Clever plug-in for Visor has novelty value but will not replace the digital camera

On its own, Handspring's Visor is as ordinary as Palm Computing's series of Palm handheld computers.

But while Palm might be described as a nifty little device, Handspring's Visor is a stroke of genius. It allows plugging in of application-specific modules, called Springboard modules, to transform it to an MP3 player, Nintendo Gameboy or GSM phone while retaining its calendaring and scheduling functions. Great as the Palm might be, the Visor delivers extra ooomph.

There are more than 50 different modules available, and more Springboard developers are signing on as the Visor gains popularity. Handspring is expecting more than 50 new modules by early next year.

The Springboard module reviewed is the Eyemodule from Ideo, the designer of the Visor. It is a basic digital still camera with one tiny lens and no zoom capability that fits in the Springboard expansion slot on the back of any Visor.

The Eyemodule is tiny and does not increase the size of the Visor by much, and does not require batteries.

It snaps easily into the Visor and, in true plug-and-play fashion, images can be captured within seconds. The Visor is held flat to frame the subject and the images captured in jpg format by pressing the control button or tapping the Visor's scroll-up button.

Jpg images are captured as grey-scale images in 160-by-120 resolution or either grey-scale or eight-bit colour images in 320-by-240 resolution. There is no flash function. It has a 10-second self-timer and time-lapse feature which can be customised for capturing up to 999 images over 60 hours.