Palm V
| Industry | Technology, Personal digital assistants |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | United States |
| Products | Palm V, Palm Vx, Palm OS devices |
Palm V is a personal digital assistant (PDA) created by 3Com and introduced in 1999.
The Palm V weighs and is encased in an aluminum shell that contains a Dragonball EZ central processing unit capable of overclocking up to 39 MHz, along with 2 MB of memory. Its dimensions are in height and under in thickness. The device boasts a backlit 16-shade grayscale screen with improved resolution compared to the earlier Palm III. Unlike the Palm III, which used disposable AAA batteries, the Palm V is equipped with a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that lasts between one and two weeks per charge. For connectivity, it offers a serial port compatible with the EIA-232-D electrical standard, though it is physically incompatible with accessories designed for the Palm III, as well as a Consumer IR transceiver.
At its debut, the Palm V was priced at approximately , decreasing to a range of $300–400 by early 2000. It came pre-installed with Palm OS version 3.0, with an option to upgrade to version 3.3. The IBM WorkPad c3 is essentially a rebranded variant of the Palm V.
The device received positive evaluations from industry critics, who commended its design and functionality. Ars Technica recommended it widely except for users already owning the Palm III, while TechRepublic emphasized its appropriateness for both personal and business use.
Vx
On October 4, 1999, 3Com released the Palm Vx model, which measures and has a weight of . This version featured an increased memory capacity of eight megabytes and offered faster synchronization with PCs. The initial retail price was .
In 2000, 3Com collaborated with supermodel Claudia Schiffer to launch the Palm Vx Claudia Schiffer Edition on August 1. This special edition showcased a unique "blue brushed-metal" finish and was available exclusively through Schiffer's official website.