Digital Trends

Palm LifeDrive

January 24th, 2006 | by Brandon King

Testing and Use

Even though little has changed in the arena of user needs, we found it disheartening that the LifeDrive uses only PalmOS 5.4. We hoped that Palm would include PalmOS 6, since version 5 was launched in June of 2002. The operating system update rate has been an Achilles' heel for Palm, and is in part the reason Palm lost its market dominance. PalmOS 6 will support a more extensible architecture, and will add a number of important hardware support features. As it stands, PalmOS 5 may be functional, but many features have the feel of a well-glossed hack. Some system files and applications still have to be stored in RAM, and the integrated hard drive is for file storage.

Both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 1.1 are integrated nicely into the operating system. Out of the box, you get a web browser (Blazer), email client (VersaMail), and SMS application. The built-in web browser, as well as several third party options, connect over Wi-Fi, as does the email client. Bluetooth connectivity includes the ability to dial a Bluetooth-enabled phone from the LifeDrive and send SMS messages, in addition to support for printing to a Bluetooth-enabled printer. Since only version 1.1 of the Bluetooth standard is supported, there is no support for stereo headphones. Wi-Fi configuration includes both WEP and WPA-PSK with 128-bit keys.

The integrated 4GB hard drive is the centerpiece around which the LifeDrive is built. A DiskM Mode application allows the user to mount the drive as a mass storage device in Windows or on a Mac, and houses the media content as well as applications. While the hard drive is nice for the capacity, it takes a real toll on both system responsiveness and battery life. Every button press to switch applications is followed by a two to four second pause, which can be frustrating if all you want to do is add a contact and schedule a meeting. Add another two seconds if you are waking the device up from sleep mode. Battery life was dismal for a Palm device, clocking in at around two hours for video off a full charge, and four and a half hours of music playback. In regular, everyday use, we found ourselves able to make it through a regular day at the office before running home for a quick recharge. Sadly, gone are the days of once a week charging.

There is a camera companion application that allows the user to offload pictures from their digital camera. This does NOT mean it supports USB on the Go through the sync cable. Instead, Palm is simply referring to transferring files through the PC connection or by dropping your memory card into the expansion port. Still, if your camera uses a CompactFlash, Memory Stick, or xD card, you're out of luck. Once transferred, photos of nearly any format, except RAW, can be viewed and manipulated. Even LZW and TIFF files can be viewed and added to slide shows.

Movies can be viewed through the Media viewer application, which also holds photos. Supported formats include AVI, WMV, ASF, MOV and QT. MPEG movies are supported, but only as ASF, MPEG-1, 3G2 and 3GP. DiVX and Xvid are not supported natively, but conversion programs can be found easily at your favorite shareware site. Playback is smooth and can take advantage of the full screen, and sound plays through the built-in speaker if headphones are not plugged in.

Music is handled by Pocket Tunes, or pTunes. pTunes will only play MP3s, and does not sync with iTunes, as the name might imply. There is a deluxe version that supports Ogg Vorbis, WAV, WMA (unprotected) and Microsoft's PlaysForSure technology. There is also no support for AAC (protected or otherwise). Windows Media Player will recognize the LifeDrive and allows for easy syncing, compared to the default method. The interface for pTunes is clear, and sports the same brushed metal motif as iTunes. There are all standard functions, including playlists, repeat, background playback, and you can blank the screen to preserve battery. Sound quality of our few test songs was okay. The clarity was somewhat muddled and harsh, proving that the LifeDrive is not meant to replace your specialized MP3 player.

Aside from the media features, the LifeDrive is still a PDA. All the classic Palm applications are present. Contacts, Calendar, Calc, Expense, Memos, Tasks, and World Clock are all still there. Microsoft documents, including Word, Excel and Powerpoint can be created, viewed and edited using the included version of Documents To Go. Most common functions are supported for each file type, and the Graffiti area can be dismissed to view larger spreadsheets. The ability to rotate the screen orientation also shines when viewing Powerpoint slides.

Image Courtesy of Palm