Event
Summary
At the New York PC Expo in June, OmniSky Corporation, a provider of branded
wireless Internet services for users of handheld mobile devices, confirmed
its plan to bring wireless Internet and e-mail services to the Handspring
Visor.
Market
Impact
Well, the Visor is not going to be quite an all-in-one unit like the
Palm VII. The Visor will rely on an external Novatel Wireless modem to
communicate with the Internet. Given the modem is approximately $250 -
$300 USD and the Handspring Visor is another $249 the combined package
costs the same as the Palm VII device, which retails for $499 USD.
The
Palm VII has the advantage of being an all-in-one device, however the
Palm VII is limited to 2MB RAM for storing e-mail, address, Internet Information
and utilities which simply put, is far from enough. The Handspring Visor
comes with 8MB of RAM and can be upgraded, allowing a user adequate room
for growth. Both devices use the same operating system with Palm having
the advantage in terms of name recognition and the Handspring having the
advantage in terms of expandability and overall cost.
User
Recommendations
A user can expect faster Internet connectivity through the Visor and
Novatel Wireless Modem utilizing OmniSky as the service provider. A user
can also expect far greater storage capacity in the Handspring Visor,
however it is not quite the 'turn-key' up and running solution that the
Palm VII is.
If
you are evaluating the Palm VII make sure to look at the Handspring Visor
/ Novatel wireless combination. You will be glad you did. With that much
said it is also important to keep in mind that Palm will be releasing
new versions of wireless PDAs in the near future which have better expandability
and upgrade ability coupled with faster connectivity. In other words,
if you have 90 days available to wait to purchase it will be worth your
while.