Palm LifeDrive Mobile Manager
by Palm
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Palm LifeDrive Mobile Manager
Customer Review: PALM LIFEDRIVE
Summary: 5 Stars
The purchasing process via Amazon was very good. The item was very conservated, like a brand new, and working well.Customer Review: The best ever!
Summary: 5 Stars
I own 3 palm devices.....this is the best i have ever seen!!! However the battery dies really quickly......Customer Review: Palm LifeDrive
Summary: 5 Stars
Excellent device,went beyond what I expected,easy to use,not too complicated,more features than I expectedCustomer Review: Great for College Students
Summary: 4 Stars
I just bought my Lifedrive used last week, and I managed to grab it for under $200. I have to say, it was worth the pricetage I purchased it for.
I was having some trouble finding a decent laptop for under $500, and running on a college student's budget, I found that the Lifedrive had everything I needed. After using it for a couple of days, overall, I'm really satisfied with it. I just bought a Bluetooth keyboard and the cradle (since I bought it used, it didn't come with the HotSync cable, only the power adapter.). Here's what I've found about each of the features thus far, and why it gets 4 stars instead of 5.
1) The Wifi:
A great feature on this little device, particularly the ability to download Powerpoint presentations my professors make before class. I'm able to run down to the library, download them online, and then have them in front of me in class to review at my own pace during the lecture. I think this is pretty fantastic. The WiFi does suck a lot of battery life out of the device, but if you're just popping on to do simple things like I do, then it's worth it. I just needed something to check the various websites that I use for my college and download a few Microsoft-based documents. If you're going to use the WiFi for anything bandwidth-intensive, then you could find yourself wanting to pull out your own hair, but this is a PDA, after all, and NOT a computer.
2) Documents-To-Go:
I love this program. It's wonderful. Since the Lifedrive is made for looking at high-resolution pictures and small type, viewing Powerpoints is that much simpler. The only problem I have with it is that the machine is a little slow opening and closing the documents, particularly if they're full of graphics and high-res photographs. Other than the few-second delay, however, I think it's great. Especially the fact that you can have it automatically zoom in on the slides. I also like the fact that it has full funnctionality, so I can edit rough drafts right before class if I forgot to do something at home. I wouldn't recommend writing a whole report on it, but that's one of the reasons I went ahead and bought the keyboard.
3) Voice Recorder:
This was actually what sold me, aside from the Bluetooth and the WiFi. Not only can I keep up with the online bits and pieces from my professors, I can record lectures in class on the same device, either to an external SD card or to the drive itself. The recording quality isn't what it would be on a couple-hundred dollar digital recorder, but it's enough to be able to go back through the lecture and re-take notes, and good for studying, particularly when I get to a point in studying for the exam when the question of "Hm.. I don't remember what she said about that..." comes up, and I don't have time to email or visit during office hours.
4) Bluetooth:
Once again, sucks up a bit of power out of the device, but as long as you have it on ONLY when you need it, and don't use it too much along with the WiFi, then you don't have the shock of physically watching the battery life suck down. The Bluetooth is quick, too. My boyfriend and I were exchanging photos and MP3s from his phone to my Lifedrive, with absolutely no problem. I can't say how the keyboard is going to react with it yet, since I won't receive it until Monday, but I'm sure it won't have a problem.
5) The Hard Drive:
4GB is more than enough for what I need to do on this device. Keep in mind, I'm not downloading any extra programs or games, or using anything that didn't come directly from Palm. In my opinion, that's not what this machine is for. It's used to organize and to edit. If you want a gaming system, buy a PSP. The Lifedrive is what us poor college kids settle for when we don't want to carry around a laptop on top of the books we already have to lug around. I imagine people who are trying to use anything RAM-intensive are having problems with it, because it does lag with the graphics in some programs. I just like the sheer amount of stuff I can carry around on this thing all the time, and not have to worry so much about whether I have this notebook or that handout with me, 'cause it's right on my PDA.
6) Photo and Video Viewer:
Absolutely flawless. Photos look better than they do on my computer at home, especially with the button to turn the images on their side and look at everything in landscape view. This is where hiding the Graffiti area is really useful.
7) MP3 player:
A wonderful feature to have in combination with all the other files I store on here. The sound quality isn't an IPod, but it's great that I'm not carrying around 5 different types of expensive equipment in my bag at all times to do everything I need to do. It's an all-in-one device, and it's made to be used as such.
8) Overall Organization:
Keeps Tasks and Calendar in the same view, so you can see what's coming up during the week (again, GREAT for me, since I am the queen of the procrastinators, because I forget how much is coming up during the week). I know it's just the OS that it runs on, but everything integrates fabulously. This is what Palm is great at. Organization. Use everything in this device to keep your life straight, and it will be good to you.
