The Palm IIIxe

 

Technical Summary

 

Processor:                   16 MHz Dragonball EZ

Memory:                     8 Mb

Screen:                        4-bit greyscale, backlit, 160 x 160 resolution

Operating System:     Originally PalmOS 3·5, upgraded to 4·1

Power:                        Replaceable AAA batteries, typically high powered NiMH – see here

 

Form Factor

As far as design goes, the IIIxe is one of the uglier PDAs.  It’s chunky size isn’t helped by the appearance of newer Palm models such as the Palm m515. However, it does feel solid to hold (much more so than the Visor Deluxe) and it does not flex when you try to twist it.  The infrared port is at the very top of the unit and the stylus fits down the right hand side as you look at it from the front.  The Palm IIIxe has the traditional PalmOS case and 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 toggles the backlight on or off.

The IIIxe is one of the larger Palm devices, but it’s not especially heavy and is comfortable to use in a shirt pocket.  The Targus leather case I bought for use with the device does double the bulk of the unit, but it does provide the unit with valuable protection against knocks and falls.

Screen

 

The IIIxe has a touch sensitive, monochrome LCD with a resolution of 160 by 160 pixels.  Contrast is adjusted by a hardware wheel on the side of the device.  Whilst the screen is a little blocky, it is perfectly acceptable for text based applications for most of the time.  The screen use a “reversing” green backlight, which can make it difficult to use in certain lighting conditions and is easily the screen’s poorest feature.  The backlight is inadequate for dim lighting unless the user is looking directly at the screen, although as it gets darker, it becomes easier to use.  Nevertheless, for the PDA’s primary purposes, the screen is certainly satisfactory: for this size and type of device you usually don’t need anything over and above what this unit gives you!

 

The example picture doesn’t exactly flatter the display’s abilities.

 

Sound and Notifications

 

The IIIxe offers typical beeps available from pre-PalmOS 5·x devices.  They’re reasonably loud in the IIIxe, so the device could function as an alarm clock.

 

Storage

 

The IIIxe has the standard 8 Mb of memory, which is the most that the Dragonball EZ processor can handle.

 

Battery Performance

 

When running on alkaline AAA batteries, the IIIxe typically gives approximately thirty hours of battery uptime (very limited backlight, Hotsyncing on average once an hour).

However, I have used high power rechargeable NiMH batteries to good effect, these typically offering approximately fifteen hours of use under the same conditions.

Expansion

 

The standard IIIxe has no expansion capabilities although peripherals may be attached to the unit via the serial port, and there are user-installed Compact Flash slot upgrade kits available.

 

One such accessory is the Palm folding keyboard. This very clever piece of engineering fits a keyboard, approximately 90% of a full size PC unit, into a case that is approximately the same size as the IIIxe’s case.  It’s a very easy device to use too - just install the software, then drop the Palm on to the top of the keyboard, and off you go.  My only slight gripe with the keyboard is that there is a power drain, but this is to be expected since it uses the serial connection.  However, for sheer pose-ability, the folding keyboard takes some beating!

 

Of course, being a gadget freek, I’ve fiddled and tuned the Palm to suit my exact requirements.  One of the first hacks I bought for the Palm is Afterburner, an overclocking utility.  Fresh from the factory, the basic IIIxe isn’t slow to use. Afterburner allows you to optimise the CPU (reducing wait states and accelerating memory access) as well as changing the clock speed. Increasing the clock speed will accelerate the Palm, but reduce battery life, and reducing the clock speed will slow things down, but preserve battery life. However, with full CPU optimisation, the Palm is 36% quicker than standard anyway, thus allowing me to throttle back on the clock speed (to 13 MHz) to maintain a running speed that is slightly quicker than normal.  This configuration also allows me to use the keyboard without having to adjust the clock speed (owing to hardware limitations, the CPU MHz must be either 13, 16 or 20 MHz for the keyboard to work).

 

Device Update: June 2004

 

I purchased my Palm IIIxe in May 2001 as a “run out” model.  Palm had recently replaced the III series with the m10x models, and the IIIxe was almost half the price of the m105.  As such represented one of the more cost effective devices providing the user was happy with a monochrome screen.  And since then, despite acquiring numerous other PDAs such as the iPAQ H3950 and Palm m515, I've maintained my IIIxe with my personal information database, occasionally Hotsyncing the device to keep it up to date.

 

Unfortunately, in late May 2005, our desktop computer expired and we eventually replaced it with a laptop.  The replacement laptop is a rather better computer per se, but it lacks both a serial port and an infrared port.  So how useful will the IIIxe be if I can’t easily get data on to the device?

 

At the time of writing, I cannot use the IIIxe for OBD-II Scanner duties, but I’m working on acquiring the necessary leads.  I also cannot Hotsync the Palm to the laptop unless I’m prepared to purchase a USB – serial lead, and to be honest I’m not sure I can be bothered with this.