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I dug out my old Palm Visor Platinum (released in 2000) a few months ago. Works perfectly. I was even able to find a large collection of apps and transfer to it

I dug out my old Palm Visor Platinum (released in 2000) a few months ago. Works perfectly. I was even able to find a large collection of apps and transfer to it using the handspring sync program which runs ok in compatibility mode on Win10. It uses AAA cells so battery is never a problem. I really wish we could go back to standard replaceable batteries for phones and laptops :( Amazing what we can do if we don't artificially hobble our own engineering prowess.

Bud 6y ago
There never were "standard replaceable batteries" for either phones, or laptops. Replaceable? Yes. Standard? Big, big huge no.
- tonoto 6y ago
  Define standard. Standard as in rechargeable Ni-MH battery size AA or AAA which were widespread available at that time? Then yes, Motorola, Alcatel (I believe Siemens had one too) could be operated on those batteries.
  - Bud 6y ago
    Fair enough. Very very very few devices, however.
- mschuster91 6y ago
  Many laptop power packs from before the thinness craze set in are nothing more but a couple 18650 cells and a BMS. Even the new ones are the same thing, but with pouch cells - you may or may not have to deal with smaller replacements and BMSes that permanently brick themselves when you remove the cell voltage.
int_19h 6y ago
I recently got a Palm m125, brand new in box, from eBay, for tinkering purposes. The biggest hassle was setting up sync with the desktop, because that requires their app and drivers. But even that was ultimately a solvable problem on Win10. But the old Palm apps install and work just fine, if you can find them. A more annoying problem is that a lot of them were shareware, and authors have long since moved on. But even with what's free, it's a handy little device; I can't think of many other AAA-powered gadgets that are capable of compiling C apps for themselves! As far as battery life goes, I'll just quote one Amazon review from 2001: > Another negative feature with this specific model is the poor battery life. The m125 requires 2 AAA batteries (included), however they only last aprox. 2.5 weeks under normal use (compared to the 1-2 months of the m105 and most other PDA's). Sigh.

Bud 6y ago

There never were "standard replaceable batteries" for either phones, or laptops. Replaceable? Yes. Standard? Big, big huge no.

tonoto 6y ago
Define standard. Standard as in rechargeable Ni-MH battery size AA or AAA which were widespread available at that time? Then yes, Motorola, Alcatel (I believe Siemens had one too) could be operated on those batteries.
- Bud 6y ago
  Fair enough. Very very very few devices, however.
mschuster91 6y ago
Many laptop power packs from before the thinness craze set in are nothing more but a couple 18650 cells and a BMS. Even the new ones are the same thing, but with pouch cells - you may or may not have to deal with smaller replacements and BMSes that permanently brick themselves when you remove the cell voltage.

int_19h 6y ago

I recently got a Palm m125, brand new in box, from eBay, for tinkering purposes. The biggest hassle was setting up sync with the desktop, because that requires their app and drivers. But even that was ultimately a solvable problem on Win10. But the old Palm apps install and work just fine, if you can find them. A more annoying problem is that a lot of them were shareware, and authors have long since moved on. But even with what's free, it's a handy little device; I can't think of many other AAA-powered gadgets that are capable of compiling C apps for themselves! As far as battery life goes, I'll just quote one Amazon review from 2001: > Another negative feature with this specific model is the poor battery life. The m125 requires 2 AAA batteries (included), however they only last aprox. 2.5 weeks under normal use (compared to the 1-2 months of the m105 and most other PDA's). Sigh.