Comments on: Handspring Visor Platinum Review

As part of an on-going series of Handspring product reviews, long-time contributor Robert Zach brings us this look at the Visor Platinum. He's already done one on the Prism Gameface and keep your eyes open for one on the Visor Edge.

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Why would you pay 100$ for speed?

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/27/2001 1:08:12 AM #

The Platinum is basically the same exact thing as a Visor Deluxe, with a speed increase that probably doesn't make a difference in 99% of PalmOS apps...

RE: Why would you pay 100$ for speed?

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/27/2001 5:21:35 PM #

Not only that, you can make a Palm V/Vx and Visor Deluxe run FASTER than a Platinium easily
by loading the very nicely written Afterburner Hack. The Clock Speed of the Dragonball CPU's
is software selectable, thus you can set it for as high as 45 MHz if you really want to.

Afterburner is VERY stable and I've been running a Palm V for the last 6 months at 37 MHz with
no ill effects or crashes. In fact, I run it on my new Visor Edge at 37 MHz. This gives me a
benchmark performance of 270. If you register and pay for Afterburner, you can go as high as
45 MHz. YMMV

I agree with the above post that for most Palm OS programs, clock speed is highly irrelevent.
However, for large databases to load up or certain really big programs (like e-pocrates and QID,
both reall large medical references for the Palm PDA's), the start up time is reduced from around
5 seconds to almost instant. That to me is all the speed I need for now.

Dave

RE: Why would you pay 100$ for speed?

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/11/2001 7:53:29 AM #

well there are more than meets the eye here.....

- OS 3.5.x adds a few nice features

- 4-bit grayscale support, ie 16 shades of gray

- Faster Processor

i think that warrants the extra cost

Get rid of deluxe!

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/27/2001 2:39:20 PM #

They should get rid of the deluxe and drop the price of the Platinum to $249.00.

AfterBurner

Edward @ 3/27/2001 7:54:58 PM #

Afterburner 3.0 can be used to reliably overclock older Palms to run as fast as the Platinum.

RE: AfterBurner

I.M. Anonymous @ 5/8/2001 6:36:02 PM #

Now, if they release a new afterburner, the platinum can be clocked even higher than 45. That's the idea. Finally, Liberty that plays at full speed!!!!!!

is it worth it?

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/27/2001 8:33:17 PM #

i have a vdx, and was wondering if i should upgrade to the platuinm. i know that i looks better but is it really worth the money. or should i just save to get the next color handspring (no palms for me). is the screen that much better then the vdx and does speed make any differnece?

RE: Why pay $100

Brad @ 3/28/2001 8:33:16 AM #

I've tried the Platinum & you would really like how fast “ordinary” apps become. A $50 premium made sense, with some over-clocking utils costing $30, but I would hesitate paying $100.

Visor & OmniSky

Gbert @ 3/28/2001 4:08:05 PM #

The review didn't mention that OmniSky runs on the Platinum & Prism but not on the Delux. The reason, says OmniSky, is an RF interference problem on the Delux & the original Visor.

Also, you may be able to upgrade a Delux from OS3.1 to 3.2. Palm's upgrade runs as an app in RAM, it does not load into flash ROM. Which means you must reinstall it if you have a hard reset.

I use 3.1 in my TRGpro & 3.2 in my Platinum & so far have not noticed any differences.

Visor Platinum

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/28/2001 10:19:46 PM #

The only thing I don't like about the Platinum is that the silver color is painted on. I've had my Platinum for about three months and the paint is wearing off on some edges, revealing a gray plastic case under it.

screen

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/29/2001 10:14:24 PM #

I know I have had to make Handspring replace mine because of the paint.

RE: screen

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/20/2001 8:51:34 PM #

similarly, i dumped my visor platinum (fake metal) for a palm v (real metal) because the thing is so shoddily built. It flexed and creaked when you held it...