Handspring VISOR NEO BLUE

Handspring Visor Neo

VISOR NEO BLUE Review, by Richard Baguley April 29, 2002

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• Reviewed by: JenniferDyer

  Strengths: Versatile, convenient, easy to use

  Weaknesses: Nothing that bothers me, though some people might find it a little bulky

  Overall: I love everything about the Handspring Visor Neo and would highly recommend it. It's convenient, versatile, reliable, easy to use, unobtrusive, and most importantly, cute. My primary reason for getting a PDA was to have my address book and date book on hand at all times. The Neo is great for those things, but I've appreciated it even more for the other ways in which it has simplified life: I keep all my lists on it, so it has reduced the clutter of little slips of paper; I put my backlog of reading material on it to read during downtime; the calculator is helpful at stores and restaurants when I don't feel like exerting the noggin' for mental calculations; it's on hand if ever I need to take notes; and the list I'm sure will go on.For my needs, the Neo's 8 MB of RAM is more than enough. I've loaded my Neo with contacts, events, email, e-books, and games and still have 3.5 MB free. Although there are smaller handhelds, the Neo is larger for two reasons that, for me, outweigh the drawbacks. First, it uses AAA batteries rather than a proprietary battery with charging cradle. If you keep a couple pairs of rechargeable NiMH batteries in rotation, you don't have to wait for recharging. Also, the Neo has an expansion slot, which, though it makes the unit bulkier, does allow for memory expansion and more uses, such as camera, cell phone, voice recorder, and MP3 player. The display is clear and easy to read -- I've already read about 1,500 pages of e-books on it -- and the backlight is convenient. The Neo feels sturdier and much more durable than it may appear. I like the purple-blue tint and translucent case. Fingerprints are very visible on the shiny plastic case, but I don't mind.I'm using my Neo with a Mac running OS X 10.3. Synchronizing to Address Book and iCal using iSync and to Apple Mail using AppleMailConduit has been smooth.

• Reviewed by: jcgrv

  Strengths: Reliable, proven, flawless synchronization with Outlook, AAA battery-powered, great PDA capabilities, thousands of applications available, excellent screen.

  Weaknesses: None, provided one doesn't need color screens, MP3 players or picture viewers.

  Overall: I've been using PDAs since 1998. The first one was a Royal daVinci. It used the same Motorola processor than the Palm III and a similar OS. Too similar, since Palm sued Royal for copyright infringement. Royal discontinued that particular model. It worked well even though it had some glitches. Among them, the synchronization with Outlook wasn't good. Then I found an unbelievable deal on a Diamond Mako, a Psion Revo + clone. Perhaps the best PDA ever. Built-in good size keyboard, twice the memory and screen size that the competition at the time, full-featured word processor and spreadsheet compatibles with Word and Excel, files accessible from Windows Explorer, flawless synchronization with Outlook, etc. The only drawback: it used an internal rechargeable battery. It didn't survive a recent trip overseas. The AC adapter was damaged. Back home I tried with an universal adapter but I couldn't get it to work. Time to hunt for a new PDA. In the meantime I used my old Royal daVinci. Remarkably, it still had the information I left it with more than 3 years ago. It kept it in flash memory, which doesn't need power. With its glitches and all, it served its purpose. If it just had Windows 2000 drivers and could sync with Outlook... So I started looking for a new PDA. I didn't want to spend too much money. I didn't need a color screen or a MP3 player or a picture viewer. I wanted something reliable that synchronized well with Outlook and AAA BATTERY-POWERED! Why is that so important? Nowadays the PDA makers give us the "convenience" of internal batteries. What they don't tell you is that those batteries eventually don't hold the charge anymore. Is cheaper to buy a new PDA than repair the old one. Not so with a AAA battery-powered PDA. No problems traveling anywhere. It turns out that the best affordable PDA powered by AAA batteries is discontinued: the Handspring Visor Neo. I was able to find it refurbished, with as much warranty, memory and speed as a brand new Palm Zire 21 for 60% less. However, one has to keep an eye on the batteries. The Neo will let you know when to replace them. I use rechargeables, which last longer but have a much more "sudden" death than alkalines. I just replace them when the remaining charge is around 1/3. A big selling point is also the Springboard slot, a way to increase dramatically a Visor's functionality. One can still find Springboard cards on eBay, from memory upgrades to cards that convert the PDA in a full-featured phone. Also, there is a huge amount of software available. Two outstanding free applications are Adobe Reader and AvantGo. I can read e-books and the news in my commute to/from work. The screen is very sharp and readable. All in all, I'm very satisfied with my purchase. It never fails, is very reliable. Perfect size, feels solid and well crafted. Very recommendable.

• Reviewed by: Bobbiloo

  Strengths: Believe it or not...good tech support.

  Weaknesses: Incompatible software caused 'Fatal Alert' error.

  Overall: With the Xircom Springport 802.11 module, my Neo died. I would get an 'Index out of range' error. I couldn't even soft reset. I could only hard reset. The Xircom module worked fine once I hard reset but every time I would hotsync, the error popped up again. After two case #'s with Handspring tech support, they shipped me a replacement unit.