Rumor: Info on Two New Palm Handhelds

Posted By: Ed Tuesday, August 27, 2002 12:13:44 PM

Update: Palm Inc has officially introduced the Zire Handheld.

Quoting a "reliable source", Geek.com has some leaked information on two new handhelds it says are coming from Palm Inc.

High-End Model
According to this source, the first Palm OS 5 device to come from Palm will be called the Tungsten T, which will be available at the end of October. It offers an SD/MMC slot, Bluetooth, and voice recording. However, one thing that makes this info suspect is the source says the Tungsten T will have the sliding bottom piece from the Oslo, which other sources say Palm has decided to not use.

Last week, an anonymous source told PDABuzz that the Oslo was a prototype that had been dropped from Palm's plans. Since then, a second source told PIC the same thing.

Entry-Level Model
Palm's CEO Eric Benhamou said in early June that his company will be putting out three new models this fall. One will be a sub-$100 model.

According to Geek.com's source, this entry-level handheld will be called the Zire. It will run Palm OS 4.1 and be available at the beginning of October.

According to a seperate source, this is a very basic model with 2 MB of memory and no SD/MMC slot. It is not a member of the m100 series. Instead, it has a shape which is described as being similar to Sony's T series and will come in an all-white plastic casing. It will have the standard Up/Down keys but only two app-launching hardware buttons, not the four that have always been on Palm OS devices.

Nomenclature
Regular readers of PIC should remember that Palm trademarked several words in May: Tungsten, Zire, and Veld. These words were trademarked close to the time of Benhamou's announcement that Palm would be releasing three new models later this year.

Thanks to Beavis for the tip. -Ed

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Oslo out; Tungsten In

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:24:15 PM #
Yes, Oslo will not be released, but the device (with the sliding part) will, cos we change the name from Oslo to Tungsten!

- Carl Y.

RE: Oslo out; Tungsten In
Ed @ 8/27/2002 12:31:00 PM #
As I said in the article, I was told by a source I trust that Oslo is dead. There wasn't some tricky name change. The whole idea of the sliding bottom part was dropped. Still, all we have to go on at this point is rumors and the rumors have been especially contradictory about this model.

---
News Editor

Zire

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:34:03 PM #
I wonder if the Zire will have a white backlight?
RE: Zire
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:36:54 PM #
yes Zire!!!!
RE: Zire
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 9:43:47 PM #
All these new models' name seem to be pulled out from the periodic tables (A tabular arrangement of the chemical elements according to atomic number as based on the periodic law)
RE: Zire
nategall @ 8/28/2002 2:51:23 PM #
> All these new models' name seem to be pulled
> out from the periodic tables (A tabular
> arrangement of the chemical elements according
> to atomic number as based on the periodic law)

what insight! what knowledge! what a poorly written description of the periodic table.

first its the "periodic table", not tableS
second, the placement of items on the table is based upon the properties, for instance, the rightmost column has completely filled electron shells, the column tell you the state of the electron shells.

but, who cares.

third, i don't think they are element names (but i might be wrong there)


nategall says "blah!"

RE: Zire
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/28/2002 4:19:04 PM #
W is Tungsten I think...the rest are not elements....

I can't believe these names!

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:25:59 PM #
Where on earth did they ever find these names? Did they simply open a swedish/danish/norwegian dictionary and just pick the three ugliest sounding words I've ever heard.

On another note, I'm now convinced that they WILL indeed release the OSLO but they've been confident in saying that the "oslo will never be released" probably because that's true, it will be called the Tungsten T (yuck!). Maybe they should call it the TT (no audi has that)or the T sqaured (sounds geekish)or T2 (a pretty good movie) or whatever.

one last note: Release in Late October? Come on guys I was hoping it would be early september. Hurry it up with the OS5 stuff already.

RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:38:28 PM #
Sorry, the dumbest name was already taken: Clié.

I'm happy that Palm is going away from combinations of letters and numbers for product names. I've always thought that was kind of dumb. You can't build a successful marketing campaign about around "Go buy a TD7645321C!!!"

RE: I can't believe these names!
kozmo @ 8/27/2002 12:49:30 PM #
Of course they need names for new PDAS, since the firm will not be called Palm anymore... so here goes bye-bye anything like Palm M600, since they would have to call it just M600... Tungsten T is okay... what about Tunguska - that place in Siberia, where an asteroid crashed some 100 years ago? :)
RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:56:50 PM #
"You can't build a successful marketing campaign about around "Go buy a TD7645321C!!!""

I think you can. Try "BMW M3". I'd buy one.

Tungsten is also known as...
kozmo @ 8/27/2002 12:56:51 PM #
... Wolfram!

A hard, brittle, corrosion-resistant, gray to white metallic element extracted from wolframite, scheelite, and other minerals.

