A PDA for Every Pocket: Color Brightens New Choices

If you're finally ready to entrust your appointments, date book, memo pad, and other essentials to a personal digital assistant (or if your old one is on its last legs), here's some good news: A flurry of new arrivals give you more choices than ever--especially if you have a yen for speed and features such as color display or the ability to run word processors or spreadsheets.

But keep this in mind: The four shipping units I checked out--the Handspring Visor Platinum and Visor Prism, the Hewlett-Packard Jornada 720 Handheld PC, and the Diamond Mako from Sonicblue--cost between $299 and $999, so shop carefully.

Visors Look Sharp

The new Handsprings are upgrades to the popular Visor line of devices that all use the same operating system as their hugely successful Palm competitors--meaning they can run all that great Palm software. The more impressive arrival here is the Visor Prism. Its attractive 65,000-color display makes it great for viewing photos or videos, compared to the 256 colors you get from Palm's competing IIIc. When I compared them side-by-side, however, the screen on the Palm IIIc was discernibly brighter.

The Prism also holds firm on the standard Visor footprint, though it is a tad thicker and heavier than monochrome Visors. (In contrast, the Palm IIIc is slightly taller than other Palms.) The Prism is a negligible 0.1 ounce heavier than the IIIc.

The navy-blue, 8MB Prism has the usual Visor extras--a date book with more views than Palm's, a nicer calculator, the Springboard slot for easily adding expansion modules, and a USB cradle that syncs up about four times faster than the Palm's serial hookup. The cradle also recharges the Prism's internal batteries, which in my informal tests lasted approximately the same length of time between charges as the IIIc's--a week or so of intermittent normal use.

The Prism doesn't win on all counts, however. At $449, it costs $120 more than the newly reduced IIIc--and that's too high a premium unless you plan to use the device to view photos.

The Visor Platinum is basically a Visor Deluxe with a faster processor and a sharp-looking pewter-colored case. It's billed as the speediest Palm OS unit available--but I've never heard complaints about slow Palms, so this doesn't seem a great selling point. The $299 Visor Platinum costs $50 more than its somewhat less fancy sibling.

Handhelds With Keyboards

If you would rather type--even on a decidedly small keyboard--than deal with Graffiti (the Palm OS's handwriting system for text entry), you have a couple of new options to consider as well.

The $399 Diamond Mako from Sonicblue (formerly S3) is an exceptionally lightweight clamshell device with 16MB of memory; it runs on EPOC 32, the operating system used to run Psion devices. In fact, the Mako is the same as Psion's entry-level Revo Plus, available only online for the same $399 as the more widely distributed Mako. In addition to the usual items (address book, date book, memo pad, to-do list, and calculator), you get Opera's capable EPOC 32 browser plus Microsoft- and Lotus-compatible spreadsheet and word processing applications.

The Mako's monochrome screen is quite legible, and its 7-ounce weight and 6.2-by-3.1-by-0.7-inch dimensions make it almost as portable as a palmtop. The price is another plus, especially compared to the $900 cost of the high-end Psion Series 7. On the other hand, you have to live with a serial-port hookup and the Mako's keyboard, which can't hold a candle to the Psion's when it comes to easy touch-typing. The stylus also looks a bit fragile, and to go online you'll need either an optional $129 battery-powered 56K travel modem or an infrared-equipped GSM cell phone. Connect either of them via the device's infrared port.

An Out-of-Pocket Experience

HP's Jornada 720, one of the few remaining Windows CE devices on the market that isn't a Pocket PC, has a slightly larger keyboard and a much sturdier stylus than the Mako. It should: At 1.1 pounds and 7.4 by 3.7 by 1.3 inches, the Jornada 720 isn't trying to fit into a shirt pocket or even a small purse. Even so, its larger keyboard falls a bit short of offering users touch-typing quality.

For Web browsing, however, the Jornada 720's gorgeous 6.5-inch, 65,000-color, 640-by-240-pixel screen is a definite asset--and so are its built-in 56-kbps V.90 modem and its powerful 206-MHz processor. Overall, the Jornada 720 delivered the best browsing experience I've ever had with a handheld.

In addition, the unit has an infrared port and accepts a broad range of media: CompactFlash cards, Smart Cards, and Type II PC Cards.

A serial syncing cable is included, but the Jornada also comes with a syncing cradle. If you plan to use the latter, buy a standard USB cable for it; the unit will sync two to four times faster this way.

Beyond the standard pocket Office apps (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access), you get a useful OmniSolve calculator utility. The extras don't come cheap. The Jornada 720's $999 cost screams "Power users only."

Try Before You Buy

The Visor Prism might be worth investigating if you're willing to pay extra for the best display available on a Palm OS unit. The Visor Platinum may suit people who want to use power-hungry Springboard add-ons, and the Mako delivers Psion-like capabilities at a more affordable price. Finally, if you yearn for great color display and Office apps, the Jornada 720 might be for you. But remember to check out the competition before you buy.

SUMMARY

Diamond Mako PRO: Psion-like productivity at a bargain price; lightweight. CON: Very small keyboard tough to type on; modem costs extra; sluggish serial port syncing. VALUE: Versatile productivity tool for slim wallets. Street price: $399 Sonicblue 800/468-5846 www.diamondmako.com

SUMMARY

Jornada 720 Handheld PC PRO: Fast; great screen; PC Card and CompactFlash slots. CON: Pricey; heavy for a PDA; keyboard on the small side. VALUE: Versatile, powerful, and Internet-friendly tool if weight isn't a problem. Street price: $999 Hewlett-Packard 888/999-4747 www.hp.com/jornada

SUMMARY

Visor Platinum PRO: Fastest Palm-based PDA; handsome case; fast USB syncing. CON: For most Palm apps, speed is not an issue. VALUE: Good for users of power-hungry add-ons, but most people should stick with $249 Visor Deluxe. Street price: $299 Handspring 888/565-9393 www.handspring.com

SUMMARY

Visor Prism PRO: 65,000-color display, fast USB syncing. CON: Pricey; not quite as bright a screen as the Palm IIIc's. VALUE: This one's worth the premium only if you plan to use it to handle photos and video or games. Street price: $449 Handspring 888/565-9393 www.handspring.com