The lower-end models emphasized value — Palm's original Zire model was the first PDA under $100 from a major manufacturer — and the higher-end models emphasized multimedia capability, including features like cameras and audio playback functions suitable for listening to MP3s.
Models
Palm Zire & Palm Zire 21
The Palm Zire
The Palm Zire and Palm Zire 21 were inexpensive and are differentiated from the rest of Palm's line by having monochrome screens without backlighting, having only two application buttons instead of the typical four, and traditional up/down scroll buttons instead of the then-standard 5-way navigator found in other models. Both of these entry-level models are lightweight (3.8oz or 108g) and sport a white plastic face with a matte gray plastic back.
The Zire (also known as the m150), released in the fourth quarter of 2002 and is the handheld responsible for starting the value-conscious handheld craze. It sported only 2MB RAM, a 16MHz Motorola DragonBall EZ processor, and Palm OS 4.1.x. The Zire was superseded by the Zire 21 at the release of the "First Breed of PIM Plus Handhelds" in the fourth quarter of 2003.
The Zire 21, released at the same time as the Tungsten T3 and Tungsten E, sported an improved PIM suite (then-known as the Palm PIM Plus), a 126MHz TI OMAP311 ARM-Compliant Processor, 8MB RAM, and Palm OS 5.2.1.
Neither the Zire nor the Zire 21 had SD/SDIO/MMC expansion, which caused the devices to be shunned by handheld aficionados. As of August 2005, both of these handhelds had been discontinued, making the Palm Zire 31 the entry-level Palm-branded PDA citing a strong demand for color.
The Zire 21 was capable of displaying PDF files using the free Adobe Reader for Palm OS version 3. Like most Palm handhelds, text from the PDF file could be copied and pasted into other applications such as Memo Pad, greatly enhancing the utility of this cheap device. It was capable of, in effect, acting as a portable word processor, albeit a very basic one.
The Palm Zire 31 was a budget multimedia-oriented device. While the display was still 160×160, it was now color. The Zire 31 had twice the RAM of the Zire 21 (16MB, 13.8MB usable), a 200MHz Intel XScale PXA255 processor, an SD/SDIO/MMC expansion slot, Palm OS 5.2.8, a 3.5mm stereo headphone jack and a 5-way navigator, though the Zire 31 still retained the two application buttons, as opposed to the standard four on most other models. The ROM included RealOne Player giving the device some digital audio player capabilities and a photo album application. It didn't have a direct successor—the newer Palm Z22 was more akin to the Zire 21, albeit having the same 160×160 pixel CSTN 4096-color display as the Zire 31. While Zire 31 had the ability to play video (video player not included), the experience was limited by the maximum SD/MMC card size limit (1GB, larger cards including SDHC are possible via 3rd party software), the poor screen resolution, color depth and passive matrix display technology.
The Z22 was a successor of Zire 21, but the "Zire" moniker was dropped. Released October 12, 2005, it was available for US$149.95 as of July 2010. It had a CSTN 4096 color 160×160 display and featured 32MB NVRAM (20MB available to user) using NVFS, a Samsung 200MHz processor, and Palm OS Garnet 5.4 operating system. It weighed 3.4oz (96g). Included in the box were cables for syncing with a computer via USB and for charging from a wall outlet, Palm Desktop software for Mac and Windows, and a screen protector.
Palm Zire 71
Palm Zire 71
The Palm Zire 71 was Palm's first attempt at a PDA with a built-in digital camera. It was introduced on April 23, 2003. At the time of its release, the Zire 71 was the highest-end model in the Zire line, sporting a 144MHz TI OMAP310 processor, 16MB of RAM (13MB usable), 320×320 TFT 16-Bit color screen, Palm OS 5.2.1, and a VGA-quality camera (300K pixel with 640×480 support). It also featured a small joystick for navigation, a departure from both the scroll buttons and 5-way navigator of other models. Audio playback capability was possible with the inclusion of a SD card slot and a Palm version of RealPlayer. To counter the slow file transfer rate for uploading songs to the device, Palm offered an MP3 playback kit that included a memory card writer. Its introduction price was $299, but later was reduced to $249 shortly before it was replaced by the Zire 72. The 71 still had some advantages over the 72, as the camera was constantly protected by a shell on the 71, and it retained the Palm "Universal Connector" that was being phased out.
Picture taken with the Palm Zire 71.
