Palm Mobile Manager(Brushed silver)

The Palm LifeDrive Mobile Manager is one Serious PDA. The LifeDrive has all the bells and whistles you could ever want in a PDA then some. With the on board 4gb hard drive there is plenty of room to take pictures, emails, music and office documents with you in a small package. Some of the features include WI-FI connection, bluetooth enabled, MPG player. Setting up the LifeDrive is just like any other Palm PDA and using it is much the same so if you have ever used a Palm in the past this will be no trouble for you.

Battery life is pretty decent with this unit and have not had a problem with the battery. The screen is large and easy to read and the ability to change the screen from vertical to horizontal make it nice especially when surfing the net or looking at pictures. The voice recorder function is nice but you have to maintain a good distance from the mic or its really hard to understand.

The only issues I have had with the unit is it reset itself several times which can be a real pain. The boot up time takes some time also. There was one occasion I had trouble with the Hot sync function also, not sure if it was on my desktops end or the LifeDrive so I will not get into that much.

The LifeDrive can seem like a lot of money at first but after you get it home and see what you can do with it you will find it well worth the price. This is how I reasoned the purchase. LifeDrive comes with 4gb hard drive regular PDA's usually have you insert a smart card or other type of removable media to get extra memory. If you add up what it would cost you to buy all that memory you would be well over the price of a LifeDrive.

This is one of my first reviews so it'll probably be a little short.
I bought this pda (Palm Lifedrive) in order to store pictures, play music (mp3s) and store documents to learn and read.
I have a fairly busy schedule so I needed something to help keep track of valid important dates as well.
This unit seems to do a good job at all of that.
Pictures display really well and can rotate at the touch of one button located on the side.
Music playback works really well .. I would have liked a slightly better playback interface (different software) but the included software seems to be adequate.
Scheduling software is good as well.
I was able to connect it to my bluetooth phone and share all of my stored numbers and dates that I already had entered onto my phone.
I was a little disappointed that it did not have any type of stopwatch / countdown timer included. It does have an alarm clock which seems to work pretty well but as a timer, it just did not suffice.
I went looking for a replacement to download and found a pretty good product called Palmary clock for $14.95. It gives all the timing options that I was looking for and then some. Moon phases, sunrise/set time, etc. Really nice!!

Surfing the internet is a far cry from using a laptop or home computer ... the screen is quite small for this and images on webpages really do not display for the most part. In a pinch tho, it'll work and you are able to pick up email and reply to various important ones that just can't wait.

Overall, I would buy this product again.
My only real complaint about it is the on/off switch on the top of it. It does not have a good feel to it ... seems like it could break any day!?? Its action just does not live up to the rest of the product but as I said, I'd still go out and buy another.

Happy computing ...

Chris Barbot

The Palm LifeDrive Mobile Manager has a 4 GB hard drive, built-in WiFi and Bluetooth support, capacity for incoming and outgoing email, fully functional office programs such as Word and Excel, viewing photos/videos, and listening to MP3s. Quickly and easily drag and drop PC files to the LifeDrive using the Mobile Manager. And the LifeDrive's already large storage capacity can be increased with the available SD card slot.

My digital camera also uses a SD card, so I can now view my photos on my LifeDrive simply by putting the card in it. Finally, something is compatible with something else!

With a flip of the switch on the side of the unit, I can change the view from vertical to horizontal and back again. This is a great feature for viewing certain documents as well as for playing particular games. I prefer syncing with the Palm Desktop software although I have also used Outlook. Both function well with the LifeDrive.

I don't particularly care for the on/off button located on the top of the unit. For one, it's difficult to get to. Secondly, it's difficult to move. At first I thought that would be a problem, but I just stopped using it. End of problem. The unit has an auto-off feature that will turn it off on its own in a few short minutes anyway. The on/off button isn't needed.

I bought my LifeDrive in June 2005 after upgrading from a Palm Tungsten C. I admit that I miss Tungsten C's built-in keyboard, although the LifeDrive has an onscreen keyboard, and Graffiti 2 is an option, as well.

The Palm LifeDrive is on the high end price-wise, retailing new at most stores for $399, although some still sell at the original selling price of $499. It's possible to find a good deal if one takes the time and does the research. I firmly believe that the Palm LifeDrive is one of the best investments I have ever made. I highly recommend it and give it a rating of 5 out of 5.

This PDA has everything the busy but non-tech savvy consumer needs. I know - I'm one of them! This has a crisp, high-resolution screen, tons of memory, an extended battery life (I can go about a week or so between chargings!), an intuitive, customer-friendly interface, and tons of extras that will make you wonder how you got along without this PDA in the first place. There are tons of options for you to experiment with. The screen is very responsive to either your finger's or the stylus' touch. Charging is a breeze. Overall, there are so many positives to this PDA, and the fact that it's a Palm ensures high quality manufacturing and durability. For peace of mind, this PDA fits the bill.

