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I shopped around and read reviews before purchasing the LifeDrive. I am VERY pleased with it...it does everything I need it to do. I purchased the pocket quicken to go with it and it is absolutely great! Any software that I have purchased is very easy to install. The only complaint that I have is that the Wi-Fi does drain the battery quickly but other than that, I have no other complaints. I like the fact that it has a voice recorder which was hard to find on other PDA's that did as much as this one. I know that cell phones have come a long way but if you use a PDA, you need a stand alone PDA and not all bundled with your cell phone. The large screen on the PDA makes it much nicer for input. The documents to go feature is a definite plus. You can also purchase the wireless keyboard to help with large input. You will have all your documents, contacts, pictures, mp3's, calendar, tasks and more all in one place. This thing is like carrying a tiny laptop! You will not be disappointed!Read full review
What attracted me to the LifeDrive was the fact that it was more than just a PDA. It could be used as an MP3 player, an external hard drive, an SD card adapter, among other things... Shortly after first receiving it, I had to download and install the operating system update from Palm. That resolved several issues with the LifeDrive, mainly frequent reboots. I have installed the Palm pdf reader, with which I am able to read pdf books without having to reformat them (though the screen is small but it's great when traveling), plus plucker and iSilo to read other books and keep my Bible library with me. Then I installed an open-source media player (TCPMP) and am now able to play *.ogg files as well as some other video files. Pocket Tunes, which came with it wanted money to play ogg files, so I just went open source, which is my preference anyway. It is not perfect, but it serves my needs quite well. It is used as a media player both with the built-in speaker and with headphones, so it has replaced my mp3 player. I am delighted with the fact that should I want to increase my music or switch types, I can just swap out SD cards, which is much more convenient than hooking up to a computer and swapping out the contents, as I have had to do on my old mp3 player. Plus my daughter uses it to play a couple of games and to work on "The Wizard of OZ" and I use it to keep track of my life, my shopping lists, and the stack of notepads I carried around with me is being dutifully entered into this little wonder. No longer do I need multiple notebooks to carry my notes and info - it is all in this little PDA. It is the perfect size to fit into a side pocket on my purse, and also in the chest pocket of my jacket when I'm so inclined. At times I wish the screen were larger but if it were it would not be near so portable.... While Palm does not offer upgrades there are a few aftermarket companies offering tools and software so that this little LifeDrive can be upgraded, made faster with a longer battery life with larger disk space by replacing the microdrive with flash memory. Of course, these aren't covered by warranty but later on I am seriously considering the upgrade, especially as Palm is not planning on making more of these little gems. I can surf the Internet using wifi, check my emails, use bluetooth to transfer files, but mainly I use it to keep track of my life and notes and as a very portable media player. It does all that I wanted to do and more. It is the closest one can get to having a miniature laptop to tote around, and in fact was chosen just for that reason....Read full review
I can appreciate that change is inevitable just like we have gone from punch cards to DOS and from there to Vista and Mac operating systems. and that PalmOne needed to make a change but for the life of me I cannot figure out why they dropped the LifeDrive mobile manager rather than making a change from a four gig harddrive to a chip, which can be purchased now as a replacement drive. This turned out as one of the best tools I have for keeping track of my time and the work that I have done. It also permits me to easily find information on when a particular job was done. I prefer it with the Palm Desktop much more than the over bearing and clumsy Outlook program which is fine for big business and attorneys keeping track of the time spent on taking your money but is like driving a tractor trailer rig for someone that wants to get from point A to B in the shortest time possible. I the use the LifeDrive like a daily log book in contradiction to it being an appointment manager, I find the Palm Desktop works great for that function. The next closest product is the TX, it however doesn’t have the extra on board storage nor the capacity to take an audio memo while driving. So, for now I’m just purchasing backup product to have parts so I can repair my own when needed. I realized this need after recently having to purchase a new digitizer to replace one that I wore out. If I were to pick any dislike about the LifeDrive, or any PDA for that matter, is their limited internet access. It is seen by supported web pages as a mobile product and pages will tend to load very nicely while others may not load properly or are too large for the products memory limit. Then too, there is the internet connection speed at which it works, it is like running on a 28.8 baud rate modem. But, despite those drawbacks it still is a handy tool for getting vital information from free hotspots. Another big plus is the big screen size and the fact that unlike a Smartphone you don’t have to pay for the internet access when having hotspots available, at least for now. Biggest drawback,,, not made anymore.Read full review
