The Tungsten series was
Palm, Inc.'s line of business-class
Palm OS
Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...
-based
PDAs.
Details
The
Tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...
series was introduced in October 2002, created as a "prosumer" line priced at $199 to $300 to compete with the popular
Sony Clie and
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants.
Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...
PDAs. The first device in the line is the Tungsten T, making it the first Palm PDA to be labeled with a letter rather than a number and to run Palm OS 5.
All of the Tungsten PDAs have a few attributes in common:
* 65,536 color
LCD
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but i ...
touch screen with a minimum 320 x 320 pixel resolution
* metal or metal-toned enclosure
* available flip cover to protect the screen
*
Secure Digital (SD) card slot with
SDIO SDIO may refer to:
* Secure Digital Input Output, a type of Secure Digital card interface. It can be used as an interface for input or output devices.
* Strategic Defense Initiative Organization
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisivel ...
for memory cards and accessories
* no built-in camera
All models except the Tungsten C, W, and E have built-in
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limit ...
wireless capabilities, while the Tungsten C and TX feature built-in
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio w ...
connectivity. Furthermore, by using the optional Palm Wi-Fi
Secure_Digital#SDIO_cards Card accessory, the T3, T5, and E2 can also gain Wi-Fi connectivity.
With the exception of the Tungsten W, all Tungsten PDAs run
Palm OS
Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...
5 "Garnet" on an
ARM processor and have non-user-replaceable
lithium-ion
A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also see ...
batteries. Some users replaced battery packs with third-party units. The T3, for example, shipped with a 900 mAh capacity battery but third-party 1100 mAh or 1150 mAh
LI-poly batteries of the same physical dimensions were available. Tungsten models used a five-way navigator pad, in the shape of a rounded rectangle, circle, or oval and had four buttons for built-in
applications
Application may refer to:
Mathematics and computing
* Application software, computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks
** Application layer, an abstraction layer that specifies protocols and interface methods used in a c ...
.
The
Palm Universal Connector
The Universal Connector was a standard port fitted to the bottom of many Palm PDA's from 2001 to 2004 and on units from other manufacturers that licensed Palm technology, including Garmin.
Out of the box, it is used to connect to the sync and char ...
is used by the Tungsten T, Tungsten T2, Tungsten T3, Tungsten C, Tungsten W, for cradles and accessories, while the Tungsten E uses a mini-USB connection; the Tungsten T5, Tungsten E2 and TX used an
Athena Connector also known as the Palm Multi-Connector.
All Tungsten handhelds come bundled with Dataviz'
Documents To Gooffice suite and some version o
Kinoma Player with the exception of the Tungsten W.
Models
Tungsten E
Palm's Tungsten E was the cheapest of the Tungsten series, and as such, has been one of the most successful. It has 32
megabytes
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix ''mega'' is a multiplier of (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes ...
of memory, a
Texas Instruments OMAP
The OMAP (Open Multimedia Applications Platform) family, developed by Texas Instruments, was a series of image/ video processors. They are proprietary system on chips (SoCs) for portable and mobile multimedia applications. OMAP devices generally ...
(ARM) 126 MHz processor, a 2 1/8 x 2 1/8 inch (54 x 54 mm) transreflective
TFT screen, and ran
Palm OS
Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...
5.2.1. It is , and weighs .
It had a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack and a speaker in back and used a mini
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply ( interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broa ...
connector not supported by most dock accessories. At introduction, it was US$199.
The Tungsten E, released in October 2003, was intended to replace the aging
Palm m515 The Palm m500 series of handheld personal digital assistants consisted of three devices: the Palm m500, Palm m505, and Palm m515. The series was a follow-up to the popular Palm V series with a similar, though slightly shorter, footprint and form fa ...
, one of the last holdouts from Palm's old product line. The Tungsten E, though, did not include a vibrating alarm and indicator light like the
Palm m500 series had.
Since it was released at the same time as the Tungsten T3, the Tungsten E included the T3's newer PIM apps and the enhanced "agenda view" for quick viewing of to-do items and upcoming calendar items. The Tungsten E's design influenced the Tungsten T series' subsequent devices, the Tungsten T5 and the TX.
