It must be time for new spring fashions, and in the handheld personal digital assistant arena, Handspring Inc. is going with the thin look. Handspring's Visor Edge is the thinner version of its Visor PDA product line. It includes USB support, rechargeable lithium ion batteries, 8 Mbytes of memory, and a DragonBall VZ 33-MHz processor, and it operates on the Palm OS 3.5.

Software enhancements to the system include a Fast Lookup feature to access applications by using buttons instead of a stylus, and a Silent Alarm feature for visual reminders of appointments. But the biggest change from previous versions is that there's no standard Handspring Springboard slot, which could be used to attach modules for additional functions. Because of its thinner size, the Visor Edge comes with an Edge Connector with which users can attach an adapter for any Springboard module.

"We are certainly not abandoning the Springboard slot," says Michelle White, product marketing manager for Visor Edge. "But we are broadening our product line for users that previously weren't interested in Handspring products because we didn't have a thin product."

While consumers may be attracted by the size of the Visor Edge, IT execs may find supporting the new Edge Connector a burden, according to Gerry Purdy, CEO of MobileInsights, a market research firm. "They've now offered another propriety slot. It takes three pieces to get one Springboard module to work," Purdy says. "That's going to cause some confusion in the marketplace."

The Handspring Visor Edge, priced at $399, is available now at www.handspring.com, and will be available in retail stores by next week.