Palm is set to distance itself from its top-selling consumer brands by losing the Zire and Tungsten prefixes to its handsets. Colin Holloway, Palm’s Northern European marketing manager, informed WL, “We introduced the brand names at a time when it looked highly unlikely we could reclaim the Palm name. Now that we’ve reverted to our original name, we felt the brand names weren’t as powerful as simply using Palm.”
While the names by no longer be a prominent, their presence can still be felt in the latest handsets. The Palm Z22 (£79 inc. VAT) is a neat, entry-level model designed for users who don’t really care about technology merely about getting the job done. So, you’ll find a 160 x 160 (CSTN) colour screen – the first colour PDA at this price point - a 200MHz Samsung processor and 32MB of memory. Weighing 98g, the simple handset has no expansion slot and is powered and synchronised using the same Mini-USB port.
Palm TX
The TX (£199 inc. VAT) is a replacement for the Tungsten T5, with the main difference being the addition of Wi-Fi and the reduction of memory from 256MB to 128MB non-volatile memory. Customer feedback has driven this change, along with the need to hit a more attractive price point. Powered by an Intel 312MHz XScale processor, you’ll also find 320 x 480-pixel colour display, Bluetooth and SD expansion in a handset weighing 108g.
