Reasons I bought the m515

After months of anticipation I finally purchased the Palm m515 about two weeks ago. My Palm PDA is indispensable in my daily work as a faculty physician in a family practice residency program. I use my PDA daily to look up medication information, to record charges, to look up ICD-9 codes, and to view patient lists and other scheduling information. Also, because I am a software developer, I am constantly loading and testing programs on the device. Several months ago I was ready to replace my Palm IIIxe. I looked at color devices and found the color screens to be easier to read than the monochrome screen I was using. At first, the m505 seemed like it would meet my requirements, but I found the screen to be too dim under certain lighting conditions. Also, I used up the 8 MB of RAM on my Palm IIIxe a long time ago and eagerly awaited a Palm device with more RAM plus expansion capabilities. I bought the m515 in hopes of getting more RAM, great color, and expansion capabilities.

Description of the m515

As advertised, the Palm m515 has 16 MB RAM, a TFT 160x160 color display with 65k color palette, an SD expansion slot, infrared port, Palm Universal Connector, and a lithium rechargeable battery. Bundled software includes the standard Palm applications, plus Documents-To-Go, AvantGo, Palm e-Book Reader, powerOne Personal Calculator, and MGI PhotoSuite Mobile Edition. A USB HotSync cradle and a leather flip cover are included. I also bought a serial cradle since my PC at work still runs Windows 95. (Palm USB sync only works on PCs running Windows 98 and later.) The m515 has a metal casing that feels sturdier than the Palm III series plastic cases that I have been used to. Its thinner profile makes for a better fit in my front pants pocket too. The power button now serves as an LED display button and is no longer recessed as on some previous models. It is larger and protrudes slightly from the upper right side of the device. Initially I feared that the prominence of the power button on the m515 would cause the unit to be accidentally turned on in my pocket. So far I can find no evidence that this has occurred. The m515 also includes added alarm features, and there is now a vibrate option and an LED display option for alarms.

Living with the m515

My first m515 device lasted only 10 days. Almost immediately I experienced fatal error messages for no apparent reason. Every time I pulled the device out of my pocket it was locked up or had reset. Eventually I discovered that any little minor tap would cause a fatal error message or a reset. I exchanged this device for a new m515 and I have had none of these problems.

So what is the color screen like? First of all the brightness is adjustable. Tapping on the upper right corner of the graffiti area brings up a brightness control. Brightness enhancement can be set to "Off", "Low", or "High." On the high setting, the screen is beautiful. I compared the screen with the top-of-the-line color HP Jornada Pocket PC and with the m130. I judged the m515 screen to be as bright as the Jornada. The screen "grid effect" previously noted on other Palm color models is still there on the m515. The HP Jornada screen was free of the grid effect. Compared to the m130, the m515 has superior color saturation but is less bright even on the highest setting. Most of the time I view the m515 screen under standard office fluorescent lights. The low setting for brightness is usually adequate but at times I prefer the high setting. The only thing I would add to the display is support for 320x320 resolution screen display like some of the Sony Cliés have. Unfortunately Sony's 320x320 display is proprietary. Most Palm programs are not written to support the Clié's higher resolution and some programs even have conflicts with it. Palm Source needs to create a 320x320 display standard so that software developers can avoid having to write for multiple proprietary hardware standards.

What about other changes and improvements? In addition to the color screen, I have welcomed the RAM increase to 16 MB. This has freed me from having to buy an expansion card and having to deal with the hassle of how to get programs to run from the expansion card. Another improvement is in the unit's speaker volume. I have always set my datebook alarms on high volume, but on the m515 I can now hear alarms even in noisy environments. My m515's battery has averaged about one week before needing to be recharged. Usually the m515's battery charge is boosted slightly after I do a HotSync once or twice per day. The processor speed has increased to 33 MHz on the m515, but I haven't seen a dramatic jump in performance compared to my Palm IIIxe. (I did not do any benchmark testing.) HotSync works fine with either the USB or serial cradle. I have seen no sign of the infamous Sudden USB Death Syndrome (SUDS) that users of the m505 have experienced. Also, Palm technical support reports that there are no cases of SUDS with the m515 so far.

Summary

Palm has made good on its promise to improve the color screen and native RAM on its new devices. The m515 is an attractive unit with more native RAM and further expandability via the SD slot. A higher resolution screen would be a great aid to me in reading the lists and schedules I consult on a daily basis. The HP Jornada's screen is more visually appealing to me, but I still prefer the longer battery life and ease of use that I get with the Palm m515.

Our residency has standardized on Palm branded devices over other Palm OS devices because of fewer compatibility issues, more third party add-ons/ peripherals, and Palm's efforts in partnering for enterprise tool development. The new Universal Connector will allow us finally to buy only one cradle type to work with all of our new Palm devices. I highly recommend the Palm m515 for those who rely heavily on their PDA in an enterprise environment. Individuals looking for Palm OS color units should also consider the Palm m130 - with its smaller screen, less RAM, and reduced price - or the offerings from Sony.

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Tom Wessel, MD, ABFP, is a family physician and Associate Director of the Greenville Hospital System Family Practice Residency program in Greenville, SC. He is also a software developer whose current projects include retrieving email, patient data, & residency schedules from desktop PCs and servers to Palm OS devices.