In Sweedish Tungsten means heavy stone... hope it won't be a brick like handera ;)

RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:56:57 PM #
Kozmo is right - It is the company name that is changing. When AT&T spit you did not have an
AT&T and AT&TSource because once the companies are separate they are forced to fight for their trademarks. Palm will probably remain the name of the OS however the Palm hardware company will have a different name.
RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 1:00:19 PM #
Tungsten is a kind of lighting that is fluorescent like.
RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 1:20:45 PM #
Tungsten is an aweful name no matter what it means.
Zire sounds much better to me.
RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 1:42:33 PM #
Name sucks and so BMW's.
RE: I can't believe these names!
jjsoh @ 8/27/2002 2:04:28 PM #
: "You can't build a successful marketing campaign about
: around "Go buy a TD7645321C!!!"
:
: I think you can. Try "BMW M3". I'd buy one.

Oh no, another car analogy! Hehehe.. Just kidding. Though I really wish we could stop using cars as an example, this does illustrate a good point.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but BMW M3 is universally recognized. When someone speaks of a BMW M3, everyone worldwide knows what car he's talking about. If you speak of a Mitsubishi 3000GT, people in the USA know, but what about Japan? It's called the GTO over there. Who would know that besides car enthusiasts and/or hobbyists? The general public probably doesn't.

Which brings me to my point. When you speak of m515 or m500, that translates to the same product worldwide and is easily recognizable no matter where you are. Hence, marketing may be more effective instead of having to localize names to fit each respective market in each country.

So wouldn't more neutral naming schemes (i.e. letters and numbers) work better to make it easier to both domestic and international market? Sure it loses that personal touch.. that certain "quelque chose."

Then again, I'm no marketing major so what do I know. :)

Jim

RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 2:44:59 PM #
Tungsten - its one of those 2 1/2 syllable words that makes your brain has to pause in the middle of pronouncing it. Not catchy by any means.
RE: I can't believe these names!
quacksalve @ 8/27/2002 3:32:36 PM #
My husband laughed and called me a nerd yesterday when I said I wanted an m515 to replace my m130. (Apparently he likes nerds, though, so I'm okay with that.)

I'm not sure asking for a Tungsten T is any cooler though.

RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 4:24:16 PM #
tungsten is the material that is found in the coils of light bulbs. maybe palm has a bright idea for the new release. like strong battery life and vibrant true 16bit screens... i know palm will prevail.
mofo muffin!
RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 4:52:16 PM #
At least Sony is being creative with their name.... CLIÉ (Communication, Link, Information, Entertainment)
Maybe it's a new channel strategy
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 4:55:57 PM #
The new names reflect a strategy to sell their handhelds at IKEA i/o the typical Best Buys and CompUSA. That way they get 100% of the furniture shopping market to themselves.
RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 5:05:26 PM #
If Ikea ever started selling PDA, these would fit right in!
RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 9:41:25 PM #
"tungsten is the material that is found in the coils of light bulbs. maybe palm has a bright idea for the new release. like strong battery life and vibrant true 16bit screens... i know palm will prevail.
mofo muffin!"

Too bad that tungsten may not be as strong as it is after a period of usage. I do hope that Palm can really pull this one out as soon as possible coz with the way other manufacturers are coming out their palm os devices, it better pray that the loyal group of customers will go back to Palm handheld.

RE: I can't believe these names!
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/28/2002 4:38:59 PM #
Tungsten is also used in the manufacture of long rod penetrators in countries where depleted uranium is banned.

4.1 ???

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:42:45 PM #
Please let's bury the defunct !
RE: 4.1 ???
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:55:16 PM #
Stop trolling. There's no point in running OS5 if it doesn't do any of the new things OS5 supports. This is your basic address book / organiser. This is all some people really need.
RE: 4.1 ???
useybird @ 8/27/2002 1:57:07 PM #
Are you kidding? The m100 is better than this poor excuse for a Palm handheld. If the LEH was color it would probably be 8-bit like the IIIc. This LEH is a step backwards and an embarrassment to the Palm name.

----------------------------------------
Senioritis: The chronic inflammation of the Senior.
RE: 4.1 ???
abosco @ 8/27/2002 2:22:39 PM #
Useybird PLEASE stop bringing this subject up. You were wrong in the forums and you do not need to bring it up elsewhere. Just drop it and move on.

(This program has performed an illegal operation and needs to close) "But I only went to microsoft.com! Oh..."

False rumor

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:30:56 PM #
Palm needs to change their company name not their product name. Palm's recent trademark applications (if read carefully) reveal that these new trademarks are replacement names for the company not product names. The reason is simple. Once the external spit is completed federal and international trademark laws will not allow Palm and Palmsource to dilute and confuse each others trademark without the threat of losing those marks. There is no way that both companies can retain the word Palm in their name. Therefore, after the split one of the divisions will have a completely new name.

