PalmInfocenter LifeDrive and Pilot 1000 Giveaway

Only story entries posted here in this article will be considered. Please create a new comment for your story.

One entry per person in each drawing (you can enter both contests), replies are allowed but will not count towards the contest so please keep off-topic comments or discussions to a minimum in this article for the giveaway. Accidental duplicate posts will be removed.

Pilot 1000 entries belong here - http://www.palminfocenter.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30465

Thanks and good luck.

My Dear Ol' Ex said she wanted an organizer. I looked around and bought two PALM IIIs for no particularly well-researched reason. She proceeded to keep her PALM III in her purse and I proceeded to keep my PALM III in my briefcase. Within a year we both got tired of replacing batteries in the unused PALM IIIs and retired them to a bookshelf in the home office.

Fairly recently, however, I pulled mine out, stuck a couple batteries in it, powered that sucker up, took one look at the horrendously unreadable no-contrast dark screen, and said:

== Gack!

then pulled the batteries out, put the device back up on the shelf, and went about my other business.

======

Those suckers cost something like $360 each at the time, I think.

Total nerd, I am. Since Junior High school I have carried around a pocket diary with assignments, classes, then when working part time, my schedule, etc.

Eventually, having survived college and law school using the same method, I discovered 'Day Timers' and was carrying around a fat looseleaf Daytimer with me...together with their pocket addressbook.

When my wife's cousin got married, the groom gave to the ushers a little Seiko 'phone card' which stored, I think 50 to 250 numbers and data. I started carrying that in addition to the Daytimer, and found myself referring to the Seiko first, then the Daytimer.

I then saw a Sharp Wizard OZ-6300 (I think) sitting at my Mom's house, asked her what she was doing with it, and she said she didn't have a clue. Within 2 weeks I was completely up on the Sharp, which I gradually upgraded to a 9800 (first backlit unit I ever owned, back in the early 90's).

I was frustrated, however, by the fact that I had to enter data twice, first on my PC and then on my Wizard. It didn't make sense to have 2 to-do lists, 2 contact lists, 2 datebooks.

In '98, I discovered the Palm III and it's been love since then.

Palm III --> Palm IIIx --> Palm Vx (Millenium Blue! I loved that unit...) --> m515 --> Tungsten T|2 --> Tungsten T|3.

Truth is, there isn't anything better than a T|3 right now IMHO, so I don't mind sharing --- but I also don't mind losing.... The 1000 would be cool, though. The Lifedrive is just a poorly designed iPod.

Harold

Ah, I must of been 11 when my Mom got an m500 from her work. I loved the device. I'd always be playing with it in the cradle while I was on the computer or when we were out at a resturant. Of course I wanted one so much. hehe. Then later that Christmas, my older brother got a Palm m100. So life went on... I played with some old simple organisers in the past. So the next Christmas when I was 12, I finally got what I've been asking for! A Palm m125 at $125 and a GameBoy Advance. The perfect combo for a mobile organiser and mobile gaming. This was the era that Palm OS 5 devices were just coming out and OS 4 was being faded out.

Oh I loved my m125. I used it throughout 8th and half of 9th grade. But tradgedy has occured. One faithful night, there was going to be a lunar eclipse. So I being me, went on my PC and downloaded all the astronomy Palm freeware I could find and jammed up the hotsync manager with some software. So it was nearing time for the eclipse and hotsync was still going. As soon as it finished I yanked off my m125 and started to run down the stairs. Oh that was a bad idea. :-( I ran down and suddenly I tripped a bit and my precios Palm flew into the air! In a split second I jumped leaning my arm out and hit it up back into the air like a beanbag. Though my attempt to keep it in the air gave me a bit more time, it went down and slammed into the wall on the ground floor knocking out the stylus, batteries, dictionary card, and flip cover. I hurry down to check the damages. Gahhh! The bottom right corner of the screen was cracked. I just sit there on the ground panicing in shock. WTF!?!? :'-( My eyes were watering of course just in shock. But I kept a positive attitude realising it wasn't too bad of a crack and didn't make it unusable. I showed my mom and she was like "oh well." My fault so I can accept that. I kept using the device for months later. Anyway, I did get to see that lunar eclipse.

The lesson of the story is, get a Palm device that does wireless hotsyncing and save some time :-)

Palm m125 > Palm Zire 71 > Tapwave Zodiac 1 > Palm Zire 72 > Sharp Zaurus SL-C1000
So long Palm OS.

10 year wow! I bought one of those Pilot 1000 at Staples 10 years ago and have been a Palm Devotee ever since. I have owned a 1000, 5000, III, IIIxe, IIIc, Vx, 515, T, T3 and a TX. If you remember the company TRG and their modules then your there with me.

