The
Palm IIIc
Technical Summary
Processor: 20 MHz Dragonball EZ
Memory: 8 Mb
Screen: 8-bit colour, backlit, 160x160 resolution.
Operating System: PalmOS 3·5
Form Factor
The Palm IIIc is slightly longer
and heavier than its closest relative, the Palm
IIIxe, but after a few days use you don’t really notice this. It follows the traditional PalmOS button
arrangement - the power button and the four application buttons sit at the
bottom of the device, under the screen, and by default they launch the
Datebook, Address, Tasks and Memo applications.
Pressing and holding the power button activates the backlight brightness
dialogue box, but unlike later Palm colour devices, the IIIc has 128 steps of
brightness, rather than the simpler, “Off,” “Low” and “High” of the m130 and m515.
Screen
The Palm IIIc has a touch
sensitive, colour LCD with a resolution of 160 by 160 pixels and a depth of
eight bits, i.e. 256 colours. The screen
is not transflective and its 
usability
depends on the backlight being stronger than ambient lighting. In other words, it relies on the backlight
being switched on all of the time. This
also limits its use in sunlight - the device isn’t suitable for eBook reading
at the beach. The IIIc’s screen was the
source of much debate when the device was launched - for some, the colour
screen was worth the compromises made in size, weight and functionality but for
others, they preferred the tiny form factor of the Palm Vx.
In use, I’ve found the IIIc’s
screen to be surprisingly useful with the backlight set at the lowest level,
which has obvious benefits in terms of battery uptime. The above image illustrates the IIIc with the
backlight at full brightness, on the left, and on the dimmest setting, on the
right. Note that the camera adjusted the
exposure to compensate for the screen (both pictures were taken within
seconds of the other!).
These images illustrate the
colour replication and detailing of the screen (at full brightness). I had to adjust the camera angle to
compensate for the reflections from the screen, and 
of
course you can see the image is a little bit blocks. However, although the screen can only show
256 colours, overall the IIIc does a good job.
It’s certainly significantly brighter than the Palm m515, indeed in comparison the m515’s screen looks
rather murky.
Sound and Notifications
The IIIc has a quiet speaker –
it’s marginally louder than the Handspring
Visor Professional, which is a bit of a disappointment.
Storage
The IIIc has the standard PalmOS
3·x 8 Mb of memory, which is also the largest amount of memory that the
Dragonball EZ can support.
One often-mooted compromise of
the colour screen is battery performance, but it’s been my experience that the
IIIc acquits itself very well. The
battery capacity is the same as that of the iPAQ H3950,
at 1,400 mAh, but the IIIc has much less hardware to power. Under typical usage the IIIc sees over
fourteen hours of use, rising to almost twenty hours under optimum conditions.
Expansion
The standard IIIc has no
expansion capabilities although peripherals may be attached to the unit via the
serial port.
Summary
The Palm IIIc is a curious PDA. On the one hand, when launched it represented
the most advanced official Palm handheld. The 256-colour screen is bright and
crisp, but there is no discernable penalty with regard to battery life when the
IIIc is compared with the Palm Vx (depending, of
course, on how bright the backlight is set!). Although it has a rather large form factor,
the IIIc’s merits are that is has a good quality screen for most lighting
conditions - although it is a bit difficult to use on a sunny day when outside.
For my purposes, I was
pleasantly surprised with the Palm IIIc’s screen. It’s as large as the Palm m515’s, but can be set to be dimmer (for night
time use), or brighter, and the impressive battery uptime is especially
welcome.
Device Update
Unfortunately, since writing my
review, I’ve since sold my Palm IIIc. I’ve love to put “Charlie made me” but this
wouldn’t be the end of the story. Quite simply,
I wasn’t really using the Palm IIIc enough to justify keeping it from somebody
who would be prepared to use it each and every day. I also had my m515
at the same time, and the m515 is significantly easier to carry around in a top
shirt pocket, so I was tending to leave the IIIc at home.
However,
I ensured that the IIIc went to a good home!
I still see Palm IIIc models going through eBay at almost a hundred
notes from time to time, too.