Comments on: Palm m515 Comparison Pictures

Do I infer from this that you managed to get the PPK working eventually? I read elsewhere that someone else had problems using it with the m515.

I deleted the driver that was installed from the backup and replaced it with a fresh copy from my hard drive and it worked the way it was supposed too.

That's correct, the 505 and 515 will have a more noticable space because the pixel gaps are larger, but they are actually gray instead of black. This is also why they are not as noticable on the Sony... the higher pixel density also has tighter gaps between the pixels. Of course, it is also why the earlier color Sony's turned brownish in direct sunlight, more gridlines! Of course I have not seen the t615 in sunlight yet, and knowing Sony, they probably fixed this.

Thanks!

They are using borderfree.com to "process" and "handle" the orders. I have researched for a couple of weeks now, and have found no reason not to order from them. Read the policies.

Remember that it could take up to 2 weeks to get your order (stay with the free shipping - available to canada till march 8/02 - if you get express its $35).

the price on this unit to your door is less than going to buy a 515 in a canadian retailer. The only problem with this one is product is that you cant compare the price to, becasue it is not availble here yet. However it seems ok.

If you are looking for the N760 - it works out cheaper, except for the wait.

I will order mine later this week.

Post your email if you want and Iwill let you know whn I order and how long it takes,

I am in ontario.

Then only worry i have is they do have a no return/exchange policy, which I suppose is.."reasonable" given they do charge less especially for shipping to canada. My only other worry is going for the 2 week shipment.. which likely would be Canada Postal Services?

The extra 8MB of RAM for the same price with the extra backlight setting is enough for me.

I have made an annual purchase for hardware the last few from the III, e, xe, 505 and now the 515.

My big question is whether or not I should forgo color and buy the i705...

Nah... I'll just finish my 802.11b netowkr at home and buy a matching sled!

I suspect that the m130's screen is a transflective one rather than the reflective screens on the m505 and m515. But that's just an educated guess.

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News Editor

Having said that, I can tell you that I an "arrest worthy" comparison between all the models after I got out of work yesterday.

The m130 is transflective/backlit. It is the BEST screen ever offered by Palm. It is even a *shade* brighter than the m515.

More importantly, its colors are unbleievable.....my lord, the Red coloring on the HotSync icon is truly RED again!! Not blood-red, not maroon, but RED RED RED.

Too bad it's only available on the mid-range model.

I'm not going to bash Palm, as it doesn't take a Master Degree in Production to tell that it made more sense to move the sidelight upwards from the bottom of the unit (on the m505) to the actual bottom of the screen (on the m515), crank the voltage a bit, and call it a day.

Profit wise, that made the most sense.

I look forward to their future models that will have the m130's awesome screen. I can only imagine how sweet it would be to have a high-res screen (like the Clie's) with the color accuracy of the m130s.

Unbelievable.

*** Additionally, for future color Treo enthusiasts that are worried about the potentially smaller screen (the Treo is actually smaller than an m505), if this screen is any indication that a bright backlight and more pure colors make the difference, then you should be set. Seriously.

I could actually READ everything on the m130, unlike the m100, which I personally find completely useless (I have better than 20/20 vision)

The m130 screen certainly leaves much to be desired - blurry scrolling on images, washed out reds - when compaired side by side with the m515.

Apparently CompUSA staff can only let you see one unit at a time unless it's mounted. So ask a staff person to hold the other and check for yourself.

I'll be ordering the m515 as soon as our friends in Utah process my returned m505.

I hope it won't be long as the m105 I purchased as an interim is a form factor that's a bit too small...

Though there could have been some shaking. I was taking these as quickly as I could off in a corner of a Staples trying to not call attention to myself. I suspect they'd have thrown me out if they caught me taking pictures as the store manager knew he wasn't supposed to have this on display.

Like I said, sorry these are a bit fuzzy but they do show the only difference between the m505 and m515's screen: the brightness. There is no other change.

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News Editor

I sold my 505 and do not have access to the 615 but I want to order it from the US, but need some opinions on which is preferable.

Thanks,

Personally, I like the T615 better. I have been using it for the last month. I guess I'm use to the HiRes display. Now looking at the 160x160 that jaggedness of the fonts annoy me. The m515 is what I expected from Palm a year ago. Now its just to late. If this was out before I got my T615 chances are I would of not bought the Clie. The m515 is GREAT if it was 2001, Now being 2002 its good. best to compare and hold them in your hand yourself. Each person has there own dislikes and likes. If your going from a m505 to the m515 then its a nice upgrade. If your going from a HiRes Clie then its like taken a step back. Just my 2 cents...

I've seen that a lot and it comes from the actual sidelight itself... variations in color spectrum of the light. The good ones are almost pure white, next best have a slight redish or purple tint to them. Blue ones seem ok as long as they are bright enough, which is not that common, especially since they are lighting a silver/gray screen. The worst M505 sidelights are yellow. They do not look good no matter what, and always look like they are not getting enough voltage. My first one had a reddish tint but was pretty bright, so I did not mind.