I got a Pilot Professional soon after they came out. I eventually upgraded to a Palm III and then a Vx. Around that time, a friend of mine was interested in getting a Palm, and asked me to sell him my old one. So I did.

I missed it immediately, even though the Pro hadn't left my closet in years.

Eventually, the digitizer and screen went bad on the Pilot Pro, and he gave it back to me when he bought an m125. I took it apart, reseated the display ribbon, and everything was peachy.

Eventually, I even found an OS3/IR upgrade card on eBay, and even though I didn't use it, I upgraded my original handheld.

Every once in a while, I come across the Pilot Pro in the closet when I'm looking for something else, and I always stop and look at it for a minute. I remember how great a gadget it was when I got it. It immediately replaced my paper day-planner, and I was hooked.

Even though I've got an m515 now, and I'm keeping up with the new models, I can't help but think that things were better back then.

--
PalmPilot Pro (1997) -> III (1998) -> Vx (1999) -> m500 (2001) -> m515 (2002) -> ???

(Somewhat long story warning)

When I was in middle school I attended an after school computer class. During the course of this class the instructor obtained a few Handspring Edge organizers (the metalic blue to be specific) and I spent at least an hour and a half tinkering with it and learning Grafiti. A helper also came in and he had a Handspring Visor.

I eventually went out an got a cheapo $20 Royal organizer (which I still have, somewhere, up in the closet, amidst a bunch of other computer junk). This lasted me for a year.

Once I entered high school, my ROP Intro. to Telecommunications teacher had a m500 handheld and a "busted" Palm IIIc. The first day or two he showed off his m500 and asked the class if any knew how they could connect it to the Internet. He also showed us his "busted" IIIc.

A few weeks later I was looking at the IIIc and trying to figure out why it would not work. My friend (who didn't know much about it) figured that the screen was cracked because it was completely black (we both didn't know that it was a color device and color LCDs do this). I asked my teacher if I could have it (if I could fix it). He said sure and was happy for my enthusiasm.

I took the device home, but could not do anything with it because I had no charger. He eventually gave it to me (with the wrong charger, DOH!!) and I took it with me for the Thanksgiving '02 week to my grandparents (I had already ordered a new LCD I believe) and plugged it in. I began to charge (and did so). 3 hours later it powered on (no backlight, I acidentally busted it, ooops), but would charge no more (this is why you never apply a 12v 1.5amp or so current to your beloved Palm Handhelds).

Well, I eventually go a new battery, motherboard and screen (spent more then I needed to, all I had to try was a cradle reset...) and got it working. :) By Christams '03 I had gotten a Palm Tungsten T3. The T3 was my faithful companion for 3 years. Just last Christmas I received a TX from my parents (i still use the T3 and it still works just as good as it did 2 years ago, with a few minor scratchs).

All three of my devices (when being used) were always with me. Just like Linus's security blanket, I couldn't go anywhere without my Palm Handheld (yes, I never owned a palmOne handheld, just the good ol' Palm).

My Palm IIIc experience also jumpstarted my love for Palm programming (and that will be the basis of my business that I plan on starting soon).

Well, thats my story (sorry if it was somewhat long). Thanks for reading :)

-Donald Kirker

I first had a sharp organiser, and thought I was pretty special, I always had everyones phone numbers at hand, everyone would ask me for the phone numbers. Over-worked and tired I left my bag in my work van (locked inside a substation) overnight, of course this was the night some thieves broke into the substation, and into my work van, found my bag and hence my sharp organiser.
All of a sudden I am not so special and no longer can provide all the phone numbers. I needed to make up for this, and quickly. I filed an insurance claim, so together with that and some money of my own, I found a Davinci organiser in a Tandy store. WELL, do you think I was super special now. I could not only provide phone numbers, I had a graphical calander with appointments on it, I had photos (albeit mono coloured), calculator, memo applications, AND how novel, I could write on the screen. This was the start of a new relationship, and a new hobby. Then I saw a Palm 111xe, WOW, superior screen writing ability, memory (how could I ever fill all that), sharp fonts(ha ha) alarms, I had it all. Then came along the Palm Vx. Now this is a very sleek piece of kit, all of the above and sexy. What more could a recently developed 'gadget' man want. Colour did say, are you serious, I can now have my photo's coloured, my calander, some blue in my contacts. This is just all to much, the m505, oh yes this is surely gadget heaven.
Then of course came along the TUNGSTEN T, this is a real gadget it slides closed, WHAT?? Colour, sounds mic sexy and slides closed. I am now fully and totaly addicted to these PDA's. I am PDA man. T2 was the only logical next step, the day that baby arrived in Australia, I had one, more colours, faster, GET OUT OF HERE. Albeit a little dissapointment sunk in this time because I was starting to expect more than what Palm could supply. The Tungsten T3 was an absolute must, 320x480 of yeah full screen graphics, now this is what I had waited for a hoped for, for some time now. No doubt, even years later, the T3 was a superb machine. Then to my dissapointment Palm was really winding down its implementation of technology, to the point I had to have more, so I went to visit the dark side. Hewlett Packard HX4700, this is the best screen I have ever had to date in a PDA, I was showing off left right and center, photo's, video's, super sharp fonts. But where has all my memory gone, why does this crash all the time, why has microsoft and or HP not fixed these issues, whats all this double the button pressing to achieve the same. It didn't take me long to get my courage up to applogise to Palm for ever leaving, I got out that old T3 and could not believe how reliable and fast it was. So along came the Tx. WiFi in a Palm, oh yeah bring it on. Instant application launch. Yep I like this. It does lack a few features, but hey with a little guts and threads on the web, I soon had a microphone installed into that baby. PDA and creative MP3 player in my bag take up too much room, if only I could combine the two, with enough room for plenty of MP3's???????????

