from the dept. We recently got a chance to try out Handspring's Visor Prism. It has all the features of the regular Visor; however, the typical black-and-white screen has been replaced by a 16-bit color, active matrix backlit LCD, which provides 65,536 colors. The Prism enhances the user experience for all applications that are converted to support color, but is especially useful for color photos and games. The Prism's case comes in one color, cobalt blue, which is attractive. It also has a 33-MHz Motorola Dragonball VZ processor and 8 MB of memory, so it runs faster than previous models. It comes with a matching cradle, which connects to a PC via the serial or USB port. (USB provides a faster synchronization process.) A nice addition to the Prism unit is its built-in lithium-ion battery that can recharge in less than one hour. The battery itself lasts all day, even playing two hours of MP3 music using the Innogear MP3 module (see review in next issue). We found set up of the Prism nice and easy: It was up and running and synced with Outlook in about five minutes. The leather carrying case that comes along with the unit is sleek and stylish, but it won't accommodate the Prism with any of the Springboard modules attached. The Springboard expansion slot allows the Prism, like other Visor products, to accept a number of different modules that add additional functionality, all with quick auto install/uninstall. For example, IDEO's eyemodule2 is a Springboard module that allows the user to capture color photos as well as take small movie clips. As PDAs come, the Prism is well made and well thought out. However, it would be nice to see the size of the unit decrease. (Handspring has answered this need by introducing its Visor Edge at only .44 inches thick and 4.8 oz.) The Prism's color capability of course ups the price a bit ($449) compared to monochrome units, which run from $149 to $199. Click For More Details < | >
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