Palm LifeDrive Handheld
- Processor: 416 MHz Intel XScale
- Wireless Capabilities: WLAN 802.11b Bluetooth
- Weight: 6.8 oz.
- Installed RAM: 4 GB
- Operating System: Palm OS
- Family Line: Palm LifeDrive
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palmOne: Ready to Drive Your Life?
Pros
Gigs of storage, WiFi & Bluetooth, display, design, excellent software bundle
Cons
Lag time, OS instability (< patch2.0), no cradle included, microdrive and battery not interchangable, bulky
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The former PDA king is quite capable of releasing an almost great handheld, but reliability issues of the LifeDrive are immense.
It has been 3 years that I resisted temptation to get a new PDA, mainly because my Sony Clie PEG-NX60 did such a great job with my daily routine that it simply wasn't necessary for another incremental improvement for a significant expense. Well, things change, and while I would not consider PalmOne's latest model "life changing", it just got a lot of arguments (WiFi & Bluetooth!) to revisit my "need" for a replacement. How convenient is that?
THE PURPOSE
There is only so much you can do with a tiny screen that fits in a PDA sized device. Thinking of doing full-blown graphics applications or even 3D? Think again! There is a reason why laptop computers with 9 inch screens and VGA resolution are virtually extinct. (It remains to be seen what PalmOne can do about that with their upcoming foldable screen.)
Multimedia is even in 2005 what makes electronics sell. What gave computers in the late 90s a buzz, now seems to have spread to portable devices and with it PDAs. Why have one device for each type of media, if you can have it all in one? While there have been attempts before, the LifeDrive is the first serious contender in the PDA world. Cheaper portable memory makes it possible.
The LifeDrive aims to be the portable extension of your desktop and not its replacement. Keep your documents with you and make even changes, but you still might need a computer for full usability. Nevertheless, it packs a mobile video and picture viewer, mp3 player, E-mail, SMS, Internet access (via WiFi or Bluetooth) and of course games and other applications as needed.
LIFEDRIVE IN A NUTSHELL
Though in essence a PDA, the LifeDrive offers improved multimedia capabilities mainly due to integrated 4 GByte microdrive to store lots of music, pictures and videos. Imagine what you can take with you at any time, at least in comparison to current Palms and PocketPCs.
Geared for multimedia, the LifeDrive offers an impressive collection of specialized software to play music while you're watching s slide show or even work on spreadsheet or Word document. The device still relies on PalmOS 5.4 (Garnet) and doesn't offer true multitasking, but that should be alright for most applications.
The design is pure business, and overall dimensions are pretty much average with exception of the 0.7 inches of thickness which is slightly on the obese side. Nevertheless, user interface and style are well executed, despite the plain looks of the underlying Garnet PalmOS.
Most important in today's market is connectivity, and the LifeDrive offers IR, Bluetooth and WiFi. With that, you can stay connected virtually anywhere you find phone service (requires Bluetooth phone) or an increasingly popular hotspot.
MAIN FEATURES IN DETAIL
Design: Taking clues from Apple's iPod, minimalistic designs are red-hot these days and the LifeDrive falls into the same category. With a stainless steel cladding and a rather subdued implementation of the 9 buttons (counting the directional pad as one), the LifeDrive doesn't feel flashy at all and has a timeless look (until flashy is "in" again).
Interface: The buttons are well placed and can be memorized easily. Switching between portrait and landscape mode is a snap via dedicated button. The LifeDrive is mainly design for touch screen interaction and the use of the directional pad. Unlike previous Palms (or Sony etc.) there is no dedicated Menu button, which makes single handed use slightly harder. The Reset "button" is now easily accessible via stylus, which doesn't need to be taken apart anymore. In fact, the stylus surprises with good girth and a telescoping design to fit adult hands better.
PalmOS: Despite the expected release of Cobalt (PalmOS6) more than a year ago, there is still not a single device available that actually uses it. Even the LifeDrive still sports Garnet (PalmOS 5.4) with only a few improvements over the T5. Where the fabled PalmOS6 stands is anybody's guess. However, 5.4 is well suited for today's applications and even provides support for multimedia and popular wireless applications. PalmOS is catching up regarding looks but still needs to take lessons from Sony's implementation of the virtual graffiti area and interfaces like PocketTunes 3, Worldmate, MegaCalc, Documents2Go, SplashData, and (again) Sony's bundled software for Clies. But most disappointing is the instability of this particular version of PalmOS (see below for details).
Hardware: PalmOne will not win any battle over screen and processor as the 416 MHz CPU is potent but not top of the line in 2005 anymore. The screen falls into the same category with half VGA (480x320) which is less important since anything finer is hard to distinguish anyway. However, white balance is slightly shifted to "warmer" tones. Pretty much the whole PDA market is still waiting for 3D hardware to compete with Zodiac -- or more recently with Sony's PSP as the new reference for mobile gaming. The LifeDrive doesn't step on any new ground here. Storage is a whole new ball game, since there is only 2 PDAs in the market right now to sport a 4GB microdrive. (The other one was just released by Sharp w/ Unix.)
