Tapwave Zodiac

Tapwave Zodiac is a combination of portable game console, organizer, media player, which was brought by the company Tapwave in October 2003 on the market.

The U.S. company Tapwave was founded in 2001 by Peng Lim and Byron Connell, two former Palm managers. More Palm specialists such as Marian Cauwet and David Wenning joined to Tapwave whose first product was the codename Helix.

End of 2004, the Zodiac was also sold in England and a publication in Germany was planned for 2005. Before it happened, Tapwave announced in late July of 2005, to capitulate to the competition. Meanwhile, the rights to the Zodiac were sold to Motorola.

Specifications

  • CPU: 200 MHz ARM9 i.MX1
  • GPU: ATI Imageon
  • RAM: Zodiac 1: 32 MB ( 20 MB available ) / Zodiac 2: 128 MB ( 116 MB available )
  • Display: 3.8 " touchscreen with 480 × 320 pixels and 65,536 colors, either horizontally or vertically usable
  • Sound: sound chip from Yamaha, stereo sound, 3.5mm headphone output
  • Operating System: Palm OS 5.2T ( modizifiert )
  • Games Engine: Fathammer X - Forge
  • Expansion options: 2 SD card slots, one of which is SDIO -capable.
  • Communication: USB 2.0, Bluetooth 1.1
  • Controls: Joystick 1, 4 action buttons, two shoulder buttons, 4 system keys ("Power ", " Bluetooth", "Function", "Home" ), pin
  • Other: vibration motor for games and other applications
  • Size: 143 × 79 × 14 mm
  • Weight: 170 g

Trivia

  • The SDIO slot supports not only the Palm Wi-Fi card, but also the wireless card from Sandisk.
  • In addition to applications, which were generally written for PalmOS, there are also customized versions that take advantage of the special properties ( graphics accelerator ) of the Zodiac. However, accessing the Zodiac hardware is only possible for signed by the manufacturer software. However, since setting the sale circulates by Tapwave, a software tool that allows the execution of unsigned programs. However, the legal situation is not without controversy.
  • Even freeware supports the additional hardware of the Zodiac, such as the video player TCPMP.
Handheld game console Mobile digital media player Palm, Inc. The Core Pocket Media Player
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