I fell in love with PDAs when I started using my father's Palm IIIxe. He would let me play with the device when we were on trips and I found it to be the best addition to ones life!

Now in my PDA lineup I own a Zodiac 2 with a PalmOne Wifi SDIO card. Now this little wifi card can do much more then just surf the web. I use it almost exclusivly to spot check my website and update it via Wifile Pro.

Also at the school I attend there is a very large wireless network that we the students are allowed to use. I quickly realized that I could set up a network printer over WiFile Pro and use Printboy to connect and print to it. In my Language Arts class I decided to type my in class essay. My teacher promptly told me ," Adam, you know i'm not going to let you print that in the computer lab." I then quickly pushed the wifi card into the top of my PDA and found my teacher's network printer. I set up all of the needed information in Print Boy and in a little less then two minutes I printed my assignment to his printer. He looked at me with this dumbfounded look as I gave him my assignment. For the record I recieved 40/40 on it ;-)

My favorite handheld story.
-Adam

The world will end in 2006. Just as it was predicted in the bible along with the release of Microsoft Longhorn.... :p

My first handheld device was the venerable Palm IIIxe. At the time, i was 13. I was nearing my Bar Mitzvah and seeing as my older brother had wasted $300 (ish) on a telescope around the time of his i decided to waste some money of my own. Seeing as i had been messing with (damaging, fixing, damaging further) computer equipment since i was around 6 i figured a handheld computer would be fun to mess with... and so i did some research (that is, about two weeks worth). Then i worked up the nerve to ask for it, as only a semi-obsessive teenage boy can. When i finally did ask for it, i was answered with a verdent No. Well, as any self-respecting child would i continued to ask for it (and nag about it) for about two more weeks during which time my bar-mitzvah came and went. Finally, after all was done (and my nagging and religious chanting basically destroyed my voice for a while) i was greeted one night with a small glossy box... what was in the box? the IIIxe. Needless to say, i spent the next 6 hours figuring out everything i could about it (and how to use it). This included but was not limited to actually reading the manual. Over the next year and 1/2 i would end up having to send my dear ol' IIIxe in for repairs twice (once because my brother broke it, and once because the replacement was defective). I eventually replaced it with a Zire71, but when i had it it was perhaps the most entertaining technological i'd ever had... and it was actually useful too (once i figured out how to remember how to use it without forgetting to do my homework).

Corey

I remember when I got my first Palm.

I bought it back in '97 when the Palm Professional with 1MB of memory came out. It was one of those things that I didn't realize I couldn't live without until I had it.

I was working at the library when someone turned it into the lost and found. I played with it for a couple minutes until the owner came searching for it, and while it was in my hands, I admit...I got hooked.

It was perfection in the palm of my hand, if you'll pardon the pun.

I had it for awhile, and got the 2MB upgrade, but that wasn't enough. I wanted more, and then the Palm IIIc entered my world. Originally, I was skeptical. Color? On the Palm? Why would I need that? Grayscale is fine. This is my datebook, my phone book, my grocery list. Why do I need color?

Foolish mortal asking a foolish question.

From the Palm IIIc to the M130. Nice, but not much of an upgrade.

Then the Tungsten series hit, and I waited until the T3 dropped. That was my handheld of choice, and still is until today.

It even helped me meet a lady who, although we're no longer together, still remains a wonderful friend and a big part of my life. My innate shyness would've kept me from talking to her, save for the fact that, knowing she was a geek same as I, would enjoy seeing it. We played with it (the Tungsten...ger yer minds out of the gutter, ya perverts), and we talked, we walked, we held hands...it was magical.

The Palm changed my life in so many ways. It truly is one of those devices that I can't live without...and with any luck, this will net me a Lifedrive.

One by one, the penguins are stealing my sanity.

