CNN - Two new Palms make their debut

February 23, 1999 Web posted at: 2:11 p.m. EST (1911 GMT) by Ephraim Schwartz

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Palm V Connected Organizer

(IDG) -- Millions of Palm Pilot organizers and loyalists were rewarded Monday when 3Com announced two additional product lines to the series: the Palm IIIx and Palm V.

Although a color LCD is still not in the cards, the display on both the new Palm IIIx and V will be given higher contrast, with a lighter background rather than the current dark-green hue.

Business users have been waiting for improved readability.

"Color is not too important, but a better display is," said Phil Pucci, a systems engineer at Geolinks, in Milwaukee.

Software differences between the two new units are minimal. The Palm V device adds a contrast-control button and offers a pull-down menu for modem controls for 27 countries. Both 3Com units will also add the choice of synchronizing with Microsoft's Outlook during installation.

The Palm IIIx and V are different products, however, in price, form factor, and a number of other features.

The Palm IIIx device, at 6 ounces, is priced at $369. It includes access to the connector slot to enable a pager card or memory upgrade, and has 4MB of memory instead of 2MB.

The Palm V, priced at $449, weighs only 4 ounces and, at 0.4 inches, is almost half as thick as the IIIx. The Palm V unit achieves its svelte form due to its use of thinner lithium-ion batteries instead of AAA.

The Palm V device also features a recharging cradle and a $169 3Com 33.6Kbps modem that clips on to the back of the unit.

Both units are shipping now.

In addition, IBM next week plans to offer its version of the Palm V, the WorkPad, according to sources familiar with IBM's plans. IBM will also create a Web site for WorkPad users to download WorkPad upgrades, the sources said.

InfoWorld Editor at Large Ephraim Schwartz is based in San Mateo, Calif.