It was superseded in April 2005, when
palmOne released the Tungsten E2.
Tungsten E2
The Tungsten E2, introduced on April 13, 2005, replaced the similarly named Tungsten E, had 32 MB of memory (29.7 available), a 200 MHz
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the devel ...
XScale
XScale is a microarchitecture for central processing units initially designed by Intel implementing the ARM architecture (version 5) instruction set. XScale comprises several distinct families: IXP, IXC, IOP, PXA and CE (see more below), with some ...
processor, 320x320 Transflective
TFT color display, and ran
Palm OS
Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...
Garnet v5.4.7. It is and weighs . It had a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, a longer-lasting battery than the Tungsten E, had
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limit ...
capability, and a single speaker on the back.
Much like the Tungsten T5 and
Treo 650, it used
non-volatile
Non-volatile memory (NVM) or non-volatile storage is a type of computer memory that can retain stored information even after power is removed. In contrast, volatile memory needs constant power in order to retain data.
Non-volatile memory typi ...
flash memory, this time in the form of ''
Non-Volatile File System'', meaning that the data would be preserved even if the battery ran out. It used standard SD memory cards and was also compatible with the ''Palm Wi-Fi Card'' (sold separately). It used a standard
Athena Connector port supported only by some then-newer accessories.
When it was released, its retail price was US$249. In October 2005, the price was reduced to US$199.
Unlike other models, the ''Find'' function was limited to only the first eight matches, and the calculator incorrectly found percentages at half their actual value, though this was fixed in units shipping after April 2006.
The Tungsten E2 had the ability to use WiFi, but only as an add-on SDIO card made by PalmOne (now
TCL Corporation
TCL Technology (originally an abbreviation for Telephone Communication Limited) is a Chinese electronics company headquartered in Huizhou, Guangdong Province. It designs, develops, manufactures, and sells consumer products including televisio ...
). Palm's WiFi card was manufactured by
SyChip. Encryption is restricted to
WEP, and did not offer
WPA
WPA may refer to:
Computing
*Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard
*Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing
*Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada
* Windows Performance Ana ...
or
WPA2
Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), Wi-Fi Protected Access II (WPA2), and Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) are the three security and security certification programs developed after 2000 by the Wi-Fi Alliance to secure wireless computer networks. The All ...
.
The maximum size SD card supported on the Tungsten E2 was 1 GB due to a software limitation. In order to read larger SD and SDHC cards an upgraded driver is required. The previous model (Tungsten E) had been reported to be capable of using 2 GB SD cards.
Tungsten T
The second Tungsten, the Tungsten T, introduced in November 2002 and known during development as the M550, was the first model to use
Palm OS
Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...
5. The Tungsten T was designed by Palm engineers based in
Arlington Heights,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...
.
It had:
* 16
megabytes
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix ''mega'' is a multiplier of (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes ...
of memory,
*
Texas Instruments OMAP
The OMAP (Open Multimedia Applications Platform) family, developed by Texas Instruments, was a series of image/ video processors. They are proprietary system on chips (SoCs) for portable and mobile multimedia applications. OMAP devices generally ...
(ARM) 144 MHz processor,
* built-in microphone for voice memos,
* dedicated voice memo button,
* vibrating alarms,
* standard 3.5 mm headphone jack,
* one front-facing speaker,
* indicator light,
*
Palm OS
Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...
5.0
It is tall, tall with the slider extended, by wide by thick, and weighs .
Its design set itself apart from other PDAs by having a sliding lower portion; the bottom third of the casing could be slid up and down to cover or reveal the touch-sensitive
Graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
writing area. At introduction, it was US$499.
Many of the features in the Tungsten T were Palm firsts. It was the first Palm PDA to use a version of Palm OS 5 and an
ARM processor, which meant that it had the software and processing power for high-quality real-time video playback and
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Orig ...
playback.
