Ever since the technology has been available to put Wi-Fi wireless LAN technology onto a Secure Digital (SD) card, we've been waiting for this announcement.
PalmOne announced this week that it has launched a Wi-Fi card, providing 802.11b connectivity for some of its handhelds. The new card ($129 estimated street price) will be available at PalmOne's online store and in retail stores worldwide by early September, the company said.
The card works only with Tungsten T3 and Zire 72 handhelds, so if you have an older Palm device and you want Wi-Fi, you are still out of luck (time to upgrade!). The Tungsten T3 and Zire 72 handhelds also have Bluetooth technology, so you now have two wireless technologies on those devices if you buy the SD Wi-Fi card. The company also offers the Tungsten C device, which includes built-in wireless LAN capabilities (no card needed).
The card will support both 64-bit and 128-bit WEP encryption, and will also come bundled with a PPTP VPN client from Mergic. Other third-party clients that are available for the Tungsten C, such as LEAP clients, should also work, Palm said.
Because Wi-Fi has been around on Pocket PC devices for a while now, I'm not sure whether this will suddenly cause people to go out and buy a bunch of Palm devices for wireless LAN connectivity. However, those who have the devices already (well, the new ones at least) may now be able to join the Wi-Fi world with their devices.
Back to Cool ToolsPost a comment
