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Handhelds Hardware

Palm Bluetooth SDIO Card Available 82

Posted by michael from the sufficiently-advanced-technology dept.
boredadmin writes "It looks like Palm have finally released (a few weeks ago) their Bluetooth SDIO card to allow SD-Slot equipped Palms communicate with cellphones, PC's, access-points, etc. Now if only I could find somewhere in this sad little corner of the world that I'm stuck in that actually stocks them."
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Palm Bluetooth SDIO Card Available More

Palm Bluetooth SDIO Card Available

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  • Where are you? (Score:4, Informative)

    by Paul Bristow ( 118584 ) on Monday April 08, 2002 @04:19AM (#3302212) Homepage
    Try http://www.expansys.com ,who seem to have them in stock in the UK and will ship everywhere.

  • Where to buy... (Score:2, Informative)

    by gmanske ( 312125 )
    Here [palm.com] with a link to sales info outside the US here. [palm.com]

  • next.... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by nostromo_42 ( 130573 ) on Monday April 08, 2002 @04:30AM (#3302229)
    they need to start working on wireless recharging. has anyone seen a palm accessory that recharges the battery from kinetic energy of being carried around, like those watches? would this be feasible?
    • my electric shaver, which is touted as 100% waterproof, has a "wireless" charging feature :) - what it does (to the best of my knoweldge) is the "base" modulates an electromagnetic field of some sort, which pushes a small piece of iron (or the likes) up and down, and somehow creating an electric charge from that, and charges the battery. of course, the charger and shaver have to be w/in 2 or 3 mm, but it's been doing the trick for about 3 years now. it's a panasonic, i think. standard feature. my friend looked into doing a "wireless power" for a science fair experiment - turns out the amount of radiation it would cause (he was thinking tesla-coil archs between components) would kill the user of either a) radiation poisioning in a week, or b) kill the user of radiation through cancer in a year or so. not exactly healthy.

      kinetic recharge would be interesting. very doable, except that people are particularly gentle with PDA's, and are "worn" in the shirt pocket, or belt, which don't go "upside down" very often, if ever, unlike the wrist.

      what i'd like to see is a hack job of a 3.0 v solar panel from radio shack (~$3) and letting it run off that. I don't know if it has enough amperage, though.

      • The word you're looking for is "induction". Two coils, one in each part, no moving bits of metal. An AC current in the base station's coil induces a current in the other coil, by adjusting the ratio of winds in each coil you can also get a step up or step down effect. Works well, but high currents are hard and the coils have to be very close. Good for toothbrushes, not so great for PDSs (mine draws 3A when charging!).

    • Re:next.... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 )
      wireless recharging has been around for at least 30 years.
      I had a electric toothbrush that used a field coil (example: take a transformer and cut it in half put 1/2 in the device the other 1/2 in the base. when they are close enough the circuit is coupled.) and you had to only set it near the base in any position.

      I was working on making my webpad recaharge in the same way except for that it only needed to be placed on one certian end table in the living room. The problem I had with that was you had to be sure NOT to leave metal objects (or floppy discs) on that table. as they would heat up.

  • Bluetooth (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 08, 2002 @04:32AM (#3302233)
    For when the people you chat with are sitting 6 feet away.®
    • Or, of course, your phone is.
    • For when the people you chat with are sitting 6 feet away.®
      As they might be when you're trapped in a mind-numbing company meeting. It can look like you're diligently taking notes, when in reality you're playing Buzzword Bingo against your friends.

  • of course (Score:3, Informative)

    by Hadlock ( 143607 ) on Monday April 08, 2002 @04:34AM (#3302237) Homepage Journal
    heaven forbid that you're an existing palm user, with, say, a m100, or a IIIex (the cheap model), that were the last models to come out before the SDIO slot was standard. i guess this is the "killer hardware" to get people to upgrade. I'd still like to see a bluetooth "chip" that i can plug into the serial port of my m100.

    there's a serial -> USB adaptor.... i'm sure that + a bluetooth card from Apple [apple.com] + lots of time and effort = a usable solution. of course; it won't work with any of palm's new spiffy bluetooth apps, such as "bluechat" (aim over bluetooth, essentially), and blueboard (networked "whiteboard" app)

    personally what i'd like to see is a USB bluetooth adaptor like apple's d-link one, that has the driver software on it (linux, mac, windows) on 64k of flash memory, + java aim/jabber chat, lynx web browser, and dhcp built in. plug it into your ipaq, laptop, or school computer.
    • You can get one for the V/Vx http://www.red-m.com/products/Blade/Default.asp dunno about the M10X series tho D

  • Finally, bluetooth is starting to take shape (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Vegeta99 ( 219501 ) <rjlynn.gmail@com> on Monday April 08, 2002 @05:17AM (#3302278)
    and there are some cool applications. For instance, Nokia is planning a Bluetooth headset piece so there will be no wires connecting cell phone to headset. I can't wait to see that in action.
    • Ericsson have had a BlueTooth hands free for months (maybe even a year now).

      They have 3 different models, the first one had technical probs, there is a new one which looks identical but fixes the bugs :)

      There is a third one which looks like a set of stereo headphones, but it attaches to a battery back around your waist (so you may as well just get a normal hands free and stick your phone in your pocket). This one is lame :)

      My boss has one of the new, good kind (and I will two just as soon as my flat mate and my tenant both pay me the rent the are owe :). Steep at 150 UKP though!

      • For you IMDB buffs, the ericsson model was of course featured in the Tomb Raider movie.
      • I bought the limited edition Bluetooth kit for my Ericsson T28 about a year ago. It's nice except that it's too easy to knock the butt-plug off the end of the phone if you just, say, toss it in a jeans pocket. I've had to take an old glasses case and cut a hole for the antenna.

