PalmOne LifeDrive

By Grace L. Suarez

Grace L. Suarez is a solo attorney specializing in criminal appeals and writs
who works out of her home office in San Francisco.

LifeDrive by palmOne is the first personal digital assistant with a built-in hard drive, and at 4GB, it’s a big one. “Big” also describes the unit itself, which weighs 6.8 ounces, measures almost 3-by-5 inches and is about three quarters of an inch thick. This size gives you a big screen, 3.7 inches in the diagonal, which also is bright and sharp.

Bluetooth wireless and 802.11b Wi-Fi are built into the unit. I didn’t have an opportunity to test the Bluetooth, but the Wi-Fi worked flawlessly in my hotel room where it sniffed out a hot spot and automatically let me in. The battery is built-in and can’t be replaced by the user, so when traveling, you better take along the charger. Web browsing was slow and only worked with certain optimized sites.

A full version of Documents To Go by DataViz Inc. comes with the LifeDrive, which lets you drag and drop Microsoft Word or Corel WordPerfect documents (even big ones) into the unit. I actually could read the documents I imported because of the large screen, which can be viewed either in portrait or landscape mode. I could imagine taking a unit loaded with briefs and cases right into the courtroom — and because it doesn’t have a built-in camera or cell phone, I would be able to get it past security.

After downloading a new driver, I hooked up the LifeDrive to the separate Universal Wireless Keyboard. The keyboard takes a while to get used to because of the shallowness of the key travel, but soon I could type quickly and accurately. Users can write into the memo feature and send e-mails using the built-in “VersaMail” tool that connects to existing e-mail accounts. The large, bright screen also helps make it a practical note-taking tool.

I bought the optional cradle, which has a brushed silver finish matching the unit. It holds the LifeDrive at a good angle for viewing, and it charges and hot syncs. It comes with several prongs for international use. I prefer leaving the unit turned on in the cradle so it can display my daily calendar and sound alarms, which means I don’t have to keep Microsoft Outlook open all the time.

It almost was impossible to squeeze the unit into the protective sleeve included in the package, and the metal case I ordered had a cover that was very difficult to open, so I still am in the market for a good case. A case is essential since the unit doesn’t have a built-in cover over the screen, making it an easy target for scratches.

The voice recorder feature turns the LifeDrive into an excellent dictating machine. The resulting MP3 files can be transferred to a computer or even sent back to the office as an e-mail attachment. Because it has a 416MHz Intel Pentium processor, the LifeDrive plays back music and videos well. There is a slight pause when opening files and changing applications, which bothered me at first, but I got used to it. Pocket Tunes by NormSoft Inc. comes with the unit, which makes it easy to transfer MP3 files into LifeDrive and use it as a music player. It doesn’t come with headphones, but it has a 3.5mm stereo audio jack. After I hooked it up to a pair of small speakers, it made a decent miniature desktop stereo.

The “Camera Companion” feature hooked me on the usefulness of the LifeDrive. While traveling on vacation, I transferred the contents of my camera’s 256MB Secure Digital card into the LifeDrive through its built-in expansion card slot every evening. This allowed me to click away during the day. I came back with 1,400 images, which I then transferred to my computer. Viewing the pictures on the screen of the unit also was a pleasure, as they were bright and sharp.

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PalmOne’s LifeDrive PDA has a built-in hard drive and a big viewing screen.