The Springboard makes installing software and implementing upgrades easy and, combined with the low price, turns the Visor into a powerful tool. The Visor can integrate with both Mac and Windows desktops for synchronization of contacts, e-mail and appointments. Ready in a Flash Handspring is not alone in attempting to improve on the Palm design. In October, TRG Products announced its own updated version of the Palm, the TRGpro. Like the Visor, the TRGpro comes with 8MB of RAM and supports external Palm III and Palm IIIx accessories.
CF cards weigh about half an ounce and are approximately the size of a book of matches.
Dozens of CF cards are already on the market, including memory expansion, modems and serial ports. IBM even makes a 340MB CompactFlash hard drive, which would give users storage capabilities unheard of in a hand-held device. The wide variety of CompactFlash cards and peripherals will make the platform more interesting in both vertical and horizontal markets. The TRGpro debuted at Palmsource '99, a Palm developers' conference. The company that brought you the Palm has not sat idly by while its competition generates new products.