It was also the first Palm PDA with a:
* 320 × 320 resolution screen
*
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limit ...
wireless communications radio built-in
* microphone with a dedicated voice memo button
* front-facing speaker instead of rear-facing
* telescoping stylus
* reset hole large enough to be pressed by the included stylus' tip instead of a pin as with previous Palm PDAs
The slider feature was unique. When open, the Tungsten T looked like a normal slate-shaped PDA, but the bottom portion, with the five-way controller and four buttons, could slide shut, covering up the Graffiti writing area. This made it the smallest Palm PDA in height. The Tungsten T was the last Palm PDA to use the original Graffiti Version 1 handwriting recognition software. Because of a lawsuit by
Xerox Corporation
Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (having moved from Stam ...
Palm Inc. was forced to discontinue Graffiti 1 and later Palm PDAs used Graffiti Version 2. The revised software required two separate strokes for entry of some letters of the alphabet, such as the letters "t" and "k". Most all of the other letters required strokes different from those used in Graffiti 1.
Palm's reasoning behind the slider was that users spent more time viewing data rather than entering it. Thus, they chose to hide the data entry medium while not in use to make a more compact device.
The slider caused two problems with the Tungsten T. One drawback was that the Tungsten T was known for its
digitizer
DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-r ...
becoming miscalibrated after about one year of use and requiring further
recalibration. A software patch issued by Palm helped with this problem. Another problem was that the ribbon cable between the mainboard and the
digitizer
DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-r ...
connectors that tended to become loose over time, requiring disassembly to reconnect the ribbon cable for further use.
The Tungsten T was succeeded by the Tungsten T2.
Tungsten T2
The Tungsten T2, introduced in July 2003 for US$399, was simply a minor update to the Tungsten T, and had exactly the same form factor. (Save for the label and the T, T2's slightly lighter case color, they are superficially identical.) The memory was increased to 32
megabytes
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix ''mega'' is a multiplier of (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes ...
, the screen was replaced with a superior (backlight) TFT
LCD
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but i ...
of the same size and resolution, Palm OS upgraded to 5.2.1, Graffiti replaced with Graffiti2. Since it is much like the Tungsten T model, PalmOne did not sell this model in some markets, such as
mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater Chin ...
or
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
The Tungsten T2 was discontinued in April 2004, having been succeeded by the Tungsten T3.
Tungsten T3

The Tungsten T3 was the third ''T-Class'' Tungsten device, released in October 2003. It had 64 MB of memory (with 52 MB usable), a 400 MHz Intel
PXA261 processor, a new 3.7" 320x480 transflective
TFT LCD
A thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display (TFT LCD) is a variant of a liquid-crystal display that uses thin-film-transistor technology to improve image qualities such as addressability and contrast. A TFT LCD is an active matrix LCD, in con ...
touch-screen, and ran
Palm OS
Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...
version 5.2.1. It was the last product designed by the Palm engineers in Arlington Heights.
The T3 included Active Input Technology with Virtual
Graffiti 2, a
Virtual keyboard
A virtual keyboard is a software component that allows the input of characters without the need for physical keys. The interaction with the virtual keyboard happens mostly via a touchscreen interface, but can also take place in a different form ...
, and the typical Tungsten line slider. Along with many other additional features, the T3 was released with the same $399 retail price tag as the Tungsten T2 until the release of the Tungsten T5, when it was reduced to $349.
Like the Tungsten T and T2, the T3 still had a front-facing speaker, a microphone, a vibrating alarm feature, an indicator light, and all of their other features.
Like the Tungsten E, the Tungsten T3 came with an enhanced
PIM Suite which categorized all appointments and tasks on the Calendar (formerly Date Book) screen. The Enhanced PIM Software also featured an improved Task suite (formerly To Do List) which could categorize Tasks by urgency, category, etc., and an improved Contacts (formerly Address) application with picture support and more fields.
Furthermore, a new status bar appeared at the bottom of screen, giving quick access to the time, system information, home, find, menu access, alerts, Bluetooth, full-screen writing, screen rotation, and what is shown in the input area.
The Tungsten T3 came with
RealPlayer
RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player (software), media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multime ...
for Palm OS Handhelds (called ''RealOne Player for Palm OS Handhelds'' at the time of its release) in addition to a 3.5 mm Stereo Jack, making it a digital music player when used with a
Secure Digital
Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices.