I like the extra memory, love the color and the horizontal capabilities for the screen. I don't like that it tends to get hot if i've been using it for long. I have never had a palm before so i'm not sure if that is normal for a handheld. It has been a little frustrating finding a flip case for the unit but other than that i'm extremely pleased with my purchase.

I am a long time Palm Pilot user. I have upgraded 3 times previous to my purchase of the Palm LifeDrive. I am certain that I will no longer need to upgrade. The Palm LifeDrive is compact but has an abundance of options. WiFi,4 GB of storage,Web capability, and a software bundle that is unequalled. With the busy life I lead I need a management device that will keep me on task. The Palm LifeDrive is the best PDA to accomplish that.

I was looking to upgrade from my Palm T3 expecting that it would be a major improvement. Unforunately, it was not. The operating system is slow and crashes often. The on/off switch is confusing,the device is bulky. The storage capacity (4GB)and RAM size, wifi and bluetooth seems to be its only "selling points." The screen clarity is great, like my T3. Overall, okay! I am sticking with my T3. Some software that I purchased for my T3 cannot be used on the LifeDrive.

It is great except...that every time it needs to change to other program it goes into to hard disk and takes extra seconds that the TX did not need, other than that it is a great PDA, even that I need time to get used to Palm , I came from Pocket PC

I had this device for 2 days now. My first palm is Palm 3X many years ago. Then I got iPaq, Zire, and another Zire, Blackberry and finally the lifedrive. I bought it through eBay and while waiting for it to arrive, I read a lot of review on the Internet...

I got worried because many people got upset about how this device crash often. I have used it for over 1 day now and couldn't understand how it would crash. Maybe I'm a lucky person? So far it only crash once when I was running many things at

I like how Palm Synch with Outlook so all the contacts, appointments, and todo have a backup and ways to view and edit on the go.

Especially with Palm system the ability to view and edit with a touch screen. It out perform the Blackberry system or Windows Mobile system. I can talk on the phone and write down appointment with one hand with a Palm system. With blackberry, you need two hand in order to put down appointments, phone number and name. However, on a blackberry device, you can type faster than palm.

I do regullarly back up all my documents on desktop to a small USB Flash Drive. So I was hoping I can have a device that can synch all my documents and have a mobile back up as well as view and edit them.

LifeDrive finally is the perfect solution. I now have it synch with all my business documents. So anywhere I go, I have my complete documents for my business as well as view them, edit them and sync them. It is very POWERFUL!

It also come with Wifi connecion, so I can get it to go on Internet surf the web and sending and recieve messages with attatchments, PDF, Word file and etc. Something Blackberry have some trouble. Blackberry if you buy software can read and edit office files and pdf files, but because it doesn't have a touch screen it's a major limitation. Also the screen can not go sideway. Blackberry can do other thing but really limit to messaging. And best at messsaging.

Lifedrive also have the ability to access my network sharing file through Wifi. That make it even more powerful. All my collecion of photos, music, documents, are all in there I can download any time I want anywhere in my house.

I also use it to load photos from my digital camera and the picture on it look wonderful with very sharp display and able to view it horizonatally. Very good way to show pictures to friends and clients cause really on a digital camera, the LCD is just too small.

That was one major problem with iPaq where I couldn't view the screen sideway. Viewing documents and picture sideway, make it a lot better.

I was a bit disappointed that this device couldn't read native PDF file. You need to convert and read it in a special program. So I was looking on the net. And guess what it cost money. But lucky, I found an alternative. After you install this program, you can read any PDF file just like on a desktop. Just click on it. It's call PalmPDF. It's a free program and can be found on the Handago website.

Major disapointment with this device is the battery life time and how to charge this thing. You can not charge it through USB cable like Zire do. You need to use the special adaptor in order to charge this thing. Also it use a special cable, you can't just plug any usb cable. I read the manual, it actually recommend people to charge it every day. I really hope the battery life can be much longer like something you don't need to charge for over 10 days at least.

