Larry Garfield finds Palm's flagship device to be simple, elegant, simple, well-engineered, and, well, simple. If only it cost of half of what it does, it would be a killer.
Though some people claim that the company is moving too slowly, Palm still leads the world in terms of handheld device shipments. Though it only releases new devices periodically rather than continually like Sony, its devices are generally solid, well-thought-out, and simple, if a little light on features compared to other licensees. Palm's current flagship model, the m515, fits every one of those criteria.
 | Palm's m515 is sleek and stylish, but isn't big on features
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The m515 is small at 11.43 x 7.87 x 1.27 cm (4.5" x 3.1" x .5"), and light at 138 grams (4.9 oz). While not quite as light as Sony's T665c, it feels smaller and lighter because of its tapered design and brushed metal casing. The slightly curved edges, like the Palm V-series before it, make the device fit nicely into the hand. Inside the metal casing is a 33 MHz Dragonball processor, 16 MB of RAM, and 4 MB of Flash ROM for the OS.
The biggest complaint against the m515's predecessor, the m505, was that its screen was too dark. The m515 does not suffer from the same problem at all, and is perfectly readable in any lighting with the backlight on (the usual state of almost all color devices today). With the backlight off, the m515, like other reflective TFT displays, becomes more readable the more light is placed on it. In direct sunlight, the screen is perfectly readable. The m515's display is a true 16-bit TFT display capable of 65,000 colors, though it is only 160x160 pixels. Unlike the m505, though, the Graffiti area is not backlit.
The application buttons and scroll buttons are easy to press, and dimpled to allow for stylus access. The power button on the top right edge of the device is not, however, though it will glow green when the device is charging. The m515 lacks a jog wheel, and its speaker is the standard piezo-electric tweeter. A single Secure Digital card slot with SDIO support sits on the top back, and is protected by a cheap plastic slug when not in use. The card must be pressed in very far before it locks, however. The Palm-standard IrDA port is also present, right at the top of the device where it belongs. The device also has a Palm Universal serial/USB connector.
To test the internal Lithium Ion Polymer battery, we ran our standard battery burn test by disabling auto-off and running AtomSmash 2.0 in demo mode with the backlight on and sound off until the battery ran dry. The m515 lasted 3 hours 35 minutes before its first warning, and then shut off at about 4 hours. Recharging took about 3 hours, though the device shot up to over 70% charge very quickly, then took several hours to get back to full charge. It was not stellar battery life, but not as bad as the Sony CLIE PEG-T665c, reviewed recently. Unfortunately, there is no indictor on the device or included Palm Universal cradle to say when the device is fully charged. The cradle uses a wall-brick AC adapter, and the device only charges through the cradle itself. The included adapter cannot be used as a travel adapter.
The m515 ships with a metal/plastic alloy stylus that fits into a silo on the right side of the device, and a side-swivel hard leather flip cover that fits into a silo on the left side of the device. Unfortunately, unlike the Palm V series, the silos are not the same size so the device cannot be reversed for left-handed users. The cover comes off easily to allow the device to be used with other carrying cases. Although it is not active by default, the m515 also includes a vibrating alert. The vibrations are not very strong, and a bit short, but should be enough to catch someone's attention during a meeting. The power button flashes green for an alarm as well.
The m515 ships with Palm OS 4.1 and its usual assortment of PIM tools, including the Palm-specific Notepad, a Memo Pad replacement that allows for drawings as well as text notes. Very little else is included in ROM, however. The included CD offers Palm Desktop 4.01, Palm Reader, AOL for Palm OS, and AvantGo, all of which are otherwise free downloads. Also included are MGI Photosuite Mobile Edition and PowerOne Calculator. The CD also includes DataViz Documents To Go Professional Edition 3.0, which offers word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software. (DataViz offers an upgrade to Documents To Go Premium 5.0 for $29.95 USD.)
The Palm m515 is available now.
Conclusion
Like most of the Palm line, the m515 model is simple, elegant, well-designed, and of limited features. Its high quality case, well designed buttons, and leather cover give the handheld a very "executive" feel, as is the intent. At $250-$300 USD, it would dominate the mid-range market, but unfortunately, Palm has positioned it opposite the Sony CLIE PEG-T665c with a price tag of $399 USD. While the m515 is overall a more "cleanly designed" device with better battery life, the T665c includes twice as many features out of the box.
- What's positive: Clean, elegant design, good attention to detail
- What's negative: Limited features for the price
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