It’s interesting. No matter how much we read about something, there is nothing quite like seeing a live demo of it in action. I suppose this would be a valid argument for the Lifedrive from Palm. While each of us may have our preconceived assumptions as to its value, I would encourage you to read this article to get another’s thoughts on the matter.

I’m sitting in the upstairs conference room at B&H Photo, waiting for the start of the NYCDAUG-PALM user group meeting. Tonight’s meeting is special: Stephen McDonnell, a Business Development Manager at PalmOne, is here to demo PalmOne’s newest handhelds. The big attraction is what’s gotten me to travel into Manhattan: the brand-new Palm LifeDrive. As a long-time Palm handheld user (9 years and counting), I’m rarely floored by a new product introduction, but the LifeDrive has gotten me truly excited. Everyone’s use is different; for me, I need a high-quality screen, Wi-Fi Internet access, and a large amount of memory. The Tungsten C has been excellent at these needs, but it does lack a few amenities, most notably decent sound (it’s mono, and the speaker is low volume at best). The LifeDrive takes the Tungsten C features, takes away only the thumbboard (which I rarely use) and the vibrating alarm (which I do), and adds a bigger screen, stereo sound, a better speaker, and the most revolutionary feature, a 4 GB (!) Hitachi hard drive. Major stuff for us data-heavy users. [Read the rest]