Rumor: Palm to Release Clip-On Battery Charger

Posted By: Ed Friday, April 27, 2001 2:14:17 PM

Regular readers may remember that Palm accidentally posted a picture of the m500 on its site several days before the official launch. Palm may once again made this type of slip-up by posting on its webstore an ad for the BattPac, a portable recharger that isn't yet available. The device appears to clip on the the bottom of the handheld like a sled. Interestingly, the Palm in the ad is a V series, not the just released m500 series.

The ad appears here, on the bottom of the page about expansion cards, though someone may soon notice it and have it removed. Clicking on the ad opens a page that says, "This Product is not in the Catalog".

Rumor: m500 Appears on Palm Site

Thanks to Spartacus for the tip. -Ed

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Seen at CeBit

mikefoley @ 4/27/2001 3:31:00 PM #

I saw this recharger at CeBit. Looks like Palm might OEM it? The guy I talked to (from Taiwan) said that they'd be coming out with a m50x version too. It was well made (tho I don't care for the smoked clear plastic) and pretty neat.

I think it's made by the same guys who have the Palm V midi do-hickey on the Palm site.

mike

mike

Found it..

mikefoley @ 4/27/2001 3:40:42 PM #

I'll reply to myself on this one.. A little digging up
found it at http://www.i-vox.com Click on syncharger.

mike

RE: Seen at CeBit

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/27/2001 11:19:55 PM #

Those guys are from Singapore, http://www.shinei.com.sg is their company.
The guy you talked to is Paddy (paddytan@shinei.com.sg).

I remembered clearly that 2 weeks ago, someone also mentioned about this syncharger/battpac. And it is no more
been carried by Landware. And that the original manufacturer is Shinei International (As shown in Cebit) and not Landware.
Some hearsay from http://www.spug.org that apparently Landware was the exclusive distributor but was kicked out by Shinei
due to its poor quality of Landware's line of product like govox(digital voice recorder) and battpac(known as syncharger too).
Shinei is also the same company that is doing the long-waited mp3 player for Palm 100x, that supports SD cards too. But it seems like
it is gonna launched soon. (Hope so....)

Also on the site, the clipmodem is gonna be launched in April. Anyone see those modem around?

RE: Seen at CeBit

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/27/2001 11:34:45 PM #

I bought a syncharger and i-vox voice recorder at the i-vox ecom site months ago which teh charger can chrage from the batteries and also
from A/C directly. HOwever, with my elephant fingers I broke the AA battery door of the charger.

I saw Paddy at the Singapore Palm m500/505 Launch few weeks ago and told him (and his boss?)
about this. Immediately he and the colleague or boss gave me a new battery door to replace mine. Cool!

Already out for the Palm V

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/27/2001 3:33:12 PM #

LandWare with Shinei has already had the BattPac for the Palm V series.
This is probably just a reconfigured BattPac to support the Universal connector.

Now tell me when is the HandEra shipping?

;-P

RE: Already out for the Palm V

Ed @ 4/27/2001 3:38:36 PM #

Ah-ha, you may be right. It does look like this could just be a renamed syncharger from Shinei International. They sell it for $50.
http://www.i-vox.com/

Landware acts as a U.S. distributor for several other Shinei products.

Glad to hear they will be releasing an m500 series version, though I wish it were a tad cheaper.

---
Plenipotentiary
Palm Infocenter

RE: Already out for the Palm V

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/27/2001 3:45:06 PM #

Palmgear's response to my order said the 7th so by the 9th I should have it in my hot hands

RE: Already out for the Palm V

scouter075 @ 4/27/2001 4:20:57 PM #

Gary at talestuff.com makes some great emergency re-chargers. I've used them on a V and another on a IIIc. (I always cary it in my briefcase.)

He is going to have one for the 50x as soome as the connectors are available.

scouter075@mindspring.com

I've seen this before!

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/27/2001 3:33:04 PM #

I don't think this is a new product, as I remember seeing it before. This is suppose to be a sled like the modem, but the top of it is bulkier to allow the AA batteries in them. I remember seeing it on landware.com's site, but I can find it now. But as you can see, their voice recorder that landware sells uses the same plastic tint the Battpac has and the buttons are similar as well. Maybe palm bought it out to be the main distributor of it.

RE: I've seen this before!

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/27/2001 4:27:55 PM #

yea...i have it! LOL...got it from landware but they discontinued it and now anotehr company has it as a syncharger....was called the landware battpac...maybe palm bought the rights...

old news

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/27/2001 5:45:42 PM #

They've been having that banner, or whatever you want to call it, on their website for months.

I am using it SyncPac

fkclo @ 4/28/2001 12:38:05 AM #

Apart from being a battery charger, the Sync Pac also comes with a serial cable so that one can HotSync ( or use Mocha Keyboard of Mocha PPP just like a cradle. The serial connector also comes with a power input so that if you can plug it the stock charger from Palm.

2 AA batteres provides around 3 charges, and the charging rate appears to be faster than the Emergency Charger.

Overall, the SyncPac works as advertise out of a strealine form factor. But personally I feel it is a little bulky for travelling.

Francis Lo

Francis Lo
Hong Kong