Comments on: MemPlug MemoryStick Coming Mid-November

That's not the point, but I guess your "sense" doesn't extend far enough for you to be able to grasp the point.

Say you have a springboard. You realize that you need more memory. You don't have alot of cash or you don't want to upgrade until the ARM processor is released. It would make beautiful sense. You could still use your memory sticks for the ARM-powered Clie you upgrade to. Personally, I prefer the 505 for form factor, but the hi-res screen of the clie is pretty nice, as is the jog-wheel. I'm holding on to my 505 until I can buy an ARM equipped PDA w/ wireless, expansion card, and sizse closer to the 505 than the clie.

Ahhhh...another wise one has discovered the joy of a VisorPhone with a Memplug. I swear, this combo is just perfect! Get the E3 leather case. It fits and protects your VisorPhone, gives you a swivel belt-clip, and has a pocket to store your Memplug adapter in the empty space under the VisorPhone battery. It's going to be a long time before I need to upgrade with this combo.

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James Sorenson

I am the original poster of "Handspring is dead" and I have to say that you have changed my mind. I'm going to run out and buy a Visor now.

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This isn't true. I'm not the original poster and I think he's a few beers short of six pack. I just wanted to make the point that if you post anonymously, anyone can come along later, say they are you, and put any kind of words they want on your mouth.

You're all wrong. I'm the original poster.

You guys need therapy ASAP. Me... I'll grab some beer and some weed.

Later...

why not just require people to register a name in order to post? I would be extremely happy to see that happen.

Okay, Charlie, I found where I got my VisorPhone case from. Go to: http://www.ebcases.com

It is not a cheap case ($50), but it's leather, has a swivel belt-clip, and a pocket for another module or your earphone. It uses a velcro flip-top, and is formed so that all buttons (including those on the Visorphone) are accessible. Basically, I wanted a case where I didn't have to pull it out to use it.

Cheers.

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James Sorenson

You are not alone, I sometimes gets the same error as well.

I 100% agree! How about putting up a new poll on this idea?

Whether you like it or not, Handspring IS THE MOST EXPANDABLE PDA. And expansion modules in general are not more expensive than CF cards. You can bother yourself and check.

Handspring is in no way the most expandable PDA which is pretty obvious. Compare the number of springboards to the number of compact flash, pc card and SD devices. I mean get real. Also the guy who thinks Handspring is going to have a breakaway christmas season with five year old technology needs to get out of his basement and look around. BTW I am the original poster of "Handspring is dead". I don't really need to back that statement up since any regular reader of this website should already know they are.

SD devices??!! MS devices??!! Just an announced SD Bluetooth card and a MS Camera. Now let me check PalmGear: 57 Springboards (backup, memory, bar code scanner (easy to have on PPC, no?) mp3, GPS, massager (not that useful), line modem, wireless modems, fitness module, pagers, wireless ethernet, bluetooth, TV remote, PowerPoint remote, software modules, sound and vibe modules, digital camera, voice recorder, etc; most of them won´t protrude or break easily. CF accesories aren´t chepear or more convenient...

>>What SD and CF devices?? I have only heard of one CF device for the Handera that will come out soon and no SD devices.

Let's see here:
http://www.handera.com/accessories/compat.asp

5 landline modems, a wireless modem, two digital phone cards, two serial port cards, 5 ethernet cards, two GPS cards, and a barcode scanner card. Oh, and the 802.11b wireless card that HandEra is writing drivers for. No CF perhipherals? Hardly.

I stand corrected, there are a few CF devices. However, not as much diversity in this group as with springboard modules. Plus with the exception of the GPS devices ,most of these just move data from one place to your Handera, be it through a modem or ethernet card. No MP3 players, cameras, or phones.

There is not just the Visor Phone anymore. Sprint has a phone out for the visor and there is a cordless phone attachment for the Visor. the base for this also acts as a hotsync cradle. In addition to the devices I mentioned earlier, there is a module that allows you to use Powerpoint presentations with a projector without a laptop. There are voice recorders and there is even a GPS module device made specifically for Golf fanatics. I don't know why I would want that but certainly somebody does.

So needless to say, the springboard slot is not dead.