The Zire 71 did not ship with any wireless capabilities other than its infrared port. Wi-Fi capability could be added to the Zire 71 via the SD slot. Only one Wi-Fi/SD card, SanDisk model SDWSDB-000-A10M, was reported to work with Zire 71. Wireless capabilities could also be added through the use of a folding portfolio, such as the Enfora Wireless LAN Portfolio.
Reviewers were impressed by the excellent quality of its LCD and the comparatively good quality of its camera relative to similar generation VGA digital cameras.
Certain users found issues with the sensitivity of the device's joystick, which on certain devices was prone to powering up the PDA inside pockets, bags, and other containers, thus draining the batteries. The recommended utilities for the Palm Zire 71 (and all other Palm-branded PDA users as well) addressing the in-pocket power-up problem are
Alternatively, one could simply lessen the frequency of this occurring by inserting the PDA into its case top first (so that the joystick is at the wider end of the pocket). Additionally, after many cycles of opening and closing the camera, the flex-cable that connected the halves of the device could fracture. This led to the loss of charging, wired syncing and shutter button functionality as the IO connector and button resided on the back half of the device.
The Palm Zire 72 was the successor to the Palm Zire 71. New features included Bluetooth, voice recording, and video capture with sound. The joystick was replaced with the standard 5-way navigator similar to that of the Tungsten models, and the camera was upgraded from 0.3 to 1.2-megapixels. The Zire 72 had 32MB of RAM (25MB usable) instead of 16MB, a 312MHz Intel PXA270 Processor instead of the previous TI OMAP Processor, and weighed 4.8oz as opposed to 5.3oz for the Zire 71. This model featured the updated suite of PIM apps, like the E, T3, and Z22 models. The Zire 72 was available in two models. The standard Zire 72 had a bright blue painted body with a silver back. The Zire 72 Special Edition was an all-silver model.
The Zire 72, while it had more features than the Zire 71, was hit with a lot of criticism over time. Some users reported problems with the camera: the camera lens was not covered, the camera didn't work in low-light conditions, and broken pixels were common. (Third-party cases included a lens cover.) The screen quality, while good, was not as brilliant as the Palm Zire 71. Many users complained of the blue 'soft-touch' rubberized paint coating chipping and peeling after moderate use.
Palm OS is a discontinued mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It was provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management. Later versions of the OS were extended to support smartphones. The software appeared on the company's line of Palm devices while several other licensees have manufactured devices powered by Palm OS.
Palm is a now discontinued line of personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile phones developed by California-based Palm, Inc., originally called Palm Computing, Inc. Palm devices are often remembered as "the first wildly popular handheld computers," responsible for ushering in the smartphone era.
Sharp Zaurus is a series of personal digital assistants (PDAs) made by Sharp Corporation. The Zaurus was the most popular PDA during the 1990s in Japan and was based on a proprietary operating system. The first Sharp PDA to use the Linux operating system was the SL-5000D, running the Qtopia-based Embedix Plus. The Linux Documentation Project considers the Zaurus series to be "true Linux PDAs" because their manufacturers install Linux-based operating systems on them by default. The name derives from the common suffix applied to the names of dinosaurs.
Casio Cassiopeia was the brand name of a PDA manufactured by Casio. It used Windows CE as the Operating system. Casio was one of the first manufacturers of PDAs, developing at the beginning small pocket-sized computers with keyboards and grayscale displays and subsequently moving to smaller units in response to customer demand.
The Tapwave Zodiac is a mobile entertainment console and personal digital assistant. Tapwave announced the system in May 2003 and began shipping in October of that same year. The Zodiac was designed to be a high-performance mobile entertainment system centered on video games, music, photos, and video for 18- to 34-year-old gamers and technology enthusiasts. By running an enhanced version of the Palm Operating System (5.2T), Zodiac also provided access to Palm's personal information management software and many other applications from the Palm developer community. The company was based in Mountain View, California.
Treo 600 was a smartphone developed by Handspring, and offered under the palmOne brand after the merger of the two companies. Released in November 2003, it has a number of integrated features and it is possible to check the calendar while talking on the phone, dial directly from contacts list, take pictures or send emails. It includes a five-way navigation button and favorites screen allowing quick access to the phone functions.
The Tungsten series was Palm, Inc.'s line of business-class Palm OS-based PDAs.