In conclusion, considering its ability to wifi, view, edit sync . I give it 4 *

I was looking for a Palm secifically due to a program available I could use for my work. My boss had a Palm 515 and showed me how the program worked, and I was excited. Although, I was not ready to give up my Day-Timer, I wanted one to use for this program.
So I researched, via BizRate, for the best Palm, and found the top ones to be the Z22, the tungsten EZ, the TX, and the LifeDrive. Initially the selling factor was the 4 gig of memory, versus 16MB, 32MB, and 128MB. After reading about the wireless, wi-fi, and bluetooth features, along with the ability to work on Excel and Word, I chose to bid on the LifeDrive. I won!
I have had it for about 10 days, and I am completely amazed! It's like having a baby laptop in my pocket! I have gone online at home via my wireless network. I've gone online at work via a wi-fi connection (Wayport). I've set up a worksheet on Excel already, and am getting my email from three different accounts when I'm online!
The special work program made for Palm was downloaded and synched, and works perfectly. Then there's the host of applications that I haven't even tried yet, but am anxious to get into. The voice recorder could be a little cleared, but I saw on another review that I might be speaking into it to closely. The jot a note feature is easy to use and fast. The change from portrait to landscape position is a real handy (no pun intended) feature. The scheduling and calendar features are nicely set up and easy to synch from your desktop to the Lifedrive.
Four gig of memory is beautiful, but it will also take an SD card, and I can actually pull the one out of my digital camera, and load the pictures right on the Lifedrive. The memory card can also be used as a portable memory disk between my desktop and the Lifedrive.
Simply stated, it's like having a little wireless laptop in my pocket. And should I hook up the earphones, it's an MP3 player to boot. And thanks to Ebay, and a certain retailer, I got it for $125 less that at Staples and brand new! It's worth the extra bucks from a Tungsten EZ or TX to move up to this portable wireless computer to put in your pocket or pocketbook! If you've got the change, get this one, it's the best!
Update over a year later...I bought two for my wife,the first one got hurt by the car door. She loved it so much, I immediately Ebay's another. Sentiment caused her to have the first one repaired..and we sold the second one a year later for $9 less than the $214 I paid for it. They hold their value too! Since my granddaughter was born, it's filled with her pictures and it actually runs a little photoshow with the pictures, just like my desktop!

I bought the Palm about a month ago and was immediately impressed with the number of features available on this inexpensive palm. It has everything that a busy mother or a student could want. The size is perfect for carrying in a pocket or a purse and yes, even a backpack.It has pretty good lifespan on the battery. My only complaint is that the direction for the palm are on the unit itsself. Sometimes it is nice to have the directions in front of you. This particular palm has everything, a calander, e-books and more. I can even download information to my palm.I would recommend the Palm to everyone.

The lifedrive PDA from Palm is the best item out there. I have been using one of these for a while and love it every time I need to know what is coming next in my life. I have birthdays, contacts business meetings personal, and a ton of other features that make me appear like I never forget a thing (as long as I do not forget my PDA).

I have so much information on here, and not even come close to using up the space that it has to use. The worst thing is to have problems with space and have to carry extra cards for extra items. I can watch movies, keep photos, listen to music, play games.

A Great item, I love it.
ITFLSGD

Awesome PDA.
Love the fact it plays music & video.
Love the fact I can use it as a GPS.
Actually my 2nd one 1st one was damaged in a work accident.
Item was so good I had to get another.
Only downsides are its slow to boot & can take awhile to connect to a wi fi connection.

i bought the lifedrive because of the 4gb hard drive. however, because of this, it is so slow. it resets itself constantly, which takes about 5 minutes each time, vs about 2 minutes on my friends T5. opening apps takes ages, whatever it is. i have had to send it back to be repaired four times in one year, fortunatelu, i am under warranty, and am totally fed up. palm have sent me now a T/X, which i hope will be much better.
Pros: 4gb HD
Cons: Slow, slow, slow.
Resets constantly
Breaks down

I love everything about this! I have 0 skills about electronics but with the ease of this product, I am able to manage my life and my job and I can connect wi-fi our home network and download off the internet. The only thing I haven't down was sync to my bellsouth email and it's only because I didn't have a chance to get my server name and info.

This was pre set up with items for medical school! This is it! Small enough for a pocket yet loaded with tons of stuff...it has saved me many times in class too! Very powerful, easy to use I recommend to anyone who is in college.

I bought my lifedrive mobile manager for my clinical experiences in my nursing and public health experiences during school. There are many programs available for PDA's where you can look up medication or pathophys. This works well during clinical experiences because you can have this information in your pocket instead of bringing twenty pounds of books along with you every day. I really like the calander and the task manager on this. It keeps me in touch with my work, school, and social schedule. The task manager is nice because it can be used for homework assignments, bills, and birthdays. Having wireless internet in your pocket is nice but it is really time consuming. It is hard to get around on websites you use everyday, and takes a lot longer for those websites to upload. I have used the music program on the palm but it also really is not perfect. The music takes up a lot of space and to keep many songs or videos you need to buy a memory card. The palm would be perfect if it was 60 gigs like Apple's Ipod. Over all it is a nice thing to have probably not worth 400 dollars if you are in school but nice.

the palm life drive is a great pda it has all the features that people look for in a pda and more.this is a great device for those people that know a little about the product because at first it can be a little overwhelming a brief description of the specs first the 10gb harddrive the latest os and more overall it's a great product.