The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between Sa ...
(SD) flash memory card.
The T3 had a bigger, non-round, 5-way navigation pad with the four application buttons placed around it in a circular fashion instead of in a row, breaking from Palm's traditional application button layout. Palm would return to its more traditional layout in the following Tungsten T5 and
Palm TX
The Palm TX (written as "Palm T, X" in official documentation) was a personal digital assistant which was produced by Palm, Inc. It was announced and released as part of Palm's October 2005 product cycle, and was in production until March 2009.
...
.
The T3 had a Green/Red
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (cor ...
indicator light, however Palm only used the green LED for most purposes, red only being used by certain third-party programs and libraries.
The T3 also had the
Palm Universal Connector
The Universal Connector was a standard port fitted to the bottom of many Palm PDA's from 2001 to 2004 and on units from other manufacturers that licensed Palm technology, including Garmin.
Out of the box, it is used to connect to the sync and char ...
and an included
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply ( interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broa ...
cradle. The cradle was used for both charging and synchronizing the Palm's data to a PC (With support included for
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
and
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
, but with the
pilot-link software, the unit synchronizes perfectly with a
Unix
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...
operating system).
Early criticisms of the Tungsten T3 include it electronically damaging
SD cards and its relatively low battery life (900
mA·h
An ampere hour or amp hour (symbol: A⋅h or A h; often simplified as Ah) is a unit of electric charge, having dimensions of electric current multiplied by time, equal to the charge transferred by a steady current of one ampere flowing for ...
battery, larger display and processor clocked above most other Palm handhelds). Palm addressed the
Secure Digital Card
Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices.
The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDi ...
problem by releasing a Firmware Update. After the "SD Card Patch" was applied in early (by the user via
firmware patch and later (at the manufacturing stage) releases of the Tungsten T3, no other criticisms were known to have risen from the Tungsten T3's use.
Shortly after the early 2005 release of the Tungsten T5, the Tungsten T3 was discontinued. Since then, no other Palm handhelds included a vibrating alarm, a slider to make the device smaller, or the
Palm Universal Connector
The Universal Connector was a standard port fitted to the bottom of many Palm PDA's from 2001 to 2004 and on units from other manufacturers that licensed Palm technology, including Garmin.
Out of the box, it is used to connect to the sync and char ...
.
Tungsten T5
The Tungsten T5, introduced in October 2004 and now discontinued, was aesthetically a combination of the Tungsten E and Tungsten T3. It was the first and only Tungsten to use a 416 MHz Intel
XScale PXA270 processor. It had a 320x480 TFT 16-bit Color Screen with a virtual input area. It retained the shape of the Tungsten E, but was taller, instead of the sliding bodies of the previous Tungsten T-series handhelds.
The Tungsten T5 was the first Palm PDA to have a 320x480 pixel screen without a slider mechanism as used in the Tungsten T3, T2, and T, though other brands have had sliderless HVGA displays for years. It was also the first to have 256 MB of
memory
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered ...
(versus 64 MB in the Tungsten T3), with 161.2 MB configured as a ''Flash Drive'' - accessible to computers via the device's Drive Mode feature, 63.8 MB available for applications, and 31 MB reserved for the OS. This often resulted in some confusion as the memory was not equally usable as in previous Palm PDAs.
While the Tungsten T5 was meant to be a replacement for the Tungsten T3, it lacked several features from the Tungsten T3 such as a charge-indicator LED, a vibrating alarm, an included HotSync cradle, and built in microphone for voice memos. Furthermore, its speaker became rear-facing instead of front-facing and the PDA used the then-new
Multi-Connector/Athena Connector instead of the
Palm Universal Connector
The Universal Connector was a standard port fitted to the bottom of many Palm PDA's from 2001 to 2004 and on units from other manufacturers that licensed Palm technology, including Garmin.
Out of the box, it is used to connect to the sync and char ...
. The speed of the Bluetooth connection can only be set to a maximum of 128 kbit/s.
