TECHNICOLOR PALM
"New personal assistant brightens
up the dreary world of gray-screen
organizers
Henry Norr, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, February 24, 2000
Poor Microsoft.
In its increasingly desperate efforts to hold off the
Palm juggernaut in the handheld-organizer market,
the Windows CE camp has had only one
compelling advantage: superior screens. And now
Palm comes along and takes even that away from
Gates and company.
What did that trick is the Palm IIIc, a new $449
model released this week. It doesn't have the sleek,
high-touch styling of the Palm V line, or the wireless
communications capabilities of the Palm VII. What
it does have, as the letter ``c' suggests, is Palm's
first color display.
Who needs color, you might be asking, in a device
designed mainly to store phone numbers, calendar
entries and to-do items?
Part of the answer is that color lets you do more
than that -- things you probably wouldn't want to do
on a dingy gray-green screen, like look at digital
photos and play backgammon. (The IIIc comes
with programs for both those functions, although,
curiously, you have to go out of your way to find
and install them.)
And you'll soon have lots more color-oriented
options to consider: Rand McNally, for example, is
developing a Palm IIIc version of its Street Finder
Deluxe 2000 software, which will let you generate
detailed maps, as well as directions, to any address
you specify. Kodak is even planning a $149
hardware device, the Kodak PalmPix, that will snap
onto the IIIc and turn it into a digital camera.
For most users, though, I doubt any of those
applications would justify the IIIc's price tag, not to
mention the extra cost of the third-party options.
The real value of the color screen lies elsewhere:
Because it's so much brighter and clearer, it's much
more readable than previous Palm displays. And
that makes using the device -- even basic
applications that have nothing to do with graphics
and no real need for color -- much easier and (let's
admit it) more fun.
Technically speaking, the screen in question is an
active-matrix thin- film-transistor LCD -- the same
technology used nowadays in all but the least
expensive notebook computers.
Truth be told, it's not quite as good as the best the
Windows CE world has to offer: It measures 2.25
by 2.25 inches (160 by 160 pixels), the same as
previous Palm screens, whereas the color display
on Casio's comparably priced Cassiopeia E100 is
2.25 by 3 inches, with a resolution of 240 by 320
pixels. The IIIc also displays fewer colors (256,
compared to 65,536 on the Cassiopeia), and the
shiny Palm screen is much more susceptible than
Casio's to annoying reflections.
Microsoft, to its credit, has also done a better job
than Palm of integrating color into its user interface:
In most of the Palm applications, the only color you
see is in the window title bar, whereas Windows
CE uses shades of gray and other colors to
distinguish the different elements of its screens.
(Cynics might say that's useful only because CE's
interface is excessively complex.)
Only one standard Palm IIIc application -- an
enhanced calculator called powerOne, developed
by Infinity Softworks -- makes heavy use of color,
but not, to my mind, to very good effect: To me
yellow outlining around the black numerals on the
keypad is just clutter.
But these are relatively minor quibbles. The main
point is that the IIIc screen is bright, clear and easy
to read -- something I for one wouldn't say about
any previous Palm display. Like other LCDs, it's
hard to read in bright outdoor light, but indoors it's a
pleasure to work with.
Besides, Palm pretty much lived up to its promise
not to sacrifice other values that have contributed to
the popularity of its products -- notably, small size
and long battery life -- for the sake of color. The
IIIc is about a quarter inch longer than monochrome
Palm III models, but at a thickness of .67 inches
and a weight of 6.8 ounces, it's scarcely any bulkier;
it's also a couple of ounces lighter and a shade
thinner than the Cassiopeia or similar color
Windows CE devices from Compaq and
Hewlett-Packard.
Battery life is a little trickier. The sad fact is that
color screens use more power than monochrome
ones. While the monochrome Palm III models
typically last up to two months on a pair of cheap
AAA alkalines, the IIIc appears to run only about
eight or nine hours on one charge of its built-in
lithium ion battery pack.
Just what that means for you depends on how you
use the device. If you use it a ``normal' amount of
time, which according to Palm is about 40 minutes
per day, and you leave the brightness control at its
default position, you'll be able to use the IIIc about
two weeks on one charge. If you use it more, or
turn up the brightness, obviously a charge won't last
as long.
In any case, Palm has made it easy to recharge the
IIIc. Like the Palm V (and the color CE models), it
comes with a cradle for exchanging data with a PC
that also has a charger built in -- just plug the AC
adapter cable into the cable that connects the cradle
to a PC serial port, and the device will recharge
whenever you put it in the cradle.
For those who rarely connect their Palm to a PC,
the company offers two separate recharging kits,
one that plugs into an AC outlet, the other for use
with the cigarette outlet adapters in most cars and
the power plugs now found (I'm told) in the first-
and business-class sections of most airliners. Each
charger is $39.95.
In other words, battery life in the IIIc is more of a
concern than in the older models, but Palm has
done a good job of making the problem
manageable. If you use your cradle regularly, you'll
never notice the power issue -- and you'll have the
satisfaction of knowing that you're not filling your
local landfill with toxic disposables.
Of course, at $449 the IIIc's virtues don't come
cheap, and even those who can easily afford it will
face a tough choice. Instead of arranging its
products in a single good-better-best hierarchy, as
most tech companies do, Palm now has three
separate high-end models, each with its own unique
special feature: the Palm Vx (now $399) is the
lightest and most elegant, while the VII (now $449)
is the only model with built-in wireless capabilities.
In other words, you can't have it all (unless you've
just cashed in your options and you want to pick up
one of each). But if readability is your biggest
concern, or if you're among those who have some
other use for color, the IIIc is a big step forward for
the Palm family."
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