You can't beat the storage space on this PDA. The 4 gig hard drive coupled with a 2 gig SD card gives me 6 gigs of storage. Way more than enough for my needs. With a pair of head phones this PDA sounds as good as any ipod that I ever listened to.

One drawback to the hard drive is that it slows the system down. Palm could correct this by using an SSD instead of a hard drive, but that technology was much more expensive when the LifeDrive was first introduced. Another drawback is the screen brightness. The screen brightness is not adjustable and is a bit dim, which does help save on battery life. I would appreciated it more if Palm would let me decide how bright to make my screen.

Another annoyance is that the battery is not replaceable, except by Palm. If you replace it yourself, you void the warranty.

Overall, I like this PDA and wouldn't trade it for any other, unless Palm came out with a LifeDrive with an SSD drive.

When I decided to give my wi-fi T5 to my daughter, my eye was on the LifeDrive. I read lots of reviews about it and they were quite scary. Nevertheless, I had to try it. I am quite pleased with it and can now say that the reviews make some good points about problems but these are easily dealt with by one who had used Palms since they were black and white with a lousy backlight and an 8 MB expansion card was a treasure. You can go hog-wild and download every app that catches your eye or you can do things methodically as I did. The truth is that some apps are outdated because they haven't been updated. I can name a few that I wish the authors would bring up to the current version of Palm. If apps and operating systems were not updated, we would still be using those ancient models. I have some apps that I just can't live without - Agendus Pro with Email, BellTime, Bible Reader, CheckList, Progect, PSMemo, TinySheet, and Yahdice (great time-killer). I also have a lot of apps on my card such as ArithmeTick, Chagim, eReader, FileProg, gCalculator, HolidayUSA, OpenChess, Puzzles, and Sefer Hamitsvot for a few. To me, the LifeDrive is the ultimate organizational and entertainment tool. The battery lasts a good while if you stay off the wi-fi. Just in case, I carry around a fully-charged Mobile Power Set from Socket. All I need is my LifeDrive and that and a recharge every few weeks.

What attracted me to the LifeDrive was the fact that it was more than just a PDA. It could be used as an MP3 player, an external hard drive, an SD card adapter, among other things...

Shortly after first receiving it, I had to download and install the operating system update from Palm. That resolved several issues with the LifeDrive, mainly frequent reboots.

I have installed the Palm pdf reader, with which I am able to read pdf books without having to reformat them (though the screen is small but it's great when traveling), plus plucker and iSilo to read other books and keep my Bible library with me. Then I installed an open-source media player (TCPMP) and am now able to play *.ogg files as well as some other video files. Pocket Tunes, which came with it wanted money to play ogg files, so I just went open source, which is my preference anyway.

It is not perfect, but it serves my needs quite well. It is used as a media player both with the built-in speaker and with headphones, so it has replaced my mp3 player. I am delighted with the fact that should I want to increase my music or switch types, I can just swap out SD cards, which is much more convenient than hooking up to a computer and swapping out the contents, as I have had to do on my old mp3 player. Plus my daughter uses it to play a couple of games and to work on "The Wizard of OZ" and I use it to keep track of my life, my shopping lists, and the stack of notepads I carried around with me is being dutifully entered into this little wonder. No longer do I need multiple notebooks to carry my notes and info - it is all in this little PDA.

It is the perfect size to fit into a side pocket on my purse, and also in the chest pocket of my jacket when I'm so inclined. At times I wish the screen were larger but if it were it would not be near so portable....

While Palm does not offer upgrades there are a few aftermarket companies offering tools and software so that this little LifeDrive can be upgraded, made faster with a longer battery life with larger disk space by replacing the microdrive with flash memory. Of course, these aren't covered by warranty but later on I am seriously considering the upgrade, especially as Palm is not planning on making more of these little gems.

I can surf the Internet using wifi, check my emails, use bluetooth to transfer files, but mainly I use it to keep track of my life and notes and as a very portable media player. It does all that I wanted to do and more. It is the closest one can get to having a miniature laptop to tote around, and in fact was chosen just for that reason....

Everything about the LifeDrive is fabulous except for the following:
Some programs hang...probably a compatibility issue with the software.
Can't pleasantly listen to music and work on the LifeDrive at the same time. This seems to be due to the hard drive access time which interrupts the music.

Otherwise, it is the envy of all who see it.

Versitile product that allows for direct movement of files to the drive in stead of hot synching. the use of the drive mode allowas for any type of file such as mp3 and office files to be added and reviewed