Memory: For the first time PalmOne uses non-volatile memory. Hence the information doesn't get lost even if the LifeDrive runs completely out of battery. Upon recharging the device will be completely restored without the need to resunc everything. This memory must be used for applications as the hard drive works for data storage only -- at least without tuning tools. Either way, the lag time is confusing even with all the programs in the memory. For instance MegaCalc 3.x shows lag time of 1 - 3 seconds simply by calling a function that has not been used yet. Technically the microdrive should stay out of that anyway. In the end, the memory management puts heavy brakes on the overall performance and makes the LifeDrive feel sluggish despite a decent processor.
Storage: With the introduction of a 4GB microdrive the included memory steps into the background, at least in the advertisement. To be clear, the 4GB are mostly for data storage while most programs still need to reside in the device's memory (64 MByte). Older programs might also not utilize the drive and insist on dumping data into the memory or looking for an expansion card. The LifeDrive is closer to a computer with its microdrive and memory than to previous Palms. The hard drive may sound slower than solid state memory cards, but the benchmark revealed a solid performer though not quite up to an Ultra II. The startup time for the microdrive, however, creates a short delay everytime a program (like a game or mp3 player) is running and needs data from the drive. This is not reflected in the benchmark. Seemingly related is the delayed startup and shutdown which is far from instantaneous. (In fact, I wonder sometimes if I hit the button far enough and consequentially turn the device right back on before it had time to shut down.)
VFSMark Benchmark: (Internal 4GB drive / Sandisk SD Ultra-II)
- File Create: 516% / 560%
- File Delete: 193% / 531%
- File Write: 350% / 167%
- File Read: 662% / 565%
- File Seek: 907% / 3933%
- DB Export = 481% / 255%
- DB Import = 161% / 146%
- Record Access = 301% / 1206%
- Resource Access = 362% / 1129%
VFSMark (avg) = 437 / 943
Reference: Treo 600 with Sandisk SD Ultra-II
- File Create = 462%
- File Delete = 293%
- File Write = 211%
- File Read = 169%
- File Seek = 437%
- DB Export = 212%
- DB Import = 421%
- Record Access = 332%
- Resource Access = 325%
VFSMark (avg) = 318
For more detail how this compares to other configurations please refer to my reviews of the Sandisk SD256MB Ultra II and the Lexar 1GB 80x CF memory cards. Connecting the LifeDrive as an external drive to a desktop via USB 2.0 returned about 1.8 MByte/sec (Write) and 1.3 MByte/sec (Read) respectively by copying about 200 MByte of files to and from the device.
Connectivity: A first for any PalmOS device, the LifeDrive provides extensive wireless connectivity via WiFi and Bluetooth. While the latter is mostly relevant for communication with cellphones and a GPS receiver (TomTom).The WiFi comes in very handy as soon as you're near a hotspot. With some businesses providing free WiFi this is an easy way to keep up with your E-mail and browsing the Internet. I tried this out with several hotspots (i.e. Atlanta Bread Company) and it's very easy to get a fast connection to the net! (Much faster than Smartphones!)
Battery: With the rejuvenation as a multimedia player, battery life time is put to another test. Afterall, you don't want to stop in the middle of a movie, do you? With that in mind, the Li-Ion battery cannot be replaced and it takes about 2 - 3 hours until you have to hook back up to the charger. Make sure you have access to an outlet when getting any further than around town. ;-)
Applications: Of course there are all the standard PIM applications (like Memo, Calendar and ToDo) and evolution made them quite usable. Only few people will need more (i.e. DateBk5, Contacts, Bonsai etc.). The built-in calculator is as basic as it can get and switching to MegaCalc or NeoCalc is almost a must. Nevertheless, multimedia is the main focus and the included full versions of Documents2Go, PocketTunes and the Picture Viewer (incl. videos) add significant value to the package. The included VersaMail 3.1 E-Mail client and Blazer 4.1 webbrowser are excellent examples for bundled software that's on par with the best third-party products. Even enterprise grade e-mail via Microsoft Exchange server is supported.
Technicalities: Numbers are sometimes only half the story. To save you a detour to the PalmOne site to review the specification of the LifeDrive, here they are ...
- Bluetooth 1.1 wireless
- Wi-Fi 802.11b wireless
- Intel 416MHz XScale processor
- 4GB hard drive (3.85GB accessible to user)
- 64MB memory for Palm OS (55.1MB available to user)
- Rechargeable Lithium Ion battery
- Palm OS 5.4 (Garnet)
- 4.76"(h) x 2.87"(w) x 0.74"(t)= [121mm(h) x 73mm(w) x 19mm(t)]
- 6.8 oz. / 190 grams
- 3.7" 320x480 Transflective TFT color touchscreen,
- 16 bit color / 65,000 colors
- Supports SD, SDIO and MultiMediaCards
- PalmOne Multi-connector
- 3.5mm stereo audio jack (Stereo audio headset optional)
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
With the LifeDrive's innovative approach to multimedia, there is still a few things that keep it from being perfect. The digital photographer in me is missing a CF memory slot to view shots from my EOS20D (a proper RAW viewer would be required too). This is mostly relevant for SLR users only since point'n'shoot cameras typically use JPeg and the smaller SD memory anyway. This is fully supported by the LifeDrive and there is even an application to move pictures from the memory onto your LifeDrive.
