pillainp
11-22-2005, 09:45 AM
So here goes:
Having been the mostly satisfied owner of a Handspring Visor Prism handheld, I naturally went hunting a new PDA when my Prism bit the dust. Not to say the Prism was a bad piece of hardware, but getting these things repaired in India is a major pain.
So I thought, what the heck, I'd cut my losses and run.
And I was on the hunt for a new PDA, looking all around the web, and doing a lot of research in the old home town. What I found was somewhat disappointing. There were hardly any PDA manufacturers readily accessible from Trivandrum, and most computer hardware dealers didn't even know what a PDA was to begin with.
So, being an old fan of the Palm OS, I went straight to the Palm website, and while looking around, saw the Palm Lifedrive Mobile Manager.
The moment I saw this thing, I decided: I've got to try this thing out.
A lot of acrimonious calls to the local dealer and some extended conversations with the Singapore Office and the Bangalore (neighbouring state) dealer, I received my Lifedrive by courier.
OK, now on to the review itself:
The device comes in a really neat dark metallic grey pressed cardboard box, which reflects something of the premium the manufacturers place on it. It has this bright orange lettering on it that really catches the eye. Inside the package, you find a set of manuals and CD's (Win and Mac), the charger, sync cable, and then the Lifedrive itself, all wrapped in bubble-wrap.
One thing that I really loved was the fact that the charger comes with a number of detachable plug pin packs, for every conceivable locale. You just unlock and pull out the default US plug pins and slide in and lock the pin-set for your locale. There is even a handy little pamphlet showing you how this is done.
Four hours later, the device fully charged, I was ready to go. Palm Desktop is, as always one of the easiest software install I have ever come across: it walks you through everything.
Holding the Lifedrive in your palm (no pun), the first impression you receive is that this is one solidly built piece of hardware. The casing and buttons are entirely aluminum, with only a few bits of black plastic at the various ports and the power-switch IR-Port and SD-Card slots; and of course the classic spring-loaded Palm stylus, which sits neatly in a silo at the right rear corner. The buttons and 5-way navigator are also of metal, and feel sturdy, but offer good tactile feedback.
Switch on, and you are rewarded with a remarkably lucid TFT, which manages to display the interface with great aplomb. (One little warning to those in India: do not remove the screen protector that comes with the device - you will be very hard put to it to find a replacement here. I made that mistake and am still waiting, two months later - it seems these idiots could not care less, but that is no reflection on Palm themselves, merely on their local dealers).
OK then, on to the actual user experience. I found the Lifedrive a little sluggish opening applications, but that probably could be excused, seeing that it has to run a hard disk in the background. But overall, the delay is not so extreme as to render using the device a pain. A little patience, as the saying goes, will win the world.
On to the OS itself, the version that comes with the device (PalmOS 5.4 "Garnet") is a clean piece of software that does what it does with the minimum of fuss, and everything works as you expect it to.
I have been using the Lifedrive a lot lately to listen to music while I travel, and I travel a lot. The 4 GB hard drive is a heaven send, allowing me to store the all my favorite music (which comes to only about 2 GB). The output from the internal speakers is decidedly tinny, but then, what is a good listener doing using it? Get a good pair of headphones, and the device will reward you with excellent sound. It may not be as good as a dedicated MP3 player, but that is not the point, is it. You could even try hooking up to a pair of stereo speakers (which is what I am doing as I write this).
Video plays pretty nicely, with the 30 fps limit good enough to deliver skipfree performance. The screen has excellent colour and luminance (use a third-party video player such as TCPMP [The Core Pocket Media Player] if you want to use all the 320 x 480 goodness of the screen, and believe me you will not be disappointed).
The power switch has this great lock feature that prevents accidental button presses. This has helped me a lot when I train people. It lets me start a video and pass the unit around without accidental interruption.
On the software front, you get Documents To Go 7, which lets you create, edit and view MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents on the go. It works pretty well, and I use to write letters a lot.
The Voice Memo recorder. Now I had a few problems with this thing. I already had around 125 minutes worth of meetings recorded, and was met with a lack of space message. Then I figured out how to record to hard disk, and now, with all those songs and books and other apps, the device still insists that I have 999.59 minutes of recording time left (if the battery really lasts that long). So, I don't even bother to keep minutes any more. I just record it all and have it transcribed later.
Perhaps the single best feature of the device is its ability to function as a portable USB hard disk. You can simply copy whatever you want to the Hard disk, using either the Lifedrive Manager, or switch the device to Drive Mode, and you're ready to go.
Now, on to my gripes:
The power connector has to be connected through the sync cable, which means you still have to carry around two cables, even if you use Bluetooth to synchronise or transfer data.
They could have included a phone/camera module (but perhaps that is asking too much from an already extremely capable device).
The sync cable has a bad habit of slipping out from device's connector if even a small movement occurs. This can sometimes interfere with syncing/charging. You may think the Lifedrive is doing its thing, but then the whole shebang blows up in your face.
The system is sluggish, to be sure, so some that have used a Flash based PDA may feel the lag, but in the main it's something you rapidly get used to. Just remember, don't push too hard, or the Lifedrive may crash and you will have to go through the whole reset headache, which can take up to 2-5 minutes.
All in all, even in spite of the few gripes listed above, I am extremely happy with my Lifedrive, and would happily recommend it to any person whose needs match the device profile.
You will never have to worry about running short of storage space, and it feels like carrying a really small laptop in your pocket.
Anyone that decides to get one of these, I really think you would be on to a good thing.
