First of all, there's the Palm III series of devices. This series includes the Palm IIIe, Palm IIIx, and, of course, the new Palm IIIc and Palm IIIxe. Their form is based on the Palm III. They each weigh about six ounces, and the dimensions for all but the Palm IIIc are 4.7" x 3.2" x 0.7". The Palm IIIc weighs a little more, at approximately 6.8 ounces. Its dimensions are 5.1" x 3.2" x 0.7".

Then there's the Palm V series of handheld devices. These are smaller devices, weighing only four ounces. The Palm V series consists of the Palm V and Palm Vx. The Palm V is shown in Figure B.

FIGURE B

The Palm V series are much smaller devices than the Palm III series. Click picture for a larger image.

There's also the Palm VII, shown in Figure C, which is basically a slightly larger Palm III with an antenna. The antenna allows you to wirelessly connect to the Internet using the Palm.Net service.

FIGURE C

The Palm VII looks a lot like the Palm III. Click picture for a larger image.

Along with the announcements of the Palm IIIxe and the Palm IIIc were announcements of price reductions and an "all you can eat" price plan for the Palm VII wireless service. Frankly, we believe that the new $44.99 per month unlimited service plan now makes the Palm VII a viable option for the highly connected user.

You can find out more about the Palm VII by reading Bob Freud's review at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199906/palmseven001.html.

There are also licensees of the Palm operating system who have released devices based on the Palm OS. These include Handspring and TRG. These devices differ from the Palm devices because they both have expansion slots.

Handspring has two devices out: the Visor and the Visor Deluxe. The Visor is priced at $179 with an included HotSync cradle ($149 without), has 2MB RAM, and comes in a graphite case (which we think looks a lot like black or slate or whatever cool marketing name people come up for really dark gray).

The Visor Deluxe, as mentioned at the top of this article, is $249, has 8MB RAM and comes in several lovely designer colors, which are shown in Figure D.

FIGURE D

Handspring's Visor Deluxe comes in five tasty colors. Click picture for a larger image.

Handspring's Visor devices include a Springboard expansion slot, which promises to open up the device for considerable expansion. For example, the company promises to eventually allow you to attach a digital camera or MP3 player. Read Claire Pieterek's review of the Visor at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199910/visor001.html for more details.

Rather than adding a proprietary slot for expansion, TRG takes a different, more industry standard approach to expansion. TRG's TRGPro, shown in Figure E and priced at $329.99, has a CompactFlash slot that can be used to store large amounts of information. For a more detailed look at the TRGPro's CompactFlash slot, check out Jason Perlow's article at http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue200001/trg001.html.