I remember when I bought
my Palm III, and I thought that the 2MB of memory would be plenty of memory.
Then I found AvantGo. Now with
all of the great Palm OS programs that come out, it seems that there will
never be "enough room." Handspring
has realized this, and has the 8MB Flash module for those who are feeling a little cramped with all of the great eBooks and applications that are available for the Visor.
Physical Specifications
The 8MB Flash Module fits
flush with the Visor, so users should have no problems with any carrying
case. The hard cover that comes with the Visor fits quite nicely
over the 8MB module when on the back of the Visor.
One thing that does take
getting used to is the weight. The 8MB module weighs 0.6 oz, while
the stub that came with the Visor weighs 0.2 oz. The difference is
not much, but this could be a problem for springboards in general.
The difference in weight does not render the Visor too heavy, but there
is a noticeable difference in weight with the module in the Visor.
Something else that I wished was different was the label. The graphite
Visor looks very sleek, and having a dark gray and yellow sticker takes
away from that sleek look. Hopefully other manufacturers will engrave
the labels into the springboard casings.
Usability
The
8MB Flash module, like all other springboards, is completely plug-n-play.
A clean module with no data on it has 7.9MB free. When the module is inserted,
a new program, File Mover, is automatically
added to the programs list. The module takes up only 3K when inserted
into the Visor. File Mover, as well
as any programs that are on the module, will have a square bullet next
to it. Springboards are completely "hot-swappable" -- you can pull
the module out whether the Visor is on or off. File
Mover and other flash programs will disappear from the program listing.
One thing that I noticed is that Launcher
III 1.5.1 switches to the normal style menu when the module
is inserted or removed. Upgrade to Launcher
III 1.5.2 to correct this problem.
Customization
Using
the File Mover application is pretty straight-forward.
When you open the program, it brings up a listing of what is on your Visor
(Internal). You can change the view to show everything, applications
only, or data only. I recommend leaving this setting to All
so you can make sure that every part of an application is moved to the
module. The screen will always show how much memory is available
on the Visor and the module. On the Options
menu you can rename or format the 8MB module. There is a Select
All option to completely copy over all information. Items
that have a null character by them (generally the built in apps) are databases
only and do not have an associated application.
Tap
the Sort button to choose whether to sort
by Name, Size, or Creator. On this same screen you can also choose
to show one of the following: Version, Creator, or Type. Doing this
will add an additional column and remove the scroll bar. One tiny
bug I noticed is that when you choose to show something and then go back
and choose to show none, File Mover does not
show the scroll bar until you refresh the listing by switching between
Internal/Module or change views. Not a big deal, because the scroll
buttons will always work.
More Memory >>