Palm to Release XScale Powered Handheld in 2003
According to DigiTimes, Palm Inc. is going to release a handheld that runs the new Palm OS 5 on an Intel PXA250 microprocessor, part of the company's XScale line. This microprocessor can operate at up to 400 MHz. Palm's XScale powered handhelds will be available early next year, which means they won't be the company's first devices to run Palm OS 5.
This news is a bit surprising as Palm has announced that its first generation of OS 5 handhelds will use processors made by Texas Instruments. However, the models with the TI chips are expected to be out this year, while the Intel ones won't be out until 2003.
Palm's CEO said last week that his company will release an OS 5 smartphone this fall which will use TI chips.
The XScale handhelds will be produced by Asustek Computer, a Taiwanese manufacturer. Pilot production is scheduled to begin later this year and the company plans to make 200,000 units during the first quarter of next year.
Palm has the flexibility to use chips from different processors because of the Palm OS Ready Program. This got the processor manufacturers to create a Device Abstraction Layer (DAL) for their own processors. This is sort of a translation layer between the hardware and the OS, intended to remove any incompatibilities between, say, Intel and Motorola chips. This saves the Palm OS licensees a tremendous amount of work and allows them to choose the processor they like without having to write a DAL of their own.
At this point, of the Palm OS licensees only Palm has announced who will make the chips for their OS 5 devices.
About the Intel PXA 250 Microprocessor
The PXA 250 microprocessor is a 32-bit Intel XScale core-based CPU with 200, 300 and 400 MHz versions. It can run at 400 MHz while using the same amount of power as a 206 MHz StrongARM chip. The PXA250 has both Low Power and Turbo modes for improved battery life. It also has an integrated LCD controller and SD/MMC Card Support. It is fully ARM architecture compliant
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RE: Woo Hoo!
RE: Woo Hoo!
OK, time to decide
My stack of old PDAs is getting a little bit to big:
Pilot Pro
Visor Plat
M505 (current)
Must sell OS 5 M5xx in January....must...sell.....
Good news
Who knows what new things will be added to Palm OS?
I know it'll be weird to start thinking about video and other multimedia thins on a Palm, not a PPC.
Good stuff.
:)
Why!
RE: Why!
Assuming you meant PalmSource - I think you'll find that they consider Video Players and MP3 players the domain of the application develper - not the OS.
PalmOS applications already provide video and audio apps - mainly for the Clie at the moment - but once OS5 comes out I'm sure there will be many more.
---
russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk
RE: Why!
RE: Why!
>the hardware comes out.
Not really - you just use the PalmOS 5 Simulator available from www.palmos.com/dev
This is hos many PalmOS developers are checking their applications work with the news OS - and writing upgrades to take advantgaes to the extra speed or extra funcionaltiy.
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russ@russb.fsnet.co.uk
RE: Why!
RE: Why!
Both multimedia apps and games can check the clock speed in Palm OS and adjust themselves accordingly. If the emulator is running at a slower equivalent speed, then the app can compensate... to a point. This is how TealMovie and Kinoma Player can sync the video and audio and play them at the correct speed. Zap!2000 will adjust your scoring based on overclocking or underclocking. If you want to have some fun with one of the movie players and FastCPU, launch the application with the processor overclocked, then turn FastCPU off and play a movie. Slow motion!
RE: Why!
So a game or media app will try and perform it's updates a set amount of times a second. The PalmOS provides the SysTicksPerSecond() function which gives for any given device the number of 'ticks' (sort of quantum time particles for the application developer) per second. Using this you can use the emulator / simulator quite well to create games and media apps.
Obviously you'll still need to test on real devices eventually - but most of the development can be done without real devices.
Asus
RE: Asus
They will be OEM for Palm so they can esentially play both sides of the fence. Asus will be the one company that is certain to win the PPC vs. Palm battle. They win either way! Brilliant.
RE: Asus
-- ASUS's PPC looks like a CLIE! Oh, the irony!
RE: Asus
Pilot production?
Wow, they're bringing back the Palm Pilot! ;)
Scott
RE: Pilot production?
Sai Yo Na Na , Micro$oft !
RE: Sai Yo Na Na , Micro$oft !
RE: Sai Yo Na Na , Micro$oft !
Scott
RE: Sai Yo Na Na , Micro$oft !
That pounding sound you hear
iPaq? Buh-bye.
Casio? Buh-bye.
Toshiba? On the way out, but probably the last survivor.
RE: That pounding sound you hear
RE: That pounding sound you hear
And neither do I want to pay $599 for a PALM either.
We all know PALM is going to milk the market by charging as much as it can bear. Expect $599 from PALM for the ARM-based PDAs.
Frankly, I'll stick with my Palm Vx which does everything I want it to do.
RE: That pounding sound you hear
But Palm already dominates the market. It has more than 85% of the market.
RE: That pounding sound you hear
While PPCs won't be able to run the X-Scale at more than 206MHz, Palms will.
RE: That pounding sound you hear
Their current marketshare is about 60%
RE: That pounding sound you hear
RE: That pounding sound you hear
Uh, not quite. Toshiba just released the e740, which has a 400MHz XScale PXA250 processor.
Now, the PPC2002 OS doesn't take full advantage of XScale, but it does support the faster processors.
RE: That pounding sound you hear
Im more inclined to believe the lower figure. As Im involved in handheld retail, We sell about 50/50 PPC and PalmOS devices.
RE: That pounding sound you hear
> faster processors.
Not really. PPC2002 has to take full advantage of XScale in order for it to run at 400 MHz. Otherwise it runs at about 200 MHz.
RE: That pounding sound you hear
According to NPDTechworld, the Palm OS now has 87.2% of the U.S. retail market, growing 10 percentage points in the last two months.
www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=3459
I know you said you don't believe this but some things aren't opinions, they're facts.
RE: That pounding sound you hear
PPC won't go anywhere -- they've still got a better file system and a more open architecture. Palm folk tend to become rather over optimistic with Palm and always spin the PPC side in the worst light. That usually translates into dissapointment and whining when the 'PPC killer' turns out to be vaporware.
Look to SONY to do anything with XScale and the multimedia possibilities. Palm will simply rehash the m515 with a 320 x 320 screen -- i.e. T-615.
RE: That pounding sound you hear
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Woo Hoo!