Palm M515

One of the main reasons for this purchase is that there are many medical programs available for this PDA. With the SD memory card, you can put many medical applications on this unit and the cost of this PDA now is so cheap compared to the original $449.00,(See CNET webpage) when the device first came out that the purchase is a no brainer. Many E-bayer's are buying PDAs with gray scale displays and are paying more than if they purchased a Palm M5515.

I have 3 of these PDAs and are they are mostly used for medical research. The following are the specs for this pda and I have reviewed many types of PDAs if you are interested in other devices. Please be honest if this review has helped you in any way. Thank you for your time and consideration.

SPECS:
OS provided Palm OS 4.1
Software included Mail , Clock , Expense , Memo Pad , Note Pad , Date Book , Calculator , To Do List , Palm Reader , Address Book , Palm Desktop Software , DataViz Documents To Go , AvantGo Web Channel Manager , MGI PhotoSuite Mobile Edition
Min Operating system Apple MacOS 9.x , Microsoft Windows XP , Microsoft Windows 95/98 , Apple MacOS 8.6 or later , Microsoft Windows 2000 / NT4.0 , Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition
Memory Installed RAM 16 MB DRAM
Flash memory installed None
Processor Motorola 33 MHzMC68VZ328
Input device type Stylus , Touch-screen
Audio input type None
Audio output type None
Telecom Modem None
Display type TFT active matrix (Integrated)
Display (projector) type LCD display
Color support 16-bit (64K colors)
Max resolution 160 x 160
Expansion / Connectivity
Wireless connectivity IrDA
Connectivity device(s) included Docking cradle
Port / Connector Type:Interface Infrared , 1InfraredUSB , 1Serial , 1Peripheral
Port(s) Total (Free) / Connector Type:Free Qty 1
Connector Provided IrDA , 1 , 1
Expansion slot(s) total (free) 1 SD Memory Card

I recently found myself inundated with piling up tasks and stuff to do, short term and long term. I discovered the Getting Things Done - GTD method and tried computer software and paper based systems.

I found that paper based systems are just too slow, too messy, and honestly, such methods with Moleskines eat up trees and are too expensive and tend to give off this hipster, cool factor that has NOTHING to do with getting things done.

I found an old low end Palm m105 at a second hand store, fairly cheap, I popped in batteries the same night and found myself inputing all the GTD @ lists with categories in the Tasks/ToDos app. But the battery changing thing was an issue, you could lose your stuff in a change.

In comes the M515 after using an m505. Brilliant. Its fast, buttons make more sense. The color was something I had to get used to but I learned to love it very fast.

I dont think tools for GTD should be complicated. I found the iPhone a complete distraction and just an overbloated system. That OS should be left for big computers. I dont need so much color and graphics and ooh this ooh that. Its pointless.

The somewhat astonishing thing is how old the Palms are, these 500 series. Made in 2000 and nearly 10 years later STILL usable and near perfect! Graffiti is actually pretty easy once you practice. The built in apps totally focused. Not bloated, over done, over hyped iPhone like apps, just to the point - a calendar - a clock - a todo's app - a memopad - a notepad where you can scribble little things almost instantly. Plus if fits in your pocket - the m515 backlighting is superb, just a great little tool.

I do NOT do any GTD-ing on a computer as I find it complicated learning productivity software. All the time and effort to compute on the computer. Again, with that GTD system and even if you follow Palms system of organization, which is focused on YOU and your tasks, you can do all that productivity without ever using a computer.

Palms expose the complicated time consuming ways of the computer and internet and iPhones and even Moleskines.

If you want to get organized - GET ANY CLASSIC PALM! ANd get a backup for your vault!

The Palm M515 PDA is an impressive device which may or may not serve you well.

If you are looking to use the PDA to operate Palm OS software, then it may be the perfect lower-cost solution for you. But the software supplied by Palm on the original unit isn't fully functional synchronizing with MS Outlook 2003 and relies (even in the boxed Palm original) on third-party bundled software. If you want to use the M515 with Outlook Professional with Business Contact Manager, you will have problems.

Beware, as I found out from painful experience: DO NOT follow the links on the software to the manufacturers site(s) and then start downloading new free upgrades. They do NOT work, will cause your computer to hang-up and you will spend days trying to return your computer to its previous, non-PALM, status. ALWAYS back up your entire hard drive with a reputable backup software system first, to a separate recovery drive, before you try anything like loading Palm or other PDA software which will implant routines to help it synchronize files between itself and the PDA. In the case of the M515, I had real problems "uninstalling" them and had to completely "recover" my computer to a previous configuration using Norton Ghost. This was nerve-wracking to say the least, and wasted four days of my time in the end!

There are, apparently, some software fixes for the M515 which might allow them to be useful for even Windows Vista and (limited functionality with) Outlook 2007--Except synchronizing your email! These will cost you well into the $100 to $200 range, so perhaps save your money and get an up-to-date PDA with some future to it.... Keep the M515 for some of those great Palm OS computer applications out there, though---it'll give great service AND you could afford to lose it if that ever happened....

I am a previous owner of a Palm VX. I found it to be quite useful and enjoyed the ease of use. The addition of 3rd party applications made the unit ever better. The M515 is all of this plus, color and additional internal capacity as well as flash memory. The size of the unit is great, not so large that it will not fit in my pants pocket. Since it is an older Palm unit, today's price makes it even more attractive.

I was considering purchasing an Android or Smart Phone. After reviewing how smartphones were networked and set up to charge the average user an obscene amount of money, ($30.00 a month on a data package), I went with the Palm M515.
I like this product because the applications and files can be resident on the device. I use it for my task lists, calandar, car records and shopping list and the best part is I can edit my Word Docs, Powerpoint and spread sheet docs on it. Not bad for a 10 year old product.
Though it's relatively thin, it is a little wide which makes it a little awkward holding it. It doesn't have a qwerty keyboard but for my intended purpose like taking class notes, it's fantastic.
It's a very basic interface. You can't interact with pictures or stream anything from the net. As far as I know, you can't view images on it either. Once I set up the hotsync, data transfer was seamless to and from my PC.