Palm IIIx

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The folks at Palm knew they had a good thing going with the Palm III, so when they designed its successor, the Palm IIIx, they didn't change much. While the more expensive Palm V sports an elegant, anodized aluminum case and a skinny form factor, the Palm IIIx is practically identical to the older, heftier Palm III. But don't let the familiar looks fool you--the Palm IIIx includes more RAM (for a total of 4MB) and features an internal expansion slot.

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.