Handspring Visor Prism
With a dazzling colour display, faster processor, and rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the Visor Prism leaps past the Palm IIIc for colour Palm OS-based handhelds.
The Prism outperforms all Palms and previous Visor incarnations while continuing the Handspring tradition of stylish design. Unfortunately, the display tops out at 160-by-160 pixels, and colour adds weight to both the unit and its price. But if you want a Palm-based colour handheld, the Prism is recommended.
Like the citizens of Pleasantville, the Palm players have been dragged gradually from a grey world out into the light by competition from Pocket PC. The latest example, the Handspring Visor Prism, successfully marries the popular Palm OS and simple, highly usable Visor design with a brilliant colour display.
The Visor Prism isn't the first the handheld based on the Palm OS to incorporate colour. The Palm IIIc, which was introduced back in February, got those honours. But it turned out to be a dubious distinction: The Palm IIIc's 256-colour display paled in comparison to Windows CE- and, more recently, Pocket PC-based devices.
The Visor Prism more ambitiously supports up to 65,536 colours, matching the colour depth of the Casio Cassiopeia EM-500 and E-125 (and surpassing that of Pocket PCs from Compaq and HP). But before you get too excited, keep in mind that that the Visor Prism -- like all devices based on the Palm OS -- is restricted to a resolution of 160 by 160 pixels, compared to 240 by 320 pixels for Pocket PCs. As a result, the Visor Prism's adjustable backlit display appears grainier, though it is still far better than that of the Palm IIIc.
On our test device, Handspring also included several applications for viewing images and video and a selection of games to give us a better idea of the performance of the colour display. Though it doesn't match that of Pocket PCs, it still a big step forward from the grey-scale display on most Palm-based devices, and it makes the user experience much more enjoyable. In fact, once you get used to it, it's annoying when you run an application that doesn't support colour.
In another first for Handspring, the Visor Prism includes a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that is rated for 2 weeks of normal usage (6 hours continuous usage), according to the company. Like all Visors, it includes a USB cradle and works out of the box with Microsoft Windows Me, Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Apple Mac OS. (Windows 95 and NT users will need to purchase an optional serial interface.)
To squeeze colour into a Palm-based handheld, Handspring had to slightly increase the size and weight of the device. It's 4.8 x 3.0 x 0.8 inches and weighs 6.9 ounces, but it still feels quite comfortable in your hand and the cobalt blue case looks absolutely great.
Like the Visor Platinum, the Visor Prism includes the fastest processor (33MHz Motorola Dragonball VZ) of any Palm-based handheld. The closest competition from Palm currently maxes out at 20MHz. On our tests using Quartus's Benchmark 2.0, the Visor Prism was on par with the Visor Platinum -- 41 percent faster than a Visor Deluxe and 82 percent faster than a Palm IIIc. The Visor Prism includes 8MB memory, which Handspring claims is sufficient for 12,000 addresses, 10 years of appointments, 6,000 to do items, 6,000 memos, and 400 email messages.
In addition to the latest version of the Palm OS (3.5.2H), the Visor Prism includes all of the standard Palm applications as well as Date Book+ (which includes floating appointments, integrated to-dos, and a journal), scientific and business calculators, and a world clock for frequent fliers. The Visor Prism also supports infrared data synchronisation -- a feature of Palm OS 3.5 and later.
By Visor standards, the Prism carries a pretty hefty price tag. Still, if you want a Palm-based device with colour, the Visor Prism is the current best choice hands-down.
Handspring Visor Prism
Company:Handspring Australia
Ph:02 9425 8073
Price: AUAU$1,049
Rating
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