PalmOne m500 Handheld

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Manufacturer: PalmOne
Price at amazon.com: Used & new from $15.00

List price $199.99



Product Features:

• Built-in 8 MB memory stores thousands of contacts, appointments, to-do items, and notes
• New, advanced monochrome LCD screen makes it easier to see in dim light and in bright sunlight
• New Secure Digital Card/MultiMediaCard expansion slot for additional memory and functionality such as a dictionary/thesaurus, games, and more
• Native USB cradle allows faster HotSync operations
• Windows and Macintosh compatible--includes desktop software for both platforms

Product Description:

The lightweight, stylish Palm m500 handheld is expandable, customizable, and Internet capable. The Palm m500 has an expansion card slot for additional memory storage (up to 64 MB) and add-ons such as a dictionary/thesaurus, games, and more. The Palm m500 comes with all the classic personal information management tools you expect: Date Book, Address Book, To Do List, Memo Pad, Mail, and Clock. It has 8 MB of built-in memory, enough to store thousands of addresses, years of appointments,... read more


See all product description...

Description from Manufacturer:The lightweight, stylish Palm m500 handheld is expandable, customizable, and Internet capable. The Palm m500 has an expansion card slot for additional memory storage (up to 64 MB) and add-ons such as a dictionary/thesaurus, games, and more. The Palm m500 comes with all the classic personal information management tools you expect: Date Book, Address Book, To Do List, Memo Pad, Mail, and Clock. It has 8 MB of built-in memory, enough to store thousands of addresses, years of appointments, hundreds of to-do items, and more than 50 applications.

The expansion card slot is a dual-purpose slot that can hold two types of cards: Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard (MMC). Both types of cards are small, inexpensive, and easy to plug in. Much like computer diskettes, they hold information for upload or download onto a handheld. With them, you can instantly add software programs, e-books, large databases, graphics, or even video files to your handheld without sacrificing memory space.

Sleek and lightweight, the Palm m500 handheld has a shiny aluminum casing and is curved to fit in your hand. The display's enhanced technology makes it easier to see at all angles, in dim light, and in bright sunlight.

The new native USB HotSync cradle allows you to quickly back up and exchange information between your handheld and your PC or Mac. The Palm m500 handheld also features new vibrating and blinking LED alarms (in addition to the standard audible alarm) to help you stay on top of your busy schedule. The Palm m500 handheld comes equipped with a rechargeable lithium-ion polymer battery, which is charged using the HotSync cradle.

The Palm m500 handheld comes with Palm OS 4.0, which provides enhanced security and improved Internet connectivity. Other application features include Note Pad for writing sticky notes, Palm Mobile Connectivity for connecting to the Internet and obtaining e-mail via compatible cellular phones, and AOL for the Palm OS.

The Palm m500 handheld is PC and Macintosh compatible and requires a USB port. It comes with Palm desktop software for both PC and Macintosh. It has a one-year warranty.

What's in the box

• Palm m500
• Stylus
• Rechargeable lithium-ion battery
• USB HotSync cradle
• Palm Desktop software for Windows and Macintosh and Palm Mobile Connectivity software
• Getting Started guide
• Handbook

Average Customer Rating:

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Comment: Sleek Sleek Sleek Rating:
I bought a Palm Vx and the IR port kept failing on me. Although my confidence in Palm's quality control was wavering, I took a risk and paid more money to upgrade to m500. It was a good decision which I made more than 1 yr ago. After some usage, I have the following Pros and Cons:
Pros
1. Lighter weight than the all aluminum Vx
2. Longer battery life
3. Faster processing speed when launching applications
4. great storage. I stored 2 translations (NIV and NASB)old and new testament of the Bible and it still has a lot of unused memory
5. now the price has gone down a bit so it is a good deal.
6. Sleek and light design. I personally prefers the all aluminium casing, but the plastic backing has been fine so far
7. you can use the graffitti and keyboard mode at the same time

Cons:
1. expensive/hard to find accessories e.g. camera attachment, memory backup card, external memory storage card
2. some of the free games available through the Palm community web site might cause this m500 to crash, so download cautiously

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Comment: Best Palm Yet Rating:
I have owned 3 different pocket pc or palm made devices. I first started with the Palm IIIxe, which I got a lot of use out of. It is not only functional, but it makes writing in your organizer, and adding addresses easy, if not fun. I decided to move on to a color model, but the available color models running palm OS were far from adequete, especially for their prices. The best value was a HP Jornada 525, which was their old model, close to being discontinued. I was happy with the Jornada, until I found that upgrading to the new Pocket PC OS wasn't possible, and recently I have noticed that the Pocket PC industry hasn't gotten it's act together. Pocket PCs, up until Win CE 2002, have been running on 3 (or maybe 4) different types of processors, and none of them are compatible with eachother. Models with different levels of color cannot run the same software, and the list goes on. I decided to move back to palm, but keep my Jornada when I needed a color device. The best buy seemed to be the m500. I am happy with this model. It writes much better than my first palm. Some reviews have stated that it has a plastic screen, but in fact, it has a glass screen, and a thinner "membrane" for sensing touches. It's display is a big step up from the early grayscale palms, and it has fixed all of the annoying bugs of the old Palm Vs. My only complaint is that the "odd" shape makes leather cases (especially fit cases) much more expensive, and the peripherals are all more expensive. Otherwise, this is a great model!!

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Comment: Mixed bag; one bad one and one good one Rating:
My wife has a palm m500 that she likes, I have a palm m500 that works so inconsistently I am looking for something else. My wife's will not sync with the computer, so I had the computer looked at and tuned up by the computer doctor. That did not help. We received a court document saying we could change out the sync modules, but we had to have the receipt proving we bought the palm. OF course, they had our warranty certification and address, but that was not good enough. Overall, My wife is decently happy with hers, but with all the problems we have had, I would never buy another Palm. Oh, the 90 day warranty is not too great either. I assume that the the Palm people have little trust in their product or they would offer a year warranty. I'm sure the 25 dollars they charge for service after the 90 day warranty is a major profit center for them. After thinking about this some more, I not only won't buy from them, I hope they go out of business.

Posted at November 11, 2003 07:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)