As many of you know, I have been developing custom software applications for Palm OS devices for about three years now, so I spend a lot of time with those types of gadgets.

For those of you looking at buying a Palm-compatible device, there is a PDA you should take a serious look at called the Handera 330. Unlike the more popular Palm, Handspring, and SONY hardware, the Handera 330 has not just one but TWO peripheral slots, and they are both industry-standard while the others provide only one proprietary slot. The 330 takes a standard CF flash, ethernet, or wireless ethernet card. It also has a standard SD card slot, which uses the same media as most MP3 players.

The Handera also has a built-in microphone and speaker, so it an be used as a dictation recorder, and the highest-resolution screen of any Palm device. Finally, it has an astonishingly ingenious "virtual silkscreen" area, which can be minimized to enlarge the usable screen by almost 50%. The "virtual silkscreen" is unique to the
Handera, but I suspect the other Palm OS licensees will be copying it in their next-generation devices.

Check out www.handera.com. The 330 is my favorite of the Palm OS devices.


Originally posted 28 Dec 2001 by James Broder
james@skunkware.tv