For the gadget lover, the absence of a built-in camera may be a turn-off, though realistically those are usually not worth a flip and only take up resources (cost) anyway. For most applications a dedicated digital camera with SD memory will work much better, but of course it's an additional device to carry. The LifeDrive doesn't play well with more serious SLRs like my Canon EOS 20D due to the lack of a CF card slot in the LifeDrive.
With screen and WiFi turned on, the 2 - 3 hours of battery life is as expected (average), but recharge time is a little bit on the longish side. Unfortunately, the battery cannot be replaced with a spare, and that litmits the usability "away from home" significantly, especially if you're going out of town.
If this is your first PalmOS PDA, installation is very smooth and synchronizing with a computer a snap. However, should you (like me) upgrade from an older Sony (or other Palm), make sure to remove the Desktop software first as the newly installed LifeDrive Manager does not filter out incomaptible drivers, patches or other software. in my case that caused the device to need a complete erase and start-over. (The secure erase process takes about 90 minutes to complete due to the microdrive!)
With the LifeDrive being sold as a multimedia device and Mp3 is apparently a big part of it (see iPod), it surprises that PalmOne didn't include any headset. Typically you would buy your own set anyway, but at least to get you started it would be nice if one would be included. Along with the mp3 player function goes a limitation induced by the handling of the microdrive. Everytime the PalmOS accesses the drive (i.e. when loading another software) while playing music, the sounds stops for a few seconds. The same is true with sound effects when playing games and a new level is loaded. This is certainly an area that should be improved soon and hopefully can be addressed via patches.
As with pretty much every Color PDA (PalmOS or not), the display goes almost blind in bright daylight and color depth is limited to 16 bit or 65k colors (shades). That's a long way from Epson's brilliant 256k color display in the P-2000 multimedia viewer.
As mentioned above, reboot times and on/off times increased significantly and especially a reformat (hard reset with a secure erase) will make you wonder if it's still working. (It takes more than 90 minutes!) Even a soft reset takes longer than any other PDA I ever owned (almost 2:15 minutes). Further delays are introduced due to the spinup time of the microdrive which is normally turned off to save power -- resulting in a 2 - 4 second delay when launching a program. The device gets surprisingly hot when transferring large (!) amounts of data to the drive and especially when secure erasing. (Hopefully that isn't required too often. Check for software compatibility before installing!) Memory management is the main contributor to the LifeDrive's sluggish feel.
With the lag time another issue becomes more aggravating. Stability is not Garnet's (5.4.8) middle name, and frequent but hard to reproduce crashes result in more noticeable downtime. Many programs I am using for years now and still they reset my LifeDrive every now and then - very sporadically. (Another 2 minutes of reboot.) Included are Avantgo 5.7, Worldmate X, eReader 2.6.1, Bonsai 3.3.5. etc.. More predictable is the crashing of ZLauncher v5.31 which resets my device every time. ALL of those programs were rock solid on my previous Sony Clie PEG-NX60!
Last but not least, there is an annoying design flaw where the 4 application buttons are raised just enough to be pressed down by Palm's own (included!) protective case. This requires to turn the power switch into the lock position before putting it into the case to prevent waking the device up. In my case, it would always launch the FileManager assigned to the top right-hand button. A different case might help, but hey we're talking about the one that's specifically made for the LifeDrive!
PALMONE's FINAL FRONTIER?
There is no denying that Sony's retreat from the PDA market (w/ PalmOS) may have been an indicator for Palm's demise, with market share now dropped to 20%. On top of that, the PDA market in general shrunk significantly, leaving less "buying" customers to compete for. Such conditions sure don't help, and PalmOne is especially sensitive to downs, due to PDAs and Smartphones being their only product(s).
Market conditions or not, PalmOne's demise is also home-made as it seemed from 2001 - 2004 that they simply dropped the ball and watched from the side lines how Sony and the other PDAs (a.k.a. PocketPCs) introduced innovations. In fact, there is barely any significant feature from that time frame that's originated at Palm. Consequentially, customers migrated and it's even harder to get them back, now that PDAs offer so much and barely anybody realistically needs more. Or does he?
The LifeDrive finally poses a fresh new proposition in PalmOne's portfolio - and the PDA market as such. Storage and overall integration along with connectivity are great and leave little to complain about. However, the price is somewhat high and the screen battle shifted in PocketPCs favor -- though just on paper as software support is still low and the nearly 220 ppi (640x480 in a 3.7 inch screen) are of no real practical use anyway (compared to the 150 ppi of the LifeDrive). The same could be said about 4 GByte, but games get bigger and data has a tendency to grow, especially when talking multimedia. (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary alone takes up 11 MByte!)
So in the end, the LifeDrive is PalmOne's best foot forward (the other one would be the Treo 650) to survive in the hard battle that's fought over a shrinking customer base. Hopefully it's not too late, as competition invigorates innovation and an all-PocketPC world may not stimulate Microsoft to do drive the "Mini-Windows" much further. (Need an example? Look at the 4 year old IE6.0, where MS didn't even plan to develop IE7.0 if there wasn't a successful Firefox.)
On the other hand, PalmOne sure didn't do themselves a favor with the two most visible issues the LifeDrive has to cope with. Lag time is a big aggrevation even within programs as is sometimes takes a second or two to execute a command for the first time (i.e. MegaCalc) or everytime (i.e. Link page in Bonsai). Further, this particular version of PalmOS seems quite unstable and (too) frequently crashes for no apparent reason. Hopefully both issues can be fixed, but as it stand right now many people will be potentially "turned off" by those issues.
© 2005, theuerkorn
FURTHER READING
PalmOne Treo 600
Sony Clie PEG-NX60
Sony Clie PEG-N610
Palm Zire
Sandisk SD 256MB Ultra II
TomTom Navigator 5
Product home page
- http://www.palmone.com/us/products/mobilemanagers/lifedrive/
Foldable Screen patent
- http://www.uspto.gov/ (search for patent 6,850,780)
PalmOS Cobalt
- http://www.palmsource.com/palmos/cobalt.html
UPDATE(s)
[23-Jun-2005] - The lag time induced by the microdrive can be significantly reduced with SharkCache (currently in v1.0). This little tool forces caching of defined programs and allows to reduce lag time significantly. However, it costs $12 and will not fix the skipping issue with PocketTunes. In fact, it actually hurts replay quality when caching PT. Now if PalmOne would take the hint and fix this ... please ;-)
[1-Jul-2005] - Rumors predict the introduction of another LifeDrive version for the end of this year with supposedly a 6 GB hard drive and still the Garnet OS (5.4.9). The latter is an indication that Palm might skip Cobalt (PalmOS 6.1) altogether and go straight for the upcoming Linux based version. (The website still insists on a future for Cobalt but the lack of devices tells a different story.)
[3-Jul-2005] - PalmOne officially announced that the co-ownership of the Palm brand has been resolved and palmOne will get a new (old) company name on the 18th: Palm. Back to the root? Let's hope it can also return to the progress dynamics Palm originally created the widespread PDA boom with.
[10-Jul-2005] - PalmSource just announced that it will put priority on the Linux based PalmOS with an estimated release date mid to end of 2006. The news also implied that Cobalt is being pushed back. (I guess cancelled would be the proper word.)
[24-Aug-2005] - Two months into using the LifeDrive I finally decided to deduct another star since Palm Inc. still has not issued a stability fix (or at least a statement whether that's design inherent). Lag time and frequent crashes simply take the fun out of the LifeDrive enough to actually consider switching camps. (Grrrr ...)
[18-Sep-2005] - Palm Desktop 4.2 update has been withdrawn only a few days after its release. Main reason is the bugs starting with many cases where it didn't even install. Soon after, PalmDesktop 4.1.4E has been issued and claims fixes while maintaining that users who downloaded 4.2 may not need to update. (None of the issues appear to be addressed anyway.)
[28-Oct-2005] - Previous announcements to support Linux just got complemented by Palm's introduction of a Windows powered Treo. Blasphemy? Probably, but also an expression that Palm is still looking for its "Mojo" and all the direction changes sure don't indicate that they've found it. What's next? Most likely the announcement of a deadline for the end of support to palmOS powered devices. (How about throwing in another connector style for fun?)
[02-Nov-2005] - One hardware problem of the LifeDrive surfaced recently that seems to be relatively common and pretty much fails to turn on the screen when "waking" the device up. Resetting the device works, but it's cumbersome due to the looooong reboot time. After some time I figured out that the problem seems to be with the power switch. The way to get the screen working again was to move the power switch back into the lock position and then try again to turn it on (all the way to the end). While this is clearly an annoying bug, so far this procedure seemed to help this issue or at least to avoid resetting the LifeDrive. (sometime 2 to 3 repetitions were required to make this tweak work)
[16-Jan-2006] - Patch 2.0 was released some time ago and I have been using it ever since. While not fixing lag time, stability got a significant boot from file system changes for the LifeDrive. Most above described problems saw and improvement and some of them even vanished. (That does not apply to the described hardware issues or the long rebbot times as well as the lag time induced by the microdrive.) When applying this patch be advised that some programs have to be reinstalled in order to see improvements in stability.
[19-Apr-2006] - For users of the popular GPS navigation system TomTom Navigator 5, the recently published update 5.201 for Palm devices causes an "Insufficient DB Cache" error and exit the program. It turns out that this update is for the Windows Mobile based Treo 700w only -- despite the claimed update for PalmOS devices. (Typo?) However, it also revealed more of the LifeDrive instability when reverting back to the previously functioning update 5.12. Navigator now crashed right after the splash screen. Technical support basically responded: "If possible, it is best to install all Navigator files and map data to the SD card rather than the internal memory of your LifeDrive. This problem occurs every so often and not with every device. To avoid any future problems, please reinstall Navigator and the map data to a clean SD card."
THE PURPOSE
There is only so much you can do with a tiny screen that fits in a PDA sized device. Thinking of doing full-blown graphics applications or even 3D? Think again! There is a reason why laptop computers with 9 inch screens and VGA resolution are virtually extinct. (It remains to be seen what PalmOne can do about that with their upcoming foldable screen.)
Multimedia is even in 2005 what makes electronics sell. What gave computers in the late 90s a buzz, now seems to have spread to portable devices and with it PDAs. Why have one device for each type of media, if you can have it all in one? While there have been attempts before, the LifeDrive is the first serious contender in the PDA world. Cheaper portable memory makes it possible.
The LifeDrive aims to be the portable extension of your desktop and not its replacement. Keep your documents with you and make even changes, but you still might need a computer for full usability. Nevertheless, it packs a mobile video and picture viewer, mp3 player, E-mail, SMS, Internet access (via WiFi or Bluetooth) and of course games and other applications as needed.
LIFEDRIVE IN A NUTSHELL
Though in essence a PDA, the LifeDrive offers improved multimedia capabilities mainly due to integrated 4 GByte microdrive to store lots of music, pictures and videos. Imagine what you can take with you at any time, at least in comparison to current Palms and PocketPCs.
Geared for multimedia, the LifeDrive offers an impressive collection of specialized software to play music while you're watching s slide show or even work on spreadsheet or Word document. The device still relies on PalmOS 5.4 (Garnet) and doesn't offer true multitasking, but that should be alright for most applications.
The design is pure business, and overall dimensions are pretty much average with exception of the 0.7 inches of thickness which is slightly on the obese side. Nevertheless, user interface and style are well executed, despite the plain looks of the underlying Garnet PalmOS.
Most important in today's market is connectivity, and the LifeDrive offers IR, Bluetooth and WiFi. With that, you can stay connected virtually anywhere you find phone service (requires Bluetooth phone) or an increasingly popular hotspot.
MAIN FEATURES IN DETAIL
Design: Taking clues from Apple's iPod, minimalistic designs are red-hot these days and the LifeDrive falls into the same category. With a stainless steel cladding and a rather subdued implementation of the 9 buttons (counting the directional pad as one), the LifeDrive doesn't feel flashy at all and has a timeless look (until flashy is "in" again).
Interface: The buttons are well placed and can be memorized easily. Switching between portrait and landscape mode is a snap via dedicated button. The LifeDrive is mainly design for touch screen interaction and the use of the directional pad. Unlike previous Palms (or Sony etc.) there is no dedicated Menu button, which makes single handed use slightly harder. The Reset "button" is now easily accessible via stylus, which doesn't need to be taken apart anymore. In fact, the stylus surprises with good girth and a telescoping design to fit adult hands better.
PalmOS: Despite the expected release of Cobalt (PalmOS6) more than a year ago, there is still not a single device available that actually uses it. Even the LifeDrive still sports Garnet (PalmOS 5.4) with only a few improvements over the T5. Where the fabled PalmOS6 stands is anybody's guess. However, 5.4 is well suited for today's applications and even provides support for multimedia and popular wireless applications. PalmOS is catching up regarding looks but still needs to take lessons from Sony's implementation of the virtual graffiti area and interfaces like PocketTunes 3, Worldmate, MegaCalc, Documents2Go, SplashData, and (again) Sony's bundled software for Clies. But most disappointing is the instability of this particular version of PalmOS (see below for details).
Hardware: PalmOne will not win any battle over screen and processor as the 416 MHz CPU is potent but not top of the line in 2005 anymore. The screen falls into the same category with half VGA (480x320) which is less important since anything finer is hard to distinguish anyway. However, white balance is slightly shifted to "warmer" tones. Pretty much the whole PDA market is still waiting for 3D hardware to compete with Zodiac -- or more recently with Sony's PSP as the new reference for mobile gaming. The LifeDrive doesn't step on any new ground here. Storage is a whole new ball game, since there is only 2 PDAs in the market right now to sport a 4GB microdrive. (The other one was just released by Sharp w/ Unix.)
Memory: For the first time PalmOne uses non-volatile memory. Hence the information doesn't get lost even if the LifeDrive runs completely out of battery. Upon recharging the device will be completely restored without the need to resunc everything. This memory must be used for applications as the hard drive works for data storage only -- at least without tuning tools. Either way, the lag time is confusing even with all the programs in the memory. For instance MegaCalc 3.x shows lag time of 1 - 3 seconds simply by calling a function that has not been used yet. Technically the microdrive should stay out of that anyway. In the end, the memory management puts heavy brakes on the overall performance and makes the LifeDrive feel sluggish despite a decent processor.
Storage: With the introduction of a 4GB microdrive the included memory steps into the background, at least in the advertisement. To be clear, the 4GB are mostly for data storage while most programs still need to reside in the device's memory (64 MByte). Older programs might also not utilize the drive and insist on dumping data into the memory or looking for an expansion card. The LifeDrive is closer to a computer with its microdrive and memory than to previous Palms. The hard drive may sound slower than solid state memory cards, but the benchmark revealed a solid performer though not quite up to an Ultra II. The startup time for the microdrive, however, creates a short delay everytime a program (like a game or mp3 player) is running and needs data from the drive. This is not reflected in the benchmark. Seemingly related is the delayed startup and shutdown which is far from instantaneous. (In fact, I wonder sometimes if I hit the button far enough and consequentially turn the device right back on before it had time to shut down.)
VFSMark Benchmark: (Internal 4GB drive / Sandisk SD Ultra-II)
- File Create: 516% / 560%
- File Delete: 193% / 531%
- File Write: 350% / 167%
- File Read: 662% / 565%
- File Seek: 907% / 3933%
- DB Export = 481% / 255%
- DB Import = 161% / 146%
- Record Access = 301% / 1206%
- Resource Access = 362% / 1129%
VFSMark (avg) = 437 / 943
Reference: Treo 600 with Sandisk SD Ultra-II
- File Create = 462%
- File Delete = 293%
- File Write = 211%
- File Read = 169%
- File Seek = 437%
- DB Export = 212%
- DB Import = 421%
- Record Access = 332%
- Resource Access = 325%
VFSMark (avg) = 318
For more detail how this compares to other configurations please refer to my reviews of the Sandisk SD256MB Ultra II and the Lexar 1GB 80x CF memory cards. Connecting the LifeDrive as an external drive to a desktop via USB 2.0 returned about 1.8 MByte/sec (Write) and 1.3 MByte/sec (Read) respectively by copying about 200 MByte of files to and from the device.
Connectivity: A first for any PalmOS device, the LifeDrive provides extensive wireless connectivity via WiFi and Bluetooth. While the latter is mostly relevant for communication with cellphones and a GPS receiver (TomTom).The WiFi comes in very handy as soon as you're near a hotspot. With some businesses providing free WiFi this is an easy way to keep up with your E-mail and browsing the Internet. I tried this out with several hotspots (i.e. Atlanta Bread Company) and it's very easy to get a fast connection to the net! (Much faster than Smartphones!)
Battery: With the rejuvenation as a multimedia player, battery life time is put to another test. Afterall, you don't want to stop in the middle of a movie, do you? With that in mind, the Li-Ion battery cannot be replaced and it takes about 2 - 3 hours until you have to hook back up to the charger. Make sure you have access to an outlet when getting any further than around town. ;-)
Applications: Of course there are all the standard PIM applications (like Memo, Calendar and ToDo) and evolution made them quite usable. Only few people will need more (i.e. DateBk5, Contacts, Bonsai etc.). The built-in calculator is as basic as it can get and switching to MegaCalc or NeoCalc is almost a must. Nevertheless, multimedia is the main focus and the included full versions of Documents2Go, PocketTunes and the Picture Viewer (incl. videos) add significant value to the package. The included VersaMail 3.1 E-Mail client and Blazer 4.1 webbrowser are excellent examples for bundled software that's on par with the best third-party products. Even enterprise grade e-mail via Microsoft Exchange server is supported.
Technicalities: Numbers are sometimes only half the story. To save you a detour to the PalmOne site to review the specification of the LifeDrive, here they are ...
- Bluetooth 1.1 wireless
- Wi-Fi 802.11b wireless
- Intel 416MHz XScale processor
- 4GB hard drive (3.85GB accessible to user)
- 64MB memory for Palm OS (55.1MB available to user)
- Rechargeable Lithium Ion battery
- Palm OS 5.4 (Garnet)
- 4.76"(h) x 2.87"(w) x 0.74"(t)= [121mm(h) x 73mm(w) x 19mm(t)]
- 6.8 oz. / 190 grams
- 3.7" 320x480 Transflective TFT color touchscreen,
- 16 bit color / 65,000 colors
- Supports SD, SDIO and MultiMediaCards
- PalmOne Multi-connector
- 3.5mm stereo audio jack (Stereo audio headset optional)
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
With the LifeDrive's innovative approach to multimedia, there is still a few things that keep it from being perfect. The digital photographer in me is missing a CF memory slot to view shots from my EOS20D (a proper RAW viewer would be required too). This is mostly relevant for SLR users only since point'n'shoot cameras typically use JPeg and the smaller SD memory anyway. This is fully supported by the LifeDrive and there is even an application to move pictures from the memory onto your LifeDrive.
For the gadget lover, the absence of a built-in camera may be a turn-off, though realistically those are usually not worth a flip and only take up resources (cost) anyway. For most applications a dedicated digital camera with SD memory will work much better, but of course it's an additional device to carry. The LifeDrive doesn't play well with more serious SLRs like my Canon EOS 20D due to the lack of a CF card slot in the LifeDrive.
With screen and WiFi turned on, the 2 - 3 hours of battery life is as expected (average), but recharge time is a little bit on the longish side. Unfortunately, the battery cannot be replaced with a spare, and that litmits the usability "away from home" significantly, especially if you're going out of town.
If this is your first PalmOS PDA, installation is very smooth and synchronizing with a computer a snap. However, should you (like me) upgrade from an older Sony (or other Palm), make sure to remove the Desktop software first as the newly installed LifeDrive Manager does not filter out incomaptible drivers, patches or other software. in my case that caused the device to need a complete erase and start-over. (The secure erase process takes about 90 minutes to complete due to the microdrive!)
With the LifeDrive being sold as a multimedia device and Mp3 is apparently a big part of it (see iPod), it surprises that PalmOne didn't include any headset. Typically you would buy your own set anyway, but at least to get you started it would be nice if one would be included. Along with the mp3 player function goes a limitation induced by the handling of the microdrive. Everytime the PalmOS accesses the drive (i.e. when loading another software) while playing music, the sounds stops for a few seconds. The same is true with sound effects when playing games and a new level is loaded. This is certainly an area that should be improved soon and hopefully can be addressed via patches.
As with pretty much every Color PDA (PalmOS or not), the display goes almost blind in bright daylight and color depth is limited to 16 bit or 65k colors (shades). That's a long way from Epson's brilliant 256k color display in the P-2000 multimedia viewer.
As mentioned above, reboot times and on/off times increased significantly and especially a reformat (hard reset with a secure erase) will make you wonder if it's still working. (It takes more than 90 minutes!) Even a soft reset takes longer than any other PDA I ever owned (almost 2:15 minutes). Further delays are introduced due to the spinup time of the microdrive which is normally turned off to save power -- resulting in a 2 - 4 second delay when launching a program. The device gets surprisingly hot when transferring large (!) amounts of data to the drive and especially when secure erasing. (Hopefully that isn't required too often. Check for software compatibility before installing!) Memory management is the main contributor to the LifeDrive's sluggish feel.
With the lag time another issue becomes more aggravating. Stability is not Garnet's (5.4.8) middle name, and frequent but hard to reproduce crashes result in more noticeable downtime. Many programs I am using for years now and still they reset my LifeDrive every now and then - very sporadically. (Another 2 minutes of reboot.) Included are Avantgo 5.7, Worldmate X, eReader 2.6.1, Bonsai 3.3.5. etc.. More predictable is the crashing of ZLauncher v5.31 which resets my device every time. ALL of those programs were rock solid on my previous Sony Clie PEG-NX60!
Last but not least, there is an annoying design flaw where the 4 application buttons are raised just enough to be pressed down by Palm's own (included!) protective case. This requires to turn the power switch into the lock position before putting it into the case to prevent waking the device up. In my case, it would always launch the FileManager assigned to the top right-hand button. A different case might help, but hey we're talking about the one that's specifically made for the LifeDrive!
PALMONE's FINAL FRONTIER?
There is no denying that Sony's retreat from the PDA market (w/ PalmOS) may have been an indicator for Palm's demise, with market share now dropped to 20%. On top of that, the PDA market in general shrunk significantly, leaving less "buying" customers to compete for. Such conditions sure don't help, and PalmOne is especially sensitive to downs, due to PDAs and Smartphones being their only product(s).
Market conditions or not, PalmOne's demise is also home-made as it seemed from 2001 - 2004 that they simply dropped the ball and watched from the side lines how Sony and the other PDAs (a.k.a. PocketPCs) introduced innovations. In fact, there is barely any significant feature from that time frame that's originated at Palm. Consequentially, customers migrated and it's even harder to get them back, now that PDAs offer so much and barely anybody realistically needs more. Or does he?
The LifeDrive finally poses a fresh new proposition in PalmOne's portfolio - and the PDA market as such. Storage and overall integration along with connectivity are great and leave little to complain about. However, the price is somewhat high and the screen battle shifted in PocketPCs favor -- though just on paper as software support is still low and the nearly 220 ppi (640x480 in a 3.7 inch screen) are of no real practical use anyway (compared to the 150 ppi of the LifeDrive). The same could be said about 4 GByte, but games get bigger and data has a tendency to grow, especially when talking multimedia. (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary alone takes up 11 MByte!)
So in the end, the LifeDrive is PalmOne's best foot forward (the other one would be the Treo 650) to survive in the hard battle that's fought over a shrinking customer base. Hopefully it's not too late, as competition invigorates innovation and an all-PocketPC world may not stimulate Microsoft to do drive the "Mini-Windows" much further. (Need an example? Look at the 4 year old IE6.0, where MS didn't even plan to develop IE7.0 if there wasn't a successful Firefox.)
On the other hand, PalmOne sure didn't do themselves a favor with the two most visible issues the LifeDrive has to cope with. Lag time is a big aggrevation even within programs as is sometimes takes a second or two to execute a command for the first time (i.e. MegaCalc) or everytime (i.e. Link page in Bonsai). Further, this particular version of PalmOS seems quite unstable and (too) frequently crashes for no apparent reason. Hopefully both issues can be fixed, but as it stand right now many people will be potentially "turned off" by those issues.
© 2005, theuerkorn
FURTHER READING
PalmOne Treo 600
Sony Clie PEG-NX60
Sony Clie PEG-N610
Palm Zire
Sandisk SD 256MB Ultra II
TomTom Navigator 5
Product home page
- http://www.palmone.com/us/products/mobilemanagers/lifedrive/
Foldable Screen patent
- http://www.uspto.gov/ (search for patent 6,850,780)
PalmOS Cobalt
- http://www.palmsource.com/palmos/cobalt.html
UPDATE(s)
[23-Jun-2005] - The lag time induced by the microdrive can be significantly reduced with SharkCache (currently in v1.0). This little tool forces caching of defined programs and allows to reduce lag time significantly. However, it costs $12 and will not fix the skipping issue with PocketTunes. In fact, it actually hurts replay quality when caching PT. Now if PalmOne would take the hint and fix this ... please ;-)
[1-Jul-2005] - Rumors predict the introduction of another LifeDrive version for the end of this year with supposedly a 6 GB hard drive and still the Garnet OS (5.4.9). The latter is an indication that Palm might skip Cobalt (PalmOS 6.1) altogether and go straight for the upcoming Linux based version. (The website still insists on a future for Cobalt but the lack of devices tells a different story.)
[3-Jul-2005] - PalmOne officially announced that the co-ownership of the Palm brand has been resolved and palmOne will get a new (old) company name on the 18th: Palm. Back to the root? Let's hope it can also return to the progress dynamics Palm originally created the widespread PDA boom with.
[10-Jul-2005] - PalmSource just announced that it will put priority on the Linux based PalmOS with an estimated release date mid to end of 2006. The news also implied that Cobalt is being pushed back. (I guess cancelled would be the proper word.)
[24-Aug-2005] - Two months into using the LifeDrive I finally decided to deduct another star since Palm Inc. still has not issued a stability fix (or at least a statement whether that's design inherent). Lag time and frequent crashes simply take the fun out of the LifeDrive enough to actually consider switching camps. (Grrrr ...)
[18-Sep-2005] - Palm Desktop 4.2 update has been withdrawn only a few days after its release. Main reason is the bugs starting with many cases where it didn't even install. Soon after, PalmDesktop 4.1.4E has been issued and claims fixes while maintaining that users who downloaded 4.2 may not need to update. (None of the issues appear to be addressed anyway.)
[28-Oct-2005] - Previous announcements to support Linux just got complemented by Palm's introduction of a Windows powered Treo. Blasphemy? Probably, but also an expression that Palm is still looking for its "Mojo" and all the direction changes sure don't indicate that they've found it. What's next? Most likely the announcement of a deadline for the end of support to palmOS powered devices. (How about throwing in another connector style for fun?)
[02-Nov-2005] - One hardware problem of the LifeDrive surfaced recently that seems to be relatively common and pretty much fails to turn on the screen when "waking" the device up. Resetting the device works, but it's cumbersome due to the looooong reboot time. After some time I figured out that the problem seems to be with the power switch. The way to get the screen working again was to move the power switch back into the lock position and then try again to turn it on (all the way to the end). While this is clearly an annoying bug, so far this procedure seemed to help this issue or at least to avoid resetting the LifeDrive. (sometime 2 to 3 repetitions were required to make this tweak work)
[16-Jan-2006] - Patch 2.0 was released some time ago and I have been using it ever since. While not fixing lag time, stability got a significant boot from file system changes for the LifeDrive. Most above described problems saw and improvement and some of them even vanished. (That does not apply to the described hardware issues or the long rebbot times as well as the lag time induced by the microdrive.) When applying this patch be advised that some programs have to be reinstalled in order to see improvements in stability.
[19-Apr-2006] - For users of the popular GPS navigation system TomTom Navigator 5, the recently published update 5.201 for Palm devices causes an "Insufficient DB Cache" error and exit the program. It turns out that this update is for the Windows Mobile based Treo 700w only -- despite the claimed update for PalmOS devices. (Typo?) However, it also revealed more of the LifeDrive instability when reverting back to the previously functioning update 5.12. Navigator now crashed right after the splash screen. Technical support basically responded: "If possible, it is best to install all Navigator files and map data to the SD card rather than the internal memory of your LifeDrive. This problem occurs every so often and not with every device. To avoid any future problems, please reinstall Navigator and the map data to a clean SD card."
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