All in all, I feel like I got more than I needed out of the Lifedrive. WiFi's a bit slow and sucks battery life, Bluetooth sucks a little less battery life, but if you're not using either of them, the battery seems to last just fine, particularly for a device that can do so many other different things. For a college student who doesn't like keeping all of my information in 20 different places, and losing papers, and losing my mind, it's wonderful. I couldn't have picked anything better. I can't say it's worth it to buy it new. I shopped for a couple of months before I found it for the price I did, but if you can find one used around the $200 range, it's definitely worth it. I know I wouldn't have purchased it for almost $400, when I could've gotten a laptop instead. Not to mention, I don't have that kind of money to blow.
As long as you don't want it to play games or JUST because it can surf the web, the Lifedrive is for you.
Customer Review: I own a "good" one.
Summary: 4 Stars
I was one of the few lucky ones with this item.
The Good:
1. Works well with Franklin-Covey Plan Plus software.
2. Works well with Bluetooth keyboard.
3. Wifi and bluetooth work.
4. Hard drive space.
5. Documents-to-go software works well for me. May be too simplistic for some....
6. Holds many tunes.
7. Music sounds very good--I don't need an Ipod, and Palms manipulate data, also.
8. Syncs very well.
9. Battery is very good, I think.
10.Can view photos very well.
11.Most updated Palm software works.
12.Very good screen.
13.Huge selection of software for Palms.
14.Persistent memory on all Palms from Tungsten E2 and better.
The Bad:
1. Soft reset requires an agonizingly long time (many minutes).
2. Often requires soft reset if hasn't been used for a few days.
3. Versamail now crashes because of too many messages (may be my fault--shouldn't do this, though--may be software flaw, also).
4. Headphone jack is in wrong place (on bottom instead of top), and it becomes loose.
5. Picky about SD/MMC cards. My older ADATA 2GB MMC card won't work (it did work in the Tungsten E). As I understand it, SD/MMC cards that work currently are limited to 2GB. I haven't really needed them, however.
6. Not very good at multitasking. May automatically soft-reset.
7. Included Blazer web browser software is out-of-date and limiting (warnings to update the browser from servers may appear). As far as I know, upgrade is not yet possible.
8. Wifi uses up battery much more quickly.
9. Sync cable uses stupid proprietary short and insecure connectors for both syncing and charging.
10.Can be pokey.
11.Most useful software uses up my wallet--not much useful freeware is available for Palms.
The Ugly:
1. I can't believe that anyone obtains a rich experience in web browsing with any PDA or PDA/phone.
2. Bulky and heavy.
3. Good physical protection is essential.
4. I fear the inevitability of battery replacement: Palms always require unsoldering leads of old batteries/resoldering leads of new batteries to the PCB. Obviously, Palm wants me to buy a new Palm product when the battery dies: This is bad for the environment and my finances. Battery replacement is risky. Fixing a Palm (out of warranty) is equivalent to purchasing new in costliness.
5. Palm's branded accessories are pricey and often inferior (their pricey keyboard still uses infrared instead of bluetooth).
6. The Lifedrive before it was discontinued was really pricey.
7. The consensus is that the Palm T|X is superior, and, it always was cheaper than the Lifedrive before the latter was discontinued.
8. I wouldn't trust my Lifedrive to store important photos and then to delete photos on my camera memory card for more space--I would use the Lifedrive soley as a backup and keep the good photos on my card as well.
9. It's definitely best to check for compatibility of software before purchasing and installing. Not all Palm-compatible software is compatible with Lifedrive.
10. Palm replaces faulty units with refurbs.
11. Bundled 3rd party software for Word, Excel docs, etc., is not absolutely compatible: Such docs are not "native."
12. Very difficult to get Linux on these or even to sync with Linux. (I could sync with the Tungsten E in Linux.) Definitely, neither action is straightforward for Lifedrive.
13. It's best not to sync with legacy Palm apps (from an old Palm). Many people said this ruined their Lifedrives--again, check for compatibility and upgrade to the latest versions.
14. I'm not sure that I would trust a refurb Lifedrive; prices are getting tempting, however.
15. Pocket PC users are correct: Graffiti (Palm's shorthand for writing data with the stylus into a Palm doc) is "baggage." Yeah, I'm "biased": I can do it, but I'm not very good at it! Graffiti definitely has vocal adherents--I congratulate them for successes! The Lifedrive uses Graffiti 2 (What's wrong with simply writing in plain hand or cursive?)
OK. It seems that PDAs (from both Pocket PC makers and Palm) are among many complex but flawed devices that have many advocates, detractors, lemons, and successes: They are all flaky, at least to some extent. Palm was right (finally) to pull the Lifedrive (they waited far too long). They should instead upgrade and enhance the T|X so that larger SD/MMC cards are usable (such as 4GB and 8GB and even larger). Even more to the point: Perhaps, Palm should combine many of the consumer-friendly concepts of the Lifedrive with those of the relatively reliable, much better liked T|X, to create a new, better, more reliable, and more consumer-friendly Palm (one that's lightyears more powerful than the Z22 that's also aimed at consumers). Successfully achieving this would make the Lifedrive a distant memory (admittedly, a really painful one for many). The Lifedrive originally was a good concept that, unfortunately, failed miserably in execution: It was a noble attempt of Palm to reach out to ordinary consumers and their common needs as well to those of its normal business-oriented clientele....