Handspring (company)
Handspring was a maker of PDAs with Palm OS operating system.
The inventor of the Palm Pilot and founder of the company Palm were Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky and Ed Colligan. As a 3Com Palm bought up in March 1997, the three persons mentioned annoyed after a while the fact that 3Com had too much control over the product. They left Palm and founded in June 1998, the company Handspring.
After a number of innovative models Handspring merged in October 2003 finally back with Palm to the consolidated palmOne. The Treo 600 is the last Handspring product.
Handspring Visor
On 14 September 1999 Handspring Visor brought the product line on the market that could be synchronized in contrast to most Palm products at the time via USB and one expansion slot ( Springboard slot) possessed. Through the USB support, the visors were the first Palm OS devices who worked without any additional hardware with Apple Macintosh computers. For the Springboard slot, there were modules such as games, e-books, memory expansion, universal remote controls for televisions, mobile phones, modems, MP3 players, digital cameras and even an interface for an EKG. With her cheeky colorful design, the Visor line also talked about the average person, while Palm with a conservative design aimed more at business customers.
Visor and Visor Deluxe
The first unit of the Visor line was the Visor Solo with black housing and 2 megabytes of RAM. The Visor Deluxe had optional variants with translucent colored case and 8 megabytes of RAM. Visor and Visor Deluxe Palm OS 3.1H used a modified version of the operating system from Palm, which provided an enhanced calendar, a world clock and an advanced calculator. In contrast to the Palm Pilot, the infrared port of the visors was on the side to make room for the Springboard. Critics of the devices criticized the lack of rubber layer between buttons and contacts, causing the buttons could push harder. Also, you could easily lose the attachable screen cover made of plastic. Visor and Visor Deluxe weighed 153 grams and were 12.2 cm × 7.6 cm × 1.8 cm in size.
Visor Prism
As a Handspring Visor Prism brought out the, it was the first Palm OS handheld with 16 -bit color display ( 65,536 colors); the then current model of Palm had only an 8 -bit color display ( 256 colors). The power source is a lithium -ion battery used in contrast to two micro cells ( AAA ) cells in the other visors. Together with other models he had the standard Springboard slot. The prism ran under Palm OS 3.5.2H3 and weighed 199 grams with a size of 12.2 cm × 7.7 cm × 2.1 cm.
Visor Platinum
Little spectacular offered the Platinum. The 33 MHz Dragonball processor 8 MB RAM stood to the side, he was operated as with former Visors with two AAA cells. The display offered 160 × 160 pixels, was used as the operating system Palm OS 3.5.2H. Since the Handspring Springboard slot at Platinum integrated into the housing, the device with 2.1 cm was significantly thicker than the short time later appearing Visor Edge (see below). Next Dimensions: 12.2 cm x 7.6 cm, 180 grams of weight. As a special feature you can accept the built-in microphone. The Visor Platinum was sold in Germany at the discounter Aldi Medion MD9508 Visor with the labeling.
Visor Edge
In March 2001, Handspring Visor Edge started the flat with 33 MHz MC68VZ328 Dragon Ball ™ CPU. The 160 × 160 pixel display with 16 shades of gray up to the standard for most other Palm PDAs, with 126 grams and dimensions of 11.9 cm × 7.9 cm × 1.1 cm, however, he was the smallest and lightest Visor. Equipped with 8 MB RAM and Handspring's latest version of Palm OS, Version 3.5.2H, the Visor Edge was a charming PDA. With the three available colors Blue Metallic, Silver Metallic and Metallic Red, he was also a real eye -catcher. The built-in lithium -ion battery offered terms of between two and four weeks. Because of its size it had to do without a built Springboard slot, but the diverse Springboard modules could use a removable adapter included.
Visor Neo
The Visor Neo offered nothing new in the Visor line. This brought out in September 2001 apparatus had a MC68VZ328 Dragon Ball ™ processor with 33 MHz. It had 8 MB DRAM, an IrDA compatible infrared port and the normal Handspring Springboard slot. It offered a built-in microphone and a 160 × 160 pixel display with 4 gray levels, was 12 cm × 7.5 cm × 1.6 cm and weighed 160 grams. Three transparent colors were available: blue, red and "Smoke" ( " Smoky "). The blue and red version was not available in Germany. The Visor Neo in "Smoke" was sold at Tchibo as "TCM Visor" and in real- buying as " Cybercom Visor" with the appropriate printing centrally above the function keys. Companies was the Neo with the modified version of Handspring 3.5.2H3 of Palm OS. Power was provided by two AAA batteries, which held up to two months. The only new feature is the low price to call, with the Handspring wanted to win new customers.
Visor Pro
The Visor Pro was the last model in Handspring Visor series. He weighed 162 grams, measured 12.2 cm × 7.6 cm × 1.8 cm and was operated by a MC68VZ328 Dragon Ball ™ processor with 33 MHz. Furthermore, provided the Visor Pro " whopping " 16 MB of RAM, a built-in microphone and the Springboard slot. He had a 16 -level grayscale display with backlight and a lithium- ion battery.
Handspring Treo
Handspring Visor stopped the product line and replaced it with the Handspring Treo, oriented towards mobile communication handheld series, almost all of which had a built-in phone.
PalmOne
In October 2004, the company Handspring merged with Palm to palmOne.