After fooling around with various Casio and Sharp organizers, I finally got myself an m100 in the Spring of 2002. I didn't even know how to set the date! lol. Soon afterwards, though, I had that little guy loaded up to the gills with email and AvantGo, and suffered immediately from memory management problems...which would have been ok, if the digitiser didn't die fairly early on...I acquired an m105 shortly thereafter, so both problems were solved. Once my father-in-law saw me beaming something to a buddy's Vx, he ran out and got himself a Clie s360 and now has a TJ25.

I just had to try colour, so I bought a Visor Prism on eBay, which still works well to this day. Then I had to try a Treo, so I got a 180, which was quite an experience with the broken wire to the speaker, and the constant, terrifying feeling of hoping not to lose one's data with the weak battery and no sd backup!

So thankfully, the Treo 600 emerged, which is my present PDA, tweaked as much as I can, with TCPMP, Pocket Tunes, video and sound recorders, LauncherX, and rock solid quality and stability...even fixed it once after dropping and have replaced the cracked PalmOne case with a shiny new Handspring case. :)

In any case, my wife started using the Prism, which she liked, but found a little bulky, so she's moved to a Z22. Of course now she's starting to wonder that it would be nice to combine her phone and Palm, lol. So I just waved my Treo at her...

I first saw a Palm when working on the Gore campaign in Connecticut in March 2000. I saw two, actually. The two main ground operatives in the state, I forget their titles, had old-school Palms--a Palm III and a IIIx. I was completely blown away. I had been using a REX for a while (remember those?), which I thought was pretty cool, but it didn't compare at all with those grey/green screens! I wanted one, but, as a college student, certainly didn't have the funds to get one of those multi-hundred dollar toys. Fast forward to the Summer of 2000. I was interning at the White House (yeah, yeah, crack all the jokes you want--I've heard them all) and two people in the department I worked in had Palms (one had a ice blue Visor that he told me not to get because everyone thought it was a Game Boy). The other had a Palm III. At some point I expressed envy for a Palm to the woman who who had the Palm III. A few weeks later she called me into her office and told me that she had found a Palm III lying around her house that she figured had been left there after a cocktail party. The AAA batteries in it had died and when she emailed all of her guests, no one claimed it. So she offered it to me. I was completely overjoyed. Sure, it barely worked--every now and then I had to unscrew the back and realign the screen because it kept falling out of alignment--but I was the happiest little intern around. I mean, the thing had no value at all--PDAs that need weekly disassembly aren't exactly considered in working condition. But since a new one was so out of my price-range, it was perfect. And I've had one ever since (though I did eventually scrape together the funds to get one with no disassembly required!).

I was a Hindu monk living in an Ashram and I wandered into Staples to make some copies for the local Swami, and saw the first Pilot and went 'ah!' I had a Mac SE/30 so a Palm Pilot was fairly close in look and feel. I really wanted one! But I was a poor monk, begging for a living essentially, and it was impossible to even think of getting one.

I eventually left the temple and got a job testing software and guess what my first client was? Palm! So I tested Palms, fell in love wiith them, bought a Handspring Visor Deluxe and a bunch of modules and have been a Palm fan ever since.

--
It would be really cool to compare the two devices side by side. The only original Pilots I've seen have been damaged goods.

I was about nine years old when I discovered I loved handheld gadgets, My mother bought me a 10 dollar Sharp Organizer, which I found to love. I then bought many other organizers all ranging in price from 5-20 dollars. We didn't have much money, and I never knew there were color, blacklit, organizers. Nevertheless, I was at best buy when they were having a sale for dvd's, It was close to my birthday, I asked my mother How much we could spend, She said 150 for my whole birthday, nothing more. I showed her a Sony Clie PegSj22 and she said, "No, It's too much money, how about another sharp organizer?" I thought I was going to die, I remember lieing in my room crying and crying for ages, my grades fell, tremendously, for my birthday was about two weeks away. When my birthday came, I saw a shoe box, My mother told me that I would really like what was in there...The box was rather large, (my father has huge feet, I did not know this was one of his old shoeboxes from the past)..I looked and there was a cross necklace wrapped in all this tissue. I said thank you and loved that gift..I almost threw the box (not out of anger, just throwing it on the floor) and my mother said.."Hey There's a little something in there" I saw a case, with a hand on it, I did not know that was palm's logo, it might not have been, but it was that case's logo. She said "Here, this is for your sharp, and these are too (handing me box that had a cd in it, and it said "Palm os 4 games and applications" I told her.."Mom, thats really sweet, but I don't have a Palm" and there it was, she pulled out That box that said "Sony Clie Pegsj22, I used that thing All through middle school, Until I received a ppc that could do mp3's but I hated that..So I went back to my Sony..The battery still works to this date, there is hardly any blemishes at all...I currently use a Zire 72..

That's my palm story.

