The tapered design, expanded memory, infrared transceiver for communicating with other PDAs, and flip-top cover make 3Com's Palm III a dream organizer for closet Star Fleet officers and harried professionals. With 2 MB of storage, the wallet-sized Palm III holds about 6,000 addresses, 3,000 appointments, 1,500 to-do items, 1,500 memos, and 200 e-mail messages. Setting up the Palm III was easy--we just inserted two batteries, connected the cradle to a desktop PC serial port, dropped in the software CD-ROM, and followed the installation wizard. You can access the Palm III's main management applications--memo pad, to-do list, address book, and calendar--with six push buttons or by tapping the stylus on the backlit display. Palm OS 3.0 includes more fonts than earlier versions and offers drag-and-drop linking with Microsoft Word or Excel. The CD-ROM that comes with the Palm III provides all the necessary software to manage tasks on your desktop, too. The Palm III is PC- and Mac-compatible (an inexpensive MacPac connection kit is necessary for Mac users), and, as with the PalmPilot Professional, the Palm III uses industry-acclaimed HotSync technology to exchange data with your desktop PC. In our test of the Graffiti Power Writing feature, which allows you to write on the Palm III using a shorthand alphabet, the Palm III interpreted a full paragraph with no errors. We easily and successfully transmitted the text to another device through the infrared transceiver. The product's extensive and well-written documentation includes a Getting Started card, an Applications Handbook, a Basic Handbook, a Software and Resource Guide, and an Accessory Catalog.

The Palm IIIx carries on the tradition of the attractive and popular Palm line of PDAs. With its 4MB memory, this connected organizer is rated to hold 12,000 addresses, 5 years of appointments, 3,000 to-do items, 3,000 memos, and 400 e-mail messages. The "x" in IIIx stands for expandable, and the Palm IIIx offers memory expansion with an internal slot for upgrade cards. Setting up the Palm IIIx was easy--we just inserted two batteries, connected the cradle to a desktop PC serial port, dropped in the software CD-ROM, and followed the installation wizard. You can navigate through the Palm IIIx's main applications--memo pad, to-do list, address book, and calendar--with six push buttons or by tapping the stylus on the backlit display. Palm OS 3.1 facilitates drag-and-drop linking to Microsoft Word or Excel and provides network synchronization and automatic configuration with Microsoft Outlook. The CD-ROM that comes with the Palm IIIx provides all the necessary software to manage tasks on your desktop, too. The Palm IIIx is PC- and Mac-compatible (an inexpensive MacPac connection kit is required for Mac users), and, as with the PalmPilot Professional, the Palm IIIx uses the industry-acclaimed HotSync technology to exchange data with your desktop PC. The documentation is extensive and well written; it includes a Getting Started card, a handbook, a software-and-resource guide, and an accessory catalog. In our test of the Graffiti Power Writing feature, which allows you to write on the Palm IIIx using Graffiti's shorthand alphabet, the Palm IIIx interpreted a full paragraph with no errors. We easily and successfully transmitted the text to another device through the infrared transceiver. We found Palm IIIx's expansion slot beneath its cover. While memory upgrade cards are not yet available from 3Com, other manufacturers do make compatible cards.

The Palm V Connected Organizer is a sleek new incarnation of the PDA that some claim has changed their lives. The software is basically identical to that of the Palm IIIx, but the physical unit has been significantly enhanced. At only 4.7 by 3.2 inches, the elegant anodized-aluminum case is far smaller and lighter than that of the IIIx. And at 0.4 inches thick, it's truly pocket-size at last. The Palm V also looks supercool, an intangible value, to be sure, but one that's hard to argue with. The Palm V shares the same improvements to its screen that were made to the Palm IIIx. These updates since the Palm III include a far sharper screen and contrast-variable backlighting, which makes the Palm V much easier to use in low-light conditions. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which charge while the unit sits in its HotSync cradle, make battery life a nonissue. We had no trouble setting up the device, synching with our PC-based Netscape e-mail, using the Graffiti character-recognition software, or working with the address book, date book, memo writer, to-do list, and all the other apps that put the Palm OS on the map. The Palm V comes with 2MB of nonexpandable memory, a tradeoff to the slim new form. While less than ideal, this doesn't seem to be a significant limitation in practice--3Com rates the unit for 6,000 addresses, five years' worth of appointments, 1,500 to-dos and memos, and 200 e-mails. All in all, this is a great upgrade to an already strong product. If this is your first Palm, it's a great way to start.

Supports Palm.Net wireless communication service, including wireless Internet messaging Web-clipping feature retrieves news, sports, flight information, weather, and much more Stores thousands of addresses, appointments, to-do items, memos, and iMessages HotSync technology synchronizes data with desktop computer Enhanced LCD screen allows easy viewing at any angle, in any light