Peripherals for m500 and m505 Also Announced

Posted By: Ed Monday, March 19, 2001 7:07:42 AM

No handheld is complete without accessories and companies have clearly been hard at work developing them for the new m500 series.

Novatel Wireless, developer of the Minstrel line of wireless modems, has announced a model for the m500 series. It will clip to the bottom of the handhelds, leaving the SD slot clear for other uses. It will use CDPD or GPRS, allows pass-through charging, and has a longer battery life than the Minstrel V. Pricing and availability are not yet available.

Kodak will be releasing a version of its PalmPix camera that fits on the new Uniform Connector. Apparently, they were one of the major forces in convincing Palm to stop forcing them to redesign their products every time a new handheld came out. John Cook, senior director of product marketing for Palm, said the camera maker's message to Palm was, "We want to support you but we can't keep doing this."

Palm has been quick to announce products that use the new SD slot as well. There is a $40 backup card and a 16MB Expansion Card for $50.

Software and content is already coming out on SD, too. There are versions of Lonely Planet CitySync Travel Guides for the U.S., Europe, and Asia and games available now. Coming soon is a Reference Dictionary/Thesaurus card.

There are also a wide variety of the usual accessories available. There are four leather case options for the m500 series, ranging in price from $25 for the most basic to $34.95 for a zippered model with slots designed to hold SD or MMC cards. Also available is the $40 Deluxe Leather Carrying Case for carrying both a Palm m500 series handheld and the Palm Portable Keyboard.

There is a version of the folding Palm Portable Keyboard for the m500 series. This version features the new Universal Connector and sells for $100.

For those who don't want to wait for an SD modem, they are offering the PalmModem Connectivity Kit which allows 56K dialup data speeds.

For users who travel frequently, Palm offers several travel accessories, including a charging kit and serial and USB HotSync cables.

Coming Soon
Socket Communications has also announced the Digital Phone Connection, a snap-on attachment that allows the m500 series make a wired connection to a mobile phone. It's initial version works with Motorola's StarTAC, Timeport, Talkabout and V Series handsets and with a variety of handsets from Samsung. It will be available in Q2 for about $70.

Socket Communications has announced that they are going to release the In-Hand Scan Card, an SD plug-in card that integrates a miniature power-efficient laser scanner engine from Symbol Technologies to add advanced bar code scanning capability. It will be available in Q4 for about $250.

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SD Cards

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2001 2:38:58 PM #

Can an SD card larger then 16 MB be purchased today? SanDisk didn't show any in their product line.

RE: SD Cards

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2001 2:50:35 PM #

Yes, I've seen 64MB SD cards for sale. Quite expensive, though. Dont remember where though - I do remeber that it was on the first page on a google search...

RE: SD Cards

SilliconMan @ 3/19/2001 3:27:52 PM #

I heard that there is a 1 gig SD card coming sometime soon!

Palming away.....

RE: SD Cards

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2001 7:00:02 PM #

FYI, 1 GB cards are still a little way off - prolly mid next year...

RE: SD Cards

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/20/2001 3:58:38 AM #

SanDisk offers the MultiMedia cards 32MB @ $59, and 64MB @ $99, but no SD cards. What will the functional limitations be of the former? (other than the seemingly obvious lack of security)

RE: SD Cards

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/21/2001 7:01:00 PM #

pagecomputer has 64mb SD cards. $150!!! (+ s/h) Mfr#: SD064-231
i know i'm buying it when my palm comes in

Clip-on MP3 for m5xxs?

mikecane @ 3/19/2001 4:32:55 PM #

Those of you who have had CLIE PEG-N700 lust -- don't spend your money yet! The m500 and m505 will probably have clip-on MP3 players.

RE: Clip-on MP3 for m5xxs?

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/19/2001 9:09:01 PM #

Yeah, but the CLIE 700 has the MP3 built in for the same price as the 505...

RE: Clip-on MP3 for m5xxs?

fleegle @ 3/20/2001 10:38:32 PM #

Yes, but with a CLIE you are still carrying it around even when you aren't using it...extra weight.

RE: Clip-on MP3 for m5xxs?

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/20/2001 11:36:52 PM #

when do you know when you're gonna need the mp3 player?!?!? .......

RE: Clip-on MP3 for m5xxs?

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/26/2001 1:31:43 PM #

It does not support MP3 but rather the proprietary ATRAC format which has copy protection...

RE: Clip-on MP3 for m5xxs?

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/21/2001 6:27:29 PM #

yes there is going to be mp3 for palm. palm has already DESIGNED these, built PROTOTYPES, and leaked a few pics. it is matching silver outside to go w/ your m50x, clips in small having VERY little poping up outside the case, AND IT EVEN HAS THREE BLINKING GREEN LIGHTS!!!! (ok, the last part isn't important, but the rest you might care about) it looks really good clipped in, and not too shaby w/out being clipped in (although it does absolutely no good w/out being plugged in . . .) I know i'm going to bye, for sure!

Novatel is using the Serial Port again?

Rusty @ 3/20/2001 2:12:39 AM #

Well, my hopes for using the keyboard while online wirelessly have been dashed. Novatel has made sure that the only ones to use their modems and keyboard together at the same time are Handspring owners. I have very little reason to spend all of this money to get back to where I am now with just a nifty color screen. I am very disappointed.

M505-IIIe serial connecto

I.M. Anonymous @ 3/20/2001 12:13:53 PM #

Does anyone know if there is any type of bridge or docking device that would let me connect my Palm IIIe folding keyboard to a new Palm M505.

RE: m505-IIIe serial connector

Ed @ 3/20/2001 1:01:00 PM #

I haven't heard of one yet but I sure hope some company is going to make one. I've got about $300 in III series peripherals I'd like to keep using, at least for a while.

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