Palm LifeDrive Mobile Manager Handheld PDA - MobileTechReview.com Comparison Shopping

Product Details

Description:

For those who demand more, palmOne introduces the LifeDrive Mobile Manager. With a huge 4GB hard drive and built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless support, you can easily carry all the essentials of your busy life and use them as you will. Office docs: Word, Excel and PowerPoint docs from your desktop computer, 300 songs, 2 hours of video, 1,000 vacation photos, and more, are always with you. Email & web: With support for POP, IMAP and Exchange email accounts, you can stay on top of your email at any of the thousands of Wi-Fi hotspots around the world. Music, photos & video: Plus, a voice recorder, MP3 player, and photo viewer keep your precious few moments of free time both more interesting and productive.

Quick Glance

Installed Memory: 4 GB

Wireless Internet: Wireless Ethernet - 11 Mbps IEEE802.11b

Operating System: Palm OS

Interface Connection: Audio - Headphone Out (1/8" Mini), Serial - Infrared (IrDA-SIR)

Expansion Slot: MMC Slot, SDIO Card, Secure Digital (SD) Slot

Summary

Product Title: Palm LifeDrive Mobile Manager Handheld PDA

Manufacturer: Palm

Power Score: 3.6 | 21 Reviews

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Product Reviews (14)

Awesome Features but has some problems

Strengths: You must get Docs to go and then you can transfer or use word, excel and powerpoint, documents which is awesome and much better than using the memo area of the pda.

Weakness: The craddle is tricky and if you don't touch it, make sure it's attached right, then hit the button and hope it won't give you an error message which is frustrating.

I've had to reset my machine a lot because it would lock up. Outside of that and the problems with the cradling mentioned above, this is the first one I've ever own and it does a lot. I have 2 elderly parents and keep their medical records in there in a word document, this has helped me a lot to keep organized and to remember everything that needs to be done. I can't imagine now being without...
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By gardengirl2u - Oct 17, 2006

Those little things you wish you knew before purchasing....

Strengths: Lots of storage space, MP3 decoder, USB drive capability, landscape mode for screen

Weakness: battery life, brightness limits, some incompatability with older software

OK, here are some tidbits of information that I wish I had had before I purchased my Lifedrive.

1) The unit has both flash memory and an internal micro drive. Only programs and files installed in flash memory are backed up automatically unless you set Documents to Go to backup specific documents that you might have installed. In the event of a hard reset, you will lose files stored on the drive.

2) The unit eats power like crazy. I use mine A LOT. One of the things I use it for is to read ebooks. The large screen makes it very good for this, even in direct sunlight. However, I only get about 4 hours of constant usage before it needs a recharge, which brings me to my next point...

3) You can only turn down the brightness of the screen by a very small amount. I like to dim my screen a bit more than most people do and I find that it helps to conserve batteries. However, unlike some other models, that allow you do dim it all the way to unreadability, the lifedrive, when dimmed to the max still makes a decent flashlight in a darkened room and if reading in the dark, completely blinds you to anything except the display.

4) The power switch sucks! It is a slider that locks in one direction and powers on/off in the other. I can't count the number of times that I have been sure I have locked it after powering off, only to take it out of the case to find it has powered on by a button push while in the case. I would really have preferred a different arrangement.

5) No hard cover. The pouch-type case has a reinforced front that protects the screen, but has no belt clip and precludes you from using other belt cases without sacrificing some protection.

6) Software oddities. Whenever I load video files to the unit, unless they are windows media format, it flips them upside down and backwards. You can turn the unit upside down to watch, but it is odd seeing your movies and videos from a perspective like you are inside the TV, looking out.

Problem: I just sent mine back to Palm today for a hardware problem. The unit decided it would not power back up all of a sudden. I was using it and powered off to talk to someone and when I went back to what I was doing, it failed to power on. I know Palm has identified this as an issue with many of thier devices, but none of the fixes restored it as they should.

Conclusion: With all of its quirks and issues, I am still glad that I purchased it and will probably upgrade to the 6GB version when it is released (giving this one to my wife). The storage space and large screen is too handy for use at work and school and for keeping me entertained between the two.

By Gavvin - Feb 19, 2006

I debated between the LifeDrive...

Strengths: Beautiful screen. Seriously large capacity for file storage. Integrated WiFi. Easy upgrade from previous Palm OS device.

Weakness: Gets kind of hot after awhile. Applications launch takes a couple of seconds.

I debated between the LifeDrive and Tungsten T5 as an upgrade from my Sony TG-50 Clie. If the T5 had WiFi, I might have gone that way, but the price difference between the T5+Wifi card and the Lifedrive pushed me in the direction of the LifeDrive. So far I'm happy with my choice. The screen on the LifeDrive is crisp, clean, no fuzzy or bad pixels. There is some glare with direct light, but that...
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By nks1234 - Jun 22, 2005

Pretty nice once you get it set up.

Strengths: Lots of storage, big bright screen, landscape mode, and drive mode.

Weakness: Somewhat slow (at times, you get used to it), and lack of support for earlier palm software

I bought this as a replacement for a Sony Clie T615 that I have owned for over 3 1/2 years. I had been thinking about the T5, but when the LifeDrive came out, I started looking at that because I planned on buying an external hard drive as well to replace my "geek stick". It seems like most people (including myself) had trouble upgrading from a prior Palm OS handheld -- this version of Palm OS is...
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By AD8BC - Jan 5, 2006

Nice when it works...

Strengths: Lots of good features when it works.

Weakness: Unit locks up repeatedly.

I purchased this LifeDrive hoping that it would be an improvement to my previous Palm PDA, which had problems of its own. The LifeDrive began to freeze up erratically within about one week. Several times, the touch screen would get out of alignment with respect to where it was touched with the stylus. After numerous calls to Palm support, they revealed that freezing up and alignment issues are...
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By mtrimarchi - Mar 23, 2006

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