My wife's first one was yellow. When I took it back to the store, they did not think there was problem until I pulled my own 505 out. The manager immediately offered a replacement. I had to go to another store becaues they were sold out, but the new one was great, looks almost like the 515 screen... but not quite. Regardless, she has been thrilled with the unit since day one and uses it constantly. Battery life is decent also. Speaking of batteries, anyone who gets a new device should leave it alone until fully charged. Resist the temptation to see what the screen looks like, even if you leave it in the cradle, as it will have a negative effect on future battery life.

No! I decided not to keep it. As I stated about I love the M5XX for factor but having the T615 I got spoiled with the HiRes.

BTW, I fixed the beaming problem with a warm reset. All works great...

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1336408493

And so is pen and paper!!!

The m130 is even brighter and has purer colors than the 515...that is a FACT.

In fact, if not for the 615's Hi-Res, I would label the m130's screen as the best on any Palm unit.

The 615 is *WAY* brighter than the 515, and that is a fact.

Then by all means.. feel free to buy a Pocket PC.. forget the zen of Palm and find the "Charge(ing) of Microsoft."

If you cannot make an intelligent observation, then please quit resorting to a flame war. Lets review some facts:

1. There were no "color Sonys" when the Palm 505 was released. Therefore I was not a "sucker", I was, and still am quite happy with my purchase. I have looked at all the PDA's currently on the market, and find that the overall advantages of the 505 are superior to the Sony. Specifically, I do not play games with my PDA. I use it for data as a business tool.Most of the programs I use are not designed for the hi resolution that the Sony uses, and therefore would be of little benefit. A higher resolution screen also uses more battery life and increases screen refresh rates. While I think the jog wheel would be nice, it isn't necessary. There are software programs which make one-handed operation pretty easy.
2. Sony has yet to learn the lesson that Palm learned. Quit making a new product with a different base, so "suckers" have to keep buying the same accessories over and over.
3. It is always easier for a company to improve on an existing design rather then create it from scratch. Sony is known for this. They take the existing technology and improve on it. I have yet to see Sony create something from scratch.
4. Sony's customer support is legendary. I have not seen one post which has been happy with Sony's customer service. When I dropped my Palm, I had to return it for replacement. I was charged considerably less then the cost of a new Palm. Yes it was refurbished, but it had the same warranty. I was also offered an advanced exchanged whereby I received my new one, and then they paid the return postage to ship back the old one.. try getting that type of service from Sony!
5. One final thought. PDAs are Palm's only business. They not only listen to the 5% who post to boards such as this, but they must also make PDAs which appeal to the other 95% of the people who do not frequent these discussion boards. Yet with that being said, I have seen employees of Palm frequent this board with tips and help. And what happens when they do? They get flamed by ignorant people like you. They don't get paid for this service. Most times they do this off the clock. ( I've asked). They do it because they believe in their product. I have seen Mike Mace, a senior executive at Palm, and now PalmSource take time out to answer questions, and provide insight into where the Palm platform is heading. I have yet to see any Sony executive come forward and make any type of contribution to this discussion. Nor have I seen any employee of Sony come forward and answer questions. (Unless they are doing so anonymously). That level of commitment is important to me. It makes me think that Palm will be around long after Sony has gone on to other interests.

A Palm in hand is worth two in your pocket.

Madhatter:

I was reading this forum and just want to make one comment; I have both, a 505 and a 760c but I don't agree with you,
Actually for business use I prefer my Clie becouse the hi-res screen allows me to see more data without scrolling (and believe me, I only use the medium size fonts) like my powerpoint presentations before my board meetings (Docs to Go PRo) and full width text documents (Docs to Go, Wordsmith, iSilo).
With my m505 it drives me crazy just to scroll horizontally and vertically through my docs..
And for many things hte 760 is faster than the 505 but not that noticeable.

Thank you for being a voice of reason - you're an oasis of common sense in what is, otherwise, a desert of ignorance.

"2. Sony has yet to learn the lesson that Palm learned. Quit making a new product with a different base, so "suckers" have to keep buying the same accessories over and over."

Clie S-series and N-series has the same connector, except T-series has a smaller connector for obvious reasons. so I guess you are just one of those never seen and never used one but my friend said that they all got different connector or even worse some I.M.Anonymous ppl on Palminfocenter said so.

"3. It is always easier for a company to improve on an existing design rather then create it from scratch. Sony is known for this. They take the existing technology and improve on it. I have yet to see Sony create something from scratch."

hmm.. Floppy Disc, MiniDisc, MemoryStick .. What are these .. These are stuff Sony created from scratch .. it's easier to proof something exist than to proof something doesnt exist. so choose your topic carefully next time.

...st*pid people like this one always screw up the discussion forums with their childish comments.

-Clie T615T User

In Japan, Sony has tons of accessories: blue tooth, CF adapter, etc., etc. MS GPS and MS camera, MP3 players . . .