Jason

I didn't say it was the best camera in the world. I said I liked it better than the EyeModule 2, which is the worst canera that I have ever used except for the original PalmPix. The HP camera needs to have higher resolution, but outside of that, it isn't bad. Personally, I don't care about haveing a movie mode, but that might be important to some people. The Emodule 2 does have this feature, but with the limited resolution, limited memory, and miserable frame rate, it is pretty worthless.

The Hp camera does take decent pictures and the software is excellent.

Hoo boy, you have asked a question that has started many a war. It seems comparing medias is akin to comparing PalmOS models! Here is how you should consider which Memplug to buy:

1: Do you already have a certain type of media? You might as well standardize a little so that you only need one USB-reader for your computer.

2: Do you have friends or family with a PDA that uses a type of memory expansion? I find that sharing data by swapping cards can save A LOT of hassle when moving documents around. However, they have to be the same type of media.

3. If you currently have no media, have no friends with media, and don't intend to purchase any item in the near future that uses a certain type of media, THEN you might as well shop for price. Compact Flash is certainly the winner, here.

Smart Media seems to be gaining popularity with the smaller devices due to its small-size. Personally, I find it to be slow, over-priced, and sometimes unreliable. The contacts are exposed, so use a case. Size sells in the digital-age, I guess.

Compact Flash is my favorite. It's robust, cheap, and fast. However, it is larger than Smart-Media, and CF devices tend to cost a slight bit more. However, having a cheap, durable 256MB chip makes it worth it. Compact Flash is a requirement for me when I buy a device.

Sony Memory Stick. This one is a severe Love/Hate relationship. It's small and expensive, like Smart-Media. However, it has the ability to be a device as well as memory, like Compact Flash. From what I've seen, the Memory Stick is a bit more durable than Smart Media, but not as sturdy as Compact Flash. The major selling point is that it uses a secure-protocol when working with MP3s. This is a nod to the music industry, so future MP3-players may start using these. It is the most costly, though he price seems to be dropping rapidly.

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James Sorenson

128 mb Memory Stick for $94.95
http://www.us.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10297925

128 mb Memory Stick for $97.95
http://www.outpost.com/entry?site=cn:a101&sku=97218

Just a quick search on shopper.com reveals several places to get 128 mb MS for under $100.

I don't like Memory Stick. It's very slow and expensive. Compact Flash is much better.

"I don't like Memory Stick. It's very slow and expensive. Compact Flash is much better."

Actually, it's the second fastest of the bunch (marginally): (source PC Mag Nov13, 01)

CF 2.5 Mbps
MS 5 Mbps
MMC/SD 2 Mbps
PC card 2.5 Mbps
Springboard 6.4 Mbps

ALSO

to clear up some confusion MS is not SDMI compliant i.e. no copy protection; MS Gate (white stick) is

memory expansion is all about preference, very little about price.
People who have CF cameras use CF, people who are sony mindless drones user memorystick, I use SM cause I have a digicam that uses it. All about preference.

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When you find yourself in the company of a halfling and an ill-tempered Dragon, remember, you do not have to outrun the Dragon...you just have to outrun the halfling.

It's true that visor users have a wide range of expansion card options and have great expandability.
I would only say YES to both if the Visors are equipped w/ dual springboard slots - once you got your expansion card module plugged into the slot, your Visor is no longer expandable, and that basically make your Visor no different from the m505 or the 760.

Sony and Palm should have also provided their Palms with dual Sd/MS slot. Yes of coz you could swap your Springboard/SD/MS device, but it's kinda stupid that i got to remove my memory stick and take photos w/ the MS eye module on that tiny daxn piece of 8mb Ram. And if i plug in the wireless bluetooth module, I can't go online if i got my browser stored in my SD/MS, which is the most likely case as those browsers are always RAM eaters.

That person's numbers are so wrong, it isn't even funny. SD and MMC don't have the same specs. CF and SD specs support speeds way above what MemoryStick currently handles. I actually doubt any of those numbers are right.

Read for yourself:
http://www.memplug.com/BuildInApplicationMS.htm

Not totally true. The reason that the Treos do not have a Springboard slot is because the cell-phone component takes up that circuitry. Remember, the Treo is a miniaturized, updated version of a Visor with the Visorphone module. To make room for an additional springboard would require dual-springboard capability, which wouldn't be feasible in such a small model. The 16megs of RAM should ease the loss of memory expansion. The Treos aren't really designed to replace the Visor line, so the Springboard still has a future.

