Handspring competed through different trade-offs in its two device categories. Its Visor offered interchangeable Springboard hardware, while Palm IIIx had an internal slot for memory or similar enhancements. Treo was a shorter-talk-time alternative to Sidekick and Pocket PC Phone Edition in one mobile-phone test.

In one phone test, Treo lasted two hours and nine minutes, Sidekick nearly four and a half hours and Pocket PC Phone Edition nearly six hours.

Handspring's Treo priced at about $500 after rebates, matching Pocket PC Phone Edition while exceeding Sidekick's roughly $200 price, with Sprint data and voice charges additional to the device cost.

Sprint charged $10 per month for 2 MB or $20 per month for 8 MB of data on devices like Handspring, plus voice charges, with overage billed at $20 per megabyte.

Released toward the end of 1999, Handspring's Visor and Visor Deluxe let handheld users manage appointments, contacts, tasks and memos through Palm OS applications and extend the device with a hardware expansion slot.

As of November 2001, Handspring planned to release the Treo 180 keyboard model and the Treo 180g handwriting model early the following year, each combining a phone, a Palm OS organizer and a text messenger.