Some of these have made over to US and other countries.

It's only a matter of time. Palm Hardware cannot compete with Sony. Within a few years, Sony will have what Palm has now in terms of market share. Am I a Sony devotee? No, but I'm a realist.

Thanks for supporting my statement, Jesus Christ is it so hard to believe that Sony did not do all those terrible things that you believe Sony has done !? I explained to you that Sony only has 2 connector, the bigger one on S and N series and a smaller one on T series, but NO you have to keep telling me that sony changed at least 3 times. Refusing to believe what other ppl tell you is not the right way to learn.

I choose my topics very carefully, and you are wrong in your observations
1.Sony did not invent floppy disks, Engineers at IBM did, lead by Alan Shugart.
2.Compact Flash was invented by Sandisk not Sony. 3.Memory Stick is a smaller version of the Compact Flash, and yes it was created by Sony..
4.The first form of CD as we recognize it today was introduced in 1972 by Compaan and Kramer.Sony did not agree to adopt the technology until 1979.
Sony adapted existing technology to their use, but did not invent them. That is what I said and I can prove my statements...

A Palm in hand is worth two in your pocket.

1. He was talking about 3 1/2 inch disks not the old 5 1/4 or even older 8 inch
2.He said 'mini-disc' not ' compact-disc' - maybe you dont know what a mini-disc is - its like a cd but smaller.
3. "2.Compact Flash was invented by Sandisk not Sony."
ah...nobody said ANYTHING about sony inventing compact flash. He said memory stick.

but yr main point is correct - these all build on existing technologies - sony just improved on (in all above cases they 'miniturized') existing technologies. But the fact is that all of the above technologies that you mention - floppies, compact flash and compact disc - all build on other peoples technology. not that thats easy. Sony actively spends big bucks on r & d. Compared to Palm though, they really do devlop and inovate in the area of consumer technology.

If there was a big diff in price - sure. But don't let the storage device make yoour choice for you.

hey, cool off man, nobody was attacking you.
I read all the posts so take it easy.
Some people can't accept any critics... its funny how easy it is to push their buttons.

Yeah. I really hate this about the VII and i705. Ever other PalmOS device with built in wireless (Kyocera, Samsung, Handspring Treo) does not lock you into this limited version of the internet where you must pay a monthly fee to the device manufacturer (Palm) as your ISP!! I hate this. Why can't Palm give us a device that lets US choose who our service provider is AND let us use REAL internet apps (like handspring Blazer Browser for instance). They gave us the TCP/IP stack in the OS - why not let us use it without having to connect to a cell-phone or having to bulk up the device with some silly 'sled' modem?

I can't take this device seriously and would never consider a 'wireless' device from Palm. This is a shame 'cause i like (despite the low-res screen) their units.

http://www.paralleldesign.com/

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News Editor

Morpheus (The Matrix)

- one NEVER listens to MP3 because the quality sucks
- one does NOT use the PDA as a walkman
- one could NOT care a hoot for games

Face it, there are a lot of people out there, including myself that have no use for your KILLER FEATURES whatsoever, not now, not ever.

Luckily you do not rule the world and make these so-called killer features standard on all PDA's so that all future PDA buyers will have to spend money on what some people may consider useless and therefore not worth paying extra for.

Give me an m130 with Bluetooth and mobitex wireless built in and I'll be happy.

Scott

I used to think like you before, so I always skipped upgrading to color PDAs, I thought "Idon;t need to see my phone numbers in color" etc..
BUt then I tried a color one for one month and wow..
it really makes a difference; first of all, READABILITY, color screens with their backlights improves it 10000% It saves me about 5 seconds every time I look for data becouse I don't have to move the PDA or turn on the backlight. The screen makes the difference. And its very pleasanrt to the eyes.
Secondly, the USER INTERFACE improves a lot, you can organize your launcher file tabs by color, use coded color icons for your datebook, which helps a lot!! and so forth..

More - "screw the customer" marketing from Palm

So you would have preferred $50 more for the same thing? Instead, Palm has fixed the problems with the m505 and released the replacement, with more memory, for the same price.

Actually, YOU would have preferred the m515 to be $450, wouldn't you? Because that would give you more to whine about.

In conclusion I don't think it was a poor design and I don't think the readibility of the M505 was ever a problem for most - I would prefer M505 lighting with M505 graffiti lights as opposed to M515 lighting with no graffiti lights.

Regards, Tom S.

Very true. What percentage of Palm users use their Palm in complete darkness? Can you say less than 1%? I knew you could. Besides, it's a no brainer...the grafitti area is just below the screen...doh! These people will bitch about anything. Next thing you know, Palm will release another one that has the grafitti lit but now the battery will not last as long. Then you'll see the same stupid people posting about the battery life. Geez...when will it end.

Ed's review of the T615C had a m505/T615C battery comparison
(http://www.palminfocenter.com/palm/p_story.asp?ID=2869)

Gordon from Edinburgh
*27 Years Old In One Hour!*