Bargain PDA reviews the PalmOne LifeDrive and writes - ‘The biggest feature of the Lifedrive, the 4 GB internal hard drive, is a mixed blessing. I love the huge storage capability, which offers a lot of different options. But the performance hit in both speed and battery life is disappointing. Still, if you want major storage, this is the only way to go on Palm OS.

The pricetag for the Lifedrive is also rather high for some of the features–you could literally buy a dual wireless PocketPC for half the price of a Lifedrive, and still have money left over for a 4 GB solid-state flash memory card. But the Lifedrive is a one of a kind model, for which you usually have to expect higher pricing. It’s also currently the only option for dual wireless on PalmOS, which commands a hefty premium. I’m not neccessarily saying I like it, and I would very much like to see a model with the dual-wireless and large battery capacity without the microdrive selling for $300. But in the interim, the Lifedrive packs in a lot, even if I wish it were cheaper.’

Get the Latest Price on the PalmOne LifeDrive

There is a good review of the PalmOne LifeDrive at Micro Magic Labs and writes:

‘The first thing you notice about the LifeDrive is the rounded corners. Every corner on the LifeDrive, except for the Home and Files buttons is rounded. The next thing you notice is the way the back of the unit slopes inward. This feature makes the LifeDrive very comfortable to hold — more comfortable in fact than a lot of smaller, thinner machines.

You might also notice that the LifeDrive feels rather warm in your hands. That’s the 4GB hard drive and huge battery churning away. In fact, most of the LifeDrive’s backplate is covered by air holes to help cool the hard drive and battery. It never gets overly warm except when it’s recharging or rebooting but it will usually become at least noticeably warm during normal use.

Like most PalmOS PDAs, the LifeDrive has four hard buttons and a five-way directional pad. The layout of the piano key-like hard buttons is a little unusual. Normally, you’d expect the hard buttons to be lined up in an east/west fashion with two buttons on either side of the d-pad. There are still two buttons on either side of the d-pad on the LifeDrive but they are stacked on top of each other. This can cause some confusion in applications like AvantGo which can remap the buttons for their own use. The d-pad is probably one of the prettier pieces of technology you’ll see and functions flawlessly. It also feels good when you press it with its gentle curves….’

Trusted Reviews has produced a quality review of the PalmOne LifeDrive Mobile Manager that resonates with my experience with this device. They write - ‘All in all then, I was very taken with the LifeDrive and for me it supersedes my previous favourite the Dell Axim X50v. The good news is that you can pick it up online for around £300, which is a lot less than you’d pay for a decent Pocket PC with Wi-Fi and a 4GB Compact Flash card.

The biggest problem for me is that audio playback isn’t slick enough for it to replace my iPod, except for short journeys. Removing the skipping when switching apps and adding in a remote would be good moves. This aside the LifeDrive can do an awful lot very well. It’s not perfect but the large capacity, full feature set and its sheer usability make the LifeDrive so useful you’ll soon forgive its flaws. ‘

Pocket Lint reviews the PalmOne LifeDrive PDA and writes - ‘Moving into an already a saturated market is a brave move for PalmOne but the LifeDrive is set to face stiff competition. Not only are the likes of Sony and Apple established players, with smartphones sporting 3 to 4GB hard drives on the horizon, the size and weight of the LifeDrive won’t appeal to those users looking for a player they can have swinging from around their neck. True, the LifeDrive works well and the large screen is nice but in reality it doesn’t have that WOW factor we’re all after.’

Palm Info Centre has a review of the palmOne LifeDrive Mobile Manager and writes - ‘The LifeDrive takes the traditional PDA look with a modern minimalist look. It feels great to hold in hand. Even though it is palmOne’s thickest model, the back is well beveled inwards for a nice comfortable hold. The front and back are a metallic brushed silver aluminum with a plastic middle section and bottom. The front buttons are a smooth rectangle around the racetrack shapped 5-way navigator. The navigator is one of the best I’ve come across as it’s rubber material is very nice. Overall the LifeDrive has a superb industrial design, there is not a sharp edge on the unit….

palmOne new flagship handheld is a handsome PDA. It is loaded with features and has massive amounts of storage to spare making it an exceptional portable media solution with a huge base of applications to choose from. With the addition of the hard drive and dual wireless, this model may be the best laptop replacement PDA’s out there.’

Gizmos for Geeks reviews the Palm LifeDrive and writes - ‘The Palm LifeDrive is almost a laptop replacement with native support for Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDF files. Being able to go over presentations in the airport or working on your budget spreadsheet while sitting in traffic (not recommended) is not all the LifeDrive is good for. The LifeDrive has Bluetooth 1.1 and 802.11b built-in for wireless access which allows you to grab mail if you can find a hotspot among other capabilities.’

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 20th, 2005 at 7:28 am and is filed under Palm PDAs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.