CNET Editor's rating: 7.2 out of 10
Reviewed by
Bonnie Cha
Review date: 05/17/05
Release date: 05/18/05
The good: Integrated 4GB hard drive; Bluetooth and Wi-Fi; doubles as USB drive; plays MP3s with support for playlists; lets you create slide shows with music; sharp screen.
The bad: Expensive; battery not user-replaceable; Web pages slow to load; battery life and audio quality not up to par with today's MP3 players; sluggish; slightly heavy.
The bottom line: There isn't too much the PalmOne LifeDrive can't do with its integrated hard drive, its wireless connectivity, and its multimedia capabilities, but it's way too expensive.
The wait is over. PalmOne's golden egg has finally hatched, and the LifeDrive is here. The firstborn in the company's new Mobile Manager line, the LifeDrive is the first handheld to have an integrated hard drive--4GB, to be exact--for all your storage needs, and lo and behold, this baby finally has built-in Wi-Fi. Like the HP iPaq rx3715, the LifeDrive aims to converge productivity and digital entertainment into one slick device, and overall, it does it well. It lets you store and work on your Microsoft Office files, check e-mail, surf the Web, listen to music, and organize your photos, to name just a few capabilities. While these features are impressive, at a costly $500, the LifeDrive isn't necessarily ready for prime time. The idea of PDAs as portable media devices is just starting to take off, and though the PalmOne LifeDrive is sure to garner lots of interest, only hard-core gadget hounds or early adopters may be willing to part with that kind of cash.
Intro:
The Palm Lifedrive is a Palm OS-based, consumer-oriented handheld device.Compared to other consumer-oriented handhelds on the market, it is midpriced at around $365.You can expand the memory of this unit using Secure Digital (SD), or MMC media.
Noteworthy Features:
Has a 320x480 screen resolution, which is somewhat higher than some similarly priced handhelds.
Weaker Features:
Weighing in at 6.8 ounces, this handheld is somewhat heavy compared with most other devices.
Suitability:
A consumer-oriented handheld, suited for every-day use.Also, its display, supporting 64,000 colors at 320x480 resolution, makes it very good for viewing color images.You can use the Bluetooth capability of this device to connect to cell phones and other devices that are similarly enabled.This handheld will also store and playback your favorite MP3 audio files.This PDA includes Wi-Fi (802.11b) compatibility and can be used to access the internet at various wireless enabled "hotspots".
Value:
In general, this handheld has good features for the money.
Suggestions:
(1) If you think you'll enter large amounts of data, consider purchasing an external portable keyboard for your PDA.(2) If you want to synchronize your documents with a Windows PC, consider a third party application such as Documents To Go.(3) For news and reviews of the latest handhelds, visit the Handhelds Feature on CNET Reviews.
4 out of 10 - Mediocre BAD for play, OK for work...
UNLIKE THE PREVIOUS USER REVIEWS, I ACTUALLY OWNED THIS DEVICE. I am also an official Palm OS software programmer and ...
UNLIKE THE PREVIOUS USER REVIEWS, I ACTUALLY OWNED THIS DEVICE. I am also an official Palm OS software programmer and developer. In one sentence, I can describe LifeDrive: "BAD for play, OK for work". If you are going to be playing music MP3s and playing games (especially emulators) then DO NOT purchase this device (would recommend Tungsten|T3). System performance felt sluggish with 1 second pauses while accessing the hard drive. Device does not come with a hostsync cradle, which should have been included with the $500 price. Internet access through 802.11b was near perfect, with web pages looking great in landscape screen mode. Word, Excel, and Powerpoint files opened and could be edited flawlessly too on this device. Battery life (w/ all services on) was about average (3-4 hours). I use my Palm mostly for play (MP3s and games), which is why the low score. Device would have been a perfect 10 if the speaker was much better and if the 5-way navigator and application hard buttons worked properly in games and emulators. Nice and interesting effort by Palm, but device has critical flaws. WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO YOU TO PASS ON LIFEDRIVE AND PURCHASE THE TUNGSTEN|T3 (A DEVICE I OWN AND CURRENT BEST PDA ON THE MARKET). Hopefully Palm reads these reviews, and will design something better in the near future.