At the time of its release, the Tungsten T5 (along with the
Treo 650) was plagued with memory inefficiency problems, third-party application issues, and device driver crashes, due to the new
Non-Volatile File System. The addition of NVFS however, brought the benefit of no longer losing all stored data in the event of a complete battery drain.
Tungsten T5 owners were encouraged to install th
Tungsten T5 1.1 Update which addressed the memory inefficiency issues alongside other operating system-level problems.
The power button was prone to reliability issues causing it to become inoperative over time, requiring the user to either use a third-party app, rely on the PDA's other physical buttons or insert a SD card which would then switch the PDA back on.
In some countries, including Australia, the Tungsten T5 was withdrawn early since the
Palm TX
The Palm TX (written as "Palm T, X" in official documentation) was a personal digital assistant which was produced by Palm, Inc. It was announced and released as part of Palm's October 2005 product cycle, and was in production until March 2009.
...
offered more advanced, built-in WiFi support, instead of requiring the optional ''Palm Wi-Fi Card'' in its one and only SD slot as many other non-Palm PDAs on the market at the time came standard with built-in WiFi.
Tungsten W
The Tungsten W (known as the i710 during its development period, and X420 at the prototype stage
Picture of a Tungsten, W and the two versions of the X420
/ref>), was introduced in February 2003. The sole smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
(PDA/cellphone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...
hybrid) in the Tungsten series, instead of running Palm OS
Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...
5 on an ARM-compatible processor, it used last-generation Palm OS
Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...
4 paired with a Motorola DragonBall processor that was typical of Palm OS 4 devices.
It had a thumb-sized hard plastic keyboard, like the Treo 600 rather than the typical silkscreen Graffiti Writing Area found on most Palm handhelds. (This form factor would be reused in the Tungsten C, except lacking the W's external antennae).
The Tungsten W focused more on its PDA half than its cellular telephony half, much like its predecessors, the Palm i705 and Palm VII. Unlike either the Palm i705 and the Palm VII (which both could only make data connections over the Mobitex
Mobitex is an OSI based open standard, national public access wireless packet-switched data network. Mobitex puts great emphasis on safety and reliability with its use by military, police, firefighters and ambulance services. It was developed in t ...
pager
A pager (also known as a beeper or bleeper) is a wireless telecommunications device that receives and displays alphanumeric or voice messages. One-way pagers can only receive messages, while response pagers and two-way pagers can also acknowl ...
network), downloads and uploads were done using comparatively-fast GPRS
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Inst ...
connections. It lacked a microphone and the speaker couldn't be used for phone calls; instead, an included ear bud and microphone loopset was used for voice calls.
A flip cover was also released that allowed the user to hold the handheld like a normal phone and talk on it, although it did obscure the screen. (In the US, it was sold exclusively by AT&T Wireless
AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and Trade name, marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobi ...
, and all Tungsten W handsets sold in the US were locked to AT&T Wireless
AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and Trade name, marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T, AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobi ...
. Canadian W's were not locked to any service provider and could operate with T-Mobile SIM cards).
It had 16 megabytes
The megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Its recommended unit symbol is MB. The unit prefix ''mega'' is a multiplier of (106) in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one megabyte is one million bytes ...
of memory, a Motorola DragonBall 33 MHz processor, vibrating alarms, indicator light, and ran Palm OS
Palm OS (also known as Garnet OS) was a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants (PDAs) in 1996. Palm OS was designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provi ...
4.1.1 (with an optional upgrade to 4.1.2) with special enhancements for its 320x320 display since most Palm OS 4 devices had 160x160 displays. It is tall by wide by thick, and weighs . It had a standard 2.5 mm headset jack, and a single rear speaker. At introduction, it retailed at US$419 before service provider subsidies.
The Tungsten W was succeeded by the Treo 600 after Palm purchased Handspring and became palmOne.
Tungsten C
The Tungsten C introduced in April 2003 was, at the time of its release, palmOne's only handheld that allowed the user to access the internet wirelessly through 802.11b Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio w ...
without the use of a card or other external device. It lacked support for the WPA
WPA may refer to:
Computing
*Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard
*Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing
*Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada
* Windows Performance Ana ...
encryption standard but did however have built in PPTP VPN support for secure connections to VPN servers.
