The fall lineup: the Zire and Tungsten T offer educators affordability and functionality.Educators and students now have more choices than ever with the debut of two new models into the Palm family of handheld computers A computing device that can be easily held in one hand while the other hand is used to operate it. The Palm devices are a popular example. See Palm, smartphone and palmtop. . The Zire handheld The Zire Series is Palm, Inc's "consumer-grade" brand of Personal Digital Assistant. Background/Overview The lower-end models emphasize price — Palm's original Zire model was the first PDA under $100 from a major manufacturer — and the higher-end models is a great way to get started--it's sporty sport·y adj. sport·i·er, sport·i·est 1. Appropriate for sport or participation in sports. 2. Exhibiting sportsmanship; sporting. 3. Flashy; jazzy. , light and at $99, it's the most affordable handheld yet. The Tungsten tungsten (tŭng`stən) [Swed.,=heavy stone], metallic chemical element; symbol W; at. no. 74; at. wt. 183.85; m.p. about 3,410°C;; b.p. 5,660°C;; sp. gr. 19.3 at 20°C;; valence +2, +3, +4, +5, or +6. T introduces increased power and speed in a sleek, compact device that supports wireless, voice and multimedia capabilities. "These models join a versatile line-up of Palm handhelds," says Mike Lorion, vice president of education at Palm, "so students, teachers and administrators can select the right tool for the right job." Students can choose a handheld that allows them to manage activities, take notes, calculate, sketch ideas, collect data, access resources and beam information to others. Teachers may look to a solution to help them with teaching, productivity, testing, assessment, classroom management and grading. Administrators need to manage their time and appointments, but may also be interested in the ability to have wireless access to e-mail and important district information or to do voice recordings. Palm is committed to providing a wide range of powerful and mobile tools for communicating and managing information, and for extending the boundaries of teaching and learning beyond the school building. Zire: Easy and Affordable Palm Zire is the most affordable and lightest weight handheld to debut. Sporting an all-new design, it features classic, proven Palm functionality with a price of $99--the first major introduction at the sub-$100 price point. "Palm Zire is an excellent entry-level handheld for education," says Lotion lotion /lo·tion/ (lo´shun) a liquid suspension, solution, or emulsion for external application to the body. lo·tion n. 1. . "Students will like the new sleek and simple design that makes it easy to use and to carry with them wherever they go. It also includes all the basic functions they need, at a price they can afford." Palm Zire is the lightest weight Palm handheld offered--just 3.8 ounces. Its distinctive polished white face and silver back lend a visual simplicity and elegance. It also boasts a removable flip lid to protect the 160 x 160 monochrome Also called "mono." Refers to display screens that use one foreground and one background color; for example, black on white, white on black or green on black. The first terminals connected to mainframes and minicomputers were monochrome, and monochrome screens were widely used on early display screen. Plus, a new two-button design makes it easy for students to quickly access important information. Everything you need to get started comes in the package, including the rechargeable re·charge tr.v. re·charged, re·charg·ing, re·charg·es To charge again, especially to reenergize a storage battery. re handheld, desktop software for the PC or Macintosh, and cables. Entering information is easy: use Graffiti, Palm's simplified alphabet, tap the on-screen keyboard An on-screen keyboard, or virtual keyboard, is a graphical computer keyboard that enables people with physical disabilities to use a computer. If a person is not able to push the keys on an ordinary keyboard, he or she can push the keys on a virtual keyboard (picture) shown , or type your information into your computer and then transfer it onto your handheld. Zire features Palm's personal information management applications that allow students to keep track of critical information, like class projects, tests and extracurricular activities. Learners can share files or applications wirelessly--beamed via infrared--with their teacher's or classmates' handhelds. And students can expand the Zire's functionality with more than 13,000 commercially available Palm OS software applications, including 700 education-specific solutions. Tungsten T: Powerful & Compact The Palm Tungsten T is a powerful new handheld that provides educators with style and robust features. This most-compact Palm handheld ever sports a number of breakthroughs: a new slider A block of material that holds the read/write head of a magnetic disk. See flying head. design, five-way navigation for one-hand operation, plus one-touch voice recording. Information has never been easier to find or to record. "Teachers and administrators will appreciate the Tungsten T's all-in-one, integrated technologies," explains Lorion. "They'll also be drawn to the capabilities that will more easily connect them to the information they need to do their work, wherever they are and whenever they need it." The first Palm-branded handheld built with the Palm OS 5 and Texas