X

Palm products through the years (photos)

As Palm prepares to be swallowed up by Hewlett-Packard, CNET takes a look back at some of its pioneering (and some less than ground-breaking) products from the PDA and smartphone pioneer.

Ina Fried
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley.
Ina Fried
Palm_Pilot_335x450.jpg
1 of 11 CNET

Palm Pilot

Following news Wednesday that PC maker Hewlett-Packard is buying PDA and smartphone pioneer Palm, CNET decided to take a look back at how Palm's products have evolved.

It all began with the PalmPilot 1000 and 5000, made by what was then 3Com's Palm Computing division. The PalmPilot debuted in 1996 with 128K of memory, a 16MHz DragonBall processor, the Palm OS 1.0, and a display with a resolution of 160 pixels by 160 pixels.

Palm shipped 1 million Palm Pilots within 18 months, but the "Pilot" moniker was eventually dropped from the device's name for legal reasons after complaints from the Pilot pen company.

2 of 11 3Com

Palm III

The PalmPilot PDA was replaced the Palm III in 1998. It was the first Palm handheld to support infrared file transfer, or "beaming" and was priced at $399.
51VQP4CH5DL._SS400_.jpg
3 of 11 Palm

Palm V

The Palm V was released in February 1999. Its design was sleek by those days' standards, and the company aimed the new device at the high-end market. The Palm V added basically no new features over the Palm III but was about half as thick.
Palm_VIIx_273x500.jpg
4 of 11 CNET

Palm VIIx

The Palm VII was the company's first move into the wireless space. It didn't really browse the Web but could run wireless applications that grabbed Web content. It ran over a comparatively slow pager network but showed the possibility for bringing wireless connections to a handheld.
Palm_m505_300x483_2.jpg
5 of 11 CNET

Palm m505

Announced in early 2001, the Palm m500 and m505 (shown here) replaced Palm V and Vx, respectively. The big advance was the addition of a memory card slot, a feature that had been popularized by Handspring's Visor, though Palm bet on the SD slot that was to become a standard in consumer electronics.

The Palm m505 came with a color screen, while the cheaper m500 was a monochrome device. Because Palm announced the m500 and m505 well before the devices were available, demand for older units slowed and made worse an existing inventory problem.

handspring_treo_180.jpg
6 of 11 Palm

Handspring Treo 180

Although there had been Palm OS-based phones before the Treo, from Qualcomm, Kyocera, and others, the Treo was the first such converged device to not be described using the term brick. Its existence was first reported by CNET months before its planned debut after being discovered in an FCC filing.
treo650_340x719.jpg
7 of 11 Palm

Palm Treo 650

Handspring, eventually bought by Palm, debuted its first Treo smart phones in October 2001. The next generation, the Treo 600 and then the later Treo 650 moved from a flip phone to candy bar style and became popular for many business users.
8 of 11 CNET

Palm Centro

After ceding a lot of ground in the consumer arena, the low-cost Centro, which debuted in late 2007, was an attempt to take the aging Treo concept and give it more mass-market appeal.
Foleo_top_440.jpg
9 of 11 CNET

Palm Foleo

Jeff Hawkins told CNET that the Foleo was the best idea he'd ever had when he unveiled it in June 2007 at D: All Things Digital. The device, which was sort of like a netbook, relied on a Treo for its processing power and connectivity but was scrapped by Palm and never reached the market.
334904732440PALM.jpg
10 of 11 CNET

Palm Pre

Palm's attempt to remake itself after years of stagnation, the Pre was based on an all-new WebOS. The Pre featured a touch screen and keyboard as well as the kind of multi-touch gestures made popular by the iPhone.
PALM_PIXI_BUTTON_1_540x360.jpg
11 of 11 CNET

Palm Pixi

A low-end sibling of the Pre, the Pixi is a candy bar WebOS-based phone that debuted in November 2009.

More Galleries

My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera
A houseplant

My Favorite Shots From the Galaxy S24 Ultra's Camera

20 Photos
Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra
magic-v2-2024-foldable-1383

Honor's Magic V2 Foldable Is Lighter Than Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra

10 Photos
The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum
Samsung Galaxy S24

The Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Looks Sweet in Aluminum

23 Photos
Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design
The Galaxy S24 Ultra in multiple colors

Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Now Has a Titanium Design

23 Photos
I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites
img-0368.jpg

I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites

34 Photos
17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About
Invitation for the Apple September iPhone 15 event

17 Hidden iOS 17 Features You Should Definitely Know About

18 Photos
AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?
img-1599-2.jpg

AI or Not AI: Can You Spot the Real Photos?

17 Photos