        It works well, but it's a lot to carry around compared to any given small mobile phone -- and keeping two devices charged just to use my mobile phone (which can go for days without being used) is a little on the annoying side. I'm sure if I used my mobile more I'd also use the handsfree kit. Also, winter is just about to arrive so I'll be waering a jacket with more carrying capacity.

        It's a shame that I can't use it with my corded MP3 handsfree kit. And it's also a shame that there hasn't been a Bluetooth solution for my TRGpro released yet. At least, not last time I checked.

    • I've been really interested in using a bluetooth enabled Palm m505/m515 with my cellphone, but unfortunately, I can't find a bluetooth enabled GSM phone! Does anyone know of ANY GSM bluetooth enabled phones available in the US?
  • I've got a Sharp Zaurus and this would suit me fine (much less power drain than wireless Ethernet, and it could talk to my T38 'phone). Does anyone know any technical reason why this card wouldn't work on the Zaurus apart from lack of software (which can be fixed)? I take it that the Palm SD slot is the same as the Zaurus...

  • Way too expensive (Score:5, Insightful)

    by znu ( 31198 ) <znu.public@gmail.com> on Monday April 08, 2002 @06:51AM (#3302370)
    Does anyone else think that $129 is an absurd price for this? I thought the entire idea of Bluetooth was that it was going to be so cheap it could just be integrated into everything. Looks like we're still going to have to wait a while for that.

  • Works wonderfully on Mac OS X (Score:4, Interesting)

    by d0n quix0te ( 304783 ) on Monday April 08, 2002 @06:59AM (#3302384)
    Just download the Bluetooth software from Apple and viola! Palm Desktop will automagically sync with your Palm!

    Apple's done a wonderful job with their software, I even got it to pair with my SonyEricsson! No third party drivers required! Cool stuff...
    • Apple's done a wonderful job with their software, I even got it to pair with my SonyEricsson!

      There are very rigorous interoperability tests that a device (plus it's software) must undergo in order to carry the Bluetooth name. So the fact that these work together just means they've been certified, which you can already see from the fact that they're both called Bluetooth.

      This is why the Bluetooth name is trademarked, and this is why Bluetooth seems to have been so long in coming. Imagine if USB wasn't allowed to market until after the first few years during which its initial bugs were worked out...
      • I don't know the state of the standard for hotsynching, but I guess the subject is complex enough to be left out of what's Bluetooth.

        If it's emulating a serial link that's one thing since there is already an application synching to palm on the mac - but to get two "stupid" bluetooth devices to work together based on standards would be in a different league.
        But that's what Bluetooth is aiming for.
        • Not at all: synchronization [palowireless.com] is one of the standardized Bluetooth profiles [palowireless.com]. If both devices are certified for that profile, that's all there is to it. Granted, the Palm-to-Palm-Desktop link is probably just using serial emulation [palowireless.com] and using the old Palm hotsync protocol over it.

          But if he's putting his calendar and contacts on his Sony Ericsson phone, using only Apple's software, then it's definitely using a Bluetooth profile.
      • Imagine if USB wasn't allowed to market until after the first few years during which its initial bugs were worked out...

        I think it was called the serial port.
    • Do you use 802.11b? Are they coexisting nicely?
  • Is it just me, or does this card look fragile? It sure looks like the antenna will protrude beyond the edge of the device. Given how thin MMC/SD/SDIO cards are, this might afford the user considerable opportunity to damage the card and/or device it's installed in. I haven't seen the cards myself, so it's certainly possible that I'm simply incorrect--but it's worth checking out before spending the $130, I imagine...

    Phil

  • Bluetooth SD Cards Available Here (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    They are available and in stock at FranklinCovey of all places!

    http://shopping.franklincovey.com/html/ibeCCtpIt mD spRte.jsp?section=19962&item=8387

    There are 20 available as of this posting.
  • I cant believe this is even news ... I walked in about two weeks ago to Fry's Electronics for a memory stick, when I saw a MMC BlueTooth card by palm sitting there in front of me. I thought to myself ... WOW Palm finally released it, put it down then went on my business. There were lots of them scattered everywhere and the barcode tape even worn a little like its been there for a while. Did someone just stumble apon it like I have and just decide to share it to the rest of the world? If thats the case .... HEY They just released neat trashcans with foot levers to oopen the lid! Check it out, its in the inventory control system of Fry's Marketplace now.
  • www.widget.co.uk have been shipping a bluetooth module for handspring PDA's for several weeks now.
  • The Staples in Cambridge had at least one in stock last Friday
  • OK, so there probably are some bluetooth cell phones out there (I sure don't have one) but why don't cell phone manufacturers/distributors and/or wireless carriers offer a service that downloads a simple CSV phone list to your phone?

    Heck, I'd pay $10 per shot to email my phone list to some address that would download it to my phone. OK, so there are some privacy implications, so don't download any numbers you don't want someone else to know.
    • All of the Ericsson phones w/ BlueTooth also support SyncML - and you can go to the Sony Ericsson web site to download sync software. There are also a few other things - you can "Bluetooth" from phone to phone, Beam through IR etc.

      T68 and T39 also have POP3 mail clients.
  • A good question to ask yourself is why would you want to
    give up that SD slot just for BlueTooth connectivity.

    I use SD memory cards in my Palm m500 all of the time,
    removing them just to insert a bluetooth module would
    be too much of a hassle for it to be actually useful.

    I think I'll try TDK's BlueM -- it piggybacks on the Palm,
    plugging into the expansion port, leaving the SD slot
    free for memory cards.
  • $129 in the US
    $131 in the UK

    Hmmmmmmmm interesting use of an exchange rate there :(

    I know they often swap the $ for a £, which is a shame already, but increasing it as well?

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