Instrument's OMAP OMAP Office of Medical Assistance Programs (Oregon Department of Human Services) OMAP Open Multimedia Applications Platform (Texas Instruments semiconductor operating system) processor, Palm Tungsten T delivers a new class of speed and efficiency. Educators can now enjoy faster interaction with popular productivity software, such as Excel, PowerPoint and Word. A new ultra-sharp 320x320 color screen brings definition to presentations, spreadsheets and images. The Tungsten T handheld's new operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. , Palm OS 5, is optimized for a wide range of multimedia and wireless capabilities. Educators can take fuller advantage of the graphics and video solutions that are increasingly part of the curriculum. In addition, Palm Tungsten T has MP3 capabilities. With stereo-quality (WAV) sound and a stereo headphone See headphones. jack, Palm Tungsten T users can download and listen to their favorite tunes. Built-in Bluetooth technology allows school staff to access e-mail and connect to the Internet with the use of a compatible mobile phone or Bluetooth hub. (This requires a Bluetooth hub or a Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone and an ISP (1) See in-system programmable. (2) (Internet Service Provider) An organization that provides access to the Internet. Connection to the user is provided via dial-up, ISDN, cable, DSL and T1/T3 lines. , both sold separately.) Bluetooth, a short-range wireless technology, is also becoming an important tool for creating interactive learning environments. For example, teachers can use it to poll students for answers in real time to determine how well they understand the material just covered. The built-in voice recorder A digital, handheld device that is used to record short reminders. Very lightweight and typically using AAA batteries, such devices use flash memory to hold up to 100 messages and more. Messages can be retrieved sequentially or by direct access by message number. See microcassette. of the Tungsten T allows educators to quickly capture ideas and facts. Teachers will find it makes assessment and class observations a breeze, while administrators are likely to appreciate its utility most when on the run between meetings and appointments. Moreover, users can customize and extend the capabilities of Palm Tungsten T with Palm's dual-expansion technology. This includes the Palm Expansion Card Slot A socket for inserting a printed circuit board or a PC Card (CardBus card). See PC Card. for SD, SDIO See SDIO card. and MultiMediaCard cards, and the Universal Connector for hardware add-ons. The Tungsten T comes with 16MB of memory, which means administrators could carry the school's student database on their handhelds, with records all in one place and accessible from anywhere. The Tungsten T capabilities provide easy, mobile access to student information systems and offer fast and efficient ways to manage schedules and datebook date·book n. A notebook or calendar for listing appointments, events, and other work-related or social information. activities, distribute course syllabi syl·la·bi n. A plural of syllabus. and handouts to students, deliver classroom presentations, and use database applications to create and distribute reference material. Education Purchase Program In addition to offering new handheld choices for educators, Palm has announced the Education Purchase Program. It offers purchase benefits to schools implementing handheld technology in classroom sets, larger school projects and campus-wide initiatives. It also promotes equity among students by making additional handheld computers available. The Education Purchase Program is open to all K-12 schools, colleges and universities in the U.S. and is available for all models. "One-to-one computing is not just about having access to computers. It's having the technology available to support innovative teaching and learning and to connect students to the information they need to do their work," says Mike Lorion, Palm's vice president of education. "In the past, cost has been a tremendous barrier. Now, with the cost of handhelds starting at under $100, it's an ideal that is well within reach. Two years ago, Palm made a commitment to help educators achieve this goal. The Education Purchase Program reflects the investment Palm has made in understanding what educators need to deploy the technology effectively." Schools have the option of three purchasing levels in the Education Purchase Program: * Classroom Level provides schools purchasing 30 Palm handhelds with three free additional handhelds. * School Project Level provides schools that purchase 100 Palm handhelds with an additional 12 free units. * Campus-Wide Adoption Level provides schools that purchase 500 Palm handhelds with an additional 72 free units. The Education Purchase Program is available from authorized au·thor·ize tr.v. au·thor·ized, au·thor·iz·ing, au·thor·iz·es 1. To grant authority or power to. 2. To give permission for; sanction: Palm resellers in the U.S. For more information, visit www.palm.com/education. Tungsten T Palm's Tungsten T comes bundled with 18 productivity, communication and entertainment applications. Here is a sample of what is included: PRODUCTIVITY DataViz' Documents To Go 4.0 Professional Edition--lets users read and edit Microsoft Word A full-featured word processing program for Windows and the