Palm OS Programming, 2nd Edition

Easy to Carry

Palm OS devices are small—they fit in a hand or a pocket. This was true six years ago and is still true today. Palm devices fit in anyone’s pocket—whether it is the biggest device, the Palm VIIx, or a smaller one such as a Handspring Visor Edge. This is enormously important in understanding the success of the Palm. Other handhelds were made that didn’t fit in a pocket and they bombed. In Table 1-1 you can see the footprint of some Palm OS devices to see what these magic dimensions are.

Table 1-1. Palm OS device dimensions

Device	Height (in.)	Width (in.)	Depth (in.)	Weight (oz.)
Original PalmPilot	4.7	3.2	0.7	5.7
Palm m100	4.7	3.2	0.7	4.4
Palm Vx	4.5	3.1	0.4	4
Handspring Visor	4.8	3.0	0.7	6.1
Handspring Visor Edge	4.7	3.1	0.4	4.8
Palm VIIx	5.3	3.3	0.8	6.7
Palm m505	4.5	3.1	0.5	5.1
Palm IIIc	5.1	3.2	0.7	6.8
HandEra 330	4.7	3.2	0.7	5.9
Sony CLIE	4.8	2.8	0.8	6.5

Each of these devices differs in some features and remains the same in others. What should be most striking, however, is that very little tolerance exists for size variation. Try putting a Palm VIIx into your pocket. You will find that it is just barely comfortable (some people would say it isn’t!), while a device like the Visor Edge fits easily. Notice though that the difference between these two devices is about only 2 ounces in weight, 0.6 inches in length, and 0.4 inches in depth. When you look at such dimensions on a chart or in a product review they ...