I picked up a computer magazine the day I was leaving for my honeymoon, something to read on the flight. Was back in 1997, at least I think it was (dont tell my wife). There was a small article about the PalmPilot Pro and how you could play games, interactive fiction, like Zork on it. I had never heard of such a thing as the PalmPilot and it really got me excited. We came back from the honey moon on a Sunday and after unpacking I went to the computer store to check them out and of course came back with one. Nine years later I still always have one with me. Holy cow, Ive been married 9 years!

Well mine is an easy one. It was given to me by my wife for a Birthday present;

the Palm Professional and I soon purchased the memory upgrade. Hated the screen but loved the device! So I was on my way to the palm world with the following device; I think I also purchased the Rom manager to allow me to place programs in upper memory; so the beat goes on

Palm Professional
Palm V
Palm 500
Palm 505
Palm was it the 515?

Left Palm OS for one year with the HP 1910 (good device)

Treo 600 in February 2003

Then I got the Palm Treo 650 in Nov of 2004

Still waiting for the Treo 700P (May 28, 2006)?

I remember walking into Radio Shack when the Palm first came out, and drooling over them. I wanted one so much I could taste it - it tasted like a nine-volt battery stuck to my tongue. In 1996 I was 33 years old. But, I was newly married and newly broke. My wife wouldn't have taken kindly to my blowing $300 on a little electronic gadget, and she would have had the rest of my family on her side! No one really understood...

It took until 2001 for me to get my hands on an about to be discontinued Handspring Visor Prism for that same $300 (plus $50 for the extended warranty.) I had saved up a few rebate checks and my dad pitched in the rest. It was glorious! Full color, and and expansion slot! My next purchase was a modem at Compusmart. I guess they didn't believe in that beautiful expansion slot, and I got it for a mere $25!

I turned out in the end that no one else believe in that expansion slot either. After three years, and an inordinate amount of mocking from family and friends (How original: pull out your pen and your left hand and say, "Let me write that on my palm!") my PDA, now a Zire 71, has slowly become a part of my life, and has earned its place in my family. My kids play on it, and it keeps them quiet in the car. My wife became so addicted to Sudoku, that the moment she said something about having addresses handy I bought her an M100 on eBay, just to get mine back!

I think I will still have to mumble about getting a new one, just to prepare them for the purchase. But this time, my daughter will get the M100 and my wife will graduate to color. Perhaps after years of subversive Palm usage and abuse from loved ones, I will be able to upgrade to a new model out in the open, and make everyone else smile too. But the biggest smile will be mine - because I was right: just try it, and you'll to love it. Hey! Get your hands off my new Palm....!

Gordon

From the Great White North
Kudzu62

Working one summer (dissertation), I had a bit of an impulse buy/birthday present to myself--found a Handspring Visor on sale. What a device. Very simple, especially by today's standards, but it did what it had to do, and did it so, so elegantly. Remember the first time you realized the true power of the simple Calendar application?

And then, to return to my story, within a week or two, my summer plans, which were going to be a little bit of side teaching for Princeton Review at three different campuses around the Bay Area, changed quite a bit: I ended up assisting in an eight-hour-per-day intensive Ancient Greek language course, some days on, some days off, still doing the Princeton Review appointments in the evenings--there is absolutely no way I would have known up from down without my Visor beeping at me, telling me where to go and what to take with me.

I still love that original Handspring device, as simple as it was. That's the point of a killer app, isn't it? Can't live without it. Now I've upgraded all the way to T3--still the best Palm ever made--and I've got wonderful wedding photos I can show people (only those who ask, don't worry!), great music for BART, even Ogg Theora movies on there. And I've got that beautiful Calendar still beeping (or, now, buzzing) at me and telling me where to go and what to take. Thanks, Palm.

I fept a Franklin Planner but I immediately saw the possibilities offered by the Palm. My Dad got one, a Palm 1000, and I was convinced very quickly that I needed one. But I waited until our company finally switched to MS Outlook which cleared the way for a solid synch option. By that time the "top of the line" was a Palm IIIx...I was fully committed to making the most of it. My boss and I were at odds about me using it in meetings, he was convinced I was playing games all the time...until I started to use it as a weapon to win "discussions" with our software vendor. Nothing like having the our contracts and design requirements all on one little device...fully searchable and ready to rock.

I think my first digital organizer that actually looks like an organizer was the Sharp OZ-9000. But my first PDA was the very first "PDA", the Newton MessagePad. I bought it in 1993 on the first or second day of release by driving 4 hours to NYC to buy it at J&R Music World, for $700.

Since then I've had multiple Palm's, Clie's, Pocket PC's, currently I use a Nokia 6630. It might seem low powered compared to modern PDA's or PDA phones, but I use it for everything. The past couple of weeks I've been looking at buying something new though, bigger screen, wi-fi, mmm...

That's right. I wanted an Everex "Palm PC" because I didn't think even a Palm III would meet my needs.