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by JeZ-I-Lee (see profile) -
May 28, 2005
8 out of 10 - Excellent Great device with everything I need
I am going to say as well, don't review a product if you've never used one. This is ...
I am going to say as well, don't review a product if you've never used one. This is a great package and does everything I need it to do. Wireless: I travel a lot for work and firing this up in the airport lounge and connecting to the wifi network for a quick check of emails is great. Same at home - easy to get emails while out on the deck without having to drag the laptop around. Bluetooth: I HATE big phones and go through phones quickly. With a small bluetooth phone in my pocket, I can pair with the Lifedrive and surf the web, check emails, make calls. I can synch the phone directory with my lifedrive directory so even though I have two places where this info is, it's very easy tokeep them in sync. Palm OS: Great. I hate Windows products but am forced to use them at work. I have a mac at home and know Unix like the back of my hand so I needed a device compatible with Mac OS and I also like the Palm OS. Weight: Who the hell thinks this is heavy? Do people kick sand in your face when you go to the beach? Storage capacity: Ok, we all know a DVD is larger than 4gb but who said on this forum that you couldn't load a whole DVD to this device? Well, who would want to. Do you really need the best video quality, 7.1 channel surround and subtitles in 10 languages on a tiny handheld device - duh... Palm software automatically converts a whole 2 hr DVD movie to less than a gig for use on this device. Size: Sure it's big. Sure it doesn't have a phone in it. Have you ever seen those people with the Qtek (Imate, whatever it's branded) with one of those up to their ear? Unless they switch ears a lot, they get lopsided suntans. I don't need my handheld anywhere near as much as I need my phone. So, when I need a larger device, I have it - I don't want it with a 1x2 cm screen - that's useless to me - and yes, I have perfect vision. When I need a phone and PDA, I pair them with bluetooth. When I need just a phone, I have that as well at a fraction of the size. Plus, when the phone gets old, much cheaper and easier to replace. Battery Life: I am a moibile road warrior and have never had an issue with this device. Cost: How is this expensive. Someone else on here added up the cost to get the features of this device on cheaper devices and the overall price is compatible.
Overall, this is a great device that is perfect for what I need. If it doesn't suit you or your lifestyle, don't buy it! Check the features before you say it doesn't have a phone built in - it's not supposed to!
4 out of 10 - Mediocre High hopes... unmet
So beautiful! So warm and heavy! That pretty much sums up my past 6 days using the Life Drive, which ...
So beautiful! So warm and heavy! That pretty much sums up my past 6 days using the Life Drive, which I'll be returning. I was attracted to its large screen, thinking I could type in landscape mode using Docs to Go 7. Unfortunately, I can't really make the screen size large enough, without increasing the font size, to make this practical (suggest looking at the AlphaSmart Dana for real typing on a Palm). The Life Drive feels like a nicely shaped bar of soap, and therein lies a huge problem. You can't just put it in your pocket and, by the time you put it in a case, it's huge! The weight of this unit is almost too much for the Palm Universal Keyboard. I kept thinking it was going to slip out, although it didn't. Also, by having a built in hard drive, this unit is apparently more fragile than previous Palms.
I found the system responsiveness too slow, even when turning it off. On the plus side, the screen is bright and clear, and voice recorder feaure worked well. Wish I could say the same for the MP3 player. Songs which play just fine on my other units sounded scratchy and there was an annoying buzz in between songs. Battery life looks like it may be a problem. It went down by half in a day. Finally, don't plan to access anything else while the Life Drive mode (like a USB drive) is going. I tried to add an appointment while transferring my MP3s. Sorry, it's one way or the other. So, back it goes... I'm going to try out the E2, although I swear, the T3 and T5 are looking like interesting possibilities. For my money, spending an extra $250 just to get a few GIGs of space isn't worth it.
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by drbmg (see profile) -
June 16, 2005
31 out of 36 users found this user opinion helpful.
10 out of 10 - Perfect Great Product
This is palms best pda ever. It does everything you need and does it great.I can't believe the ...