The Samsung SPH-i500 was a Palm OS-based smartphone manufactured by Samsung Electronics. It was previewed at CommunicAsia 2002 in June and launched later that year. It was later discontinued in August 2005. It was marketed in the United States for use on Sprint's mobile phone network.
The Zire 72 is Palm, Inc.'s second Personal Digital Assistant with an integrated digital camera. Introduced in 2004, it is the replacement for the Zire 71, having a 1.2 megapixel camera, 32 MB of memory, built-in Bluetooth wireless communication, video recording and playback capability, a built-in microphone, hi-res hi-color screen, SecureDigital smartcard slot, and a 312 MHz Intel PXA270 processor.
The O2 Xda brand was a range of Windows Mobile PDA phones, marketed by O2, developed by O2 Asia and manufactured by multiple OEMs (mainly HTC, Quanta and Arima). The first model was released in June 2002. The last models came to market in 2008. The "X" represents convergence of voice and information/data within one product; the "DA" stands for "Digital Assistant", as in PDA. The name of XDA Developers is derived from it.
The Zire 31 is a Zire Handheld from palmOne. The product was first released in April 2004 as a replacement for Zire 21. It runs Palm OS 5.2.8 and features a color 160×160 display, a SDIO slot and a standard 3.5mm stereo headphones jack. The improved PIM apps are supplied. The ROM includes RealOne Player giving the device some digital audio player capabilities. They can be extended with 3rd party software, such as TCPMP. The Zire 31 has a 5-way navigator pad, but still only 2 quickbuttons, as opposed to the standard 4 on the mid-range Zires 71/72. It was replaced by the Z22, which lacks the SD/MMC/SDIO Expansion and headphone jack.
The Palm i705 was an upgrade from the last series of Palm PDAs to use the now discontinued Palm.net service via Mobitex to access the World Wide Web from Palm devices. It featured 8MB of onboard memory and an SD/MMC slot for additional storage or SDIO cards. It used the Motorola Dragonball VZ 33 MHz processor and ran Palm OS 4.1, it was noted as being the first Palm.net capable device without a flip out antenna and with an internal rechargeable battery, although it was the third and final of the three models manufactured by Palm that were capable of utilizing this network.
The Z22 was one of the first of Palm, Inc.'s handhelds to be released under the new "Palm" brand, and the first to be released without the "Zire" moniker. Released on October 12, 2005, it replaced the monochrome Zire 21, and was priced at $99 USD. The Palm Z22 came with Palm OS Garnet 5.4.9 preloaded and is not upgradable. It featured a 200 MHz Samsung S3C2410 ARM processor developed around the 32-bit ARM920T core that implements the ARMv4T architecture. The Z22 ran on a li-ion battery that had a life of about 8 hours depending on usage.
The Jornada was a line of personal digital assistants or PDAs manufactured by Hewlett-Packard. The Jornada was a broad product line that included Palm-Size PCs, Handheld PCs, and Pocket PCs. The first model was the 820, released in 1998, and the last was the 928 model in 2002 when Compaq and HP merged. The Jornada line was then succeeded by the more popular iPAQ model PDAs. All Jornada models ran Microsoft Operating Systems that were based on Windows CE.
The Palm m500 series is a series of handheld personal digital assistants that consisted of three devices: the Palm m500, Palm m505, and Palm m515. The series was a follow-up to the Palm V series with a similar, though slightly shorter, footprint and form factor.
The Palm m100 series consists of four Palm OS based personal digital assistants titled m100, m105, m125, and m130. These models were intended to be "entry-level" PDAs, and therefore their cases were built from cheaper materials. Most notably, the covers of the LCD screens and the digitizers were plastic rather than glass, and the screens were smaller than the more expensive Palm devices on sale at the time.
HandEra was a manufacturer, software developer, and service contractor. HandEra's business previously revolved around Palm OS, and devices running Palm OS. The company's headquarters were in Des Moines, Iowa.
Handspring, Inc., was an American electronics company founded in 1998 by the founders of Palm, Inc., after they became dissatisfied with the company's direction under the new owner 3Com. The company developed Palm OS–based Visor- and Treo-branded personal digital assistants. In 2003, the company merged with Palm, Inc.'s hardware division.
The Palm Treo 800w is a combination PDA/cell phone offered exclusively by Sprint. It is Palm's third Windows Mobile Treo. The short-lived device was replaced by the Treo Pro.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
