Rumor: Picture Leaked of New Palm Handheld

Hmmmm I have to admit, this is a rather intriguing design. I sorta like the idea of the "sliding" graffitti area but I'd REALLY prefer a virtual one. I hope to god that there is some sort of scroll/jog wheel on the side of this unit.

Likes:
-Possibly being the "shortest" Palm OS unit around. Easy pocketability.
-Buttons look fairly high-quality.
-D-pad FINALLY!
-Casing looks fairly durable/stylish

Dislikes:
-Screen looks too pixelated
-Is that a speaker or a mic on the top of the unit? Whatever it is it's poorly placed.
-D-pad does not seem "defined" enough to ensure accurate game/cursor control. Think of the original Sega Master System (versus the PSX or NES' cross-style D-pads) If Palm are serious about the games market, then they need to position the D-pad to the far LEFT side of the unit and arrange all of the hard buttons in a row. Of course this might somehow upset the delicate Zen balance.
-Graffitti area appears to not be backlit...again

This is definately a high res screen - but like poster above, I wish it was virtual graffiti instead. Small is good though...

I can only guess having the DPad in the center is so both righties and lefties are happy (or should I say "not as upset").

Not too sure I like the hidden graffiti concept, I'll have to think about how I use it and if the extra step is worth it.

Interested to see the specs (dimensions, weight, processor speed, memory, mp3?, voice recording, etc...)

gummycat

At the request of Palm, the images were just removed about two minutes ago. Good thing I saved them to my hard drive!

Palm's lawyers already had a chat with the original poster and the photo was removed. Better download it from this link while you can. Aside: Is Palm now naming their products like Blaupunkt? If so, I want the Palm "Cleveland." No flames about my home city either.

It looks like gamers may be the target market for this Palm. The gamepad like scroll buttons indicate this.

"I don't think the bottom slides up to cover the grafitti area, I think this is a space where a snap on KEYBOARD covers the grafitti area without increasing the width of the unit..."

This was one of my first thoughts. But see my post below for my new revelation. I now think that the joypad and buttons slide up but the length remains the same, providing an empty area below the joypad for your palms to rest on while playing games.

Scott

"What if the buttons slide up to reveal a keyboard under it?"

There you go, now you're thinking. ;)

I sure hope it isn't as simple as sliding up to make the device smaller. That would be nice and all, but I like these other theories better.

Scott

"If indeed the "d-pad area" is fixed, and there is a removeable "middle piece" that is a snap-on keyboard, then it is either the smallest keyboard in history, or this unit is huge."

Not sure if I agree with that. The Treo's keyboard section is quite small.

"I've studied this picture quite a bit, and based on the curvature of the bottom of the d-pad area, I'm guessing that the D-pad area is indeed a sliding mechanism that slides back up over the graffitti area, and acts as the bottom of the unit."

I thought about that too and have a sinking feeling that you're right. If true, at the least, it will make for a nice, small device.

This could also be part of Palm, Inc.'s plan for the Graffiti lawsuit with Xerox. They could slide it closed and say, "Look judge, we complied and took out Graffiti." Case closed. ;)

Scott

I don't generally feel that it is appropriate to characterize a person's opinion as stupid. However, whoever started this thread is an idiot. How can you possibly make any intelligent comments about a rumored handheld from one picture. Call Sony to fix the design? Call the doctor to fix your mind!

"This could also be part of Palm, Inc.'s plan for the Graffiti lawsuit with Xerox"
No need, check out the Palm and Handspring press releases (or Palmgear). They've won!

Interesting machine this is.
Greetings, Roel.

aha, so finally Palm folks start posting and curious about public opinion on the almost still secret product. (plus getting defensive and all ruffled up seing their baby gets trash by cynical net reader)

well pal. It stinks. Is this the uber-Palm that suppose to dominate the world? It needs work.

Physical screen size is still small, no fix for the long demanded virtual grafitti. There is no indication the device can handle memory and wireless cards at same time. Audio capability doesn't look too strong from the picture. The sliding pad concept is a no go. There won't be any leather case good enough for it.

All in all this more like a mid priced offering rather than top of the line, a direct competition to Toshiba E310.