Macintosh from Microsoft. Included in the Microsoft application suite, it is a sophisticated program with rudimentary desktop publishing capabilities that has become the most widely used word processing application on the market. and Excel documents, and read and share Microsoft PowerPoint presentations CopyTalk--allows subscribers to access their e-mail and then dictate replies or new e-mails plus organizer entries over the phone Handmark MobileDB--allows users to view and edit any table or spreadsheet-like information Infinity Softworks powerOne Personal calculator--matches the calculating power of popular stand-alone calculators Chapura PocketMirror 3.0--lets users synchronize See synchronization. the calendar, contacts, tasks and notes with Microsoft Outlook For the e-mail and news client bundled with certain versions of Microsoft Windows, see . Microsoft Outlook or Outlook (full name Microsoft Office Outlook for Windows COMMUNICATION (for use with Palm Tungsten T and a Bluetooth-enabled phone or hub) Palm WAP (1) (Wireless Access Point) See access point. (2) (Wireless Application Protocol) A standard for providing cellular phones, pagers and other handheld devices with secure access to e-mail and text-based Web pages. Browser--Palm's Web clipping (1) Extracting a smaller amount of text and graphic elements from a Web page in order to display effectively on a handheld Web appliance. Web clipping often uses a predefined form, or template, into which the extracted data are placed. technology is a fast way to capture information from more than 450 popular Web sites Palm Web Browser The program that serves as your front end to the Web on the Internet. In order to view a site, you type its address (URL) into the browser's Location field; for example, www.computerlanguage.com, and the home page of that site is downloaded to you. Pro--a full-featured HTML HTML in full HyperText Markup Language Markup language derived from SGML that is used to prepare hypertext documents. Relatively easy for nonprogrammers to master, HTML is the language used for documents on the World Wide Web. browser that gives users access to any URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. on the Internet Palm SMS--Short Message Service technology enables users to send and receive short text messages via a GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) A digital cellular phone technology based on TDMA that is the predominant system in Europe, but also used worldwide. Developed in the 1980s, GSM was first deployed in seven European countries in 1992. mobile phone Palm VersaMail 2.0--This software enables sending and receiving e-mail using any network connection (e.g., Bluetooth, 802.11). Windows users can synchronize their e-mail with many popular desktop mail clients Palm Dialer--Contains a speed-dial function for numbers used most often Palm Phone Link Updater--automatically pairs Palm Tungsten T to a compatible Bluetooth mobile phone Palm BlueBoard--a whiteboard-style application that allows groups to collaborate and share information via their Bluetooth-enabled handhelds Palm BlueChat--a private messaging and chat software application that allows discussions between Bluetooth-enabled handhelds ENTERTAINMENT ArcSoft PhotoBase Palm Edition--a photo editor with other photo-entertainment programs, project makers and more Handmark MagicDogs--This card game pack includes War and Hearts, and supports multiple players Handmark Monopoly, Handmark Scrabble Scrabble Game in which two to four players compete in forming words with lettered wooden tiles on a 225-square board. Words spelled out by letters on the tiles interlock like words in a crossword puzzle. Words are scored by adding up the point values of their letters. Palm Reader--the leading eBook reader for Palm OS-based devices lets users read eBooks and view text files
PALM HANDHELDS COMPARISON
Model Zire m125
Palm OS v4.1 v4.0
Internet capability no yes
Sync to desktop e-mail no yes
Expansion card slot no yes
Universal connector w/ USB support yes yes
Weight 3.8 oz. 5.3 oz.
Upgradable flash ROM no no
Memory 2MB 8MB
Battery type rechargeable replaceable
lithium AAA
Display type grayscale grayscale
Voice recorder no no
Special connectivity features
SRP $99 $149
Model m130 m515
Palm OS v4.1 v4.1
Internet capabitity yes yes
Sync to desktop e-mail yes yes
Expansion card slot yes yes
Universal connector w/ USB support yes yes
Weight 5.4 oz. 4.9 oz.
Upgradable flash ROM no yes
Memory 8MB 16MB
Battery type rechargeable rechargeable
lithium lithium
Display type color color active
160x160 TFT 160X160
Voice recorder no no
Special connectivity features
SRP $249 $399
Model Tungsten T i705
Palm OS v5.0 v4.1
Internet capability yes yes
Sync to desktop e-mail yes yes
Expansion card slot yes yes
Universal connector w/ USB support yes yes
Weight 6.0 oz. 5.9 oz.
Upgradable flash ROM yes yes
Memory 16MB 8MB
Battery type rechargeable rechargeable
lithium lithium
Display type color active grayscale
TFT 320x320
Voice recorder yes no
Special connectivity features integrated integrated
bluetooth wireless radio
SRP $499 $399
Gina Adams Palmer, ginapalmer@mac.com, is a freelance technology writer based in San Jose, California San Jose (IPA: /ˌsænhoʊˈzeɪ/) is the third-largest city in California, and the tenth-largest in the United States. It is the county seat of Santa Clara County. . |
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