| Handera 330 |
Reviewed by: Jason Melancon
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The Handera 330 has finally arrived, but was it worth the wait?
First the specs:
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The 330 is here and is loaded with features. The device has several new features and supports both CF and MMC/SD expansion cards.
The CF expansion slot supports Type I & II Compact Flash cards. It will also accept IBM's microdrives which have a capacity starting at 340M. 'Why would anyone need that much memory?' you may ask. I don't know, but it's available and will work. It will also accept CF peripherals such as modems. AutoCF (not installed in ROM) will allow you to place apps and databases on the CF card and access them from there freeing valuable internal RAM.
The MMC/SD slot is even more handy than the CF. It will work with most (if not all) Multimedia and Secure Digital cards. Any SDIO peripherals that are released will also work. One example is a Bluetooth SD card from Palm that should be released later this year.
A lot of people have been belly-aching about the color of the case and lack of color on the screen. It's really a matter of opinion. The 330 is being promoted as a businessman's PDA. So the case is a silver metallic color to give it a professional look. The lack of color on the screen is because Handera wanted to keep the cost down and the battery life high. From what I've read a color device is in the works.
The case itself is basically a Palm III. This means that any peripheral made for a Palm III should work on the 330. For compatibility reasons the port on the bottom of the unit is serial, not USB. Many people have griped about this, but if it was USB then all of the various add-ons would not work. A good example are the new Palm 50x units. Don't bother trying to attach your old external keyboard to one of these; it won't work.
The virtual graffiti area is the most unique feature and is very well implemented. It can be minimized allowing Handera-aware apps to use the extra screen real-estate. This function works great for document readers. Quickword can display 23 lines of text using the original plain text font. Using something like Hkfont and Fonthack will give you 43 lines and a bad case of eye-strain. And you can get up to 31 lines with the small font in WordSmith. The Graffiti area can also be re-mapped. Soon Handera will release a patch to place a keyboard in this area. There may also be a Fitaly version in the works from what I've read.
Battery life is not much of an issue with 4 AAA batteries. A Lithium-Ion pack will soon be available allowing a rechargable power source. Battery life should last up to 1 full month; unless you use memory cards. Even with that you should expect at least 2 weeks.
There is a jog-dial and a programmable button on the left-hand side of the device for one-hand operation. I, personally, haven't found any use for these (maybe because I'm not used to it), but the idea behind them is a good one.
The neatest feature of the Handera 330 is a real backlight. I missed the backlight on my old PalmPilot Personal and wasn't too thrilled when I first used the one on my Handspring Visor Solo. Lighting the pixels is ok, but it's a bit difficult to read in low-light conditions. The backlight on the 330 works like the old PalmPilot Personal did. This was a major factor in my purchase.
One problem I've found with this device is the built-in pen dragging function. This is where you drag the stylus from the Graffiti area to the top of the screen. It only works in Scale To Fit or Hi-Res mode.
Two more features of the 330 are the voice recording and .WAV playback functions. These features are accompanied by a fairly loud speaker. Voice recording is best suited to making quick voice memos or taking down information when you can't write it down.
The speaker is quite impressive and possibly the loudest of any Palm-based device. I've never really used my devices for alarms or reminders because I could not hear it while it was in my pocket. The 330 could be heard from another room easily.
Here are a few things I think they left out: Rotation support for built-in apps (Datebook, Address, ToDo, Memo Pad), play a .WAV file for an alarm, and copy/move files within a CF or MMC/SD card
All in all, the Handera 330 is a great PDA if you need lots of memory storage and a long battery life. The extra screen size is very useful too.
Below is a list of software I've tested and my findings: