Color Plus Power Equals the Palm IIIc Sherwood AR

Posted by : Jon L. Jacobi

Breathe easy, Palm fans. You no longer need to mumble excuses or brag about your Palm's battery life when people walk by with their Windows CE-based, color-screened PDAs. The Palm IIIc gives you the colors you've been waiting for. And guess what? You can still brag about battery life. Alas, the Palm IIIc isn't cheap; at $449, it ties with the wireless Palm VII as the most expensive model. But in my book, color is worth the surcharge.

The IIIc impressed me right out of the box, with its dark, slate-colored case-a bit sexier than older models' medium gray. And the screen-oh, that TFT, active-matrix color screen. With a resolution of 160 by 160 pixels and only 256 colors, it may not match some of the CE screens for photo-realistic color, but the Palm's new color screen makes an astounding difference in readability. Even at the default 25 percent brightness level, I had no trouble viewing text or graphics under harsh fluorescent lights or in twilight conditions-something I couldn't say about previous models.

There are some minor physical differences between the IIIc and the rest of the series. The IIIc is 0.36 inches longer than the other 4.7-inch long, 3.2-inch wide, 0.7-inch III models, and also a bit heftier-6.8 ounces versus the IIIx's 6 ounces. But despite its larger size and extra weight, the IIIc is still quite comfortable in your palm or pocket. Numerous subtle shape enhancements include application launch buttons that are con...

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