This is palms best pda ever. It does everything you need and does it great.I can't believe the cry babies out there that all they do is trash every device on the market and most never even buy the product. I have 10 music cds stored several books and tons of pictures and I have tons of room left. The screen is outstanding and the color is as well. If you use a pda for business you will love this jem.
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by 48 express (see profile) -
June 23, 2005
1 out of 10 - Abysmal Took it back
I bought it, unwrapped it and it froze up right after charging it. I have been using Palm since the ...
I bought it, unwrapped it and it froze up right after charging it. I have been using Palm since the original Pilot 1000 and have owned 5 Palm devices. Unfortunately, Palm is not giving me an alternative to PocketPC any longer.
LifeDrive is sloooow! It requires multiple soft and hard resets which are slow (3-30mins respectively).
I've been using Palm, for medical applications for years but I can't even get Epocrates to run smoothly on the LifeDrive. Whats more is that I installed the Palm Desktop on a new PC (only running windows OS and Office suite) and LifeDrive wouldn't Hotsync without causing a soft reset.
I called Palm twice. They said that they weren't aware of any issues with the LifeDrive but when I spoke to 3rd party software companies...they were replete with problems involving this model.
Whats needed is simple. Look at the iPod Nano...it has 4GB flash memory.
Palm needs to stop dancing around the memory/HD/battery issue. They could easily do: 1. At least 2GB user accessible RAM 2. User Replaceable batteries 3. Beta test their product BEFORE they release it onto the public.
I'm disappointed that CNET rated this so device so highly. I looked up the CNET rating before I purchased it and theirs is just not an accurate evaluation of this product. It really is an underwhelming and frustrating machine.
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by Aledo (see profile) -
September 19, 2005
3 out of 10 - Poor "Life Drive" == "Devil Fire"
Well, my girlfriend joked that Life Drive rearranges to Devil Fire, and it is satanic in some ways. After all, ...
Well, my girlfriend joked that Life Drive rearranges to Devil Fire, and it is satanic in some ways. After all, it draws you in with a great looking screen, solid buttons, and generally well-designed exterior. But what happens?
Crash after crash... To begin with, the HD/flash interface seems to slow it all down, with lags of 1-5 seconds when switching applications (including all-flash switches like Calendar-->Memo). This lag isn't just annoying -- it can quickly become nearly intolerable. The defenders will tell you "use SharkCache -- it resolves this problem." Unfortunately, SharkCache only speeds it up a bit, and has a max cache limit of 4 megabytes.
I believe it is the problem with memory management that causes the crashes -- and by the plural, I mean up to 10 a day! Palm simply has not worked out the bugs in this unit, and I would get crashes *all the time* when using the standard software such as Calendar or Tasks.
Further, the first unit I bought had a non-functioning wifi, and I had to return it after countless hours trying to navigate the notoriously poor Palm technical support line.
In the end, I would recommend against the Life Drive. The pain of heartbreak is just too much, and having my hopes dashed so dramatically just wasn't worth it.
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by jhcreedon (see profile) -
July 29, 2005
9 out of 10 - Spectacular I love my new life drive
I purchased the life drive last week at compusa. When pressing file or the favorite key the unit started resetting ...
I purchased the life drive last week at compusa. When pressing file or the favorite key the unit started resetting itself, after that continued I immediately exchanged it for another unit, same problem with unit 2, now unit 3 is working perfectly enabling me to enjoy all of it's great features for my salon business. I am really happy with my purchase in spite of the problems with the first two. I truly enjoy the downloading of pictures for each of my clients and adding additional information of products and services. I also use salon based software for my pda that work seamlessly with the calender, customer database and it dials my bluetooth smart phone by Nokia. This is a great PDA, and I must say that palm got it right with bluetooth and Wi-Fi combined, I certainly feel happy to upgrade from my trust T3 to the life drive. I would recommend it to my friends, family and colleagues.
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by angiesco (see profile) -
June 8, 2005
15 out of 19 users found this user opinion helpful.
5 out of 10 - Average Glitches sink a great idea
I was really excited to get my new life drive but returned it within 2 weeks. Random resets (which take ...
