Handspring Visor Deluxe (Handspring Visor Deluxe)

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Product:	Handspring Visor Deluxe
Date:	23/05/01 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great expansion capabilities, very cheap

Disadvantages: looks tacky

Key Features: 8Mb memory, Springboard, five colours, USB docking cradle for PC or Mac, Palm OS 3.1, Monochrome reverse-lit screen, 2xAAA batteries giving two weeks typical use

The Palm OS makes it's way into another pair of hands
Transformers fascinated me as a kid. You started out with a little toy car, then with a few canny twists and turns, it suddenly took on the appearance of an alien dispenser
of death and destruction. And with a whole group of Transformers, you could slot them all together to create multi-car/robot pile-ups.
I no longer need such childish things, though, mainly because these days I've got the grown-up version: the Handspring Visor. It's actually a PDA yet, like a Transformer, it's also a Web device, an MP3 player, a digital camera and a gaming device. The Visor, which has been available in the US for months and is now available over here, is the first device in the UK to license the Palm operating system. What this means is that some clever bugger took the Palm OS, stuffed it into another machine and then made it do loads of other cool stuff. This is why the Visor looks so similar to a Palm III - except it comes in a choice of five colours, including translucent blue, yellow and grey.
Because it uses the Palm OS, the Visor has all the usual Personal Information Management (PIM) software of the Palm, and will run most software designed for that platform, such as Palm Desktop. The address book has been jigged around a little and is called Address Book+, but apart from that, the look and feel is identical. You also use the stylus and touchscreen in the same way as before.
What makes the Visor different is the expansion slot on the back of the machine, which resembles the slot on the back of a Game Boy. Just slip in an expansion module, sold separately, and the Visor is transformed into something completely different. The downside is that there are only two relatively unexciting modules available toda
y - a memory cartridge and a golf game. On the bright side, treats for the coming months include a GPS receiver, modem, heart rate monitor, camera and MP3 player.
The beauty of the expansion slot is that while it makes the Palm every bit as feature-packed as a Pocket PC device like the Casio E-105, there's no need to install software - simply stick the cartridge in, and you're up and running. You don't even need to turn the machine off to change programs as it's completely plug 'n' play, which also reduces the demands on memory, meaning that as a result the Visor won't crash like a Pocket PC device.
The Visor connects to the PC or Mac in exactly the same way as the Palm using a transparent docking cradle (where you can see the little wires and everything) and because the connection is USB, it's whippet fast and dead simple to use.
The amazing thing is that the Visor is only £150, and can be found for less on the Web. At that price there has to be a catch, right? Well, yes, to a degree. There are some little niggles with the design, for a start. The plastic casing is more likely to impress kids in the playground than your mates. There's no getting away from the fact that plastic - even translucent, coloured plastic - looks tacky, which is why the Palm V was a roaring success in spite of its hefty price tag. Second, the Visor comes with a translucent screen protector which clips onto the front of the machine and hugs the edges. The only problem here is that you can't place the Visor in its docking cradle without removing the casing, and then what are you supposed to do apart from lose it? A leather case is supplied, but it doesn't make it especially easy to whip your Visor out when needs be.
There are also some small software compatibility problems. For example, the genius software that lets you control your telly and stereo using the PDA doesn't work with the Visor, and the infra-red doesn't work w
ith mobile phones unless they have an internal modem. However, these are all piffling problems considering that the Visor is a new product, and patches for the incompatible parts are widely available on the Net. It's also a damn sight cheaper than the Palm V and offers identical basic software, and it's the PDA that achieves the impossible by beating Palm at its own game.

Verdict: At £150 the Handspring is a more affordable and expandable PDA alternative to the Palm

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