RE: False rumor
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:51:46 PM #
+1 Insightful
RE: False rumor
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 1:23:00 PM #
Why can't they do both? If they change their company name to Handhelds-R-Us, they don't have to release the Handhelds-R-Us m600. Handspring has always had different company and product names. It wasn't called the Handspring Prism, it was the Visor Prism from Handspring.

It's also possible that PalmSource will licence the word "Palm" to the Solutions Group, allowing them to become PalmSolutions, or something like that.

RE: False rumor
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 1:52:27 PM #
Very good reasoning however I doubt that Palm would allow their corporate name te be controled by a license. They may license the name Palm for some things but for legal reasons one division must drop Palm from it's name. I seriously doubt that the new trademarks are to be used for product names. Those names are needed at least as alternatives prior to the split.

Right now tt looks like the hardware division will be the one to change names.

Bluetooth and 802.11

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 12:46:04 PM #
Bluetooth, wasn't that a failure? How about they release a 802.11 MMC/SD card? One cool thing about Bluetooth is you can chat within range of another person having a Bluetooth module. Sony sure is making a lot of people angry by not even releasing any information with their Bluetooth peripheral for the Clie` series
RE: Bluetooth and 802.11
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 1:24:28 PM #
How could bluetooth have failed when it hasn't even be tried extensively?
RE: Bluetooth and 802.11
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 1:30:08 PM #
The 802.11 vs. Bluetooth debate has reached Holy War status. It is almost as bad at Windows vs. Mac or Palm vs. PPC.

What the 802.11 fans aren't taking into account is that it isn't suitable for a handheld yet. The battery drain is too much. You can get 802.11 add-ons for your PPC and they all need large external batteries to give you anything like usable battery life.

Bluetooth may be 1/10th the range and 1/10th the speed, but it is about 1/20th the power requirements.

It almost mirrors the Palm vs. PPC war. 802.11 promises much more capability but it is large, expensive, and runs out of power too soon. Bluetooth has less capabilities but what it does do, it does very well and in a small package without draining its batteries.

RE: Bluetooth and 802.11
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 3:12:09 PM #
>>Bluetooth, wasn't that a failure?

Yes - thats why Palm is releasing a device with built in BT, HP has already released a BT ready iPaq, and BT phones are on now the market with many more to follow. Yes a complete failure. Stop trolling.

PS - There's really no war here - they are meant for different things. Don't believe me? Then tell me: when do you expect 802.11b phone or - better yet - wireless 802.11b headphones? Get over it kiddies.

802.11 NOT a one-size-fits-all technology
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 3:38:35 PM #
Right on the mark guys. Although with all the 802.11 hype we will see more pda makers coming out with (enterprise orientated; as i call it) pda's with integrated (battery sapping; runs 1 hour 45 with) 802.11. We will see new 802.11 products like 802.11 SDIO cards, 802.11 phones etc. with "lower power" (?) as they call it. I wonder. 802.11 wasn't developed for being a wireless low power technology, so it has to come from somewhere????? Less Mbps????

More on: 802.11 NOT one-size-fits-all technology
http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=PALM&read=38459

RE: Bluetooth and 802.11
dmkozak @ 8/27/2002 3:39:54 PM #
One problem with anonymous posting is you don't know if it is the same person posting the same thing over and over. If you are not the same person who continually posts "isn't bluetooth a failure?", then you are, simply, ignorant of the bluetooth facts. Or, if you are the same person who continually posts "isn't bluetooth a failure?", well, I'd love to call you a troll, but since you have been told time after time how bluetooth works, it's strengths and weaknesses, you can only be lower than a troll and you should be referred to as that portion of carbon-based life forms' anatomy designed to facilitate the excretement of waste!
RE: Bluetooth and 802.11
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/27/2002 3:40:22 PM #
"What the 802.11 fans aren't taking into account is that it isn't suitable for a handheld yet. The battery drain is too much. You can get 802.11 add-ons for your PPC and they all need large external batteries to give you anything like usable battery life."

Pardon? with powersaving on my Symbol CF card uses at most 20-40 mA. Just about any other i/o device I use is going to use that much as well if not more. Certainly the back/sidelighting on any PDA is going to use at least that much (and as much as 2-3 times more), and be used as much or more as the WiFi radio. And yet we don't decide that back/sidelighting isn't suitable for a handheld yet.

PocketPC's may well need supplemental battery support even when using the same WiFi cards, we use on PalmOS PDA's, but that has more to do with what the StrongARM processor is doing in the background than the actual current draw of the radio itself. And that's not a factor on our hardware, as evidenced by the results.

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