But the Everex couldn't sync with my Mac, so I got the III.

I have been Palm's ulcer ever since.

Fat chance of me snagging a free LifeDrive!

I did get that Everex. Off ebay for about $25. What a rip, even at that price!

Take your Pepto-Bismol now, Colligan.

And RETIRE that ludicrous Heatherbot that posts stupidity everywhere!

>kissing free Lifedrive goodbye<

I bought my first Palm Pilot 10 years ago when they first came out. I purchased it at Office Max and then went ahead and registered it. I was contacted shortly thereafter by Palm about being a beta tester. They stated, that I was the first person in LA County to register a device. I signed the NDA and started a long beta testing program.

They used to send out 128K memory cards, 256K memory cards and I think we got all the way up to 512K memory cards which later became the Palm 5000. Most communication was via email and the benefit to being a beta tester was that you got to purchase the new units for 50% of the normal retail. And you also had conversations with the folks at US Robotics that were part of the beta advisory team.

I've had nearly every Palm device from the Pilot to the Professional to the III, IIIc, V, Vx (also became a beta tester for Omnisky with that unit), Handspring Visors, Edge, Platinum, then back to Palm with an M505, M515, Tungsten T, T3, Zire 71, Treo 600, LifeDrive, T5, Treo 650. I also had a couple of Sony color OS4 units (655 and 665). I've also dabbled with various MS devices from CE to current editions.

Before Palm it was Sharp Zaurus. And before that it was a Daytimer. The main reason for using Palm is the flexibility of the Tasks (formerly ToDo Lists) and contacts; much better than paper.

I've also been a part of the Palm community at various forums and beta software sights. Agendus is the longest software that I've used on nearly all of my Palm devices.

It's been a fun 10 years and here's looking at you, Palm. :)

A Palm wannabe fanatic

I bought my first palm 6 years ago. I was on a business travel in the USA and the Vx had been released. I bought it, wonderful little toy. THe one i had was one of the first, i think - it does not have the little x next to the V.
Anyway, i bought it - with a full load of accessories - pens, screen protector, the leather custody. And it still works.

But now i own a Tungsten E - thinking about moving to a T|X. How do i use it? like a PDA. What i miss? A GPS/3G sleeve with phone functionlity.

The Vx is still always near - you never know.

----
Luca Botti
Palm User since 1999

background
hi, everyone i'm a long time reader, first time posting on palminfocenter. i've been posting on brighthand's forum for nearly 1 year now in both the TE and Z72.
now i got my first palm when i was in year 7, its was a tungsten E
with hi res screen and small form factor. the reason i got the palm is because my grades in high school keep on splipping due to the fact that i'm always forgetting to hand in assignments when they are due. paper planning or a diary would be no-go zone for me cause i consider it to be a nerdy thing to have. now i got the TE it is cool looking, plays music and video and organise my life. when i first got it my friend was so impressed with its ability to do anything (well somthing that fits in your pocket will do) and the bright colour screen that they all when out and got TE for thenself. last year i got myslef a new Z72 and havent looked back on it despite the low battery life and camera issue because its a multimedia device, its need to drain the juice. want somthing with low battery usage. i sugest getting a sharp organiser.
my TE is still going strong after 2years with the battery displaying 20% after 3 hours of music playback. i'll upgrade my palm when a ALP comes out.
also check out my blog
z-master.blogspot.com

I was stationed in Overton, Nevada just northeast of Las Vegas. In January of 1999 I had been on my mission for about 6 months. As missionaries we weren't allowed to have computers in our apartment which was kinda driving me crazy (because I'm a techo-geek sort of person). So one day we get a catalogue for Franklin-Covey planners in the mail and I noticed that they were selling a Franklin version of the Palm III. It cost more than a missionary usually has to spend but luckilly I has a bit of extra money that had been intended for a bike. I figured I could justify purchasing this distraction from missionary work because I could load the scriptures (the Bible AND the BoM) onto it. So I ordered it and spent that whole night playing the 4 or 5 games that came with it. Then I spent the next 18 months still playing games etc during my meetings and 'study' time.

About a year after my initial purchase I had been transferred to Las Vegas and I went to the Franklin Covey store and saw that they were selling an 8MB RAM card for the Palm III. So I bought it and loaded a whole bunch more games onto my Palm.