The web browser
A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...
included was PalmSource's Web Browser 2.0. Novarra Web Pro 3.0 could be purchased as an upgrade.
Other details were its 400 MHz Intel PXA255 processor, 64 MB of memory (51 MB available for programs + 12 MB heap), built-in thumb keyboard, a five-way navigator, a Secure Digital
Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices.
The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between Sa ...
/SDIO SDIO may refer to:
* Secure Digital Input Output, a type of Secure Digital card interface. It can be used as an interface for input or output devices.
* Strategic Defense Initiative Organization
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), derisivel ...
/MultiMediaCard
The MultiMediaCard, officially abbreviated as MMC, is a memory card standard used for solid-state storage. Unveiled in 1997 by SanDisk and Siemens, MMC is based on a surface-contact low pin-count serial interface using a single memory stack s ...
slot, vibrating alarms, indicator light, and a 2.5 mm headset jack, capable of voice recording and monaural sound output with a proprietary earbud headset (sold separately).
Third-party applications and hardware were available that worked around the Tungsten C's monaural audio. For instance, a special adapter could be purchased to convert to a standard 3.5 mm jack that splits the mono output into left and right channels.
The Tungsten C was superseded by the LifeDrive Mobile Manager, the Palm TX
The Palm TX (written as "Palm T, X" in official documentation) was a personal digital assistant which was produced by Palm, Inc. It was announced and released as part of Palm's October 2005 product cycle, and was in production until March 2009.
...
, and the Treo series.
Comparison
See also
* Palm, Inc.
*Palm Pilot
The PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional are the second generation of Palm PDA devices produced by Palm Inc (then a subsidiary of U.S. Robotics, later 3Com). These devices were launched on March 10, 1997.
Accessories and pricing
Pa ...
*Palm TX
The Palm TX (written as "Palm T, X" in official documentation) was a personal digital assistant which was produced by Palm, Inc. It was announced and released as part of Palm's October 2005 product cycle, and was in production until March 2009.
...
, the first business-oriented Palm-branded handheld without the Tungsten moniker.
* Zire Series, Palm's brand of consumer-grade handhelds
* Treo Series, Palm's brand of Smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
s
*LifeDrive
The LifeDrive is a Palm OS-based handheld personal digital assistant device that was produced by PalmOne, a former incarnation of Palm, Inc. The device was PalmOne's first and only foray into the "Mobile Manager" device category. As its name su ...
, Palm's brand of ''Professional-Class Mobile Managers''
* m500 Series
* Palm Handheld Modifications to increase battery life
Competitors and contemporaries
*Dell Axim Dell Axim.
The Dell Axim family of personal digital assistants was Dell's line of Windows Mobile-powered Pocket PC Devices. The first model, the Axim X5, was introduced in 2002, while the final model, the Axim X51, was discontinued on April 9, 20 ...
*iPAQ
The iPAQ is a discontinued Pocket PC and personal digital assistant which was first unveiled by Compaq in April 2000.
HP's line-up of iPAQ devices included PDA-devices, smartphones and GPS-navigators. A substantial number of devices wer ...
* Sony CLIÉ
*Tapwave Zodiac
The Tapwave Zodiac is a mobile entertainment console. Tapwave announced the system in May 2003 and began shipping in October of that same year. The Zodiac was designed to be a high-performance mobile entertainment system centered on video games, ...
*iPod Touch
The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a music pl ...
References
External links
Palm Unveils Palm Tungsten T, the Most Compact and Powerful Palm Branded Handheld
Palm Press Release, Oct. 28, 2002
Palm Press Release (Tungsten W), Oct. 28, 2002
Palm Press Release, Jul. 23, 2003
MobileTechReview
review site and (incomplete) database of models
PalmInfoCenter
longstanding Pal
review
site
TT2T3T5
1src
large Palm OS user community
Palm Handhelds Support Pages
EE2TT2T3T5WC
list of all Palm OS versions on PalmOne handhelds
Easy to use interface (video)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tungsten (Handheld)
Palm OS devices