The Bridge Review

Ever wish you could easily hotsync your PalmPilot  with the cradle while it is
still in a case?  Well, thanks to a new product called The Bridge, you can.  The
Bridge is a cradle extender made by Midwest PCB Designs and available
for purchase at PalmPilotGear H.Q.
The idea was created by Don Damiani who is part of Midwest PCB Designs and who has written
quite a few reviews for The Gadgeteer. We work together at our ‘day jobs’ The idea
began when I would bring in new cases that I was reviewing, and would often complain to
him that I hated having to remove the case in order to hotsync. I also didn’t like having
to use a hotsync cable because that required you to manually turn on the Pilot, navigate
to the hotsync application and then initiate the hotsync via a screen tap.  I’m lazy
by nature and just like to pop the PDA in the cradle, press the hotsync button and go.

Don listened to my complaining and then went off and created a solution.

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The Bridge is a small extender that connects with any existing PalmPilot or Palm III
cradle.  It is made of hard molded plastic and fits snuggly on the cradle.  Inside The Bridge, a circuit board with gold plated contacts extends the
signals to the Bridge’s connector.  To use it, you just plug it in and leave
it. Then when you want to hotsync, you just place the PDA on the connector like normal and
press the hotsync button.

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A great side effect of The Bridge is that it will let you sync a PalmPilot in a Palm
III cradle.  But the main feature of this product is that if your case has an opening
in it for the hotsync port, you can now hotsync without using a cable or taking your PDA
out of the case.  Some of the different cases that work with The Bridge are: the DVP7
and DVP9 by Devian, Pilot Angel and Pilot Armor cases
by Okmik Productions, Data Glove by Levenger, and the Pilot case
by Targus.  Any case that has an opening for the
hotsync port should work fine with The Bridge.

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Using The Bridge is much quicker than taking the PDA out of the case or using a cable.
The Bridge has a permanent home on my hotsync cradle.  There is really only one
negative side to this product.  If you have a very worn connector in your cradle, you
might need to do a slight modification to The Bridge to insure that it has proper contact
with the connector on the cradle. This modification is simple and is explained in the
instructions that come with The Bridge.

Price: $14.95 (available at PalmPilotGear H.Q.)

Pros:
More convenient way to hotsync your PalmPilot without having to remove it
from a case.
Easy to use.

Cons:
Might need to make a slight modification to the product if you have really
worn connector in your cradle.

Tagged as: Palm

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