As I mentioned earlier I wasn't allowed to have a computer in my apartment, so I relied on the charity of local rogue Mormons to let me use their computers to HotSync and so forth. (yes I did lose all my data to a crash more than once because of being transferred away from the area where my info was synced)

Sometimes we had to attend the sunday church services for up to 3 congragations. My trusty Palm made those drawn out days much more bearable. (I did spend a fortune of my grocery money on AAA bateries though)

I used my Palm III (a lot) for nearly 5 years. In January of 2004 I got a Tungsten T3. I was blown away by the amazingness of it. I loaded tons of apps onto it and found ways to use it to replace many of my other devices. I now use it for: reading books, remote control, MP3 player, movie player, flashlight, mirror, calculator, dictionary, web portal, game boy, word processor, guitar tuner, Pascal compiler, alarm clock, organizer, notepad, reference library etc. I'm sure many of you have your own lists of uses. Lately I use it mostly as a way to read at night without having the light on, and for showing off pictures of my two daughters.

My two year old is addicted to 'Sketcher'. She asks my every day if she can "paint pictures on daddy's Palm?" She likes picking the colors. She also LOVES watching home movies of herself on the Palm. I usually keep about 10 to 15 movie clips on there for her to watch (with TCPMP of course).

Anyway, 'please pick me!' and all that crap. Thanks for the excuse to relive my Palm memories. I've enjoyed reading the other stories too.

Jarom Olsen

/Now palmified for over 6 years.

I had always been in love with small electronics. I too had a sharp organizer and even those casio calculator watches which I used religiously. When I was a younger I remember ogling my dad's apple newton and see how 'professional' he looked. As I became old enough, I got a job at an electronic retail store where I worked in the mobile electronics department. What a dream come true! It was then where I discovered handheld organizers. I was at first very torn between the old casio casseopeia 500 (WinMOB...what was I thinking?!) and the palm V. I opted for the palm V becuase of it's sleek design and pocket-ability. Immediately I was hooked. I bought myself the portable keyboard (remember the big silver one that folded up accordian like?) and I also got an aluminum case for it. Then a short time later, the palm Vx millenium blue edition came out...and I had to have it. So I picked one up and got a blue aluminum case to match. From then on, there has been no turning back. I anxiously awaited the M505 along with many other people on this very forum, and got the first one at my store. I held on to that one for a long time...until the T3 came out, which gave me my first taste of landscape. I went through 2 of those before finally moving up to a TX. Now I can pretty much do anything on that. I love it at school when I'm sitting somewhere using the wifi to check websites while typing a paper all while listening to mp3's and having everyone who walks by take a second look. I also love using my tomttom GPS while driving, or when Im away from a hot spot, downloading my email by pairing my palm to my razr. I love my palm and would most certainly be lost without it.

Computers don't make mistakes, people do.

First comment on this great site! I read this site through Plucker or online nearly everyday. Keep up the great work. I love the cantankerous banter of the comments and forums.

I am not new to Palms, but I an certainly not too adventurous. I still am using a M130. It is my first Palm and I am fairly happy with it. I am contemplating a new Palm and this drawing inspired me to get on board.

I was first turned on to Palm when it was still US Robotics. I (being the geek that I am) still have an ad I saved to drool over from way back. It just says 'Palm Pilot' and 'USRobotics' on the top. The date on the sample display says 'Apr 10, 97' I still hold this to be my 'first Palm' even though it was only in my dreams. The picture of the Palm 1000 brought me back to the day...

I bought my first actual Palm about 3 - 4 years ago. My basic Cassiopia had died due to weather exposure (in my pocket mind you) and I was lost without it. The M130 was the latest and greatest pda accepted at my work for syncing to the network. I convinced my wife (not easy) that I needed it for my new position at work (all true).

I am an extreme freeware junkie (which some may frown upon). I have scoured the Internet looking for apps. Some of them are in Japanese! Fun, but hard to read. Zlauncher has made my puny M130 a lot more useful.

I am also a tech news addict and using Plucker on my Palm has been a lifesaver. This site has opened my eyes to the bigger world of Palm and I look here for the latest Palm news. I get so much out of the articles, comments and forums. Thanks a ton.

'No! I'm not playing on my Palm! I'm reeea-ding.'

.....

Well, I'm not sure what the point of a Palm 1000 would be; to hang on the wall? A life drive would be interesting, but we'll see

My first a color Prism!

My first Palm was a Zire. I was so thrileld to see its ease of use with a Mac and installed PCam and PCine on it. Soon I wante to instal more apps on it. But it onlyhad a memory of 2MB. So I decided to upgrade, but I also wanted to integrate it with a camera. The Treo 600 was the only option available at teh time and it didnt support EDGE. I waited for the Treo 650 releasem but in India, its so damn expensive, I can buy an entry level laptop at that price. So i have been waiting for a secoind Palm device that can offer me all that I want.
Meanwhile I gopt myself a Kyocera 7135. Unfortunately it runs on a CDMA network, and I prefer to have GSM so I am not dependent on the Cellular Service provider for newer handsets!
Maybe I will pick up the Palm Treo 700p!

