Taking Your Life Along

While the LifeDrive's capacious built-in 4GB hard drive is the big story, it wouldn't be much use without the large color screen for viewing all those photos, videos and office documents. It's not quite as bright as the smaller Treo screen, but that's probably due to power-saving requirements.

Below the screen, you'll find the 5-way navigator used in most recent Palm devices, and four programmable application buttons. All are usable one-handed, although the LifeDrive is thicker and heavier than other Palms.

Switch-Hitter

Most any application on the LifeDrive can be viewed both vertically and horizontally, a big advantage when browsing the Web or working with spreadsheets. A toggle button on the left side of the case switches modes. Also on the left side is the voice recorder button. Press the button and speak into the microphone just above it. Recording stops when you press the button again. The back of the unit houses the built-in speaker, but we would not plan to use it much.

Ups and Downs

The top of the LifeDrive case has the SD/MMC expansion slot, infrared port, status LED, and On/Off/Hold switch. The Hold mode locks out the buttons to prevent accidental input and battery rundown. At the bottom, you'll find the stereo headphone jack, fast USB 2.0 Multi-Connector slot, power adapter port, and the reset hole.

The Key Accessory

While the LifeDrive lacks a desktop cradle in the box (it's available separately), we think an even more important accessory is a portable keyboard. The LifeDrive is so capacious and connected, that you will want to take it along on trips where you would normally take a laptop computer. With a portable keyboard, like PalmOne's Universal Wireless Keyboard shown here, and the included Documents To Go application, which lets you view and edit Office files, you can get real work done.