NPP
Having been the mostly satisfied owner of a Handspring Visor Prism handheld, I naturally went hunting a new PDA when my Prism bit the dust. Not to say the Prism was a bad piece of hardware, but getting these things repaired in India is a major pain.
So I thought, what the heck, I'd cut my losses and run.
And I was on the hunt for a new PDA, looking all around the web, and doing a lot of research in the old home town. What I found was somewhat disappointing. There were hardly any PDA manufacturers readily accessible from Trivandrum, and most computer hardware dealers didn't even know what a PDA was to begin with.
So, being an old fan of the Palm OS, I went straight to the Palm website, and while looking around, saw the Palm Lifedrive Mobile Manager.
The moment I saw this thing, I decided: I've got to try this thing out.
A lot of acrimonious calls to the local dealer and some extended conversations with the Singapore Office and the Bangalore (neighbouring state) dealer, I received my Lifedrive by courier.
OK, now on to the review itself:
The device comes in a really neat dark metallic grey pressed cardboard box, which reflects something of the premium the manufacturers place on it. It has this bright orange lettering on it that really catches the eye. Inside the package, you find a set of manuals and CD's (Win and Mac), the charger, sync cable, and then the Lifedrive itself, all wrapped in bubble-wrap.
One thing that I really loved was the fact that the charger comes with a number of detachable plug pin packs, for every conceivable locale. You just unlock and pull out the default US plug pins and slide in and lock the pin-set for your locale. There is even a handy little pamphlet showing you how this is done.
Four hours later, the device fully charged, I was ready to go. Palm Desktop is, as always one of the easiest software install I have ever come across: it walks you through everything.
Holding the Lifedrive in your palm (no pun), the first impression you receive is that this is one solidly built piece of hardware. The casing and buttons are entirely aluminum, with only a few bits of black plastic at the various ports and the power-switch IR-Port and SD-Card slots; and of course the classic spring-loaded Palm stylus, which sits neatly in a silo at the right rear corner. The buttons and 5-way navigator are also of metal, and feel sturdy, but offer good tactile feedback.
Switch on, and you are rewarded with a remarkably lucid TFT, which manages to display the interface with great aplomb. (One little warning to those in India: do not remove the screen protector that comes with the device - you will be very hard put to it to find a replacement here. I made that mistake and am still waiting, two months later - it seems these idiots could not care less, but that is no reflection on Palm themselves, merely on their local dealers).
OK then, on to the actual user experience. I found the Lifedrive a little sluggish opening applications, but that probably could be excused, seeing that it has to run a hard disk in the background. But overall, the delay is not so extreme as to render using the device a pain. A little patience, as the saying goes, will win the world.
On to the OS itself, the version that comes with the device (PalmOS 5.4 "Garnet") is a clean piece of software that does what it does with the minimum of fuss, and everything works as you expect it to.
I have been using the Lifedrive a lot lately to listen to music while I travel, and I travel a lot. The 4 GB hard drive is a heaven send, allowing me to store the all my favorite music (which comes to only about 2 GB). The output from the internal speakers is decidedly tinny, but then, what is a good listener doing using it? Get a good pair of headphones, and the device will reward you with excellent sound. It may not be as good as a dedicated MP3 player, but that is not the point, is it. You could even try hooking up to a pair of stereo speakers (which is what I am doing as I write this).
Video plays pretty nicely, with the 30 fps limit good enough to deliver skipfree performance. The screen has excellent colour and luminance (use a third-party video player such as TCPMP [The Core Pocket Media Player] if you want to use all the 320 x 480 goodness of the screen, and believe me you will not be disappointed).
The power switch has this great lock feature that prevents accidental button presses. This has helped me a lot when I train people. It lets me start a video and pass the unit around without accidental interruption.
On the software front, you get Documents To Go 7, which lets you create, edit and view MS Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents on the go. It works pretty well, and I use to write letters a lot.
The Voice Memo recorder. Now I had a few problems with this thing. I already had around 125 minutes worth of meetings recorded, and was met with a lack of space message. Then I figured out how to record to hard disk, and now, with all those songs and books and other apps, the device still insists that I have 999.59 minutes of recording time left (if the battery really lasts that long). So, I don't even bother to keep minutes any more. I just record it all and have it transcribed later.
Perhaps the single best feature of the device is its ability to function as a portable USB hard disk. You can simply copy whatever you want to the Hard disk, using either the Lifedrive Manager, or switch the device to Drive Mode, and you're ready to go.
Now, on to my gripes:
The power connector has to be connected through the sync cable, which means you still have to carry around two cables, even if you use Bluetooth to synchronise or transfer data.
They could have included a phone/camera module (but perhaps that is asking too much from an already extremely capable device).
The sync cable has a bad habit of slipping out from device's connector if even a small movement occurs. This can sometimes interfere with syncing/charging. You may think the Lifedrive is doing its thing, but then the whole shebang blows up in your face.
The system is sluggish, to be sure, so some that have used a Flash based PDA may feel the lag, but in the main it's something you rapidly get used to. Just remember, don't push too hard, or the Lifedrive may crash and you will have to go through the whole reset headache, which can take up to 2-5 minutes.
All in all, even in spite of the few gripes listed above, I am extremely happy with my Lifedrive, and would happily recommend it to any person whose needs match the device profile.
You will never have to worry about running short of storage space, and it feels like carrying a really small laptop in your pocket.
Anyone that decides to get one of these, I really think you would be on to a good thing.
NPP