2000: I returned from a service mission to St. Petersburg Russia. While there, I handled hundreds of contacts with a traditional paper contact book. Once I returned I looked for something that might make managing all of those contacts easier in the future. I purchased my first Palm, a Palm III, from a Franklin Covey retailer. I soon discovered that there are great applications for the Palm and not enough space on the Palm III, so I upgraded to the Palm IIIxe.

2002: My Palm started behaving strangely (losing data) so I upgraded to the Tungsten E. I really loved this palm. It was sleek and fast compared to the Palm IIIxe.

2003: I became very interested in the idea of a convergent device, so I sold my Tungsten E to my friend and bought a Treo 600. I loved having everything in the same place but hated the screen (160x160) and the reception with AT&T.

2003: Couldn’t tolerate the Treo 600 so I returned it to Amazon, canceled with AT&T, and purchased the Tungsten C. I had always wanted a thumb keyboard. I found the construction on the Tungsten C to be very poor (stylus kept coming out) and there was no backlight for the keys so I quickly returned the Tungsten C.

2003: After returning the Tungsten C, I purchased the Tungsten T3. I really loved this handheld. It was what I had been looking for. It was sturdy, stylish and small. While small, it also had a huge high resolution screen.

2004: My Tungsten T3 served me well but developed a very annoying high pitch whine. I started looking for a good replacement for what I considered my dying T3. I saw the T5 come out with mixed reviews. I was disappointed so I held off upgrading. Eventually, I determined that Palm wasn’t going to release a new PDA for a while so gave my T3 to my brother and broke down and got the T5. I had mixed feelings about the T5 it was definitely a temporary replacement for me. I really did like the drive feature though, and having all that memory was great.

2005: The Life Drive came out and I was very excited. I read in the reviews that there were some speed issues when switching between applications. I decided to hold on to my T5 and try the Life Drive out. If I liked it, I would sell my T5. At first I really loved the Life Drive. The design was beautiful to me. I didn’t mind that it was a little big. It felt so solid and still looked sleek. The lag issues however were very real. In addition, it reset a lot. The killer for me was MP3 playback. The songs paused every time the hard drive was accessed. I grudgingly decided to part with my life drive. (Returned to Amazon)

2005: When the Palm TX came out, I decided to sell my T5 and get the TX. The WiFi was appealing to me. I had used it a little on my Tungsten C and liked it. The TX was really a disappointment. The design looks good but feels cheap. The power button is hard to press sometimes, and applications that had worked on my T5 didn’t work on my TX (supermemo).

2006: I started to look around again and even considered trying a Windows Mobile device. I had used my dad’s pocket PC before and hated it, but I heard they had improved the operating system a lot. I began to notice that the only device not routinely bashed on Palm Infocenter was the Treo 650. In fact, some of the big critics even seemed to be satisfied. So, the first week in January I bought a new Treo 650 and began service with Cingular. Over the past 2 and a half months I have been very pleased. The screen is really great (320x320), the reception and audio quality has been great (sometimes a little quite, but they have apps to fix that), all of my information is in one place, one-handed navigation is a real joy, and all of the applications that I use work perfectly (about 10 add on apps). My only gripe is that they didn’t include more memory. That is my story. I love Palm and hope they continue to innovate with their smartphone line. I think the standard PDA line is suffering, but I have heard that the updates to the Life Drive have made it quite usable.

palm vx--my old friend's old friend be my friend now

a friend of mine give it to me when he leave,there's a only one photo which includ both of us--a white photo in it,he said it was his best good friend except me,now it is the only link to our old memory, my best old friend just like his owner.

I got my first Palm, when my father brought a new Palm V from work and he had no use for his old Palm III anymore. Ha gave it to me as he was totally amazed by Palms at that time.

I must admit that I hated it, first. I didn't saw a reason why I would need such an organizer. At that time I was a university student and my life hadn't to be very organized... But as I got more and more involved into research my life had to be more and more organized. And I slowly felt in love with my Palm III. In the beginning I mostly used the calendar and contacts apps, but after a while more other applications - I rememer a great Yahtzee game - were installed on my Palm and I even conencted to the internet with my mobile phone - quite expensive at that time.

So I wanted more and I got myself a Tungsten C, as my university had WLAN and it was nice to have internet access all around the campus. With the help of a ssh client - TuSSH - I was able to connect to our computer lab. As a computer scientist I began to write small apps (e.g. a dialer for my AirPort basestation at home), I got a GPS for car navigation and I was quite happy. The only thing I was missing were stereo headphones.

Meanwhile I have left university and I work at a research lab. As I travell a lot, I got a Treo 650 and I am really happy. Finally I have a mobile, which I don't forget somewhere. I have internet access everywhere, my contacts and my calendar is available, I can listen to music in stereo and last but not least it works very well with my PowerBook.

Unfortunately my father has switched to Windows Mobile (no, not to a Treo 700w), as he has a new job and they use Windows Mobile there...