Handheld

New Innovations - Slider Design, One-handed 5-way Navigation and Ultrasharp

Display - Focus on What Matters to Users

MILPITAS, Calif., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Delivering power and precision to professionals worldwide, Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today introduced the Palm™ Tungsten™ T handheld, a smart and pocketable business device. Mobile professionals with a taste for innovation and excellence are expected to upgrade or switch to a Palm Tungsten T handheld for business-critical functionality in an industrial-strength handheld computer.

The Palm Tungsten T handheld is the most compact Palm branded handheld on the market today and is built for what matters most to handheld users. The Palm Tungsten T handheld's design and software integration deliver smooth, one-handed data management, while new processing power and a new operating system supercharge applications -- making them faster and more efficient. A high-resolution 320x320 color display delivers a great viewing experience, and integrated Bluetooth wireless communication capabilities enable users to communicate with other Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as printers, PCs or other handhelds.

The Palm Tungsten T handheld is business and communications power personified in a smart, compact device, said Todd Bradley, president and chief executive officer of Palm Solutions. It's about the data, not the desktop. We don't stuff unnecessary PC capabilities into a smaller box; we adapt technology to what matters most to people. With the Palm Tungsten T handheld, professionals can be productive wherever they are.

Palm research shows that Palm Tungsten T handheld capabilities are precisely what savvy, discerning customers want -- full functionality for popular business file formats such as Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word, expandability for the latest applications, and wireless connectivity. Palm Tungsten T handheld customers are strong advocates of new, well-crafted technology. They are entrepreneurs, telecommuters and executives on the move and dependent on mobile devices to excel at work. An estimated 37 million people fit this description, and are expected to be the earliest converts to the Palm Tungsten T handheld's precision and power.(1)

Command of Information

The Palm Tungsten T handheld packages convenience for people on the go. Its breakthrough slider design, 5-way navigation and one-touch voice recording deliver ease of use. One-touch voice recording lets users easily capture and record voice memos, and later email them from their desktop computers.

The navigation and application buttons reside on the new slider, which glides open when users need to input data using Palm's Graffiti® alphabet. For simply viewing and navigating information, which makes up approximately 90 percent of most handheld users' activities, the slider can remain closed, leaving the device in its most compact state most of the time.

The new one-handed 5-way navigator activates up, down, left and right, and select. With the navigator, users can easily launch applications and view information. Classic Palm PIM (Personal Information Management) applications -- Date Book, Address Book, Note Pad and To Do List -- have been updated to take advantage of the 5-way navigation with functionality such as Look Up, which lets users more efficiently find names and phone numbers.

Supercharged Applications

The first Palm branded handheld built with Palm OS® 5 and Texas Instruments' OMAP1510 processor, the Palm Tungsten T handheld delivers a new class of performance and power efficiency. Users can now enjoy faster interaction with data-intensive documents, and use Palm's new updated fonts for better viewing. The Palm Tungsten T handheld has the power to run rich multimedia features and software applications, such as short video clips, digital audio files or photos, and interactive games. In addition, the Palm Tungsten T handheld's easy-to-read, crisp color screen -- Palm's sharpest screen to date -- brings new definition to presentations, spreadsheets and images.

Wireless Communication

Built-in Bluetooth gives Palm Tungsten T handheld users the freedom to wirelessly access email and the Internet via compatible Bluetooth-enabled phones.(2) Palm Tungsten T handhelds also can communicate with other Bluetooth-enabled devices, such as printers, PCs or other handhelds. The Palm Tungsten T handheld includes a suite of phone drivers for the most popular Bluetooth phones on the market, so wirelessly connecting to a Bluetooth-enabled phone now becomes much easier than before.

Built for Expansion

Users can customize and extend the capabilities of the Palm Tungsten T handheld with Palm's dual-expansion technology, which includes the Palm Expansion Slot for SD Cards, SDIO and MultiMediaCard media (postage-stamp-sized cards that allow users to access important information without sacrificing valuable memory space), and the Palm Universal Connector for hardware add-ons. Palm's dual-expansion technology enables users to back up their handhelds on the go; add new software, business applications, or memory; and attach peripherals, such as a keyboard, a GPS receiver, or a Microsoft PowerPoint presenter.

In a separate release today, Palm announced the Palm Ultra-Thin Keyboard, a full-size, collapsible touch-typeable keyboard. The sleek keyboard remains rigid when in use and then collapses smoothly into a compact stainless steel package. A complete list of Palm expansion cards and add-ons is available at http://www.palm.com/products/accessories/  .

Application Software

The Palm Tungsten T handheld comes bundled with 19 productivity, communication and entertainment applications. A complete list and description of applications is available at http://www.palm.com/products/handhelds/tungsten-t/inthebox.html  .

Memory and Battery Life

The Palm Tungsten T handheld is a 16MB device with 14MB of actual storage capacity. Users also have the ability to store additional applications and documents on SD Cards via the Palm Expansion Slot. With an internal, rechargeable lithium ion battery, the Palm Tungsten T handheld lasts up to one week with basic PIM usage at default brightness before recharging.

Pricing and Availability

The Palm Tungsten T handheld is $499 (estimated U.S. street price). All products are available immediately worldwide and online at The Palm Store (http://store.palm.com  ).

About Palm, Inc.

Information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com/aboutpalm  .

(1)  Source:  March 2002 Maritz:  Thompson Lightstone US only segmentation study.

(2)  Internet access requires an ISP account, which may or may not be provided by the wireless carrier.

NOTE:  Palm OS and Graffiti are registered trademarks and Palm and Tungsten are trademarks of Palm, Inc. Other brands may be trademarks of their respective owners.