Nearly the Same Design as the Palm
III
At first glance, the Palm IIIx appears to be an
exact replica of the Palm III: both are 4.7 by 3.3 inches. Look closely,
though, and you'll notice that the Palm moniker and the 3Com logo have
switched places on the IIIx. The four onscreen buttons have also changed;
they are no longer identified by word titles, but have morphed into
generic icons. The screen itself is noticeably improved, and due to higher
contrast between the lettering and the background, it's easier to see in
low light settings. The higher contrast also better counters the effects
of bright-light glare. But, as with the Palm V, the Palm IIIx's new
backlighting feature degrades image appearance in regular light; the old
backlighting worked better in a variety of lighting scenarios.
More Under the
Hood
The Palm IIIx carries the new 16-MHz Motorola
DragonBall EZ processor and 4MB of RAM. The Palm IIIx's memory is not only
double that of the Palm III (and the Palm V), but the memory is now
located on the motherboard, not a separate card. This leaves room for an
expansion slot, which can be used for accessories such as a pager or a
memory card. We like the added expandability, but we would have preferred
that the slot was externally accessible. Instead, you have to unscrew the
back cover to access the slot.
The Palm OS 3.1 retains old favorites, such as Date Book, Address Book, and To Do List, and it adds built-in network and Microsoft Outlook synchronization. However, the OS works on the Palm IIIx and Palm V only; older models can't be upgraded.
You can't go wrong with the Palm IIIx's time-tested design. Although we aren't impressed with the new backlighting, the added expandability and RAM are worth the trade-off. The US$369 Palm IIIx's winning mix of functionality and affordability makes it an obvious pick for our Editors' Choice award.
