|
Palm OS (3.x, 4.x)
What is the Palm OS?
The Palm OS is an operating system first
developed by 3Com for the Palm Pilot. Since that time, Palm
has become its own company both serving the industry with hardware
(PDA's) as well as licensing out their operating system, Palm
OS. Palm OS is currently a high end organizer style
operating system that does (with software support) allow for
multimedia rich applications to be used. The Palm OS is
small and can run on relatively slow processors.
What is the difference between Palm and Palm OS
devices?
Palm is the company that makes the Palm
OS, but there are other companies that use the Palm OS to run
their devices. These companies include Handspring, Sony and
Handera. Most often, "Palms" is used to refer to
all handheld devices, though "Palms" really refers to
all devices using the Palm OS (and not specifically PDA's produced
by Palm, the company)
Why does everyone have a Palm OS device?
Everyone doesn't have a Palm OS
device. Many people use the term Palm incorrectly to mean a
handheld computer, or PDA. Most often, "Palms" is
used to refer to all handheld devices, though "Palms"
really refers to all devices using the Palm OS (and not
specifically PDA's produced by Palm, the company)
Can I upgrade my Palm OS device?
Yes, some devices can be upgraded.
Check with your device manufacture to see if they offer an
upgrade. Most often, old devices are not supported by
"next generation" operating systems.
I
have questions about programming for the Palm OS...can you help?
Though most often I don't have the
answers to your Palm OS programming question, there are other places that
do. Check out this Palm
OS Programmer's FAQ or simply try the developer section of palm.com.
Where
is Palm OS 5.0?
On the way! You didn't think that
we would really know much more then that. Palm has been saying
"soon" for a long time, so...it will be out soon.
Can
I upgrade my device to Palm OS 5.0?
Since Palm OS 5.0 hasn't made its way to
any device, we don't know. Chances are though they will not be
upgradeable.
For
expansions, is the Palm expansion approach (SD) better than Sony's?
It really depends on what you want to
use. Palm uses Secure Digital slots and Sony uses Memory
Sticks. For memory, they are about the same. If you want
Bluetooth there is a card available for the Palms, but not yet for Sony (in
the US). Really, they are just about the same. Something to
think about is if you have a digital camera or other equipment that uses digital
media. What expansions do those use? If you have a Sony
camera, then you might want a device with a Memory Stick slot built in
instead of SD so you can use the memory right from the camera.
Should
I care about a 4mb Flash ROM, like with the Sony devices?
Flash ROM's really only will benefit
updates, not upgrades. I doubt any current Palm OS 4.1 device
with a Flash ROM will be upgradeable to Palm OS 5. Flash ROM's
aren't all that big a deal to the end user unless a device supports
writing permanent data to them like in some Pocket PC devices. |
