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PalmOne brings Bluetooth to Tungsten E2 - another view

PalmOne has updated its low-end, enterprise-oriented Tungsten E PDA, upping the processor speed and storage capacity, and finally bringing wireless connectivity to the machine.

The new model, the E2, had been expected for some weeks, various details having leaked out onto the Internet. The critical improvement is the addition of Bluetooth, allowing the unit to synchronise with a host computer over the air and, more importantly, negotiate an Internet connection with a suitably equipped mobile phone.

Like PalmOne's other new releases over the last six months or so, the E2 drops volatile RAM for Flash memory, 32MB of it, double the capacity of the E. The processor has been upgraded from a 144MHz job to a 200MHz chip, but since PalmOne has, in the past, routinely underclocked its PDA processors, you won't necessarily see that level of performance in this case. The E2's CPU is made by Intel; the E's was a Texas Instruments OMAP part.

The E2 runs Palm OS 5.4 'Garnet'.

Other tweaks include the incorporation of a brighter, more colourful screen, though it still offers the old 320 x 320 resolution and 65,536-colour capacity. The casing is the same as the E's, but it now uses PalmOne's multi-connector rather than the USB 2.0 port of old. Details freaks might like to know that the rear-mounted speaker now sports a larger dot-mesh grille, quite unlike the E's three-line grille.

The SD IO slot is there too, as per the E, though the new model is compatible with PalmOne's Wi-Fi card, the company said.

On sale from today, the E2 costs £169 or $249.

This story copyrightThe Register