Your column persuaded me just about a year ago not to invest in a then new Palm III from 3Com and stay with my PalmPilot Professional. The main reason was that you predicted a newer, better model would be available by this year that would be radically different. Now the Palm V is out, and it looks cool in the photos on 3Com's Web site. And then there is the Palm IIIx, which seems to look just like the Palm III. Although I had no real need for the Palm III's infra red capabilities in the past year my trusty old Pilot is looking decidedly road-weary. Which one should I go for? S.L. PETERSON Mid-Levels You will find a more in-depth review of the Palm IIIx and the Palm V in the review above. My experience is when I tried to get my wife to use a PalmPilot more than 18 months ago, she dismissed it as 'just another gadget'. I showed her a Palm V last week, which she described as 'cool'. And that was even before she turned the thing on - some indication of the market 3Com is going after with the Palm V.
Although the Palm V is technologically more advanced than the Palm IIIx - consider its long-awaited lithium-ion battery and cradle that acts as a charger, for one thing - it has less 'power'. The Palm V, which sells for $3,400, has only two megabytes of memory while the Palm IIIx has 4 MB, allowing for more expansion. There is a lot more you can do with a Palm IIIx, which costs $2,800.
Having said that, many of us have survived with PalmPilot Professionals with only 1 MB of memory. Two is a luxury . . . and that can be expanded if necessary. For $600 extra, you get a PDA that really does fit into the outside pocket of your jacket without reminding you it is there.
Maybe you will make up for the extra $600 in savings from batteries.
A few words of caution. The Palm V is vastly different from its predecessors, particularly when it comes to its connectors. It will not take a modem for the PalmPilot, so $3,400 may not be the only investment you make in it. Also, the back-lit screen in the Palm V and the Palm IIIx has been changed from the norm so that the characters light up and not the background. There was a time I actually read books in the dark on my PalmPilot Professional. I couldn't read a few paragraphs in the dark on the Palm V or the Palm IIIx.