As for this whole "Handspring is Dead" because they gambled on the PalmOS and what not: come back when you can support that statement. Handspring is fine. Why? PalmOS is still the majority PDA, and two new comapnies just licensed the OS. The Treos are hitting news stands before they are even released. There are 57 springboard modules for the current Visors, which is more than I'll ever need. As proven by this article, more modules are being made.

That, my friend, is how you make a statement in this group.

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James Sorenson

I'm not trying to stir up the muck, but would like honest opinions from Handspring owners. The Springboard certainly has the most options, and now that you've got memory sticks with something like PiDirect, memory expansion should be pretty awesome. My question is this? Do they crash alot? I had a Vx and at the same time a Visor Deluxe. My visor would hard-reset often (3-5x/month with much use) , sometimes when changing batteries (I could do it in <10 sec) It wouldn't receive beams ( beaming palm device would always say beam interrupted). My unit was one of 24 that my hospital bought for us slaves (residents). The others were the same way. They were bought from a comp-usa in Cincinatti, OH. They were not factory-seconds. I assumed that some programs that were written for Palm OS got tripped-up on the springboard. Anyway, it turned me off to Handspring. The same software ran fine on our TRG Pros, IIIc's and Vx's. Did we just get a bad batch? We used no Spring board modules. Were the visors a uniquely bad model? Serious replies would be nice.

Tuckermaclain@yahoo.com (love my 505)

Not so fast there...

>You like CF? There's a CF Springboard.
>You like SD/MMC? There's a Memplug Springboard.

Seems to me that a HandEra 330 which can use both at the same time gets extra points for expandability. I have hundreds of databases and apps on an external card (192MB), and it wouldn't be very useful to have to unplug all that to use a modem, ethernet, or 802.11b connection.

Then there's the issue that, unlike springboards, you can use those CF devices (and soon, non-memory SD devices when they arrive), on your laptop or desktop saving you duplication of devices. The sole problem with springboards is that they're proprietary, and that's hard to stay in business with. CF device manufacturers generally don't make their cards for just one target market. I can use any NE2000 ethernet card on the market (dozens) for example in my TrgPro, Handera 330, my laptop, my desktop, or a PocketPC if I had one. A consumer shouldn't have to buy all his devices twice.

>Most come with the neccessary software built into the module itself, so you do not need to waste internal RAM with drivers, software etc.

Again, that's only needed if you can't have your cake and eat it too. So you're stuck with the software that the manufacture gives you on the card. In the case of a Handera 330 owner, they can use other software which they believe is better suited, and put it on one card, while they use the device in the other slot. Maybe it's an alternative database they're using with a bar code wand or laser scanner, or some other combo with a GPS, ethernet card, CDPD modem, etc. Or even many different apps that make use of the card. If they're all VFS apps, both the cards and the data can be on the memory card and take up no RAM, while I use the accessory in the other slot.

As for the thread on card speeds, max rated speed on cards in nearly irrelevant on PalmOS hardware. The constriction is the Palm hardware which levels the playing field. The maximum speed for any card is going to be the same. The only differences comes in the memory handling routines of the card controllers, and more significantly, the number of address lines the card has. CF has double or quadruple the number of address lines of the other card formats (springboard excepted), which is why it can still outrun them in large transfers. It's a parallel transfer rather than a serial one.

Anyone who thinks "Handspring is fine" needs to check out their stock price and sales charts. Handspring is over.

I'm a Visor owner and I don't have deep pockets, so most Springboards are out the question for me.

Last summer I was in the market to purchase my first pda basically because I needed help staying organized and the concept seemed cool to me. After looking at all the models, I decided to go with one with 8MB memory and go with the Palm brand. The salesmen showed me Visor Deluxe, and the concept of Springboards made a lot of sense to me, so it was an easy purchase as it offered USB along with it being expandable. Buying before any of the major Springboards were released, I was shocked when I found out that I could purchase a high quality standalone mp3 player with the same or ever more memory for the price of either of the mp3 Springboards. I'm curious if any Springboard manufacturer actually made any money when they signed with Handspring.