I purchased this as an experiment. I have alway's loved Palm handhelds. When this product first hit the market, it was a head of it's time. If you are runing Windows Vista you need to be aware that you will need to have a bluetooth connection on your PC or notebook because the cable sync doesn't work. Windows Vista will not recognize the device and Palm hasn't provided a driver for this product that will work with Vista. To run the Palm Desktop, you will need to go to the Support section of PalmOne and download the lastest version of the software. You can also go to Cnet.com or ZDNet.com to get the software. Hotsyncing by bluetooth is fast and efficient! I also used the beam capability to transfer info from my Tungsten E to the Life Drive. The device also works well with my home network. Doing a hot sync via bluetooth is fast and efficient. I have no idea if this device will work with Windows 7.Read full review
I had this device for 2 days now. My first palm is Palm 3X many years ago. Then I got iPaq, Zire, and another Zire, Blackberry and finally the lifedrive. I bought it through eBay and while waiting for it to arrive, I read a lot of review on the Internet... I got worried because many people got upset about how this device crash often. I have used it for over 1 day now and couldn't understand how it would crash. Maybe I'm a lucky person? So far it only crash once when I was running many things at I like how Palm Synch with Outlook so all the contacts, appointments, and todo have a backup and ways to view and edit on the go. Especially with Palm system the ability to view and edit with a touch screen. It out perform the Blackberry system or Windows Mobile system. I can talk on the phone and write down appointment with one hand with a Palm system. With blackberry, you need two hand in order to put down appointments, phone number and name. However, on a blackberry device, you can type faster than palm. I do regullarly back up all my documents on desktop to a small USB Flash Drive. So I was hoping I can have a device that can synch all my documents and have a mobile back up as well as view and edit them. LifeDrive finally is the perfect solution. I now have it synch with all my business documents. So anywhere I go, I have my complete documents for my business as well as view them, edit them and sync them. It is very POWERFUL! It also come with Wifi connecion, so I can get it to go on Internet surf the web and sending and recieve messages with attatchments, PDF, Word file and etc. Something Blackberry have some trouble. Blackberry if you buy software can read and edit office files and pdf files, but because it doesn't have a touch screen it's a major limitation. Also the screen can not go sideway. Blackberry can do other thing but really limit to messaging. And best at messsaging. Lifedrive also have the ability to access my network sharing file through Wifi. That make it even more powerful. All my collecion of photos, music, documents, are all in there I can download any time I want anywhere in my house. I also use it to load photos from my digital camera and the picture on it look wonderful with very sharp display and able to view it horizonatally. Very good way to show pictures to friends and clients cause really on a digital camera, the LCD is just too small. That was one major problem with iPaq where I couldn't view the screen sideway. Viewing documents and picture sideway, make it a lot better. I was a bit disappointed that this device couldn't read native PDF file. You need to convert and read it in a special program. So I was looking on the net. And guess what it cost money. But lucky, I found an alternative. After you install this program, you can read any PDF file just like on a desktop. Just click on it. It's call PalmPDF. It's a free program and can be found on the Handago website. Major disapointment with this device is the battery life time and how to charge this thing. You can not charge it through USB cable like Zire do. You need to use the special adaptor in order to charge this thing. Also it use a special cable, you can't just plug any usb cable. I read the manual, it actually recommend people to charge it every day. I really hope the battery life can be much longer like something you don't need to charge for over 10 days at least. In conclusion, considering its ability to wifi, view, edit sync . I give it 4 *Read full review
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