"Is this the uber-Palm that suppose to dominate the world? It needs work.

Physical screen size is still small, no fix for the long demanded virtual grafitti. There is no indication the device can handle memory and wireless cards at same time. Audio capability doesn't look too strong from the picture. The sliding pad concept is a no go. There won't be any leather case good enough for it."

No one ever said this was "The Perfect PDA"! We all know that doesn't exist--everyone's different. You made quite the assumption with the whole "uber-Palm" comment. No one ever claimed that.
There's no indication that it DOESN'T handle memory and wireless cards at the same time, why the assumption one-way?
And-
How can you possibly make any sort of judgement on sound quality from a picture?
This is a rumor! Maybe we should reserve final judgement for when we see the actual product. A whole lot of people ripped on the terrible Sony clam-shell design when it was just a rumor and said it would never sell. It seemed to work out fine.

(Self-confessed Palm Geek)

So people are saying... the built-in gamepad isn't perfect, where's the jogwheel, and why no virtual graffiti.

I think the answers to all these are related. I don't think this machine was built with gamers in mind (though they'll no doubt benefit from it). I think it was built to: (a) make an extremely small device, and (b) make it possible to do a whole lot of navigating around in the primary (built-in) apps without "opening" the unit. (No one has commented on the center dome in the "gamepad" -- could be a select button?)

Remember, too, that now that Palm is separate from Palmsource, they're free (indeed, under pressure) to differentiate their handhelds from those of other PalmOS licensees by adding new features or apps that aren't handed out to the other companies (something they started doing with their NotePad and AlarmClock apps, and similar to what Handspring has done with DateBk, CityTime, and Parens). What if Palm made some tweaks to their copies of the built-in apps, or included some add-on/replacement apps, that made it terribly easy to maneuver through your information in the basic apps using just the four-directions-and-select buttons of the "gamepad"? So you could look up a phone number, tweak your schedule for the day, check off a todo item, all without ever touching the screen, much less the graffiti area.

It looks like Palm has built a really small, handy OS5 machine. Don't know that this will be the one to replace my Clie 710 (no brand wars, please), but there will definitely be an ARM machne in my future, and the future is looking pretty cool.

Okay, well, just my $0.02

I got to agree the smudge was to cover up a serial number. Jason Dunn from Pocket PC Thoughts was asked to submit the original photo without an edited serial number, which he hasn't. Personally, I don't like the design, it doesn't seem to be practical, like many say, I prefer VG in able to support a larger screen. I submit though, that what everyone is assuming as the speaker may be the microphone while the speaker is on the back like the sony's. Although, if that is a speaker, I hope it has headphone jack. In this case I'm interested in the Palm, but I'm much more interested in what's under the hood instead of the device itself.

That's my website above, and thanks to that link being slashdotted, I've used up my monthly bandwidth allocation. Please use http://www.tpug.org/news/Palm/palm_new_model.jpg instead.

Motorola CPU? Bluetooth, 802.11b, and GSM? You're a dirty liar...

It's not *that* strange that it showed up on a non-Palm focussed site first. The manufacturers sometimes provide per-production units to select developers (sometimes known as PVT units) who are bound by non-disclosure agreements. On occasion, someone who has access to these units will leak a photo, and on this occasion it was to PocketPCThoughts.com There are a number of developers who *could* leak info to any site they choose, but who actually honor their agreements.

The Palm Inc. lawyers who contacted Jason at PPCT asked for the unadulterated image which shows the unique serial number on it. If Jason complies, then that development shop is in trouble!

I'm kinda surprised that Palm Inc. hasn't contacted PIC with a request to remove the photo yet. (Of course, once it's out on the net you can't put the genie back in the bottle!)

It's funny how elaborate conspiracy theories can sometimes be deflated with simple explanations. My (censored) next-door neighbor cut through my cable line while planting shrubs and it is taking my (doubly censored) cable company an eternity to get my cable modem fixed. This has left me with no other way to work besides the public library. I'm glad I can get some work done at all but I can only do so for a few hours a day.

BTW, this also means I have no way to spell check any of the articles I run. Please be patient with me; I'm doing the best I can in trying conditions.

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News Editor