FRAMINGHAM (02/28/2000) - Beautiful - that's the only word for Santa Clara, Calif.-based Palm Inc.'s new IIIc, the first-ever Palm with a color screen.
Mind you, I've been using a Palm for more than a year, and I was skeptical that color could really enhance what is essentially an electronic date and address book.
But the IIIc has something that neither Handspring Inc.'s Visor nor any other Palm has: really good readability. Since your eyes love contrast when reading, the IIIc's true black against true white makes it a lot easier to stare at for long periods of time. The monochrome screen on other Palms is really LCD almost-black on LCD gray. Now, there's no need for a backlight in dim situations: This Palm is so bright, it can double as a flashlight.
Aside from readability, what impresses me about the IIIc is the elegant way it uses color. Sure, you get a free JPEG image viewer, but the Palm is primarily an organizer. So even though few applications take advantage of the color yet, some give a taste of its potential. For instance, conflicting appointments in the Datebook application get a red bar beside them, selected text is highlighted yellow and menu bars are blue.
Now for the particulars: The IIIc comes with Palm software and a docking/recharging cradle. The Palm's case is a new color: dark slate. It's 7mm longer than previous III Series handhelds, so old III cases may not fit, but any III accessories will. Speaking of which, you'll want to invest $30 in a separate recharger kit so you can keep the IIIc going when you travel. Like the Palm V, the IIIc uses a built-in lithium ion battery. Palm claims the battery will stay charged for two weeks of normal use, though I haven't had my review unit long enough to verify that. Unlike the Palm V, which had a recharging light only on the cradle, the IIIc has a recharging light built into the body of the Palm itself, which provides a welcome visual cue, regardless of recharging method.
The Palm IIIc also ships with Version 3.5 of Palm OS. With the updated operating system, the unit runs faster and can hotsync with a PC more quickly.
And some previously third-party features are now standard. These include menu bars that drop down when tapped (vs. having to click a menu button), more file security options and a function that simplifies such tasks as cutting and pasting text.
The Datebook application also sports a new Agenda view that shows appointments and to-do items on one screen. My advice is to spend $20 and replace Datebook with the incredibly full-featured Datebk3, available from Morganton, Ga.-based Pimlico Software Inc. at www.gorilla-haven.org/pimlico/. Handspring uses the Datebk3 on its Palm-compatible Visors.
Like that of all Palm IIIs, the exterior of the IIIc has a removable flip top to protect the screen. The up/down rocker switch has been replaced with two separate buttons. On my demo unit, the down button didn't work consistently; I would have exchanged it for a new one.
The only real downside to the Palm IIIc is its $449 price tag. For that money, you could get the smaller Vx or almost two of the new IIIxe's ($249), both of which match the IIIc's 8MB of memory and flash read-only memory (ROM). I highly recommend units with the flash ROM, because it lets you upgrade the hardware's operating system. Some other models, such as the Palm IIIe, Palm VI and all Handspring Visors, don't have flash ROM, so you have to use slower software patches instead of firmware upgrades.
Regardless of price, though, if readability is a primary concern, no other Palm device on the market beats the IIIc's color screen.