David Shapshak
After Mac users, the most fanatical followers of a computing platform must be those who own a Palm handheld.
Like Apple, Palm has been around longer than their combined competitor Microsoft and pride themselves on their simpler, more robust operating systems (OS). In Palm’s case, neither are idle boasts.
Still the dominant force in the personal digital assistant (PDA) market, Palm have built on their reputation of being easy to use by adding much of the functionality, with recent OS updates, of the PocketPC, the Windows-based equivalent that is individually made by all the big-name computer brands.
In releasing their newest high-end handheld device, Palm have demonstrated a much faster turn-around time than previously (they were accused of being caught napping with the last launch and a resultant overload of stock, although the effects of the global downturn also impacted) and a range of competitive features.
The new m515 has an expanded 16 megabytes of memory (up from 8 megabytes), which caters to the increasing amount of data being stored on such mobile devices, especially versions of popular documents like Word, Excel and PowerPoint converters for which Palm introduced as standard last year.
Its bright colour screen supports more than 65000 colours and now has the choice to adjust its brightness (off, low and high). It still has a dual-expansion slot for the postage stamp-sized SD and MultiMediaCard cards, which provide either extra memory, additional software (such as books, games or city guides) or a means to transport data between other gadgets, such as digital cameras.
Version 4.1 of the Palm operating system recently spun off as a separate division of Palm as it sells the OS to other manufacturers, including Sony and Handspring has support for the burgeoning wireless technology that lets mobile users access their e-mail and the Internet; as well as enhanced security features. And the Palm still weighs only 139g.
Palm is clearly differentiating itself by playing to its core strengths in a war for market share in one of the fastest-growing computer segments: hand-helds.
“A Palm is an extension to your PC. That’s the fundamental part of Palm and its success,” says Palm country manager Sean Heyes. “Some of the other devices have crammed all the bells and whistles into it.”
“If you throw more into it you’re compromising what you have battery life. We’ve managed to keep a 33Mhz processor and still managed to be seven times faster than competitors,” he adds of its Motorola 33Mhz processor, compared to the Pocket PC average 256Mhz processor.
Heyes also addresses a much broader issue that is raging in the mobile and hand-held market: is it better to have an all-in-one device (such as Nokia’s 9210 Communicator, a larger phone-PDA combo) or two companion devices that can be used together?
Palm is clearly opting for the latter and provides a “two piece solution” (in South Africa at least another wireless Palm is available in the United States). But it has included a variety of features that make compatibility easier. Chief of these is Bluetooth, the much-anticipated wire-replacing radio technology that lets electronic devices communicate without wires or the line-of-sight infrared that has been used until now. With its very low power consumption and range of 10m, it is ideally suited to linking a Palm and phone, lets Palms talk to other Palms, or a local area network (LAN). Pilot projects (in the United Kingdom and Japan) let train commuters access a Bluetooth wireless network on their way to or from work.
This new generation of Palms is thankfully standardising all the ports with a universal connector, so that users of different models can use the same accessories. These include a nifty foldout keyboard, a clip-on LAN cradle by Portsmith, a Xircom wireless LAN module, a Bluetooth connector, BlueM, from TDK; as well as the Kodak PalPix camera and a thumb pad that can be used for typing SMSs.
The OS includes an SMS typing program and drivers that will let it run through a range of current cellphones, making this popular form of texting more convenient as it is easier to type up something on the Palm’s largest screen than to “thumb” it on the cellphone’s keypad. Other cellphone functionalities, such as a WAP browser, are also built-in, as is the latest version of its eBook reader, which lets you read digital versions of books.