STEARsoft - Palm information

Your questions answered

Some of them answered at least, I hope. If you have other questions, please use the support pages. WARNING: The answers below express the opinion of one person, so does not constitute results of proper research or evaluation processes. Accordingly, the answers below in no way make any guarantees or promises. Please take them on good faith as one person's opinion, and act on them at your own risk. (Sorry, that has to be said)

Question: What is a Palm?

A Palm is a mini handheld computer (approx 75mm by 115mm by 15mm). It is designed to go in your pocket and function as a sophisticated electronic diary/address-book/notebook/calculator, and more. What makes a Palm different to earlier electronic-diary products is that it connects to a computer to swap information; this allows you to have your computer diary and addresses matched in your PALM which you can take wherever you go. The other thing that makes Palms different is that, like a computer, you can load other programs which do different things. STEARsoft is one such program, which turns your PALM into a pocket-sized electronic attendance register (as well as a diary, address-book etc). PALM devices are a particular variety of handheld computer. Since their invention, Pocket-PC handhelds have become very popular, and there are other systems too. STEARsoft will only run on PALM handhelds, iPod touches and iPhones. Pocket-PC handhelds and other phone-based devices are different, and cannot run STEARsoft.

Question: Why would I want a PALM?

The cheeky answer is: "To run STEARsoft". More sensibly, I should point out that different people use PALMs in different ways and everyone has their own opinion of what they find particularly good. I will therefore tell you how I use my Palm, and you can decide for yourself what appeals (or doesn't).

On my Palm, the things I use on a daily basis are the calendar (which is my only diary), the address book (which is my only address book), the Memo pad (which I use in all sorts of ways, from storing cooking recipes to writing and viewing lesson plans!), a simple database program which I use as a shopping list (I'm sure there are better dedicated programs, but there you go) and of course STEARsoft, which has become the most used program on my PALM. There are other things I use from time to time, such as a calculator, a word checker and a converter (measurements in different units), but the bulk of my use on a day-to-day basis is as stated.

The appeal for me, is being able to have all those things on one small device that goes in my pocket. It replaced several books that previously required carrying round a bag to put them in. They also look neat, and I've got a copy of everything on my computer, so if the worst happens and I loose my PALM, at least I've not lost my data. Using STEARsoft also saves me time in the classroom, makes me more flexible and helps me keep on top of recording classroom management information.

Since writing the above, I have actually moved to using an iPod touch instead. My Palm device is still good, and there are some things I prefer on it, but the big seller for the iPod touch is the WiFi, email and decent web-browser. The Palm TX was a good contender, also having WiFi and a nice screen, but in my opinion is comparatively over-priced at around £100(GBP) more. So for an ultimately cheap solution, a Palm is still very cost effective, but if you want something at the top end that connects with WiFi, you could consider an iPod touch instead (which is like an iPhone, but without the phone, without the GPS and without the price or contract).

Question: Which Palm should I get?

Again, what follows is slightly out of date, as I now use an iPod touch instead, but it is relevant for those who don't wish to spend over £100(GBP), or wouldn't be able to use a WiFi network anyway.

I have to confess that I personally have what was the cheapest PALM available when I bought it. It is a Zire 21, cost me about £65(GBP) and has served me very well. The current basic model is the Zire 22 and costs about the same. At the other end of the scale, there is the Palm TX costing about £230(GBP). The key extra things this gives you are a nicer screen with more usable area (so you can see 50% more students or 100% more lessons), a faster processor, more memory to store lots of programs and data, a bundled office-compatible set of programs (basically a mini spreadsheet and word processor), and possibly most importantly WiFi network capability. The WiFi means you can use the (also bundled) browser to look at the web, and use the simple mail program to do your email. In terms of STEARsoft, you can synchronise your attendance data remotely, which is fantastic in a school deployment situation of STEARsoft.

You can also find old second-hand or discontinued model Palm Handhelds at cheaper prices. One of my test Palm-devices only cost me £15(GBP) on ebay, though this was unusually cheap. Bear in mind that some very old devices won't be able to run STEARsoft, and second hand units may have issues with battery-life.

Question: Where should I get one?

Many electronics/computer shops sell PALMs, and there are many places on the web. Again, not necessarily a recommendation, but I bought my Palm and the other PALM models for testing by friends from amazon who at the time I bought were competitively priced and provided good service. If you go to amazon, search for "palm handheld". As mentioned above, I also bought a cheap, old model from ebay.