Old Palm 3 is better than the Palm Vx

I lost my Palm Vx organizer a few weeks ago. So I’ve gone back to my old Palm III, which I found in a drawer the other day. The strange thing is that it seems to have a much better experience than the Vx, even though it is a much older model.

It’s hard to put my finger on what’s better about it. I think it could be:

The buttons are firmer (and also less likely to become unresponsive or to break)

The response time is faster. This is the part I can’t understand. The Vx was very slow when you were using the Datebook. All I can imagine is that they were using very slow RAM.

The flip up cover is a convenient sun-shield.

Of course there are big problems with the Palm III too. There’s a dodgy connector on the inside of it that is prone to breaking. The stylus holder tends to become loose.

I am afraid I will not be investing in a new organizer for quite some time, at least not until I lose or break this Palm III. There are no really useful features on the new models that merit what they are charging for them.