I was really excited to get my new life drive but returned it within 2 weeks. Random resets (which take nearly 2 minutes to complete) render it difficult to reliably use. The occasional (3 while I had it) locking up or looping that required a complete hard reset (Yes, I did try all of the lesser reset techniques first)make it completely unsuitable for downloading pictures or other important data while out of the office. The risk of even once losing an entire vacations worth of pictures because of a hard reset is totally unacceptable. Great idea and I love the technology, but not reliably implemented. The screen was also so dim compared to my treo 650 that the larger type did not render the screen any more readable than the smaller treo. I'm waiting for a Life Drive II.
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by bwertman (see profile) -
July 5, 2005
9 out of 10 - Spectacular Fantabulous!
I love this thing! Its got everything I wanted/needed in a Multimedia player/PDA. I've upgraded from a ...
I love this thing! Its got everything I wanted/needed in a Multimedia player/PDA. I've upgraded from a Zire 71 so I'm familiar with the Palm system and the Lifedrive handles Palm fine. No complaints there. (though I am waiting for upgrades for some of my software).
But the Lifedrive really shines with its Wifi/bluetooth and Multimedia capabilities. Hotsyncing via Blootooth has been easy, fast and simple. And the WiFi - Great! Easily connects to my home office network allowing transfer of files, checking email (via Versamail) and even web browsing. The Wifi speed, though not as fast as the cable modem, has been more than acceptable. The Wifi even handles finding and linking to open networks easily. Helps when I want to check my email while running around Manhattan!
As with my old Zire 71, pictures look great on the screen and the slideshow feature is a bonus. Importing or viewing images via the SD card slot is easy with the included software.
Another feature I am having fun with is video. Aside from watching video imported from my video camera (via SD card) I have been watching DVD ripped movies and TV shows. Both Black & White and color videos look great and play well. Once in a while I'll see a bit of a lag in playback. But experimentation with video size and compression seems to have made playback much smoother. (I have to recommend 3rd party video software for better results). And between the hard drive and extra SD cards I'll be watching movies and TV on my train/plane travels this summer!
Overall I have to say the Lifedrive has surpassed my expectations. Check around for prices (and combine instore discounts and coupons) to get a better deal. Its well worth it.
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by louiev (see profile) -
June 24, 2005
9 out of 10 users found this user opinion helpful.
8 out of 10 - Excellent Amazing! Life Drive is exactly what I needed and I didn't even know it!
When I bought the Life Drive, it was to replace my aging Handspring Visor Deluxe. I had seen and used ...
When I bought the Life Drive, it was to replace my aging Handspring Visor Deluxe. I had seen and used other color PDAs, but this is the first one I ever owned.
Initially I was quite frustrated with it. Much of the thrird-party software I was used to using was causing the Life Drive to reboot constantly, at one point entering into a reboot loop from H#77!
I found that I just needed to be more patient, and careful to load software one title at a time to check for compatability issues. It's running like a charm now!
The storage is amazing. Having a digital camera that uses SD cards, I now have a place to offload them when on vacation. I can also carry around all kinds of mp3s. I can't wait to use it on my next vacation! Unfortunately, the screen is not as vivid when displaying color pictures as the Zire 72. More controls over the video end of things would be a welcome addition.
Some people seem to have a problem with the hard drive causing stuttering, etc. While it does slow things down a bit when compared to the flash RAM in other devices, so far I've had very little trouble with that. It's certainly not bad enough to even worry about when considering the benefits of this device.
In summary, the Life Drive has all that almost anyone could ever need. It IS pricey, and I do worry about what might happen if the unit is dropped since it uses a hard drive instead of flash RAM. Other than that, I'm very happy with my purchase.
Bottom Line: BUY ONE!
Updated Well, initially I was quite pleased with the Life Drive as indicated by my score of 8 when I reviewed it soon after purchasing. I ended up returning 3 defective Life Drives, and will NEVER go through that hassle again.
I bought an HP IPAQ 4705 Pocket PC, and after I overcame the learning curve known to exist with the transition, I am as happy as could be. I'd give my IPAQ a 10 out of 10. Don't waste you money, and your valuable time on a bum product!
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