accessories that's been on the market for a while. The first is the Navman m series GPS unitfor the Palm and Veo's Photo Traveler™ digital camera for Palm. I am, as you guess, a road warrior. I won't get too detailed with these two device which I'll save for later reviews - let me say these are great products for what they are. The GPS combo comes with Rand McNally Streetfinder™ software, antenna, car window attachment and power cord for vehicle use. You need to map out your destination before hand, sync to your m515 and away you go. Attach you unit to the antenna sled, slide the unit to the goose-neck windshield attachment and apply via suction cup. Connect the palm unit to the power outlet (cigarette lighter is so politically-incorrect) and fire up the gps unit. For the rest of the story, see elsewhere on Epinions.
The digital camera couldn't have been any easier to attach via the SD/MCC slot and, surprisingly, it takes good pictures. Choose either pixel qualities of 320x240 or 640x480 which consumes 50kb or 200kb, respectively on the main ram or SD/MMC. Again, it's really handy for product displays, networking and just plain holiday shots. Okay, I do carry a back-up compact digital but, hey, it's fun! Again, look for a follow-up review.
Maybe I've been lucky but I haven't had any problems with the anomoly called SUDS (Sudden UBS Disruption? Syndrome) nor any display defects on my m515 that other reviewers have been afflicted. I got a nice red leather case on Palm.com and it holds my business cards and four SD/MMC cards. I've dropped it numerous times and haven't got it to fail since. Maybe, I bought a refurbished one through Palm.com and, I guess, it's been through the ringer several times before. This is the reason why I've been loyal to the company and service. Amazing what can be stored in a shirtpocket-sized device. I look forward to upcoming products in the near future.
Palm organization and style at an affordable price Easy to learn and use--even if you've never used a handheld before Mini-USB connector allows easy t...More at Amazon Marketplace
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